At this point, I'm not even going to bother trying to go on there anymore.
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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Privacy
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These assholes forget that people need to use VPNs in many situations. All the bitch ass corporate folks that never have to use their computers in a coffee shop, etc. Fuck spez.
It goes much deeper than just coffee shops and other public wifi. There are people in oppressive countries that have to use VPNs to get around their country-wide bans of certain sites, such as anything that provides access to information. Reddit used to be a sanction for tons of information sharing. But now, with Reddit going public, they have to appeal to their shareholders, who probably have business or other deals in those oppressive countries. So, even if Reddit is simply trying to force users to be trackable, it still behooves the shareholders to make information and knowledge more difficult to access to certain people.
You can still use the site via VPN if you’re logged in. Which is really the entire point. They don’t actually care if you’re using a VPN; It’s just another method to force people to make an account, so the “active accounts” number looks good to shareholders.
Then Reddit's notice should say that instead of scolding sbout VPNs. This problem is not simply with Reddit and a login, it is pervasive. Hell, even lemmy.world blocks vpn connections from making new comments, often.
Lemmy.world handles that particularly poorly, probably because they're a nonprofit with a shoestring budget.
The most obvious improvement would be to accept comments when the account meets a certain age and activity threshold.
Reminds me to donate.
It-… Uhh… It does say that. It’s literally the second sentence in the body of the notice, and even has a link to create an account. Did you even read past the title?
Yes, it briefly mentions it but the entirety of that is about shaming VPN use. Is it not?
It doesn’t actually mention VPNs at all. It simply says you were blocked due to a network policy, and offers potential solutions ranging from “try logging in” to “if you’re doing fucky things with your user agent, maybe try not doing fucky things with your user agent.”
Wtf do you think "network policy" is about when it comes up when using fucking VPNs? It is entirely about VPN use.
Your point was that it’s scolding users for using a VPN. It’s explicitly not doing that. Yes, they’re actively working against VPN usage, but your original statement was still incorrect.
They likely didn't. They just don't care.