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Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

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Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#211

Post by bun_terminator »

INTPenis wrote: post #206

It's getting harder and harder to be anonymous on reddit. I used to rotate my accounts every year but now they keep shadowbanning me. So I had to jump through some hoops, and while one VPN was indeed instantly network blocked, another country/server from the same vendor was not. So eventually I got my new account for 2024 sorted. But now I'm afraid to login from my regular browser because I'm pretty sure they have it…

reddit is _much_ more lenient on anything if you use the official app. This concerns shadowbanning from known devices as well as banning the account for things they don't like. You get away with a lot more

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#212

Post by lxgr »

andsoitis wrote: post #61
lxgr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only because they've already lost most of what is actually valuable (to most early users; maybe not to advertisers).

> Only because they've already lost most of what is actually valuable (to most early users; maybe not to advertisers). There are many many users who were not early users who find Reddit very useful and a positive in their daily lives.

Is that despite or because of the changes they've made in the past years?

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#213

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

smokel wrote: post #143
sunshine_reggae wrote: post #32

Yes, same here. Let's just QUIT using Reddit. Enough is enough. If we tolerate corrupt behavior, we support corrupt behavior. And quite honestly, it's become such a pile of trash, anyway. Also, it's become so obvious that submissions and comments are being manipulated and pushed by tons of bots and industry interests, it's just a bad joke at this point.

> Let's just QUIT using Reddit. This suggests that you need others to join you in quitting. Why not simply quit yourself?

People want to talk in the place where other people will listen. People want to listen in the place where other people are talking. If you walk out by yourself and end up standing in an empty room, you'll just end up turning back.

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#215

Post by doodlebugging »

tomrod wrote: post #186
scarface_74 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So do you propose that Reddit fund startups every year and use Reddit to promote the startups it funds? How do you propose Reddit make money?

Sounds like they are proposing reddit shouldn't make money through the content, and die if that is the only path. This is reasonable.

>Sounds like they are proposing reddit shouldn't make money through the content, and die if that is the only path.

I think if you did a deep dive on reddit that covered everything you would see that they have struggled with this issue since they launched. It's really not my problem to solve. I add content. Some of that content has value.

They have lots of gifted supporters in the Y-Combinator family who could think of lots of ways to monetize things and I don't worry about how they end up doing it until it reaches the point where it is not possible to trust that you are interacting with a thread posted by a live person or one that is a repost from a bot farm.

Reddit is over-run with bots now and the average user has no way to know which users are live humans versus bots used to drive traffic. I've always been a "don't piss down my neck and tell me it's raining" type of person. Credibility is key. Reddit needs a way for ordinary users who would like to contribute content - free or paid, I don't care - to recognize bots and other artificial traffic like paid adverts or sponsored posts. Camouflaging users wastes my time when I need to look at post history to decide whether they are real or just karma farming.

In the end I agree with the part about dying if this is the only path for reddit. All good things come to an end. That's why corporations can live forever.

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#216

Post by Slava_Propanei »

tomrod wrote: post #188
swed420 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. The manipulation became obvious with the capital fueled shareblue / "correct the record" campaign from Dems years ago and has only gotten worse since. The stated purpose of CTR was to defend against Trump, but it was of course also abused to help sabotage Sanders. A tool like this will always be abused to perpetually elevate capital interests over human interests. Whatever solution everybody jumps to, it need…

Is this "CTR" from the world of alternative facts, or a real thing?

[dead]

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#217

Post by kbenson »

asdff wrote: post #169
gamepsys wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear a lot of people talk like this, and I understand that reddit has huge traffic numbers. However, for me Reddit peaked in interesting content around 2013, and I stopped daily browsing in 2015. Sometimes some subreddits have interesting posts, but interesting content is far from the norm. Now each subreddit feels like it is having the same discussion again and again, and the median post is a meme or some chat-gpt…

But thats not what the reddit owners care about. They are happy people like you leave, you are hard to monetize and block ads. The people who look at the front page today and say this is great? They don't block ads. They don't use old reddit. They don't realize when they are engaging with a shill post. Reddit wants proportionally more of them and less of you, and they are winning.

That only works to a point I think. If your forum devolves to only having the easily duped people, it becomes a lot less interesting overall (since the content is from the people) and even those people leave.

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#218

Post by doodlebugging »

water-data-dude wrote: post #209
scarface_74 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> been cutting way back on my engagement. I have walked back through my post history and edited a bunch of them, using Yossarian's censoring rules - death to all adverbs, nouns, verbs, adjectives - or just replacing the posts with meme text or song lyrics to stupid songs. So you don’t see that you are being part of the problem?

The reason they commented originally was because they wanted to provide value to a community that had provided value to them. Reddit was simply the platform that hosted that community. Their loyalty was never to the platform, it was to the community. When Reddit decided to screw over that community so the execs could get a big payday from the IPO, it sort of broke a social contract. Letting them keep extracting value…

This is a great way to explain it. Loyalty to the community. You spend enough time on a sub and you begin to recognize a lot of posters even though you will likely never meet them.

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#219

Post by ddingus »

Surely one of us here can start a new Reddit.

Call it not Reddit.

The original vision of the site being self funded by users for users is a good one.

I would argue a necessary one. Just look at all the high value discussion being lost due to Reddit being enshittified

Re: Tell HN: Reddit now blocks VPN access via browser, 'old' subdomain included

#220

Post by EasyMark »

marcrosoft wrote: post #94
sunshine_reggae wrote: post #32

Yes, same here. Let's just QUIT using Reddit. Enough is enough. If we tolerate corrupt behavior, we support corrupt behavior. And quite honestly, it's become such a pile of trash, anyway. Also, it's become so obvious that submissions and comments are being manipulated and pushed by tons of bots and industry interests, it's just a bad joke at this point.

I thought we all quit when they disabled API access and ruined Apollo. People are still using Reddit?

tens of millions a day, I sometimes wonder why people take on these false "people are still using __________?" when they know that people are still using twitter and reddit and facebook. Do you have any explanation as to why one would act pseudo-shocked? Is there a point?
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