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What VPN are you using?

I use Proton. But I continue to run into more and more websites and services that detect my VPN and refuse my connection, or just run literally 40 captchas in a row until I just give up.

I use Proton because it has a "suite" of products under a single subscription, but that benefit is losing it's allure as some of their products are pretty shitty from a user experience perspective, their customer support is atrocious, and they don't seem to pay any attention to what their users actually want.

Does anyone track known VPN servers? Is there a specific provider that causes less problems? Does anyone test different VPNs for detection?

Thinking about cancelling my subscription and moving to Mullvad.

eya ,
@eya@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Mullvad, haven't had any issues with it. If a site refuses my connection I just change servers until it works, even found a few that work on reddit

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Reddit is one of the main problems for sure.

telep ,

have you considered using alternatives front ends for some of the major social platforms?

I use libreddit/redlib to browse reddit. you can run an instance locally or connect to remote ones. this way your IP isn't logged by reddit in the first place & no JavaScript is required to be run for the website to function properly.

there is even an extension called libredirect which can automatically swap clicked reddit (& other platforms) links to the same page on public frontends, which removes the hasstle of manually changing the URL.

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Yeah I used to do that before they broke all of them. Used the Stealth app every day but it stopped working a few months ago. Possibly due to VPN, don't really know exactly how that service works.

telep ,

redlib is the updated version of libreddit & it seems to have circumvented the issues reddit caused so maybe consider giving it another try.

I think stealth also broke when they removed free API access. although, you can still use the webscraping mode by changing it in the settings I believe. if u want another option maybe try out RedReader or Geddit.

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I'll try Redlib, thanks for the heads up.

Edit:

The official instance is hosted at https://redlib.matthew.science

It's already broken.

Stealth continued working for a few months after they killed the API.

RedReader is just a terrible app, if I'm honest.

Will try Geddit but I doubt they will hold up to Stealth. It was so good :'(

telep ,

I would avoid trying to make sure you use the "official instance" as it kind of works against the projects purpose of decentralizing web requests. pinging around instances helps with avoiding outages as well. you can find active instances here on the uptime monitor.

otherwise, stealth should work just fine if u turn on webscraping mode. I have been using it since the reddit changes with only very occasional issues, as similar to you I have some quams with alternative reddit clients.1000018448

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I would avoid trying to make sure you use the "official instance" as it kind of works against the projects purpose of decentralizing web requests.

I would but I didn't know where to find them.

you can find active instances here on the uptime monitor

Thanks

stealth should work just fine if u turn on webscraping mode

Nope

Geddit also doesn't do anything but a constant loading indicator.

telep ,

oh damn I see sorry u can't get the apps to work I guess I'll do a little digging on my side. in the mean time I hope I've been at least somewhat helpful haha 🙏

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

You have been, thank you.

Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

The official instance is hosted at https://redlib.matthew.science

It’s already broken.

Their server is down, but I haven't seen a Redlib instance get blocked by Reddit. Try another instance like safereddit.com or check out the entire list of instances: https://github.com/redlib-org/redlib-instances/blob/main/instances.md

LibRedirect should also automatically fetch the list and allow you to choose instances you like

helenslunch OP , (edited )
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Their server is down

Yes that sort of thing seems to happen frequently with these type of platforms. LibReddit, Piped, Invidious, Bibliogram, etc.

It's too much hassle to constantly be trying to chase down a functioning instance.

Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

LibRedirect automates most of that for you. Also, I've been using safereddit.com for over 6 months and never had any issues. Just try it out and see if it works for you :)

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

LibRedirect automates most of that for you

How does it do that?

Just try it out and see if it works for you :)

Already did, did not work at all. Constantly redirected me to broken webpages.

Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

It fetches an updated list of working instances. It also has a built-in tool that let's you ping all instances and remove the broken ones. I'm pretty sure this will work well, even if you remove all instances except for safereddit.com. That's another way you can use it: Just find one working instance and remove all the others.

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Maybe that's new since I last used it...

Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Btw you can also use normal third-party clients with your custom developer API key, there's a patched version of Apollo for iOS/iPadOS (you can download it from AltStore using their custom repository, it's explained on the website) and ReVanced offers a patch for Infinity on Android. The patched Apollo version has a quick guide on how to get an API Key, it works with all apps that support these custom keys though:

  1. Sign into your Reddit account and go to the link above (reddit.com/prefs/apps)
  2. Click the "are you a developer? create an app..." button
  3. Fill in the fields
    • Name: anything
    • Choose "Installed App"
    • Description: anything
    • About url: anything
    • Redirect uri: apollo://reddit-oauth
  4. Click "create app"
  5. After creating the app you'll get a client identifier which will be a bunch of random characters.
Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Redlib works perfectly, I think they use IPv6 address rotation to evade IP bans

RecursiveParadox ,
@RecursiveParadox@lemmy.world avatar

Comment saved, thanks.

JJROKCZ ,

Have you considered not using Reddit?

helenslunch OP ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I don't use Reddit. Just browse. As soon as Reddit is no longer a veritable cornucopia of information I'll stop doing that.

Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

If you don't need to log in, I would recommend a private frontend like Redlib (fork of Libreddit) together with the LibRedirect browser extension

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