Site blocks VPN users.

Unfortunately true. I wrote about it early last year here: https://blog.xkeeper.net/uncategorized/tcrf-has-been-getting...

The story has not changed much. Every so often I will remove most of the blocks put in place, and within a few hours I'm back to having to block them. Many of the cheaper VPNs are also hosted on AWS / Google Cloud / Azure (or other cloud providers), which are also unilaterally blocked.

I would much prefer we did not have to do this, but it is what it is.

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deadbabe 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is why you should self host your VPN.

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retired 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Does that not defeat the anonymity aspect?

	▲	DANmode 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		You mean pseudo anonymity, from advertisers mostly?
	▲	deadbabe 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		VPNs even from big public providers have not been a reliable way to protect anonymity for a while now. Use VPNs for cryptographic security and circumventing region control.

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Retr0id 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

But where do you self-host it? Most sites that block VPNs also block VPSes

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ErroneousBosh 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Many of us only like legitimate users, and therefore block VPNs.

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lxgr 5 hours ago | parent [-]

What makes a VPN user inherently “illegitimate” in your view?

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mschuster91 4 hours ago | parent [-]

The problem is the whack-a-mole game with hackers and script kiddies. It used to be the case that banning known colo ASNs was enough to get rid of nuisance by STROs, then there was a flood of hacked routers being used for DDoS that was really annoying to get rid of, and then came "residential IP" VPNs and commercial VPNs, both of which get routinely abused by AI scrapers and frankly, the AI scrapers are a worse enemy than the skiddies of 10 years ago. They ruin everything.

And you as a site operator can't really tell apart skiddies, griefers, AI scrapers and legitimate users apart any more.

	▲	deadbabe 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		What are they doing exactly?
	▲	therein 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Almost as if you shouldn't be banning users because of their IP unless that IP specifically has openly attacked you. Or I guess you can just DENY ALL.