this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
51 points (93.2% liked)

Asklemmy

43397 readers
1040 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hello,

I've written a post that I'd like to distribute as anonymously as possible while still reaching a large audience (if possible). However every forum that has let me create an account through tor always has a server error when trying to make a post. Do you guys have any recommendations for where I could make a forum post from the tor browser?

Thanks

all 31 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

So many people here saying "you probably don't need tor" as it is tor is only for whistleblowers. It feels really different to be 100% anonymous online, you should try it sometimes.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Are you using TOR to post this right now?

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I don't know what it is you want to distribute, but if it is newsworthy or political in nature, I think most media outlets (like "legit" ones like WaPo, NYT, etc.) have ways of contacting them through Tor for situations where the person with the information might have legitimate fears for their safety (e.g. whistleblowers).

But that's really only for a certain type of "post."

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Raddle is Tor friendly

Clearnet: https://raddle.me/

Onion: http://c32zjeghcp5tj3kb72pltz56piei66drc63vkhn5yixiyk4cmerrjtid.onion/ (not sure how well this is maintained since few people use it, but it's the link from their wiki)

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago
[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

you see, the problem is: if you can do that, any spambot or troll farm can do it too...

Some years ago I was actually able to post to reddit through Tor. Has that really changed?

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

https://telegra.ph allows you to post text (and pictures) without having to create an account ..and is accessible from the Tor browser ;)

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've written a post that I'd like to distribute as anonymously as possible while still reaching a large audience

Sounds like spam.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Lemmy docs specifically have a way of setting up access as a hidden service on the TOR network, I'm not sure if any servers actually use it though.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Which forums are you talking about ? Discourse based forums ? Reddit ? Lemmy ? Reddit will shadowban Tor and VPN users immediately. Lemmy with some exceptions should be fine is my experience. Note however that Tor circuits can change. For example, a few days in a row I had search engine results thinking I'd come from a certain country and on some sites I was offered to solve reCAPTHAs or blocked for reading things. Then since a few days search engine results think that I come from another country, and I don't have to solve reCAPTCHAs for a site where I had to before. I'm trying to say that it appears that some sites block all Tor but some sites only block some of Tor. You can manually change the country you appear to come from with Tor browser though this is not recommended. Using a VPN is an alternative to HYA.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

You could use a VPN to obscure your IP address. Then with the VPN enabled, create an email account using a privacy-focused provider like Proton and use that email address to create a Lemmy / Mastodon account. Then post.

Perhaps you can get more technical advice in one of the privacy communities.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Do most lemmy servers not allow Tor users?

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Unless you're trying to mask your identity from your ISP, instance or government, I don't really see how tor is useful here, given that you're presumably posting on the clearweb anyway.

It's hard to give specific useful advice, because you're so vague about what you're trying to post, and who you want anonymity from. If it's just other users on lemmy, don't bother using tor, just create a burner account and access it normally via the web.

Unsurprisingly, instances aren't super keen on letting users access their platform via tor since it's an effective method of ban evasion, and thus people will mostly be using it to post awful things they didn't want in the first place.