What is Reddit doing
I don't use Reddit anymore, but I wanted to search something that I couldn't find anywhere. This is what I saw. After killing all the other apps, Reddit now is trying to force us to use their own spyware app.
I don't use Reddit anymore, but I wanted to search something that I couldn't find anywhere. This is what I saw. After killing all the other apps, Reddit now is trying to force us to use their own spyware app.
I have left, I just view Reddit...
So you haven't left Reddit. Like saying you left Google but still Google search without logging in.
https://github.com/redlib-org/redlib There's some redirect browser addons like LibRedirect that can automatically redirect you to redlib instances.
From the readme in the link there’s a redlib instance uptime list. Can use one with 99% uptime if you’re having trouble finding a good one!
The addon I mentioned can ping instances and you can then add or remove them accordingly.
Highly recommend this. It takes some time setting a default instance that isn't down or broken for some sites but worth it.
Some sites seem to just be broken and the only option from what I can tell but it certainly worked well for Reddit. Just had to filter out the specific instances that don't allow for NSFW posts at all.
I think they're doing it for logged out users. If you're logged into an account, you're fine.
I pay for Proton and the non-free servers generally work, although some have been blocked.
Eventually I'll treat Reddit like Pinterest, either blocking it entirely from search results, or using FF add-ons to bypass all the cruft laid over the website
is there any firefox extensions/userscripts to make it more tolerable on mobile? the buttons are always way too small.
Yes, actually. Look up Oldlander addon for Firefox.
It's new and kinda of rough but it definitely helps.
There's a beta of RES for mobile now, but I haven't tried it yet. I mostly use lemmy instead on mobile (but it's not really the same thing).
This is why they removed the apps. They want to be driving traffic through the app, and the 3rd party apps prevented that from happening.
I think the worst part is they entirely ignored the most painfully obvious solution of implementing a "reddit plus" or "reddit premium" or "reddit red" and just gated third party app access behind a $9.99/mo subscription. I have a hard time believing most reddit users' ad views are worth anywhere near that much per month. But instead they decided to burn a significant sum of goodwill on questionable premises and pissed off a significant number of power users.
The feeling I got from all of the communications was that /u/spez was jealous of Apollo and just wanted to kill off Apollo. Which would explain why they took such a scorched earth approach in trying to kill all third party apps
That is basically what they did. There are a decent amount of third party apps around that work. I personally use Narwhal.
The further we get from the whole third party app debacle, the more I think this was just a way to kill the most popular apps. The ones that people said made reddit worth using. The ones that got shouted out in Apple keynotes.
Yeah, there is 0 way that reddit reviews even 10% of of the content, probably even 5%, if even that. There's just no way. This is just a scare tactic to get you into their walled garden, to download their app, sign you up, and become a metric.
So people cant access "unrated" 18+ content they found on Google and then have people get mad that the content was NSFW or restricted.
Its essentially a "We dont know what your going to find here and dont want lawsuits" protection.
It'd be nice if Google unlisted links that bring you to "install our app or you get nothing" pages
It's what all the normies use. If they lose a major source of traffic over it, they might stop doing it.
google search is mostly shit without a private frontend like startpage (shut up bot, i know they're owned by an advertising company)
But why?
Do they somehow get more personal data that way?
I thought closing access to the API was for my own protection!
Pro tip: add old.
in the beggining of url. Reddit still has such answers for niche questions
I'm going to guess enabling "desktop mode" in Chrome (idk if other browsers have it) would probably work as well, but would throw off the layout most likely.
The only browser plugin you need for Reddit is LibRedirect to automatically redirect all Reddit links to a private frontend called Redlib
You can't access old.reddit.com with VPN these days. I wouldn't be surprised if reddit killed it soon.
You can't access the normal Reddit site behind a VPN either. The only solution is to use a private frontend like Redlib with LibRedirect, to automatically redirect all Reddit links to Redlib.
The only decent way to browse Reddit nowadays is a private frontend called Redlib. You can use the LibRedirect browser extension or the UntrackMe Android app to automatically redirect all Reddit links to Redlib. It's better for privacy, since you don't need to access Reddit directly and thus your information isn't exposed, it works without JavaScript, it doesn't have ads or trackers and works behind a VPN or Tor. It also lets you view NSFW content without any limitations.
On android, I would recommend using Stealth or Geddit to browse reddit. Stealth has a mode where it scrapes old.reddit.com (and bypasses the API), and Geddit uses the RSS feed to pull content instead of API.
Downside is neither app will let you interact, but I don't have any desire to generate content for reddit anyways.
Love the absence of logic in these messages. Next time it'll be "pay $2 to continue" or "do a barrel roll to continue".
I know it has nothing to do with protecting the users, but how exactly is the app supposed to make viewing unreviewed content safer?
no offense but who the fuck cares, you know what i mean? that shithole can enjoy the hell it has consigned itself to.
And like, why are people surprised it's only getting worse? Of course it is, we knew long ago the removal of 3rd party app was the beginning of the master plan to monetize our communities.
the beginning of the master plan to monetize our communities.
I think it was closer to the middle of the plan.
I think what's even more annoying is when you actually do use the app, every community you visit, it pops up a notification that says "turn on notifications so you don't miss updates from this community!"
Easy fix is to update the url to use "old.reddit.com" rather than the base "www.reddit.com".
That sends you to a version of the site without a bunch of the crap.
This doesn't work anymore. I just refresh it and stop somewhere in the middle and it sometimes works.
Old Reddit works for me. Does it just not work in general for you, or does it not work when not logged into an account?
Well, I think the link structure changed. If I add old to the url, the page doesn't even work, but the homepage does.
Did you get a browser error when trying this? It might be because you left the www in the URL. I had to remove that and replace it with old, and it works. The rest of the link structure is the same on both old and new reddit. I even tried it from a VPN just to be sure it wasn't seeing my logged in cookies, and in a private browsing window where RES isn't allowed to run. Worked fine.
Interesting. I'll have to test it when I get home. I'm always signed in and I use RES so could be some other factors causing it to not be a problem for me.
any idea how reddit keeps banning my alt accounts ? I am suspecting chrome broswser is complicit.
Their support site says my browser is unsupported
I already have a web app (my browser) so I’ll never download individual apps for sites (maybe tapatalk app since it covers many)
If the website doesn’t work then I just browse something else
Don't think of it as them being unprofessional, think of it as them having a safety valve to relieve the pressure of some people wanting to leave Reddit for Lemmy or elsewhere, because of their bs.
Someday, when they're confident enough that they have customer retention locked in, that methodology of bypassing will be removed.
my set up won't let me login via normal webpage, and i aint changing that. so fuck 'em
looks like my set up is working properly at blocking google etc verification on login.
it is fucking disgusting how my login must be verified by all mega corps nowadays.
reminds of that meme with white chick on couch and 5 black dudes... take this verification BBC peasant.
I have 0 doubt that they eventually shut old.reddit down, or they make it so unusable that it doesn't make a difference anymore if they did. Probably with some extensive regretful apology letter about how hard it became for the team to maintain, something about the future of Reddit moving forward and blah blah blah...
the thing is, the one and only purpose of this dialog is to increase metrics of engagement, like how many users download the app. they don't need to convert every mobile web user to an app user immediately. as long as that dialog is driving the engagement metrics apps, it is doing its work correctly. obviously at some point there will stop increasing engagement, so the middle managers will turn and try to squeeze a bit more by removing the loopholes, but it is not an urgent problem. it even might be intentional so they can squeeze a bit more later
the one that i am surprised at how bad it is is Twitter, that is still hosted at twitter.com . even going to x.com just redirects to twitter.com . i assume that there's some major engineering problem that is preventing them from switching, but still, it has been almost 10 months and the clown at chief really pushed for the rebranding
I'm sure they know and don't care. The gain in app installs from the users of this workaround would be nonexistent.
Dear Steve.
He ain’t ever going to read that. Can we stop talking about our ex yet?
It's been like this for quite some time now.
And anytime you use a browser, you'll always be nagged to continue viewing through browser or use their app. It comes up so obnoxiously and I swear it slows you down. They also make the viewing experience subpar unless you use the app.
All I'm gonna say is I've been using my banned account and I can still browse any sub.
I literally can't interact in any way but can still see every post.