A lot of schools use VPNs, which would be a problem if Scratch blocked all VPNs. Right now, Scratch blocks the IP addresses used by VPNs on a case-by-case basis, which already causes problems for some schools.

For example, this post: https://scratch-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/discuss/post/6662783/

cheddargirl wrote:

School-issued devices are usually installed with a VPN in them, and likely whatever VPN service your school uses has one of the IPs blocked, which is why the blocks are random. It's also really bad for the school because it suggests maybe more than one student is using school devices to do bad things. It would have to be something the school would have to contact the ST about in figuring out which of the IPs used by the VPN is flagged and appealing for it to get unblocked.

Also see this post: https://scratch-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/discuss/post/3839151/

cheddargirl wrote:

Partial2Partials wrote:

-snip-
So you propose that we ban both VPN and Tor?

We kind of already do both (although the VPN and proxy stuff have a bit of a wider range in terms of IP addresses, so those end up being blocked on a case-by-case basis. If you happen to land on a blocked one, it's because it has been misused a lot by SEO spammers or trolls).

Unblocking Tor is a rejected suggestion due to it's high misuse by trolls. A blank screen, though, is a different problem - the block only limits website use, not your access to it.

bump

blablablahello wrote:

The_Blue_J wrote:

CodeLearnerSai wrote:

I have seen someone evade bans they receive. This feature would help prevent them from coming back.
When someone attempts to create an account from a VPN network, they should receive this error message:

It looks like you are using a VPN network. If none of your accounts are banned, or you don't have an account, please try again from another network.

Ussually, VPN ban evading is used only for unfair bans,like if someone mass reported them for no reason and contact us doesn't work.Just report the scratcher again and the new IP will also be banned.

thats untrue, mass reports dont cause bans (even if they do, they mostly dont), and I have never seen a single IP evader use it to evade unfair bans (ig red? but I dont think red was IP banned anyways), the thing is, for someone to need a VPN to evade a ban, they would have evaded bans multiple times already

I know someone not going to mention that's a name and shame that had done those things yet… with the problems mentioned here, I'm not going to support this, that will lead into more unfair bans. A solution tho is, if you ever see some person do it, report or most best (if they have multiple accounts) contact the scratch about it. The scratch team will probably have enough time to confront them…

Support but only for making accounts. I use VPNs all the time and don't want to accidentally get banned.

Bump!