only student accounts (unless teacher allows), teacher accounts inactive for at least 1 year, and any account inactive for at least 2 years, will be banned from using vpns.
they can reactivate vpn usage by either logging in or using contact us.

this does NOT apply to the scratch team's vpn as that is always used in good faith.

Mockup:

This could help against spam accounts and former users banned returning, but there are a few key issues:
- How would this be implemented? You would need to check if the IP address belonged to some VPN but there are several out there and this could be difficult to implement. Several VPNs add new servers over time and detecting all of that will be difficult.
- There are valid use cases for VPNs, for example if your Internet blocks certain sites or there is some other sort of problems, VPNs can be used to bypass that. Some also use them for security.

I appreciate that your specifications would make this less restrictive but I don't really get what you mean. If you can do VPN usage by just logging in then what is the point? You couldn't harm Scratch in any meaningful way when logged out, so this effectively makes this restriction not at all matter?

Willhelmianous wrote:

I appreciate that your specifications would make this less restrictive but I don't really get what you mean. If you can reactive usage by just logging in then what is the point? You couldn't harm Scratch in any meaningful way when logged out, so this effectively makes this restriction not at all matter?

by that i mean without the VPN
i assume (removed by moderator - please don't name names) main IP is banned which is extra score for this

AmpElectrecuted wrote:

Willhelmianous wrote:

I appreciate that your specifications would make this less restrictive but I don't really get what you mean. If you can reactivate VPN usage by just logging in then what is the point? You couldn't harm Scratch in any meaningful way when logged out, so this effectively makes this restriction not at all matter?

by that i mean without the VPN
i assume (removed by moderator - please don't name names) main IP is banned which is extra score for this

The mockup provides more information but you are stating that these types of accounts will be banned from using VPNs ever? They will need to contact the Scratch Team to do it? At least that is what it looks like from the mockup, in which case again my detection point comes in and this seems really far-reaching. But what does this mean: “they can reactivate vpn usage by either logging in”?

EDITED ON CLOSED TOPIC.

You can’t detect if someone is using a VPN. That’s kinda the whole point.

han614698 wrote:

You can’t detect if someone is using a VPN. That’s kinda the whole point.

you can block tor as they have a list of IPs using tor

AmpElectrecuted wrote:

han614698 wrote:

You can’t detect if someone is using a VPN. That’s kinda the whole point.

you can block tor as they have a list of IPs using tor

I would say that 99% of those IPs are already blocked. I use a VPN, and a lot of times the IPs I use are already blocked. I can’t stress this enough;

You’re making a big deal out of nothing
The Scratch Team has it under control
You can’t sense when someone is using a VPN
Limiting everyone more doesn’t help with one singular person

Willhelmianous wrote:

This could help against spam accounts and former users banned returning, but there are a few key issues:
- How would this be implemented? You would need to check if the IP address belonged to some VPN but there are several out there and this could be difficult to implement. Several VPNs add new servers over time and detecting all of that will be difficult.
- There are valid use cases for VPNs, for example if your Internet blocks certain sites or there is some other sort of problems, VPNs can be used to bypass that. Some also use them for security.

I appreciate that your specifications would make this less restrictive but I don't really get what you mean. If you can do VPN usage by just logging in then what is the point? You couldn't harm Scratch in any meaningful way when logged out, so this effectively makes this restriction not at all matter?

While it is tempting to think that simply disallowing VPNs would solve bad-faith actors - the points above are all valid.