The Irony in Selfh.st Newsletters reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- spicy_Fajitas · 2023-11-24 14:38 I read about 1 in 5 of these self hosted newsletters I get but I find them interesting to glance through - noticed this morning that DuckDuckGo blocked 11 trackers and removed 60 embedded trackers in links when I checked the extended report. Kind of ironic if you ask me, seeing as how self-hosting is supposed to decrease tracking, increase privacy, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- XxNerdAtHeartxX · 2023-11-24 15:14 Thats why I completely ignore their site/notifications/posts, and just use their RSS to get that quick glance without any of the trackers in my feed ---------------------------------------------------------------------- selfh-sted · 2023-11-24 15:29 I understand the concern. For the record, the only software we use for tracking on the site is [Umami](https://umami.is/) (self-hosted) for visitor count and technical information, and tracking automatically appended to links we share via [Ghost](https://ghost.org/help/post-analytics/) (self- hosted) for post and newsletter analytics. As per [our privacy policy](https://selfh.st/privacy-policy/), the only third-party, non-self-hosted software deployed is Mailgun for bulk mail delivery - and that's only because [Ghost doesn't provide any other options](https://ghost.org/docs/faq/mailgun-newsletters/). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lanten101 · 2023-11-24 15:30 What exactly does this trackers do? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- selfh-sted · 2023-11-24 15:49 They're all internal trackers (data is never shared with third parties) so we can gauge which content users are interested in and interacting with. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Legitimate_Farm_3095 · 2023-11-24 17:02 > subscribing via RSS is available and we have no plans of ever changing that. thanks for the reminder just rebuilt my freshrss and didnt have a feed backup. i enjoy the newsletter! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ZujiBGRUFeLzRdf2 · 2023-11-24 17:55 To be honest, that is pretty hypocritical. We have no way of knowing what you do and do not do with the data. You're 100% using the data to show how successful your newsletter is to get advertising. "We have xxxx number of subscribers and our open date is yyy%" That's sharing of data. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ZujiBGRUFeLzRdf2 · 2023-11-24 17:56 Copy pasting my reply as a top level comment - To be honest, this is pretty hypocritical. We have no way of knowing what you do and do not do with the data. You're 100% using the data to show how successful your newsletter is to get advertising. "We have xxxx number of subscribers and our open date is yyy%" That's sharing of data. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No_Dragonfruit_5882 · 2023-11-24 18:08 Thats just plainly wrong. Look at the sites Sourcecode in your Browser. If you are unable to do this kind of stuff then you should not talk. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No_Dragonfruit_5882 · 2023-11-24 18:09 Once again, either prove your shit or gtfo. The only trackers embedded are actually selfhosted by them ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PaddiM8 · 2023-11-24 18:29 This sounds perfectly reasonable. I don't see the point of freaking as out as soon as "trackers" are mentioned, because tracking can be both necessary and anonymous. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- reddittookmyuser · 2023-11-24 18:38 The "embedded trackers" that DuckDuckGo "Email Protection" removed from links was this bit of code **?ref=selfh.st** Links on the newsletter include that a referral from the originating site. Example: > https://owncloud.com/news/owncloud-becomes-part-of- kiteworks/?ref=selfh.st Your privacy will likely never recover when those sites learn that you came from selfh.st. /s ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ashooner · 2023-11-24 18:58 First of all, I don't see any advertising. Second, if they were using an ad-based revenue model, first-party aggregate traffic data is just about as privacy-focused as you can get. Third, where did this site ever say they wouldn't log traffic on their website such that it would be hypocritical for them to do so? Expecting free content and forbidding the author any kind of revenue seems a lot more hypocritical. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OppositeFisherman89 · 2023-11-24 19:19 PoC||GTFO ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No_Dragonfruit_5882 · 2023-11-24 19:19 ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OppositeFisherman89 · 2023-11-24 19:22 Proof of concept or get the fuck out It's a com sci / hacking journal ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No_Dragonfruit_5882 · 2023-11-24 19:27 Ahhh, nah i know but i thought u meant me with gtfo. All good ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OppositeFisherman89 · 2023-11-24 19:35 That's fair, I just didn't want to reply to the other poster lol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UnacceptableUse · 2023-11-25 00:31 I find DDG's "tracker removal" to be quite scaremongering in how it presents what it's removed. Here is the perfect example, allegedly removing 60 different trackers from all these different websites when in reality it's just a ref in the link. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UnacceptableUse · 2023-11-25 00:32 You've never ran a website and it shows ---------------------------------------------------------------------- msic · 2023-11-25 02:46 No more ironic than complaining about it from Gmail. :shrug: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- spicy_Fajitas · 2023-11-25 02:49 Lol that's a good point, definitely the pot calling the kettle black ---------------------------------------------------------------------- spicy_Fajitas · 2023-11-25 02:53 Update for y'all - due to my own ignorance, this post that followed, and then the knowledgeable responses I've seen, I think my lack of understanding was seen pretty clearly. I appreciate you guys making this a learning moment for myself, and hopefully next time I'll do the due diligence of researching before posting! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve032D · 2023-11-25 03:06 Nah! Just throw yourself at the mercy of the Reddit Hive Mind. It's fun. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kFURVqNY2BAxD2UtP2rq · 2023-11-25 03:07 1. I like your username. 2. UBlock is showing me zero blocked ads on selfh.st. I think instead of believing a small, niche hobby site is insidiously collecting and selling your data, the more likely explanation is that they're doing exactly what they've stated: collecting metrics to gauge what's successful and what isn't. 3. Even if they did share subscriber numbers and open rates, that's still not sharing any unique user information. You're attacking someone who is on your side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- spicy_Fajitas · 2023-11-25 03:18 I suppose the saying is true: "the best way to get the right answer is to confidently give the wrong answer" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ProbablePenguin · 2023-11-25 03:45 Yeah I find a lot of these privacy type apps are very over enthusiastic and often get things wrong at first glance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GeekCornerReddit · 2023-11-25 08:35 Does someone knows what Bitwarden and mastodon are doing there? Not sure what they have to do with trackers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ReachingForVega · 2023-11-25 08:51 It seems the referrer string for each link was picked up as a 'tracker' in each link. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mintfresh22 · 2023-11-25 14:00 You are a moron. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mintfresh22 · 2023-11-25 14:01 Got to be hard to read anything with your head up your ass.