Libreddit's Public Instances are Shutting Down
spikecodes opened this issue · 53 comments
⚠️ PUBLIC INSTANCE SHUT DOWN ⚠️
As of July 12th, 2023, Libreddit is currently not operational as Reddit's API changes, that were designed to kill third-party apps and content scrapers who don't pay large fees, went into effect.
➡️ Project is continued as Redlib, go check it out!
From one of Libreddit's maintainers, @sigaloid.
What happened?
Their new limits mean the project would only work for small instances and who authenticate using OAuth, effectively voiding any privacy benefits of using Libreddit. @sigaloid is working on an implementation of this that would keep the project working for these smaller instances, potentially by auto-generating API keys or allowing users to bring their own.
Libreddit is just one of many third-party clients, including Teddit and many mobile clients, killed by these changes. Reddit's official app and website were notoriously un-user-friendly which is why so many turned to tools like Libreddit to scroll through their favorite subreddits. As Teddit's creator wrote so well in their shutdown announcement:
Reddit has proved once again that all it cares about is its profits and its upcoming IPO, and that it could not care less about its users, moderators, and content creators. To protect its corporate needs, Reddit ignores community protests, harms accessibility for disabled users, and threatens the volunteers who moderate the site.
What Libreddit meant to me
It brings me sadness to announce this as I, like the project's many users, used Libreddit every day as an alternative to Reddit. Libreddit gave a space to access your favorite content without ads, without trackers, without malicious cookies, and without bloated JavaScript. You could customize your experience, filter out content you didn't like, and subscribe to your favorite feeds, all without creating an account.
The project received more love than anything I've built before and it's been amazing to see the community formed around it. I remember discussing this idea with @curlpipe a few years ago and he really inspired (and brainstormed) much of the project's initial design.
It was my first time working with Rust 🦀 and it's been so cool to see so many developers become exposed to this awesome 8-year-old programming language through contributing to Libreddit's codebase.
THANK YOU
I want to say a big THANK YOU to all of the users, the generous donors, the individuals who emailed my work address to express their gratitude, and the awesome 86 contributors who volunteered hours of their time to keep this project alive. ♥
I'd also like to give a special shout out to @Daniel-Valentine and @sigaloid. Both of these great developers helped sustain Libreddit during my absence and implemented lots of new features to make the user experience enjoyable.
Some stats:
- Libreddit was hosted by over 100 volunteers globally, allowing decentralized access to all.*
- More than 4,700 people starred the project on GitHub, allowing it to repeatedly reach GitHub's Trending Rust list.
- Nearly 1,000 commits were made to the codebase.
- There were 86 legendary contributors who helped crowdsource the functionality of this project.
*This number includes the awesome instances that were not published for public use but still available regionally/locally.
What's next with this project?
If we cannot get the project working for small instances as discussed in @sigaloid's plan, this repository may eventually be archived.
The libredd.it domain will not be renewed and the libreddit.spike.codes instance will redirect to this shut down announcement. Matrix channels will remain open for communication/discussion.
What can I use instead of Libreddit? (assuming we can't get it working again)
For many Reddit users, the shut down of third party Reddit clients has pushed them elsewhere onto other platforms. There is no exact alternative to Libreddit but there are Reddit alternatives that have gained some traction in the wake of this news.
I'm happy to endorse a fellow Rust project, Lemmy! Lemmy is a federated, decentralized, free, and open source alternative to Reddit that has shot up in popularity since the Reddit API news. If you don't feel comfortable using Reddit anymore, I strongly recommend one - of - the many instances on this platform.
Again, thank you for all the love! ♥
Warmly,
Spike
fuck u/spez
I have very little idea about programming or shits but maybe this might help u guys ?
https://github.com/kaangiray26/geddit-app
Unfortunately they use the same JSON endpoints we do, which has the same rate limiting problem. At least they do it client side, so the rate limits are per user rather than per instance, but that takes away a lot of the privacy features.
First of all thank you! I would like to say that localhost / personal self-hosted instances are still working 100%, so even if localhost use was not the primary goal, it offers most of libreddit's benefits (except being a proxy for IP address privacy), so please consider keeping the project open with the current unauthenticated API for localhost use case no matter Reddit's rate limiting
That is a huge deal breaker for me personally – the design is innovative, responsive, the layout is clean. Content loads near instantly, while sound doesn't always work even after enabling the functionality, the video player actually works.
I log in to Reddit only to reply to some comments and engage in discussions. For everything else – Libreddit.
It is everything Reddit should use as a reference to provide a plausible experience to its users, and not barely working new Reddit website infused with horrendous JS code written by pubic lice that slows down entire browser. I don't want to use old Reddit in order not to break my fingers pressing all those triangle buttons that show images. Even Cuckerberg allows boomers to see their QAnon conspiracies in a relatively working website.
I definitely have made somebody's day brighter with my memes and shitposts. I have greatly contributed to the Lithuanian r/okbuddyretard community r/okdraugedebile. I can't continue and won't continue using a website that is being entirely wrapped around a tsar's finger, who doesn't generate content while the users do. If I'm not getting entertainment from the website, I might as well enjoy freedom from social media. After all, it's for the better.
The negotiation with the Reddit community was exactly zero. The hostility by spez was immense and audacious.
To creator of Libreddit:
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU
You deserve a big hug for your efforts
Slava Libredditu, spez huilo.
I'm seriously considering deleting my Reddit account now.
I'm seriously considering deleting my Reddit account now.
Gee, took you long enough! 😆
If you (i.e. someone) really have to read Reddit anyway and all you need is some ambiguous/additional privacy, then you can anonymously view Reddit.com via Tor Browser.
Reddit even provides .onion, though be careful, their onion has clearnet Google scripts. So you may want to block scripts; for that purpose, old.reddit.com might be easier to handle. (Tor Browser comes with No Script but allows scripts by default, and eats cookies. You can disable them by settings. Tor Browser on Tails comes with uBlock too.)
If privacy is important, not using Reddit at all is perhaps the best option - ToS;DR of Reddit is https://tosdr.org/en/service/194 and for example, r/PrivacyGuides had ditched Reddit already (as it should). For that matter, you may want to get rid of not-so-privacy-friendly services from your life (everyone knows the main items on the list, e.g. Twitter, Google).
Does the onion ratelimit?
Does the onion ratelimit?
no it does not. Routing traffic from libreddit through TOR works actually quite well. See #841
First of all thank you! I would like to say that localhost / personal self-hosted instances are still working 100%, so even if localhost use was not the primary goal, it offers most of libreddit's benefits (except being a proxy for IP address privacy), so please consider keeping the project open with the current unauthenticated API for localhost use case no matter Reddit's rate limiting
Can confirm that my self-hosted instance seems to be working fine.
First of all thank you! I would like to say that localhost / personal self-hosted instances are still working 100%, so even if localhost use was not the primary goal, it offers most of libreddit's benefits (except being a proxy for IP address privacy), so please consider keeping the project open with the current unauthenticated API for localhost use case no matter Reddit's rate limiting
Can confirm that my self-hosted instance seems to be working fine.
Same here. I selfhost libreddit for personal use, and it has been my desktop reddit client for months. Since rif (android) has been shut down, it's now my mobile client as well.
I found Libreddit not so long ago, along with Nitter (which sadly isn't reliable any more thanks to changes by Twitter). I liked that Libreddit just works and removes all the distractions, especially those stupid awards.
Hopefully, Facebook isn't going to be the one to make a Reddit clone, and I hope those making these hostile changes in the first place will get their comeuppance.
So long, and thanks for all the fish. Good luck to everyone in their future endeavors (except for greedy Big Tech).
I think we establish that libreddit still works, just run it over Tor and there's no ratelimit.
There's also Lemmy/Kbin already existing as popular Reddit replacements not in the hands of Big Tech
Similarly to some comments above, just wanted to note that self-hosting is still a viable solution for now. For my personal use, I haven't needed OAuth or API keys.
With both Google and Reddit trying to kill third-party clients, I've taken to self-hosting Invidious and Libreddit. While it does undermine some of privacy-aspects of the projects, it's still worth it to me to use a client that's private and lightweight by design.
Hopefully, with time, decentralized solutions become the default, and we'll see Lemmy and Discourse scattered all over search engine results instead of Reddit. 😎
Meanwhile, thank you very much to all Libreddit contributors.
Please stop scaring people, "Librereddit Public Instances are Shutting Down". You do realize we are people, we have a choice to shut down or not only the legal retards will shut down. The High IQ will fight back for privacy and update/maintain to keep it up. Go to my libreddit here
Nitter is never shutting down, and the ratelimit of nitter has been fixed. If you want a fully working nitter + nsfw, Check out here
Migrating from non-libre to libre is NOT scary but exciting. While there are still a lot of working Nitter instances, Mastadon for example is obviously a cool option. In some Lemmy instances, you can sign up without giving any your personal info (not even your email address). And of course, you can anonymously write and read via Tor too. Finally getting out of jail, so to speak. Everyone is happy, not scared; if anything, they might be a bit overwhelmed by this sudden freedom. Thanks Reddit for helping people move on to the right way!
What is encouraging is, we may be able to create better systems with decentralisation. Although not sure if this is going to work, it's fun to experiment!
Obviously, the fundamental solution is using a privacy-friendly service to begin with. Using a privacy-unfriendly service with a privacy front-end is, let's face it, just a workaround - it's like L2 solutions of non-privacy coins, although that could be hugely useful in a practical sense... for which, thank you very much again for everyone who worked (and is still working) for this Layer 2.
Thank you!
[But please, stop saying "fight back for privacy" when you're blocking Tor and (in)directly supporting oppressive governments. Indiscriminately blocking everyone who has to rely on snowflake/obfs4/bridges/tails is not "for privacy" at all. For example: when wikiless would be a great help for getting some info, sadly wikiless itself blocks us.]
Fuck u/spez
Y'all are the last hope for third party Reddit support, everything else is riddled with trackers & fingerprints
@xbdmHQ, the announcement wasn't to say the instances were shutting down for legal reasons, it was to say most public instances are experiencing heavy rate limits and most users cannot access it. We needed to communicate something publicly so people knew what to expect. Your instance will too experience the same rate limiting issues if it sees any large amount of usage.
Your instance will too experience the same rate limiting issues if it sees any large amount of usage.
Again: unless it switches to accessing reddit via Tor
That's true, I'm not sure that's feasible in the long run if the API usage is high enough to run into limits with the limited number of exit nodes. However it's a stopgap in the meantime and the research into Tor as an alternative is much appreciated.
t
you can check my idea of using ipv6
#845
its literally 17$ per year, for millions of ips
its ratelimited per ip , its not like they gonna ratelimit ipv6 imo or isps
I am using tor and I am getting too many request errors across-the-board with all of the instances that I’ve been trying the last few days so using tor doesn’t seem to be working as you say it isOn Jul 18, 2023, at 8:02 PM, Tony O @.> wrote: Your instance will too experience the same rate limiting issues if it sees any large amount of usage. Again: unless it switches to accessing reddit via Tor —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.>
Thank you for this beautiful project that allows me to enjoy reddit with my crappy computer, and fuck spez!
safereddit.com maintainer here
To help alleviate rate limiting issues, requests are now load balanced between three different IPs. I also noticed that search engines were creating a lot of traffic when indexing, so I modified the robots.txt to cut down on that.
I haven't noticed any errors since.
I've under a rock for a while. I'M SO WORRIED! What should I begin with?
I've under a rock for a while. I'M SO WORRIED! What should I begin with?
same as a person who selfhosts libreddit, would like to know new ways to use it properly.
safereddit.com maintainer here
To help alleviate rate limiting issues, requests are now load balanced between three different IPs. I also noticed that search engines were creating a lot of traffic when indexing, so I modified the robots.txt to cut down on that.
I haven't noticed any errors since.
get your stuff the right way
check the nginx logs / whatever u using bruhhh
The error that prevented me from using LibReddit was "Error: Too Many Requests", however as of 08/24/2023 I do not get that error anymore. I use the Safereddit instance and everything is working fine.
08/29/2023 EDIT: Nevermind, I still get the "Too Many Requests" error. Looks like LibReddit is dead until it's fixed, rest in peace.
Vern.cc instance is working too, sometimes and as of right now. But there are still times where it’s blocked, so… It’s better than in July, but don’t consider anything fixed for good.
Vern.cc instance is working too, sometimes and as of right now. But there are still times where it’s blocked, so… It’s better than in July, but don’t consider anything fixed for good.
I guess not many users...
I got myself a fly.io instance, literally just by running docker (frfr best program ever lol)
https://redditor.fly.dev/
Come to Lemmy, it was such an eye opener, this was a blessing in disguise for me, literally a life-changer. Libre rulez, yay for decentralization!
Thanks again to Teddit/Libreddit/Nitter developers. They were great and we all know that the recent mess was not you guys' fault.
Come to Lemmy, it was such an eye opener, this was a blessing in disguise for me, literally a life-changer. Libre rulez, yay for decentralization!
Thanks again to Teddit/Libreddit/Nitter developers. They were great and we all know that the recent mess was not you guys' fault.
Yםור Your mom and uncle gonna move to Lenny. Let it sink in
@seychelles111 No insults, please.
I can’t say I really like Github in general (it’s Micro$oft after all…), one thing I find really cool is, a childish comment like that won’t be deleted forcefully. If this was a stuffy instance of, say, Mastodon, its admin might “moderate” a troll like that. That’s what I may dislike about (some part of) Fedi tbh.
Although it might be considered as a necessary evil when an immature person starts insulting another commenter rather than rationally retorting their comment itself, censorship is still evil. I hope these comments by @seychelles111 will be kept forever, never deleted, so that others might think about this in general.
A person who prefers reddit (or who prefers ex Twitter to Mastodon) should be totally free to do so. Their freedom should be respected, and one should not be judgmental about them, just like I’m totally free to suggest whatever I’d like to suggest. Anyone is free to ignore it or react childishly. And yeah, I’m gonna kind of agree now, Lemmy is not necessarily as good as I first thought, haha. The “Inflated Expectations, Trough of Disillusionment” thing. Obviously better than Reddit, but that doesn’t mean it’s good enough. “Slope of Enlightenment”…
Anyway, please don’t take this personally. Since I’m a fool, I simply said I felt at that time as-is. If that made anyone unpleasant, I apologize.
Back to topic: lr.vern.cc (the whole vern.cc domain, actually) is down for days, and lr.mint.lgbt returns an error 502.
It’s sad that we are somewhat forced to go back to old.reddit.com… I liked the simple design of Libreddit.
@seychelles111 Yours works! Thank you! o/
you're not forced! you can use my instance redditor.fly.dev almost 0 people use my instance... if you want! I will teach you how to get your own instance for free.. aka you can also host on docker... just ask and I will do it mate !
…
On Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 11:31 AM Trit34 @.> wrote: Back to topic: lr.vern.cc (the whole vern.cc domain, actually) is down for days, and lr.mint.lgbt returns an error 502. It’s sad that we are somewhat forced to go back to old.reddit.com… I liked the simple design of Libreddit. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#840 (comment)>, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A7FRWKGWXIHHYAWGICKBNN3X3ABFLANCNFSM6AAAAAA2KV2C7M . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.>
I see that your instance doesn't appear to have HLS issues with audio and sometimes not playing media at all. I am reverse proxying to docker from nginx, mind sharing your setup?
Why here talks with capslock?
lol
@seychelles111 Has your instance shut down? It’s not responding for a week, now.
I also have this brother
Thanks! o/
I also have this brother https://redditor1-ori.koyeb.app/
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For all still curious: I forked here and added promised fix that spoofs the OAuth client of an anonymous app. TLDR: Working app.
Spike and Daniel: Would be happy to add you as maintainers (had to start a new org for the rename).