Ask PG: Accessing HN via Tor

40 pointsjnhnum112y ago10 comments

It seems that Hacker News is inaccessible via Tor. Is this because of manual blocking of exit nodes, and if so can this blocking be lifted (at least for read access)?

10 comments

gems12y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5864439

kogir12y ago

Confirmed. The IP bans are mostly automated. If an exit node is blocked, it's because someone else ruined the fun for everyone.

hmsimha12y ago

I hope that this doesn't also mean that running a Tor exit node puts you at risk of getting banned (from HN or elsewhere). I think the people running exit nodes are providing an essential community service, and I would hate to think this might be how they're thanked.

1 more reply

coreyja12y ago

I just tried this myself to verify that I couldn't reach it through Tor and I couldn't either. I agree that there should be at least read access for people browsing with Tor.

Also, I would be curious to hear from PG (or others) what went into the decision making process to make this site (or others) not accessible from Tor.

meowface12y ago

Unfortunately easily accessible proxies, like Tor, are very frequently abused by spammers and other script kiddies. It's easy to write, or use, a bot that takes in a long list of proxies (or uses the Tor daemon API to frequently acquire a new circuit) and spams a website with hundreds or thousands of submissions per minute.

jongraehl12y ago

I'd hesitate to use any of your existing regular-internet accounts over Tor. Start with a fresh browser.

RachelF12y ago

Part of HN's deal with the NSA ;-)

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