Finding some decent VPN stuff. Ran into Tunnel Bear. Great reviews. Lots of things I loved on it.
I see vpn as something that may be necessary due to censorship. So whether tracking is possible, it will be needed to access web pages like this in the future.
Reading security features of a few vpns, logs are not kept. Or recorded. So a few will make it very difficult to pull IPs from or know what you're accessing. Just make sure vpn isn't hosted in a five eyes country. Most listed as good vpns on pcmag or tech radar are good to use. Mongers might be able to get away with free usage, but providers may need to pay, but are extremely cheap. Just for checking PM and emails, even a free one would be good for 90 to 95 percent of the hobby community. But if running any streaming services, cams, or large portion of photos, might consider investing if not having one already. But for day to day on a site like this, try a free one first like the one I posted above here.