Tech help please

[Slipppy]

I keep clicking every London backpage link but I only get the main us backpage site.
With shemalewiki I get an internal server error.
It’s peeing me right off.

I use puffin web browser, tried a few others but just not happening for me.
Please can anyone help
Thanks

[Laphroaig]

From Google play, might explain it.

===== Limitations =====
* The data centers of Puffin Web Browser are in the US and the cloud servers can only access public web sites from US geolocations.
* For users outside the US, local contents, especially videos of local interest, may not be accessible from the US due to geo-restrictions in their home countries.
* Puffin is blocked in some countries (e.g., China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and by some schools (e.g., in United States).

Also from https://www.puffinbrowser.com/help/trouble.php

Wrong Location
Puffin uses our servers in USA / Singapore to improve the user experience.

The side effect is that the websites receive Puffin's servers IP rather than yours.

Although Puffin passes your IP to websites via X-Forwarded-For, some websites don't support this standard.



Never had any problems on Android using Chrome, Opera or Opera Mini browsers. If it's happening to you on multiple browsers, are you using a VPN?

[Slipppy]

Thanks Laphroaig
I am using a vpn as I’m renting a room whilst working away so its shared internet.
I tried chrome, shit myself when my searches ended up on my sons phone via the hand off function.
trying to use a browser that family don’t use for that reason in case that function is built in.
I used puffin for years without any issue.

[skirtrustler]

Hi. Puffin (and others like cloudmosa) do not comply with web standards. What happens is that the ‘browser’ you are using is a thin client that uses a cloud based server to do the heavy work that should be done by a full spec web browser, and then downloads a heavily processed image of the page and any active content to the thin client on your phone, with all sorts of caching on the way. This is done with the aim of ‘speeding up’ the user experience and reducing the amount of traffic downloaded to your thin client.

The breaks the way in which many web pages work, particularly web pages which rewrite their content or redraw the page while in use (these technologies are now quite common on web pages)

The result is exactly as you describe, you get a static page image when the page should be dynamic. They also appear to the server as coming from non geographically tagged IP addresses as mentioned above, and dance from IP address to IP address thus often breaking any state keeping that the server is doing with what it thinks is a web browser.

Short answer: bin them, they do not support web standards, they break web sites, and are a waste of time.

If you want to hide yourself then you need to get a proper VPN, use private browsing on a mainstream browser like Firefox, clear your cache often, and it is a good idea to get an adblocker too. On a laptop you should also be running the privacy badger browser plug-in from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

As you may suspect .. I am a long in the tooth grizzly IT architect. I also run a string of web sites as a sideline.

[Slipppy]

Thanks Skirt rustler
All my surfing is done on an iPad
I do use private internet access as my vpn
Not over enamoured with it.
Can you recommend another that would suit?

[skirtrustler]

I don’t want to plug one or other VPN, as suppliers come and go and it is a year or so since I looked hard and it depends on your paranoia level. Just hunt around with google and you will find plenty, and don’t choose the first one you come across. Look for a comparison web site. Remember that the VPN operator can potentially see your traffic, and data protection around this is going to be more legally protected in Europe than the USA. You want to choose an operator who has a brand name to protect in a strong legal jurisdiction rather than some small outfit operating out of some small ‘dodgy’ country.

Be aware of where you are surfacing though, and some VPN will allow you to choose where. Since if you start hopping around from country to country each time you log on some sites (our own included) will see this as possible password sharing and auto block you.

Personally - because I have physical infrastructure in a very well connected data centre - I (and friends) use our own via our own CISCO firewalls.

[Slipppy]

That’s great advice Skirtrustler.
Thanks for taking the time to help.