OS: Debian 13.7. I use redlib, a reddit frontend, to read content on reddit but since last week I can only load communities, not the posts themselves. Example: I can load https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/new, but I cannot load any of the posts shown there. As output on the browser I get:

Failed to parse page JSON data: expected value at line 1 column 1 | /r/texts%2Fcomments/1xeaxvt/first_screenshot_is_my_dad_next_two_are_my_mom_i/.json?&sort=confidence&raw_json=1

Is reddit tinkering again with the code to force everyone that wants to access content to sign up with them?

Any workaround so far?

Use an up to date instance like lr.ptr.moe or wait until catsarch is updated or selfhost your own.

That's only partially true.

Reddit is a/b testing api shutoffs that prevent up-to-date instances from working. There are forks that use logged in accounts or other methods to avoid detection but if reddit decides your private instance is a little too used (like mine) things are currently not working.

Imho the era of (not logged in) scraper-frontends is dead. They just haven't given some of us the memo.

This issue on redlib's Github repo addresses it.

The only suggested workaround I can see for us end users is to use an age verification extension. Haven't tried it myself, though.

I am running the nachtalb fork (currently commit 082605c from this morning), which is actively implementing countermeasures, including HTML scraping. Right now, I can open posts. I don’t have to provide an account.

Reddit is trying to kill itself.

Never been a better time to remind your friends about Lemmy 🤷‍♂️

This fork is still working for now. https://github.com/polak14/redlib

The workaround is to leave that cancer