Reddit RSS - server replied: Blocked (201)

[Purfview]

https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/new/.rss?sort=new

Stopped working at 2025.08.06
The link works OK in a browser's private window.

I don't have problems with any rss links posted at #1616

Any ideas?

[robdefriesse]

I have a work-around. Using a local proxy, I add the header:

IF-MODIFIED-SINCE: Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT

to the outgoing request. I assume reddit changed their RSS API to require it. QuiteRSS does not provide this header. (I examined the headers sent by Thunderbird to discover what was needed.)

I used mitmproxy to examine the request being sent to reddit, and now use it to insert the new header. To go this route:

1. Install mitmproxy
2. Run mitmproxy once to create ~/.mitmproxy
3. Install ~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.cer into your OS. (Google or read OS docs to learn how.)
4. Create a Python file with this code in it:

def requestheaders(flow):
    flow.request.headers["IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"] = "Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT"

I called it reddit_headers.py
5. Run:
mitmdump -q -s reddit_headers.py
(it will produce some output if you leave off the "-q")
6. In QuiteRSS, go to Tools->Options, then:

• Select "Network Connections."
• Select "Manual proxy configuration."
• Select "HTTP" in the pull-down.
• Proxy server: localhost
• Port: 8080 (unless you have reason to use a different port.)

I hope this works for you, and I hope I can save the developer(s) some tie diagnosing it.