Reddit Tracking Incognito Clicks

Reddit is an fascinating and wonderful collection of what the Internet has to offer, however their agressive link tracking is disappointing.

Recently Viewed Links

If you have an account at reddit, when you are browsing you are provided with a list of Recently Viewed Links. Arguably, this area provides functionality beyond your browsers built-in history function (personally, I’d argue against this).

Incognito Clicks

Sometimes there are things on reddit you don’t want in your browser history, for example when searching out gift ideas for your wife. (I’m certain this is the most common use case)

I had assumed leveraging the Google Chrome Open Link in Incognito Window would be the proper way to view these links and avoid adding them to your Recently Viewed Links. (I was wrong)

Not so Incognito

As you can see in the image below, despite using Open Link in Incognito Window, reddit has tracked this click. In addition, I’ve found right clicking on the link and copying it is also tracked by reddit.

Prevent Reddit Tracking Your Clicks

I’ve disabled JavaScript from www.reddit.com based on these instructions on How to Block JavaScript (and Ads) for a Single Site in Chrome, which prevents this tracking.

photo credit: AndyRobertsPhotos via photopin cc

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.