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Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

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Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#61

Post by riffic »

12xo wrote: post #16

I hate these walled apps. Having to log in is maddening. Especially Facebook, especially right now... As a photographer, I have to have some sort of IG presence but I absolutely hate the app, the UX and the whole enchilada. Its the worst viewing experience possible for good photos and yet is the medium of choice for so many... I miss the old web.

an alternative exists. If you have a significant web presence you should definitely explore the ActivityPub ecosystem. Pay attention to established web standards.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#62

Post by basch »

rpgbr wrote: post #41
basch wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. This is not a new behavior. Also, did the author check for any kind of cookie or fingerprinting? I would guess Instagram is much more likely to allow some sample viewing, and by clearing all stored data, you can get another quantity of samples. I would have tried that first before the user agent. A more accurate title would probably be (this is conjecture) "Instagram expands loginwall to other countries, eg…

Tested with different browsers, computers, connections, even cities. Another user here thought the post was about that scrolling limit that's in place for a few months now. That's different. I wasn't able, previous to publication, to confirm if this is happening in other countries, but here in hacker news there are more users reporting the same issue.

Im still not convinced that Instagram hasnt figured out a way to identify you and your friends, and has decided theyve used up their trial images.

But maybe you are right, maybe you are part of some kind of A/B test to see if an immediate loginwall, with no trial or sample, increases or decreases sign ups.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#63

Post by inopinatus »

sjroot wrote: post #23
fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

Disclaimer: no affiliation with IG This sounds like a _very_ unusual experience. Clearly millions (billions?) of people create Instagram accounts with no issues. Why not just create a different account? > If this is how they treat their prospective customers... You certainly aren't a customer, which might explain the lack of priority. :)

It’s not. I’ve had a similar experience, and I walked away.

Instagram is everything poisonous about Facebook’s values and platform and practices, distilled. They get nothing from me except a temporary email address, a proxy IP, and a false user-agent string.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#64

Post by 12xo »

sjroot wrote: post #32
12xo wrote: post #16

I hate these walled apps. Having to log in is maddening. Especially Facebook, especially right now... As a photographer, I have to have some sort of IG presence but I absolutely hate the app, the UX and the whole enchilada. Its the worst viewing experience possible for good photos and yet is the medium of choice for so many... I miss the old web.

Would love to hear more about what you desire in a photo sharing experience. My email should be in my profile if you want to chat.

As a photographer, I want security and assurances that my work remains my work and is not easily stolen nor transferable without consent.

As a user, I want simplicity and way to view work based on a number of options that I choose. Not based on an algorithm or AI. My choices, my mood, my desires.

Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app. Its a platform for self promotion. Not much different than Twitter, LinkedIn or FB in that regard. I guess all social media dissolves into a self promotion circle jerk... Avoid their fate if at all possible.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#65

Post by bmelton »

12xo wrote: post #16

I hate these walled apps. Having to log in is maddening. Especially Facebook, especially right now... As a photographer, I have to have some sort of IG presence but I absolutely hate the app, the UX and the whole enchilada. Its the worst viewing experience possible for good photos and yet is the medium of choice for so many... I miss the old web.

Honestly, I think I prefer not having access to something like Pinterest[1] which lets you have some access for a bit and then as soon as you try to interact with the site in any meaningful way (usually to leave it) they insist you sign in.

At least with this I know the expectation up front, rather than having it sprung on me by surprise.

[1] I've avoided Pinterest for awhile that this may not be the way they attempt to capture accounts any more.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#66

Post by stevewodil »

fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

Same thing happened to me, and I tried to email them about a clear bug that occurs. They wanted the same photo verification. I was very nice in the correspondence until they requested photo verification a second time, and I was so confused why they were being so incompetent about it. It's a 0 follower account that I never had access to in the first place because it instantly got disabled, why would I care? Just fix the bug...

Basically, if you try to change the username before completing the sign up workflow the app doesn’t continue to the next page and the account gets disabled. Judging by your experience they seemingly haven't fixed it still. I emailed them in October 2019 about it, pretty sad.

Their final message to me was "We can’t give you access to this account or continue to process your request because we haven’t received an acceptable image to verify account ownership." Thanks for nothing, Facebook.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#67

Post by 12xo »

riffic wrote: post #61
12xo wrote: post #16

I hate these walled apps. Having to log in is maddening. Especially Facebook, especially right now... As a photographer, I have to have some sort of IG presence but I absolutely hate the app, the UX and the whole enchilada. Its the worst viewing experience possible for good photos and yet is the medium of choice for so many... I miss the old web.

an alternative exists. If you have a significant web presence you should definitely explore the ActivityPub ecosystem. Pay attention to established web standards.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I was unaware of ActivityPub. Will explore

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#68

Post by 12xo »

ddevault wrote: post #60
12xo wrote: post #16

I hate these walled apps. Having to log in is maddening. Especially Facebook, especially right now... As a photographer, I have to have some sort of IG presence but I absolutely hate the app, the UX and the whole enchilada. Its the worst viewing experience possible for good photos and yet is the medium of choice for so many... I miss the old web.

Have you given PixelFed a shot?

Was unaware of ActivityPub, will definitely check out PixelFed. Thanks!

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#69

Post by disiplus »

fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

i had the same thing happen. if i remember correctly the email+label@gmail.com plus signing on the web made it throw error.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#70

Post by StanislavPetrov »

nakodari wrote: post #35

I believe any website that is behind the walled garden should be deindexed by Google and other search engines. Whether it's a newspaper, Q/A websites, social media, or anything else. It's only fair. When users search for something, they should only get results of web pages whose content is accessible to all without having to sign up for an account.

Ideally Google would have a search filter that lets you block paywalled sites from your search, if that's what you want.
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