this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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Proton

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Instead of leaving Xitter, they left Mastodon. Proton's trend is not inspiring confidence and this feels like another step backwards.

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[–] [email protected] 183 points 1 day ago (4 children)

"limited resources" wtf? just copy and paste the content. I guess they didn't like the backslash on Mastodon because of the CEO and Trump bootlicker Andy Yen

[–] [email protected] 91 points 1 day ago

This is even more ridiculous given they have a bluesky account and all they need to do is follow the bridge and their content will be ported to mastodon. Literally 5 seconds.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Oh yeah that’s prob it. On Reddit they can delete any negative comments

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago

Yeah not even copy paste, this has been easily automatable for years.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

yet another reason to use mastodon, because they can't control it yet.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 194 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Didn't the CEO of Proton lick the Trump boot recently?

[–] [email protected] 98 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They did, yes.

I'm assuming the next video to be released will be of the Proton CEO and Trump on on some fetish.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

"oh yeah, encrypt me daddy"

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Can you even use Reddit if you’re running Proton’s VPN? I know Reddit has been actively blocking other VPNs (eg Mullvad) for some time.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Yes they have a stealth feature that is helpful for detecting a VPN

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I was an apologist for Proton during the whole Andy Yen commentary mess, but this is a really sus choice for Proton to be making.

All that matters under capitalism is growth. I wonder if the thinking here is that Proton has already captured all the geek/privacy enthusiast crowd that it's going to, and Andy Yen's social fuck-up basically killed any future expansion in that space, so this is part of a pivot to new markets and abandonment of areas they know they aren't going to win back.

If so, I'd expect to see Proton making expanded ad buys targeting preppers, libertarians, sov-cit types and other "I'm being watched!!" kooks.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 day ago

They're focusing on platforms that allow them to censor discussion.

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Looks like I'm leaving Proton. Fucking hell, not even a year ago I migrated from Gmail

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Learn your lesson and switch to a custom domain :) that way you will never have to change all your services' email addresses anymore, when you want to switch mail provider.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Yeah, this is gonna be my next move I think. I was using Proton VPN for a while and just recently started migrating my emails there, then they started doing all of this.

I wanted to self host my email anyway, but now I have no excuse. I've been burned by the last team I expected it to come from, I'll be self-reliant now

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

That's what I'm leaning towards. Now to think of a domain that's easy enough I can tell my email over the phone of needed

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

SAME! I only just finished getting all my servers and custom domain set up, and I already have to look for a new provider.

If someone has any recommendations for a good hosted email, VPN and online storage provider let us know. It seems there's not many good options left.

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[–] [email protected] 102 points 1 day ago

On Mastodon, Proton is held to a higher standard. That’s why they left for the dumb masses instead.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Makes me glad that I procrastinated on switching over, I guess I’ll just ride out my current NordVPN subscription and switch over to Mullvad?

Almost makes me afraid to ask the community, what exactly is wrong with Nord? 😅

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

They've done other things, but the reason I don't use Nord is that they had a breach where an attacker had physical access to one of their servers, and they tried to sweep it under the rug rather than notify users.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Unless you never want to torrent, I would say to not use mullvad, you can't forward a port with them (same with NordVPN). There are plenty of VPNs that don't log and allow port forwarding. I use AirVPN.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 day ago (11 children)

It's as if with each passing day, Proton wakes up and chooses to wear a slightly different red flag for a cape than the one they wore yesterday. I'm obviously being hyperbolic here, but I'm also a bit upset with myself for having decided to get an annual subscription with them last November.

I've heard good things about Mullvad for VPN and Tuta for mail. I've got my own domain that I can start using with whatever mail host I land on.

I'm in the U.S. What other mail providers are people using, and what other VPN providers should I be considering?

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wish VPS providers didn't commonly block email ports. Self hosting seems like the only way to stay in control

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

It's understandable though, they just don't want to deal with email spammers.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 14 hours ago

This ain't a fucking airport

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 day ago (9 children)

I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I'm kinda done with them. Anyone have any suggestions for a mail provider? I'm not yet willing to self-host that.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Honest, stupid question: Why exactly is this such a big deal to so many of you? (I don't use Mastodon.)

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 day ago

Funny how they didn’t make actual post on Mastodon, but just silently edited their profile to say they left Mastodon? That’s pretty cowardly.

Yet another reason to not like Proton.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Guess I made the right choice to leave Proton.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago (5 children)

If you're looking to shake up your email provider in the wake of this, I highly recommend getting a custom domain name, whatever provider you choose. Cloudflare sells domains at cost. Get a not-embarrasing .com of your own, and then you can move email providers in future without losing continuity. Proton allows exporting .eml files, which you can then import into your next provider. Or just keep in cold storage and declare email bankruptcy. Once you have a custom domain, you can use unique emails for all your services by setting up a catchall address. This will at least impede credential stuffing attacks, and let you know who sold/leaked your address if you do get spam.

I personally left Proton a month or so ago after the last bit of drama, in part out of principle, but also because their offering is just really expensive for my use case: I just want email, on a budget, with reasonable privacy. Plus I was tired of not having IMAP support and being locked into their clients. Moved to a Zoho business account (for now) and have been happy for the $12/yr. I already had a domain name, but they typically run <$20/year too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Would I need to do anything with the custom domain beyond registering it for this to work with an email provider?

Because this sounds like a great migration plan: set up a custom domain, add it to protonmail, update emails, export data, and then switch providers.

I’m just a bit clueless on the whole setting up a custom domain part.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

You don't have to do anything else with the domain, it'll work fine for email only.

You could add it to Proton, take your time to migrate all your accounts, then dip. Or you could just go straight to a new provider with the domain, and take your time transitioning accounts to the custom domain over time that way. Assuming Proton's free offering is sufficient, you can always keep it around and set up forwarding to your custom domain.

Regarding domain name setup itself, Proton should provide steps for how to do it correctly, but I found them to be a bit fiddly (might have improved, this was a few years ago) - when I moved to Zoho I found it really easier. If you're using Cloudflare for the domain registration, Zoho can basically do it all automatically (click a few links link and accept the proposed changes).

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (10 children)

Ugh, I use proton for VPN and email. Any suggestions for decent VPN at this point?

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