Sorry for the rant, I don’t know if it belongs here, I’m new. But I am just super disappointed and want to maybe help people in the future experiencing something similar so we can cope together.
So, a few days ago, one of my random alt accounts on Reddit gets sitewide banned for harassment because I called someone dumb in the comments (literally no more than that) as a joke on a shitpost a few years ago. I laugh the random account ban off and delete the account and return to my normal Redditing.
Now, I’ve been a daily commenter and poster on Reddit for several years at this point. You could call it addiction. But I also use it for updates and questions at my local university, so it’s also made its way into my personal life, too.
So, after the ban, I figured I was fine and I could continue to use one of my many other accounts. I was wrong.
Nope. A few hours later, ALL of my accounts over the last decade or so get permanently banned for ban evasion. I did not know Reddit bans were global like that. So, obviously I try to appeal the bullshit original ban, but I DELETED the account so I couldn’t.
I try to appeal on the alts, but I get the same generic “your request has been denied” message. Over and over again across all of them, same message.
So, I figure that they banned me for having my other accounts on the same device. Really shitty all my accounts were gone but I was reluctantly fine to start over by removing them all and deleting the app.
Those accounts got banned too.
Okay, looks like it’s by IP and device. Cool. I’ll… use the browser version on Brave and use a VPN when I want to post on Reddit. Super inconvenient but I’ll do what I have to do.
All accounts created or largely used on a VPN get shadow banned and appeals are ignored.
Okay, VPNs don’t work. I’ll delete all my account info on all my devices, reset my router to change my IP, use a new device, and not sign into any accounts other than Reddit and that should be good!
It works for a few hours. Perfectly fine. But, as I scroll more and more, I start to see communities that I recognize from my old accounts. No big deal, they probably recommend those communities to a lot of new users.
But, as I scrolled more and more, even smaller communities showed up that I used. Smaller, smaller, and even smaller, until eventually these were subs under 5k members even though I didn’t interact with he vast majority. They caught me, again, on a brand new device with a different IP.
Well fuck. Reddit is going to be the biggest inconvenience ever to use again. But I had one last trick up my sleeve.
A special VPN that uses the network of its users to reroute internet so websites are extremely unlikely to ban each individual server. A fucking virtual linux machine. Brave browser with the most secure settings.
It went well for longer this time, a few days, but the same Orwellian shit happened. More and more tiny subs until I saw ones with mere single digit upvotes on all the posts on subs with just a few thousand members. And then, just a day or two after my account creation, boom. Permanent ban there, too.
There is literally nothing you can do to get back on Reddit if you’re banned and want to use it in even a slightly normal way. I have submitted an appeal on the reddithelp form, but this is also extremely unlikely to be accepted even though the ban was bullshit; they haven’t responded yet. I don’t think I can ever use Reddit again because their system uses the most advanced AI to detect evaders I have ever seen. They’re definitely spending tens of millions monthly on computer costs and research SOLELY to catch evaders and it fucking works.
So, I guess I’m a Lemming from now on. Super upset, Lemmy doesn’t have subs for my favourite games and even the more popular games are super inactive. But, there is nothing I can do. Sorry for the rant but I know I started reading ban posts like these for hours when I first got banned, so I hope I can help people in the future realize they’re completely done for unless their appeal gets accepted.
TL;DR: Even with a completely unrelated device, IP, and a virtual machine, Reddit’s AI will detect what types of posts you like until they are slightly confident it’s you. Then, permanent ban. You cannot avoid this. I’m super bummed out.
Edit: For peoples who have had site-wide bans doomscrolling about it in the future like I was, I’m not saying evading a ban is impossible. If you really want to get back on don’t give up hope, I’m just saying it’s going to be very difficult. But definitely consider contributing to the awesome Lemmy community. I know it’s missing a lot, but it does help scratch the itch. I recommend the Blorp app as it’s the most similar to Reddit’s UI.
Edit 2: It’s been 2 months and I haven’t been banned on a new account, but this mostly only works if you just use it casually for when maybe you figure out how to do something and want to help others in the comments or when you have a question you want to ask a community. Here’s how to do it: (and I’m not sure how mandatory each step is but this is how I did it)
- Delete the Reddit phone apps permanently. They track you super hardcore.
- Sign out on all devices and clear all browser info.
- Make a new Windows profile and get the Brave browser.
- Record your IP. Restart your router overnight. Check your IP again and if it’s different you’re good to go.
- NEVER log into your old Reddit accounts. Maybe even migrate away from those old emails. If you accidentally log into a banned account a few times you might be fine but it also makes it possible to be banned. I’ve done it a few times.
- Make a new Reddit account with a new email. DO NOT USE A VPN for the first month or so until you get some karma. You will always be shadow banned. Then consider switching to some sort of paid VPN but NOT AT FIRST.
- Use it for a few days on the new Windows profile and make sure not to get any crazy anti tracking reduction plugins, (or really any plugins at all besides maybe an ad blocker) just use default Brave. You don’t want to stand out to Reddit’s systems.
- After a month or so you can just look at Google searches that lead to Reddit on your old devices as long as you’ve completely cleared the browser info, but never log into your new or old account on there. Only use your new account on the new Windows profile.
That’s it. Not sure if I’ll ever get banned again but this has worked for about 2 months even with me accidentally logging into my old accounts that were banned on the IP somehow (but I started using a VPN about a month in since you CANT use one for the first month or so)
Yeah, if you were browsing on your phone you won’t really be able to do that in your favourite communities anymore. But you’ll be able to post questions or solutions to problems every now and then which is what really matters.
I hope I helped someone out there and let me know if you used this and if it worked
Be the change that you want to see on Lemmy. Make or participate in a community if you want it here.
True. And we need to stop bullshit like this.
Imagine if in the future, a company like Tencent managed to buy all the big social medias, or even if all the big social medias teamed up to ban stuff that goes against an agenda.
The future equivalents (or maybe the same as the ones we have now) of Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Discord, Youtube, Google, etc. could share their moderation tactics and ban anyone that speaks badly about whatever agenda they have.
Then, the Orwellian tech giants could use lightweight AI to detect evasion like I experienced on Reddit. No matter what, where, or how, they would ALWAYS be able to link a user to a banned user within hours or days no matter how little IP or fingerprint similarities they were JUST BY USAGE PATTERNS.
This is fucking creepy and insane. The future we are heading towards does not look bright when it comes to surveillance.
Although I’m reluctant to use Lemmy because of its tiny (but not nonexistent) size, I do think I will create some small communities similar to the ones on Reddit that I miss even if I’m the only one there.
Personally I’ve moved on from Reddit communities to Discord server communities.
Discord is following the same paths as reddit and can easily do the same to you
Haven’t gotten sidewide permabanned so we’ll see. Maybe one day, we’ll revert back to good old fashion forums or internet relay chat or even newsgroups. The technophiles atleast, the masses probably will be still in their bubble of social media.
That’s why we’re building the fediverse right now. The enthusiasts have already evolved. No regression necessary.
Well I’m also here 😀
Let me give you my experience with your suggestion. Using reddit for over 10 years. Been through 3 site wide bans and 3 reinstatements all with the same account. During my last site wide ban I really tried to love Lemmy. I can understand less users and therefore less comments and posts. But in my opinion the vibe was worse than reddit. The vibe meaning the majority of us using this platform think THIS WAY and if you in anyway disagree than you are a bad person. I still like Lemmy but I restrict myself to just a handful of groups. In my opinion there are no civil open discussion groups on reddit. And it’s the same with Lemmy. The difference is that reddit has a flair policy for some groups that protects groups from the brigading just because you have a different opinion.
Frankly, I don’t understand why people keep insisting on using that cancer site. The Reddit many of us knew and once loved is gone. It is now just another right wing propaganda machine. Sad, but that’s the way it is.
It’s one of the only places to talk about some topics
Do you think the DNC/Kamala campaign is right wing because they obviously owned reddit during the 2024 cycle.
Reddit doesn’t want you. They want bots – lots of bots – and bland people who will absorb what the bots tell them. Reddit thinks it will make money that way. Maybe they’re right, who knows? All I know is they don’t want us there.
Reddit banned my indie game studio account because my coworker logged in on the same computer I was using to comment on our latest trailer.
They said I was switching accounts to boost my post. Then banned my company account, and all the accounts for all my employees.
The more you look into Reddits community rules, the more generic they become so they can make up any excuse to ban you.
There’s a currency subreddit that also banned an alt I created years ago for me saying the word “crypto” despite that not at all being listed in their rules. I asked a mod why, and his response was that it was considered “vulgar” language.
So yeah. Reddit will just ban you for any reason, even if you are an active community member or contributer. The site will be unusable in 5 years as the CEO will have IPOd it for max profit and left by then.
I think it’s useful in conversations like these to distinguish between bans made by Reddit admins, and bans in individual subreddits due to the actions of moderators (even if sometimes, poweruser mods will sometimes mass ban across all subreddits they are a mod for — this is still distinct from the admin bans).
I find the ban of your indie game studio account to be the thing that annoys me most in your post — that ban is bullshit, and such indiscriminate application of policy that it ends up undermining the stated goal of such moderation policies.
Whilst the bans from individual communities do also annoy me, that feels like a less useful thing to get annoyed at — for as long as there have been people, there will have been people who, upon gaining a modicum of power, abuse it in trivial, ego-serving ways. I think this human propensity is especially apparent on the internet. It sucks, but I also think that the most productive thing to do is to acknowledge the tendency and try to think of ways that we can make communities more resilient to the abusive actions of individuals.
The moderator/admin distinction is one such way, and this is especially apparent on federated social media like Lemmy. Whilst heavy handed admin level moderation is probably fine for smaller instances (such as if someone spins up a server for their friend group), it isn’t really viable when things get larger. The best approach seems to be for admins to have an extremely light hand in the day-to-day running of things, rather like a King in a constitutional monarchy.
This inevitably means that sometimes, communities can experience a toxic shift in the culture of the space through the petty actions of moderators, but in theory, people have the power to create a new community, whether on the same instance or otherwise. In practice, this doesn’t necessarily happen, because inertia is powerful (plus even when there is the need for a mass migration, such as if the original community is literally no longer available, not everyone ends up switching over to the new space). Power tripping moderators make online spaces worse, and it’s not viable to expect admins to regularly step in — if we want the admins to be able to act as a safety net for severe problems (such as the moderator team violating the policies of the instance), then it’s useful to preserve the separation between admin and moderator.
One of the reasons I like Lemmy is that it makes me think about problems like this, because the problem of “some mods are power tripping bastards — what should we do about that?” isn’t going away any time soon.
Theyre issuing site wide bans solely at subreddit mod’s discretion.
I commented on a post by u/babylonianweeb (the mod who’s taken over r/anime titties) he was posting as a regular user, without mod flair, and said something to the effect of ‘spain should just nuke israel’ (over a development in the Gaza flotilla saga) I commented that was a bad idea, and not likely, as spain does not have nukes.
I got a notice saying I had a temp sitewide ban. A couple hours later, this was upgraded to a permanent one for ‘promoting violence.’
that is really incredible. I actually mod several groups there and have NEVER asked Admins to site wide ban anyone.
I had all that happen. The initial ban was from AI for inciting violence when discussing JiuJitsu technique.
Welcome!
After the detox period, it’s quite nice here.
Hope you’re going to find, and create (you’ll be amazed how easy it is to pop up communities here, and there is no permanan possible) your future favourite communities here!
Cheers
The Reddit of old is long gone. The Mods on most subs are petulant cellar-dwellers. Censorship is off the charts. No thanks.
Did you vape your browser cache? Take anti browser fingerprinting steps? So how do you think they’re identifying you?
Nothing but usage patterns is sufficient but browser fingerprints and IP location obviously makes it easier for them.
I linger on a post from a smaller sub they randomly recommend for 0.2 seconds longer than other posts? They get a little suspicious.
I click a google search link to a post about a hobby I was into on a previous account? They get more suspicious.
They say, “oh look, a dude that’s into Minecraft (joined that sub), 3D printing (from google question) that lives in x city and uses Windows. We only have like 10 of those on the entire platform, and one is banned! Let’s start suggesting them communities from their old accounts to see if it’s the same person.”
Then, after you even remotely interact with those older/smaller communities that they fire at you as a test suggestion, they gain more and more evidence until they’re very confident it’s you. Then boom, evasion ban again.
There’s no way around this unless you don’t use Reddit for what you want to and only browse r/all or something.
Edit: Yeah, forgot to answer the actual question. All browser cache data is removed. They’re doing it with data on what subs I like alone.
Once you’re over the addiction, maybe a month or so, you’ll enjoy your life better. There’s an energy about reddit that you see her occasionally, but not all of the time. It’s worse than you probably currently realize.
You’re right, I definitely have a serious addiction and I am realizing it more now. This post definitely reads like I’ve been separated from cocaine, lmao.
It’s probably my limited social life combined with the endless scrolling. The fucking reddit notifications from posts and comments sorta filled that void, it’s super sad ik.
Breaking the addiction will be a hard adjustment and it’s not easy, but I hope I will get over it and I know you’re right.
But the ban is also shitty outside of the context of my general usage addiction though even though that’s obviously the main factor. Asking general questions about random shit has helped me solve so many problems.
Stick with Lemmy for a bit. It’s like a less-overwhelming, cozier, friendlier Reddit.
I wouldn’t even bother, I used the site for 15 years mostly just answering software and tech questions and talking about music gear and they banned me in seconds for one anti trump comment earlier this year. It’s fucked. Now I wish I would have stopped using it when they allowed The_Donald subreddit to fester on their site.
Blorp dev here. Welcome to Lemmy! Let me know if there is anything I can do to improve your experience. PieFed is also worth checking out. You’ll see all the same content as Lemmy, and PieFed has post flairs. Blorp lets you login to PieFed and Lemmy at the same time.
Thanks for making Blorp, it’s my favourite Lemmy app I’ve tried! And the lack of post flairs is something I’ve noticed, so I might try PieFed out.
If you want feedback on some more (very minor) things I would love to be fixed, here’s a list of things I’ve noticed:
I posted on the Blorp community yesterday about wanting a “read all” button for notifications (mostly because this post got a lot) so that would be really nice.
Other than that, it’s mostly just tiny things. Apparently Lemmy has a backend way to see user karma, so maybe seeing that would be nice to add as an option?
Maybe a button to copy and paste a post’s body text on mobile like on Reddit, or even a “save image/video” button? This is really minor.
And maybe an easier way to see the upvote/downvote ratio? (like 87% upvoted as an example)
Maybe this isn’t possible for some reason, but would a way to create a community inside of Blorp be possible? I don’t know if Lemmy works like that.
Thanks again for making this app, especially the fact that it’s on iOS. I hope it’s not too much of a time/financial burden because it’s great.
(All of this is from iOS by the way)
I started working on mark read. I’m also going to take this as an opportunity to improve marking read/unread in general.
I don’t think Lemmy supports karma or intends to support karma. It might be possible to stitch something together, but it would be kinda sketchy. Since you’re new to Lemmy, I would just embrace the lack of karma and see in a month or two if you still miss it. I think PieFed has a way of labeling a user’s “Attitude”, so maybe that could replace what you’re looking for.
Copy is interesting. I’ll think about how I would add that.
I was thinking maybe long press to peak at ratio. I would have to see if that’s possible. I should also add an option to always show upvotes and downvotes separately.
I would love to eventually support create community in Blorp. For now, this is low priority since you might do this only a few times ever. On the other hand, things like moderation will happen daily. So I would add more moderation features before adding create community.
It’s not a burden! I feel financially privileged. At least compared to others my age. Building Blorp is my way to give back. Though I have been trying to make more time for my other hobbies lately, so I’ve been a little slower than usual.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words! Nice to see a fellow iOS user, as most Lemmy users aren’t.
Reddit died for me on the day that they banned me within minutes for saying I should be allowed to punch Nazis, you know in an Indiana Jones kind of way. Or a Captain America way if you prefer. I’m pretty sure the thread had something to do with Captain America so it was relevant
You did the right thing
You are still logged in somewhere. You just need a new IP. Everything after that is wrong.
deleted by creator
This shit is super dystopian.
The data also exists in Lemmy to auto IP ban and also attach your IP and MAC to a cookie.
Same as reddit.
One day, someone will make a community here that is moderated like that.
While I don’t like the cookie tracking, device linking, or fingerprinting, that is only a fraction as dystopian as the behavioural tracking like I mentioned.
Start your own instances for those that dont exist, we will grow slowly !
Welcome to the multi ban club. I got got twice on my main account - once for saying Nazis deserve to be named and shamed (appeal succeeded), and again for saying the mods of r/Cybertruck are losers (appeal failed).
Created another account with a username almost identical to the one I had (kind of a dumb move tbh). It lasted for a year and some change before it got banned for evasion. I was surprised it lasted that long.
Since I created and oversaw a subreddit there for a niche community that I am still very much invested in, I created another account (very different username) a few months after I got banned, let it sit dormant for a few more months (a technique often used by bots but hey, reddit doesn’t lift a finger for those things!), then used it on a device I’ve never used any of my other accounts on, also connected to VPN. So far I have not been banned yet but I have only commented on one subreddit, because I genuinely have a question about a game glitch that I can’t find help for anywhere else. I’m going to wait a little longer before going back to my niche subreddit to maybe shake them off my tail.
Otherwise though, I’m not rejoining or participating in any other subs I frequented, nor am I going out of my way to flag bots like I used to do. Reddit is dead to me.
I hope more people over there see the light and choke that hell platform of its revenue and influence.
