The forum is penalizing Tor users

[Loque]

Tor users can't explore the forum. It is a bit incongruous cause of the nature of the forum.
The problem is recaptcha and the IP blocker.
Yes there are a lot of spammer ready to advertise shit. But users that wanna protect their privacy can't enjoy Tor here.

A suggestion can be to moderate the first 5 posts of each users, enough to understand if a new registered user is a bot or not.
If so, recaptcha can be removed allowing everyone browse the forum with Tor.

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[AB de Royse777]

Instead of using the TOR browser directly use it with your Firefox browser. The hassle is less.

Go to about:preferences
scroll down and find the following section



Click Settings



Check manual proxy configuration.

Socks host: 127.0.0.1
Port: 9150
Scroll down



Check Enable DNS over HTTPS

Then click the OK button.

Once you done it, your firefox will be configured to use TOR connection. Remember you will need to keep the TOR browser open to browse using Firefox.

Good luck.

[actmyname]

A suggestion can be to moderate the first 5 posts of each users, enough to understand if a new registered user is a bot or not.
If so, recaptcha can be removed allowing everyone browse the forum with Tor.

Average registrations per day: 401.57
5 * 401.57 = 2007.85

Moderators still have not gone through all of my 2000 reports from a few days ago.There is a no-captcha link available for signing into specifically your account: https://bitcointalk.org/captcha_code.php. As for the IP block (or evil points) that penalizes banned users.

[Loque]

@Royse777 This bypass the captcha problem but let to be pleased of the same Tor privacy level?

@actmyname thanks I didn't know of the no-captcha login link! The problem is that my real IP is now recorded in the database. Only future logins are Torred!

[AB de Royse777]

@Royse777 This bypass the captcha problem but let to be pleased of the same Tor privacy level?

I updated my last post with the instruction.

You still need to face the captcha but it less irritating than the direct TOR browser. Yeah, you get the same privacy level. It's just different browser. You are in fact using the same TOR connection instead of the regular connection you have.

[Loque]

Thank you for the tip, I was unaware of that.
Gonna test it soon.

[theymos]

@actmyname thanks I didn't know of the no-captcha login link! The problem is that my real IP is now recorded in the database. Only future logins are Torred!

You can login via Tor. I just tried it and it worked on the first attempt, though it took a couple of minutes to solve the captcha. You login once, get the captcha code, and then never have to deal with a captcha again: all via Tor.

Enable limited retention in your settings.

The main issue with Tor Browser here is that it doesn't save cookies between restarts, so Cloudflare and Recaptcha treat you as a completely unknown person each time. I think that it's sufficient to use Tor Browser but in its settings disable "always use private browsing mode". This definitely does impact your privacy, though. You'd ideally want a different browser instance (or profile, if Tor Browser supports it) for each site where you want this disabled.

[Loque]

The server and the software of this forum prune IP of users sometimes?

[Rath_]

The server and the software of this forum prune IP of users sometimes?

Take a look at the bottom of this page. You can find the default values there which apply before you limit IP retention in your settings as theymos has already mentioned.

[Loque]

lol I enabled it but it is valid from current login only.
It will store atleast for three months but geo location for 6 years.

[Sutters Mill]

Why do you need to use tor when there are plenty of other faster options? If you want to protect your privacy and remain anonymous then there are other ways to do it. Use a proxy that doesn't keep logs, or use the internet on a pay as you go burner phone. Get a new sim card or even phone every-time your data runs out. You can even combine them and use a proxy over the burner phone. Probably overkill though just to browse a forum.

I doubt most bots use tor as it's very impractical. Tor is probably just abused by a lot of people like proxies are hence why the forum restricts it.

[LoyceV]

Use a proxy that doesn't keep logs

With a proxy or VPN you always have to trust a third party. They can say they don't keep logs, but you can never be sure.

or use the internet on a pay as you go burner phone.

I doubt that's faster than Tor. It's also more expensive and less convenient.

Get a new sim card or even phone every-time your data runs out.

Most people can't afford to use phones as disposables.

I doubt most bots use tor as it's very impractical. Tor is probably just abused by a lot of people like proxies are hence why the forum restricts it.

The forum doesn't restrict Tor users. Google recaptcha "Easy on Humans, Hard on Bots" becomes very difficult when it's used a lot on the same IP (and there are probably other criteria).
Even some normal websites (for instance banks) now make me click recaptcha, and it's a terrible waste of time. Bots don't care, I do.

it took a couple of minutes to solve the captcha

While bots get better at it, I can't even imagine what they'll be like in a few years. Half an hour of clicking to prove you're human?

[Sutters Mill]

Use a proxy that doesn't keep logs

With a proxy or VPN you always have to trust a third party. They can say they don't keep logs, but you can never be sure.

There are ones that are very open about what logs they keep and have been independently verified

https://nordvpn.com/blog/nordvpn-audit/

I'm not recommending them over any other but they're the one that come to mind. Regardless, if you didn't want to use a vpn just go with the burner option.

or use the internet on a pay as you go burner phone.

I doubt that's faster than Tor. It's also more expensive and less convenient.

It's much faster than tor. in my experience Tor is a pain to use and not recommended for every day use. 4g is very fast even on a mobile connection. It's also not that expensive.Credit can be purchased for $10 a month and if you can afford the internet then you can afford this option, but protecting your privacy is going to come at a small cost but some may feel it's worth the money. Of course you can continue using tor but have to bare its restrictions. There's no guarantee that tor is fully safe either. I think the admin of this forum has mentioned the possibility of tor being compromised in some capacity before.

Get a new sim card or even phone every-time your data runs out.

Most people can't afford to use phones as disposables.

Phones are very cheap these days. New ones can be bought from $20 dollars. You can even buy used ones for less. Using a new phone every time is probably overkill unless you're up to some shady business but if you just want to protect your privacy a new sim every now and again will suffice. Just buy a new one every time you need to top up or chnage it every few months or so but again this is probably overkill.

I doubt most bots use tor as it's very impractical. Tor is probably just abused by a lot of people like proxies are hence why the forum restricts it.

The forum doesn't restrict Tor users. Google recaptcha "Easy on Humans, Hard on Bots" becomes very difficult when it's used a lot on the same IP (and there are probably other criteria).
Even some normal websites (for instance banks) now make me click recaptcha, and it's a terrible waste of time. Bots don't care, I do.

It restricts them in the sense that you can't sign up via tor - or you can but not without paying a fee.

[Welsh]

The server and the software of this forum prune IP of users sometimes?

IP's are kept depending on the way they're recorded, and the settings you've enabled.

Full IP is usually around 6 months, if you haven't selected limited retention which is then usually around 3 months. Partial IP is kept for around 2 years. City geolocation probably to assist with recovery is kept for longer than the others, and that's around 6 years. As mentioned above this can be found at: https://bitcointalk.org/privacy.php

[AB de Royse777]

It's horrible suggestion, Firefox default setting heavily leaks many information including unique browser fingerprint and  your real IP address (due to WebRTC feature).
You need to make lots of tweak even to reach the problem, even so you'd have unique configuration which could   be used to deanonymize you.

Okay, I was not aware about it at all. How about if I clear my history and cache every time I restart my Firefox? Do I start clean again in this case?

[TryNinja]

Okay, I was not aware about it at all. How about if I clear my history and cache every time I restart my Firefox? Do I start clean again in this case?

I don't think your browser's cache has anything to do with WebRTC.

What you need to do in this case is disable it: https://www.privacyend.com/disable-webrtc-in-various-browsers/
And maybe install some extra privacy extensions: https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/make-your-firefox-browser-a-privacy-superpower-with-these-extensions/

[Welsh]

Okay, I was not aware about it at all. How about if I clear my history and cache every time I restart my Firefox? Do I start clean again in this case?

My advice would be if you care about privacy then don't substitute Tor Browser for firefox extensions, and settings. Tor Browser is bulit on the firefox browser, but has been refined to do exactly what needs to be done to keep your privacy intact. You can't emulate that with extensions or settings without having the same issues Tor Browser is subject too.

There are settings within Tor Browser to make it restrictive, and therefore improve browsing experience for some websites.

[AB de Royse777]

Okay using my firefox browser I visited this: https://www.vpninsights.com/webrtc-leak-test
It indeed detected my real IP 

But when I tried with TOR browser directly, it could not detect it.

Thanks TryNinja, ETFbitcoin and Welsh.

[malevolent]

Average registrations per day: 401.57
5 * 401.57 = 2007.85

401 is averaged since 2009. It's probably twice as much now (down from several thousand new user registrations per day during the height of the ICO craze). So, yeah, either way that's too much work for us mods

Phones are very cheap these days. New ones can be bought from $20 dollars. You can even buy used ones for less. Using a new phone every time is probably overkill unless you're up to some shady business but if you just want to protect your privacy a new sim every now and again will suffice. Just buy a new one every time you need to top up or chnage it every few months or so but again this is probably overkill.

If you care about privacy enough to inconvenience yourself with mobile Internet, maybe Tor is what you need. Otherwise your ISP can still locate where you are and who you connect to.

[DdmrDdmr]

Average registrations per day: 401.57
5 * 401.57 = 2007.85

Going over @Alex-Sr’s thread that keeps track of the number of registered users per month (see Statistics of user registrations on Bitcointalk 2017-2019), the recent average registered users is around 675/day so far (en of June) this year:

Code:

2019 Month	Registered	nDays	Average
January	        22234	        31	717
February	16202	        28	579
March	        18932	        31	611
April	        17910	        30	597
May	        24472	        31	789
June	        22357	        30	745
					
Total Acc	122107	        181	675