Solution: Move to a Lemmy instance that doesn't suck

Probably your instance. For example, I'm on a VPN all day every day and I get to post and comment and use Lemmy like nothing happened.

Yet another reason not to use lemmy.world

That's not all of Lemmy, just your specific Lemmy instance with those restrictions (lemmy.world).

Talk to lemmy.world admins or sign up to a different Lemmy instance that allows VPN usage.

Lemmy.world, which you log into and is the one that receives your VPN connection, uses Cloudflare in front of their server. So it's actually Cloudflare that receives your VPN connection. It's probably giving you that captcha screen which your app can't display (or being denied entirely). I'm on VPN too and when a link makes me open a .world post it gives me the Cloudflare captcha every time.

Not guaranteed to be this reason but my money's on it. Try logging into lemmy.world from your browser on the VPN, will help you troubleshoot if it gives nonstandard pages when trying to post or especially when logging in.

I'm on a vpn posting this comment.

Well Lemmy is federated so you can pick another instance. :)

Lemmy.today doesn't block vpns, I use them sometimes.

I have the same issue and same software. However, Lemmy hosting webservers need to have some 'malicious activity protections' and if too much malicious activity occur from the same origin of IP where you are exiting from, you won't be able to post a comment.

I use Mullvad. All I have to do is to reconnect to a different exitpoint (can still be within the same country). And then attempt to post again. Might take a couple of tries, but it will work :)

If you don't want to reconnect, read up if you can configure your VPN to use the SOCKS5 protocol. Easier to not get blocked or "are you a bot?" Captchas and so on.

.ml doesn't block VPNs.

LW makes an effort to block posting from public VPNs because it also has open registration, and there's not really much else that can be done to prevent a particularly belligerent spammer/troll from just repeatedly registering accounts. This was put in place after a particularly bad spate of it.

I'm not especially pleased about it, but I understand why it's happened

lemmy.world blocks VPNs. If you have anti-censorship features you can use them to post.

Using VPN right now and posting.

It's definitely your instance, most probably VPNs are not allowed on it. If you do want to use a VPN on Voyager, try changing the country/server, (or exit point as someone else suggested) you should manage to find one that works. - switch quickly then post, works for me.

Edit: yep had to do it to post this message.

im posting from behind a vpn right now

I assume some instances have coordinated-attack prevention software that disables traffic from past offender IPs, and VPNs are a common way to centralize and anonymize data. Whether malicious in intent or not, a strike against your VPN server might cause a blockage.

I'm posting from a VPN, no issues. Try a different instance.

I had the same problem when I was on lemmy.world. now I'm on this other instance dbzero and it's mostly smooth except for sometimes things glitch so I turn off my VPN to troubleshoot and then it works for a while, especially some thumbnail pictures won't load in the post with my VPN on, but lately I've been too lazy to toggle my VPN off, I usually just give up on posts when the photo won't load.

Either spam/troll/bot protection or a government honey pot.

Find a new instance.

Huh, have you tried changing your exit?

Because I'm on a vpn now...

I just use a VPN server from my own country, which is annoying.

Then switch back to elsewhere when I'm not here.

I had this problem because the app does a sanity check between your phone clock and your "location". I changed the clock to match my VPN locale and then worked backward from there.

If you can set the VPN to a place in the same time zone but far outside your actual locale that may work.

I don't know for certain that this will help but it's worth a shot.

Lemmy doesn't use that primitive shit it uses Anubis like all the cool kids now

As others have said it is based on instance. I get why some have instances have the restriction though.

Same. Paid Proton and Voyager, and no bueno 😭

I post from a vpn all the time. Sometimes it'll complain and not let me because of VPN and then I just switch node and it lets me. It's not even country based. Like I can be on a node in Mexico, get blocked, switch to another one in Mexico and be good

Could be where your VPN is hosted. If your traffic appears to be coming from (for instance) an AWS data center, it might appear to be coming from a known spam source (since there are some spammers which have used AWS). The instance you're on might just be using an overzealous spam block IP list.

I've had this problem with proton, when it happens, i switch VPN exits and then retry posting and it almost always works.

I have had the same problem with some VPNs, but sometimes it works. Maybe your instance admin can identify if they allow any VPNs, or you could try to move to an instance that is more lenient?