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Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 19, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Reddit finally banned me for running afoul of their permanent Anti-Rightist campaign, so I bit the bullet and registered on KiwiFarms. But whenever I try to post, the captcha tells me I have a "residential VPN" on my phone. AFAIK I have no such thing; I always connect on T-Mobile 5G (Android.) Is it just not possible to post there from a phone? Is there something I'm missing? Thanks.

I think I read somewhere that "residential VPNs" get phone IP addresses by tricking people into installing on their phones apps that relay VPN traffic. Maybe the administrator has decided to just block all IP addresses from the mobile network that you use because residential VPNs like to use that particular network (akin to rangebans on 4chan).

Huh - just tried it at home and I posted just fine, didn't even show the captcha. Guess I passed their spambot test!

I think this particular restriction came about because of one bad actor known as UnrealSkybox who spams websites with CSAM and has a seemingly endless network of residential proxies to burn through to do it. The farms is pro-privacy and allows and encourages registration with regular VPNs.