#1 by Moritz
Hi all, I’m preparing a study to be carried out with Chinese participants. We use Heroku. However, the app seems to be inaccessible from mainland China. We have conducted studies using Heroku in China before and did not experience this issue. Googling suggests that there might be issues related to China’s firewall when using Heroku. Has anyone else experience this issue? Does anyone have suggestions for alternatives to Heroku with servers situated in mainland China (this should solve the issue)? Thanks a lot! Moritz
#2 by xuxu1989
Hi, Heroku is not banned but blocked in China. It is sometimes recognized as a security threat because of the end random codes in the end of session/room-wide link, even in FB. You may try to customize the session link so it looks more serious, i.e., give an room name and have a room link. NO AD, I noticed this company that can help with Heroku difficulties in China. I'm not sure about their rate. https://www.21cloudbox.com/solutions/how-to-speed-up-heroku-in-china.html
#3 by Moritz
Thanks a lot for these suggestions!
#4
by
GergelyH
Hi All, I wanted to follow up on this conversation. My Chinese student is trying to conduct an experiment in China but the participant links cannot be opened, even if we created a link. Any suggestion? Is heroku available in China? Best, Gergely
#5 by Moritz
We weren't able to figure out a solution that involves Heroku. We're now working with a Chinese company that recruits students as participants and also hosts our experiment on their own platform.
#6
by
GergelyH
I see thank you, I think I know which company you refer to. I will seek similar solution. It is a pity that heroku is not working in China anymore, wondering if there could be some solution, like setting up a different server for otree in China.
#7 by kendo
We are able to access our app in China if we give our apps custom domains and routed through cloudflare. However if we used xxx.herokuapp.com it doesn't work Kendo
#8 by na_zou
Hello! @Moritz and @GergelyH, I have a similar issue and would like to follow up this question. Could you please share which company you worked with to host your experiment instead of using Heroku? Other suggestions and recommendations are also welcomed. Best, Na
#9 by gr0ssmann
Just set up your own Linux server with nginx+oTree (or have your lab manager do it for you).
#10 by Moritz
We used this company: https://www.yanzhonglab.com/account/login?callback=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yanzhonglab.com%2Fresearcher%2F
#11 by na_zou
Thank you both @gr0ssmann and @Moritz for your suggestions.