This is the main reason I completely ditched Reddit, if you use the new Reddit interface instead of the old one (old.reddit.com), you’ll see a constant request being made to “https://www.reddit.com/svc/shreddit/events” (open your DevTools > Network tab, can’t see on Firefox idk why).
The problem is, if you add this to your Ublock Origin filters the website won’t load properly, that’s why uBO team didn’t block it already.
You’ll notice this request isn’t only being made from a interval but also when you do basically any action in the site, like pausing or resuming a video (send timestamps of when did you pause or resumed).
It sends other kind of data like what subjects you’re seeing when closed a tab or the related subjects of a post you click, this all can be used to trace a perfect profile of you and things you like.
You can avoid that by using the old.reddit but it still has the same kind of tracker, even tho you can block it here without major issues.
By my analysis, old Reddit interface does the same but to a random URL path that always starts with “reddit.com/api/something”. Ex.: reddit.com/api/friends So you can block anything that starts with “www.reddit.com/api” in your custom filters (after all you’re using old.reddit.com), then you’re mostly free from Reddit trackers (more or less). Side effect is, you won’t be able to use the chat in the old interface.
It’s a guilty little pleasure of mine to read about how shitty it is for those who freely choose to remain there. It’s tragic, but I can’t help but shake my head in disbelief at such stupidity. Why do people put up with shit like that, totally blows my mind.
it’s got all the content and users
IMO it had all the content and users some time ago. I follow mostly specific interest/hobby subreddits, but lately even they have devolved into illiterates asking the same exact questions repeatedly; some strange attention-seeking posts such as pictures captioned “getting started”/“this just arrived" or “what should I do with this thing that I got?”; and really dumb stuff such as “I inhaled solder fumes, will I get lead poisoning?” (These are at least entertaining in a way)
I mean it depends on what you use it for. Lemmy instances might not have as much content, but the question is if they have enough content. If I can’t scroll to the end of reddit or Lemmy, what’s the difference? Lemmy doesn’t have the depth of knowledge, though; I’m not going to find 12 year old troubleshooting tips for my GBA on Lemmy.
weird. old reddit loads fine for me with js completely disabled.
That’s what I miss about the good old web. Websites that just work, without JavaScript
Indeed, it’ll work, you just won’t be able to interact, upvote/downvote, join subreddits or comment etc…
If you’ll not interact at all better to use RedLib (private frontend red.artemislena.eu), I think they’ll hide even your IP address (not sure tho).
yeah, those and old reddit (also available as tor onion site) is good.
at least a few years ago one could set some cookie to a weird value and bypass old reddit’s vpn restriction page, not sure if it’s got patched now…
The problem is, if you add this to your Ublock Origin filters the website won’t load properly
This is unfortunately true for many many many sites.
Use non-commercial web pages & internet stuff as much as possible.
That’s like warning me there’s bacteria in the shitting bucket
Why is nobody using the special room for taking a shit? I was just in there and the newspaper we use to clean up with is the same date as the day we installed it.
Why are you shitting in a bucket?
What, you’re too good for the bucket?
I mean…
Elitist everyone! Get him!
I am actually using the federated outhouse now, but still like to keep up to date with the sufferings of people who are so used to the bucket they can’t let go
The new American dream.
This is good to know - thanks for sharing. I dread that old.reddit.com’s days are numbered…
Same, pretty sure they’ll completely shut down old reddit soon.
It’s been acting really squirrely on my phone (no, I don’t use the app), to the point where I’ve just don’t bother with it anymore. It seems like they are changing stuff, and I’m done with it.
Could the fact that you don’t see the requests in Firefox be a sign that uBO actually works better in Firefox and worse in Chrome? Possibly something about manifest V3 being implemented? Or do you think the Firefox DevTools are just less advanced? Or something else?
I’m only speculating, but I believe uBO behaves differently between Chromium-based and Gecko-based browsers because Chrome is restricting the abilities of extensions like uBO to do their thing.
My point is, when you open both browsers without any extension you can see the HTTP requests in the Devtools > Network page, so it isn’t related to uBO, for some reason I can’t see this specific request on Firefox, but I can see in Chromium based.
I know that this request is happening in Firefox because I tested with a MITM Proxy, so I can see all my network traffic, I noticed the request is being made but Firefox DevTools doesn’t show it for some reason.
I tested without uBO installed of course, but anyway, requests blocked by uBO are shown in red with “Blocked by uBO” in the “Transferred” column.
Yeah, iirc chrome killed webextension manifest v2 which is what ubo originally was built on.
I still don’t get why people didn’t leave Chrome and Chromium browsers en masse when they did this.
Users are so fucking dumb at this point… Like, do they not want any power or ownership? This shit is so easy to fight against, yet they just sleep on it.
I get you. But it’s the same with WhatsApp and windows and … They won’t leave comfort zone, which I can understand but the argumentation drives me crazy sometimes. I fucking despise the ads /- industry today, so that’s a no brainer for me, but people don’t seem to mind seeing the same slop again and again.
Maybe it’s time for me to delete it and step away for good then. The “algorithmic” corpoweb as a whole makes me feel nauseous.
I think it would depend on why you were visiting reddit. If you wanted to comment or pm someone you’d need to visit the site. If you’re just reading the site, you could use one of the anonymous front ends out there.
The problem is, if you add this to your Ublock Origin filters the website won’t load properly, that’s why uBO team didn’t block it already.
How do I add this to uBlock? I added it with double vertical bars, but I’m not noticing a difference.
Screenshot:
Add this:
It must explicit start with www.reddit or all the old reddit won’t work.
You should see this when you open your Network tabs of DevTools (F12)
The first one has no effect if you’re using old.reddit.com
Awesome. Looks like it’s working now. Thanks for the guidance!
Do you know if there’s anything that can be blocked from the Javascript side of things? (uMatrix lets me handle that on a case-by-case basis)
It seems you can’t block this request, I tested using mitm proxy, you can stop requests being made, so when you do it, the Reddit home page stop loading, if I resume but discard the request (same thing as blocking), the page doesn’t load anymore.
Back when I noticed this, I asked on uBO origin subreddit, and the uBO Team told me there’s nothing they can do, they tried and all attempts broke the site, that’s why I said this tracker is unblockable.
I suggested them to intercept the request, change the parameters with fake ones, then proceed, so it’s sending a wrong info in the tracker, they said they tried it already but didn’t work.
Okay, thanks much for looking in to that!
What I know for sure-- when “old” Reddit is eventually abolished, that’ll be my last participation with the site, other than maybe when useful search engine results come up.
If you’re blocking 99% of all ads on all other sites, who cares what they’re tracking? It’s not like it’s serving you ads. What are you cautious about?
edit: i love that no one can answer my question but downvote me. you really think all these sites don’t already have a profile on everyone? the US government is bought and paid for, you think your info is private? lmao
“Pentagon orders anyone who up voted a post of baby faced picture JD Vance fucking a couch to self deport.”
That’s what.
They can fingerprint you and trace a profile about your personality, this can be used for a lot of things.
Imagine if they know exactly what are your tastes, you don’t see ads, ok, you were able to block every unwanted visual interference. But imagine a new platform appears, you access it and by your IP, e-mail, phone number or even nickname they know it’s you before you registering there.
Reddit sell all your data for this new platform, the new platform can show you some sweet content that matches exactly you taste, you’ll think “this is awesome, everything I like is here”, it’ll make you access it more often, contribute to it, later they add paywalls, mandatory ads, then you know… You’ve being manipulated already. You can’t live without it and will be force to accept their terms.
They can fingerprint you and trace a profile about your personality
They can do that already, since you’re logged-in on their platform.
They can’t, the information you get server-side is limited compared to client-side. They might know what sub I follow and where I like to interact, but that’s not enough compared to sending constant information of everything you do. If it was enough, they wouldn’t need to track people client-side, right?
thats why they recently have been upping thier detection of anti-detect browsers(not tor) to detect and ban the users that hide thier fingerprints, canvas, time zones, ip spoofing, and your device components.
Do you think they don’t already have this information? I’m genuinely asking what you’re trying to block from reddit that isn’t already out there.
Pasting my other comment here:
They can’t, the information you get server-side is limited compared to client-side. They might know what sub I follow and where I like to interact, but that’s not enough compared to sending constant information of everything you do. If it was enough, they wouldn’t need to track people client-side, right?
if a creepy stranger walks in on you while you’re changing, this doesn’t mean that you should simply let them watch you change from now on. If anything, you should get a lock on your door to prevent it from happening again.
