I seem to be periodically locked out of the server, (I can’t even copy my words out of this text box), so let’s see if this post works.
@unman Yes! Have found that wget will obey the host rules while Firefox does not.
Figured it out: I use Mullvad VPN,and they recommend using a SOCKS 5 Proxy to enhance their service. Their instructions include to switch on “Proxy DNS when using SOCKS v5”. This is what is bypassing the hosts file rules. (It will also bypass their apps’ own Block list).
When DNS is not proxied, host file rules are obeyed.
Thanks
SOLVED