Reddit blocks access to VPN users

[Lucius]

It's not like people don't know about Tor. I guess a lot of people know about Tor, but they don't use it because Tor sometimes works pretty slowly. People love to save their login history in their browser so they don't have to enter the URL or login credentials every time. Also, there might be several other reasons why people prefer regular browsers.
~snip~

In general, this slowness exists because of the way Tor works, but I can say from my experience that I am quite satisfied with the speed with which I surf with Tor, even if I use it with a VPN. However, considering that a lot of people use smartphones exclusively to access the internet, it is possible that they have the same problem as me, the mobile version works quite slowly for me personally, and it connects to the internet even slower.

As for saving passwords in the browser in any form, that is a very bad idea. Even when using any other browser, I clear all browsing data before turning off my computer - the amount of data left behind if you don't do this regularly can be truly overwhelming, and then you suddenly wonder why you're running out of space on your HDD.

[dkbit98]

Could be AB testing. See if the block is enough to make people give out on using reddit or if they just will just disable it, basically doing what they want you to do.

I am visiting reddit on regular basis, but only to read few posts for topics I am following.
If I was forced to do anything else, or add mandatory login, than I would probably stop using reddit, it's not like I can't live without it.
I know some people created nice reddit alternatives, even with bitcoin support, but none of them gain any real popularity.

[TryNinja]

I am visiting reddit on regular basis, but only to read few posts for topics I am following.
If I was forced to do anything else, or add mandatory login, than I would probably stop using reddit, it's not like I can't live without it.
I know some people created nice reddit alternatives, even with bitcoin support, but none of them gain any real popularity.

Yeah, the network effect is very strong with reddit. Main thing with it is that I can search "how to fix this issue" and add reddit next to it, I'll probably find a post somewhere that works 10x better than any other help website. Real reviews, real commentary, etc... it's one of the best websites, like it or not. Can't replicate that with any of the clones, specially when there aren't enough communities to make it look alive.

[yhiaali3]

Thank you for sharing this important information. I actually didn't notice it because I always logged in to my account with or without a VPN, so I didn't notice. But now I tried logging out and then browsing the site, and I got the following screenshot:


I think it doesn't need an explanation. They collect your personal information, so they won't allow you to browse the site if you're not logged in or using a VPN. This is absolutely shameful for a site with such a huge following.

[God Of Thunder]

As for saving passwords in the browser in any form, that is a very bad idea. Even when using any other browser, I clear all browsing data before turning off my computer - the amount of data left behind if you don't do this regularly can be truly overwhelming, and then you suddenly wonder why you're running out of space on your HDD.

Unfortunately, we do that a lot. I have some bookmarks I regularly use to make my life easier. Yeah, I agree that saving browser passwords is a very bad idea. Yet, people do it to make their lives easier. I think people mainly use normal browsers because they want to save their credentials on the browser for the next session.

As for slow internet, I did not try Tor on mobile. I use Tor on my Windows and am okay with the speed. Of course, Tor is mainly for surfing purposes. I can always use regular browsers if I want to download something and need a better connection.

[bitmover]

If people knew Tor existed, they might use it a lot more - because I think I even posted a link earlier that shows the relatively small number of people using it compared to the total number of internet users. Maybe the problem is that surfing with Tor can be quite slow, although I don't have such experience on the desktop version, the situation is completely different on the mobile version.

Where I live it is terribly slow... i use basically when I am using mixers or swaps services like eXch

 

Thank you for sharing this important information. I actually didn't notice it because I always logged in to my account with or without a VPN, so I didn't notice. But now I tried logging out and then browsing the site, and I got the following screenshot

Yeah, I am basically logged all the time as well. It is a very useful platform, and I am impressed by how many people from this forum also use Reddit.

[libert19]

I just went to Reddit using vpn, and it was fine. They may be blocking certain vpn ips and not all (I used psiphon vpn on android to test).

[yhiaali3]

I just went to Reddit using vpn, and it was fine. They may be blocking certain vpn ips and not all (I used psiphon vpn on android to test).

Are you logged in? If you visit the site while logged in, it will work even with a VPN. You must first log out of your account, then try accessing the site with the VPN enabled, and then let us know the results.

[dkbit98]

For anyone wanting to use Redlib for reading reddit posts and following stuff, you can check this out:
https://stats.uptimerobot.com/mpmqAs1G2Q

Yeah, the network effect is very strong with reddit. Main thing with it is that I can search "how to fix this issue" and add reddit next to it, I'll probably find a post somewhere that works 10x better than any other help website. Real reviews, real commentary, etc... it's one of the best websites, like it or not. Can't replicate that with any of the clones, specially when there aren't enough communities to make it look alive.

That is true, but I never got used to being active and writing on reddit because they had some silly censorship rules.
I also remember people claiming they easily got banned on r/bitcoin because of different opinions.

[libert19]

I just went to Reddit using vpn, and it was fine. They may be blocking certain vpn ips and not all (I used psiphon vpn on android to test).

Are you logged in? If you visit the site while logged in, it will work even with a VPN. You must first log out of your account, then try accessing the site with the VPN enabled, and then let us know the results.

No, I was not logged in.

Yeah, the network effect is very strong with reddit. Main thing with it is that I can search "how to fix this issue" and add reddit next to it, I'll probably find a post somewhere that works 10x better than any other help website. Real reviews, real commentary, etc... it's one of the best websites, like it or not. Can't replicate that with any of the clones, specially when there aren't enough communities to make it look alive.

That is true, but I never got used to being active and writing on reddit because they had some silly censorship rules.
I also remember people claiming they easily got banned on r/bitcoin because of different opinions.

It is dependent on particular subs rules, some are strict, some are not. Nothing wrong with Reddit on it's own.

[Lucius]

~snip~

I think it doesn't need an explanation. They collect your personal information, so they won't allow you to browse the site if you're not logged in or using a VPN. This is absolutely shameful for a site with such a huge following.

I don't see much logic in the fact that they want to collect data on users by preventing them from viewing content without logging in using a VPN, and at the same time they have an onion version so you can view content regardless of whether you are logged in or not using Tor...

I think we have already discussed that most VPNs may not be the best choice for privacy because they are mostly owned by some companies that are again connected to spy agencies.

[yhiaali3]

I don't see much logic in the fact that they want to collect data on users by preventing them from viewing content without logging in using a VPN, and at the same time they have an onion version so you can view content regardless of whether you are logged in or not using Tor...

So, what do you think is the most logical reason for blocking visitors from browsing the site using a VPN? I haven't seen any other reason other than collecting personal data. But this is actually illogical, given that, as you mentioned, they have an onion version for incognito browsing.

Some sites block VPNs because they block certain countries, so they don't want users from those countries to bypass the block using a VPN. Could this be the reason?

[SamReomo]

Yeah, the number of TOR users is too low compared to the number of total internet users. That is probably because of what I mentioned above. I also agree that a good number of people don't know about TOR.

Those people who understand how to connect through VPN don't really know that something like Tor exist. The ones who're technically good and who have explored most areas of the internet are the ones who know what tor is and how to use it.

[TryNinja]

I don't see much logic in the fact that they want to collect data on users by preventing them from viewing content without logging in using a VPN, and at the same time they have an onion version so you can view content regardless of whether you are logged in or not using Tor...

I think we have already discussed that most VPNs may not be the best choice for privacy because they are mostly owned by some companies that are again connected to spy agencies.

My own speculation is that they might also be trying to block AI agents from accessing and scraping data for their LLMs. I remember Elon Musk disabling unlogged access to Twitter/X when he declared war on the unpaid scraping. Of course he would be fine with it for a price.

Twitter is limiting the number of posts users can read
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/02/twitter-is-limiting-the-number-of-posts-users-can-read/

The initial numbers were 6000 daily reads for verified accounts, 600 reads for unverified accounts and 300 for new unverified accounts. Musk called these measures temporary to address "extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation".

[joniboini]

I also think this is related to data scraping bots. Companies don't want others to profit from their data, so they want to make sure they limit access. I'm not sure if blocking people is really effective, considering I still see so many bots on Reddit or other social media. That being said, many reasons can be true. At the end of the day, if I can't access their website with VPN, I'll just ditch them. I can still access them using a ProtonVPN IP; don't know if the days are numbered or not.