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The top mod and creator of /r/LifeProTips has been shadowbanned and all links to his website have been removed (self.SubredditDrama)

submitted by geraldo42supergauntlet sux

Moderators on reddit are not allowed to profit from modding or use their position to promote their business. A mod of /r/LifeProTips, /u/sometimeprime, started lifeprotips.com It was linked at the top of /r/LifeProTips and otherwise promoted on the subreddit. The website is no longer mentioned on the subreddit, but you can view an archive of it here. (see the "click for more tips" button)

/u/sometimprime has been shadowbanned. he shows up here to defend himself.

kindly written by /u/stopscopiesme

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[–]ImNotJesus 308 points309 points  (9 children)

LPT: Be less obvious when gaming reddit.

[–]Ballllll 44 points45 points  (8 children)

Some people just love tempting fate

[–]mach-2 40 points41 points  (7 children)

It seems some of these incredibly huge self help subs inevitably devolve into the mods trying to get something on the side. I can definitely sympathise with them in that respect. Can't really judge the guy. At least it's alot better than the MUA mods that were promoting their own site and deleting alternatives and then deleting people who criticised them. Same thing happened to /r/Assistance I think?

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 56 points57 points  (2 children)

Wasn't that /r/skincareaddiction that did that?

[–]kaalaaaaRIP #subredditdrama [score hidden]  (0 children)

Actually both. On /r/Assistance a mod and her sister used the sub to get free shit. The top mods of /r/SkincareAddiction did exactly the same shit sometimeprime did and promoted their website.

[–]mach-2 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Ah yes. I was mistaken. Thanks.

[–]glassshield 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Same thing happened to /r/Assistance I think?

Nah, the mods there just stopped giving a fuck and the scammers took over. Everyone moved to /r/Borrow iirc

[–]Futureproofedvodka-sodden government shill 9 points10 points  (1 child)

And the much newer /r/Food_Bank, which is much more slow moving but still active.

[–]mein_liebchen [score hidden]  (0 children)

/r/marijuana too, I believe. Which led to the creation of /r/trees.

[–]Nillix 87 points88 points  (45 children)

When reddit decided to make it a default sub, there wasn't much of a choice on our end and it happened quickly.

Can't you turn down defaulting?

[–]SnaquilleOatmealPM me your grits 113 points114 points  (8 children)

Yes. /r/AskHistorians rejected default status because the mods want high quality content only.

Edit: sp.

[–]WearyTunes 69 points70 points  (1 child)

Which makes me feel like Plato was right within the context of this site.

Redditors really are better off when moderated by philosopher kings.

[–]SoMuchMoreEagle 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I remember /r/lifeprotips being bad before they went default. It just got worse after.

[–]naoww 9 points10 points  (2 children)

Same for /r/circlejerk

[–]KazitronSOCIAL JUSTICE WRESTLING 13 points14 points  (1 child)

I really wonder what /r/circlejerk would be like if it were a default

[–]b4da__ 18 points19 points  (0 children)

A lot of posts saying "Is this subreddit serious?"

[–]stenchwinslow [score hidden]  (1 child)

Askhistorians and Askscience are the Reddit equivalent of the tough but dedicated Prof that the whole class respects. I am marginally smarter for hanging out there.

[–]Nimonic [score hidden]  (0 children)

I don't mind /r/askscience, but I think the comparison flatters it pretty heavily. I get the impression /r/AskHistorians is a lot more strict in its moderation. Compared to most subs, though, /r/askscience is great.

Of course, askscience is also over ten times as large. It probably has as many moderators as askhistorians has flaired users.

[–]multi-mod 53 points54 points  (33 children)

You can, he just made that up.

[–]FMechaRetired. 29 points30 points  (32 children)

They can also ask for de-defaulting once defaulted (like /r/wtf did once). I bet the admins will take care of that, though.

[–]Deimorz 69 points70 points  (31 children)

They don't have to ask, there's a checkbox on every subreddit's settings page that they can uncheck to be removed from the defaults. Subreddits can remove themselves at any time without us being involved at all.

[–]multi-mod 16 points17 points  (29 children)

I think /r/science or /r/askscience did that once on accident

[–]Deimorz 41 points42 points  (28 children)

I don't think it was the same time, but the site used to also auto-replace defaults with other popular subreddits if any dropped out, so one time we ended up with /r/pokemon as a default for about half a day.

[–]multi-mod 14 points15 points  (1 child)

I believe /r/woahdude became a default for a day at least twice. I've always wondered how that happened, but I guess that would explain it. You can sort of guess the dates I'm talking about using redditmetrics.

[–]The_Year_of_Glad [score hidden]  (0 children)

I believe /r/woahdude became a default for a day at least twice.

That's actually kind of meta.

[–]jokes_on_you 10 points11 points  (3 children)

Wasn't r/moviecritic or something a default at one point because everyone was downvoting it so much that it increased its activity?

[–]Deimorz 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Haha, I had never heard of that. But it looks like you're right, about 6 years ago now (sounds like it wasn't actually because of downvoting though): https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/90qog/askreddit_how_did_rmoviecritic_get_into_the_top/

[–]RedCanadaLITERALLY AN SRS SHILL [score hidden]  (0 children)

I remember when /r/Christianity got made a default because /r/atheism was removed from the defaults so the users there took out their rage and anger on /r/Christianity and instantly made it one of the most active subreddits on Reddit.

Everything got downvoted and /r/atheists flooded the comments bashing and insulting /r/Christians.

Then the /r/atheists users freaked out that /r/Christianity was made a default after /r/atheism was removed as a default and the rage directed at /r/Christianity increased exponentially. That was despite the admins telling them that they made /r/Christianity a default by throwing their tantrum.

It's interesting how lots of downvotes counts as positive subreddit activity. Considering that downvotes hides comments, you'd think the opposite would sort of happen.

[–]PhillyGreg [score hidden]  (21 children)

one time we ended up with /r/pokemon as a default for about half a day.

Reason #483636 why I never mention Reddit in public

[–]E10DIN [score hidden]  (20 children)

Dude pokemon is great.

[–]RedCanadaLITERALLY AN SRS SHILL [score hidden]  (0 children)

I was browsing /r/all and /r/Pokemon being pretty high up definitely makes Reddit look like it's on the juvenile side.

[–]PhillyGreg [score hidden]  (18 children)

Go ahead and say that on a date....I mean, unless you're 12

[–]InfamousBLT [score hidden]  (1 child)

Drama in subreddit drama? Delicious

[–]E10DIN [score hidden]  (9 children)

I'd much rather date someone open minded, but whatever floats your boat. If you'd rather date someone so shallow that you'd need to hide any interests they don't approve of, more power to you. I'll stick to dating open minded women.

[–]daringavari [score hidden]  (1 child)

If a guy said that to me on a date, I would be so happy! Then tell them all about my badass but totally adoreable pokemon team.

[–]sircarpPopcorn WS enthusiast [score hidden]  (0 children)

Bro, nothing gets a boy randy like showing him the perfect IV feebas I bred.

[–]DuapDuapNo [score hidden]  (0 children)

If someone had to leave because I said that my favorite pokemon is Whiscash I'd consider it a bullet dodged.

[–]oneofthefewproliving [score hidden]  (0 children)

Smug

[–]SuitableDragonfly 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I read that as "the offer seemed so good to us we couldn't turn it down" which is strange considering that defaults generally go to shit.

[–]SamWhite [score hidden]  (0 children)

Yes, he's saying the opposite of what is true.

[–]ChemLok 68 points69 points  (36 children)

That's ridiculously funny. If the top mod is shadowbanned, what happens to the sub?

[–]multi-mod 47 points48 points  (25 children)

They can still mod like usual, but can be reddit requested out of the spot by other mods in the sub.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 35 points36 points  (16 children)

I believe that was changed at some point but I haven't tested exactly what a shadowbanned moderator is able to do. I'm like 85% sure you can't add or remove other mods anymore. I don't know if there are other limits.

[–]multi-mod 27 points28 points  (11 children)

I guess we could ask the LPT mod to test it out for us :)

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 19 points20 points  (10 children)

If I wasn't so lazy I'd break out an old shadowbanned account and test it myself.

[–]SoMuchMoreEagle 4 points5 points  (9 children)

But you are lazy, right?

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 6 points7 points  (8 children)

I'll do it eventually. I recently reformatted my harddrive which means i lost all my saved RES account details. I'd have to pull them off of backups. I honestly can't even remember the name of half of my accounts.

[–]blurghblurgh [score hidden]  (7 children)

Why were you banned?

[–]The_Best_01 [score hidden]  (6 children)

Same reason as everyone else: some mods are complete bastards.

[–]mein_liebchen [score hidden]  (5 children)

You can't be shadow banned by a mod.

[–]chaanachkurwa 2 points3 points  (2 children)

you can't add or remove mods because that way you could just add an alt. It's why I like having people be back-up mods in all my subreddits just in case I get shadowbanned again

[–]kaalaaaaRIP #subredditdrama [score hidden]  (1 child)

Then they steal your subs when you get shadowbanned.

[–]chaanachkurwa [score hidden]  (0 children)

which is why you mod friends to your subreddits

reddit encourages nepotism with its shadowban system

[–]namer98Official JIDF Representative [score hidden]  (0 children)

When I was briefly shadowbanned, I set the automod to auto-approve all of my comments on the sub.

[–]wulfgar_beornegar 7 points8 points  (6 children)

Can someone who's not a current mod of that sub request it?

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 11 points12 points  (4 children)

You can, you won't get it though. That's because there are other active moderators on the team.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Well, they follow the same rules so you wont be given the subreddit but they will still remove the shadowbanned mod and give it to the other mods even if the person redditrequesting the sub isn't a mod. At least that's been how it works in the past.

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 5 points6 points  (1 child)

I don't think that's how it works. If you reddit request it when you're not a mod, the bot there will reply with 'moderators with recent activity detected' but if you're a mod there, it's a slightly different case.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If that's the case than that is recent. In the past multiple people have reddit requested subs in exactly this situation who were not moderators (the mods were out of requests for the month or whatever and asked a friend to do it). I'm trying to think what sub it would have been, I may have even done it myself.

[–]namer98Official JIDF Representative [score hidden]  (0 children)

I once requested the top mod of my sub booted for inactivity. It worked.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In the past that has been a thing. They will just remove the top (shadowbanned) mod and leave the sub to the other moderators, just as if one of the other mods had redditrequested it. People sometimes do that when they're out of requests or whatever.

[–]rocktheprovince 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could they theoretically remove all the other mods, make a new account, mod that account and start using it actively, then re-add the other mods?

[–]sarah-goldfarb 20 points21 points  (0 children)

The same thing happened to /skincareaddiction a few months ago, though in that case the drama was even juicier-- several of the top mods had been trying to monetize the subreddit over the course of a year, until finally pretty much all of the users unanimously banded together to overthrow all three. Here's the SRD thread.

IIRC, the fourth highest mod inherited the throne, and things returned to normal on SCA pretty quickly (minus the profiteering).

[–]XDark_XSteelIt's about ethics in witchhunting mods 2 points3 points  (8 children)

Probably get taken over by /u/soccer or some other white supremacist.

[–]TheLadyEve[M] 15 points16 points  (3 children)

Hello, please edit your comment so as not to link to the user. We are working to eliminate username baiting in SRD. Thank you!

[–]XDark_XSteelIt's about ethics in witchhunting mods 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Shit. Sorry. Did that fix it? There still seems to be a link for me.

[–]TheLadyEve 9 points10 points  (1 child)

hmm, yes, it is still linked. put the \ in front of the whole thing. For example: /u/TheLadyEve

[–]XDark_XSteelIt's about ethics in witchhunting mods 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There. Thanks for the help.

[–]tooterfish_popkin 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Probably get taken over by /u/soccer or some other white supremacist.

That dude has been MIA since the Syrian civil war started and people believe he was killed.

[–]Defengar 14 points15 points  (0 children)

What?! He's only been inactive for a year and the SCW started back in 2011.

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wait what? Any posts that point to this?

[–]AWookieeFromKashyyyk [score hidden]  (0 children)

How long\s that been a theory for?

[–]superslab 47 points48 points  (20 children)

That's pretty wild. It's interesting that the admins are taking that seriously, and I wonder if they'll go after others. /r/bitcoin springs to mind immediately.

[–]Monk_on_Fire 15 points16 points  (0 children)

There's a whole lot of porn subs that only link to particular domains. I've heard.

[–]Osiris32assistant sound tech in the world of internet drama 8 points9 points  (5 children)

Do a search for /u/cinsere. He did something similar a couple years ago in /r/trees and /r/portland, and ended up getting the bob.

[–]snallygasterFUCK_MOD$_420[M] 4 points5 points  (4 children)

Removed: please remove the /u/ in the post to have your comment approved again!

[–]Osiris32assistant sound tech in the world of internet drama 17 points18 points  (2 children)

I would normally agree with you, however that user has been shadowbanned for years.

[–]snallygasterFUCK_MOD$_420 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Sorry, I'm an idiot lol

[–]Osiris32assistant sound tech in the world of internet drama 9 points10 points  (0 children)

A mod admitting to a mistake? Will wonders never cease!

Just kidding, I like you guys, you're a good mod team.

[–]squarepush3r [score hidden]  (0 children)

just setup a css

[–]FetidFeetThis is good for Ponzicoin 20 points21 points  (6 children)

The admins get jealous when spinoff websites can turn a profit. Unlike reddit.

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 37 points38 points  (4 children)

Unsure if this is sarcasm accepting money for moderation has always been against the rules. It's so conflict of interest doesn't happen.

[–]lifestyledles enfants beurre 7 points8 points  (3 children)

but aren't there mods of gaming subs who have publicly talked about accepting stuff like in-game gems and currency for being a mod of those subs?

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 14 points15 points  (2 children)

There has always been a grey area of sorts with stuff like this. Sometimes admins simply never notice because no one reports those mods, sometimes the mods aren't really gaining anything apart from bragging rights. So it's a case by case basis, anything obvious is not allowed.

A good example of monetization done right is /r/photography. They have amazon referral links in the sidebar which they make 100-200 dollars out of. This money is in turn used for contests within the subreddit.

[–]Homie-wan_Kenobi 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Huh, r/hiphopheads did that with albums and the admins said they couldn't do that

[–]Stalked_Like_Corn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We did that on /r/dvdcollection. We would post referral links to a lot of stuff that we posted (making sure to notify everyone they were referral links) so that we could get a few pennies here and there. We then would turn around, buy a bunch of DVD's and such from Amazon to give out prizes for contests or movie nights.

[–]AWookieeFromKashyyyk [score hidden]  (0 children)

If that were true Imgur would have been banned long ago...

[–]IntellectualEuphoria 5 points6 points  (4 children)

/r/bitcoin is undisturbed because the head moderator bashco regularly bribes the admins, using his company ChangeTip.

[–]snallygasterFUCK_MOD$_420[M] 7 points8 points  (3 children)

Removed: please remove the /u/ in the username and the comment will be back up again.

[–]IntellectualEuphoria 3 points4 points  (2 children)

I don't understand the reason for this, but I followed your instructions.

[–]snallygasterFUCK_MOD$_420[M] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Your post is up again.

The purpose of the rule is to prevent drawing people into the thread to start fights with them, particularly people involved in the drama.

[–]tlh053Show my flair on this subreddit. It looks like: 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The reason is that whenever someone mentions a person by name, it sends them a message pointing to where they were messaged. And we don't want anymore drama than the usual here nor do we want to encourage bullying.

[–]glassshield 15 points16 points  (5 children)

Usually shadowbanned users can't post, so mods there are approving his posts, I would guess

The shadowban happened in the last few hours, so his replies from earlier showed up as normal. I actually contacted the admins 3 separate times about this, but never got a single reply. I think I must be on some kind of ignore list.

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I actually contacted the admins 3 separate times about this, but never got a single reply.

Keep bumping it, that's how admin modmail works. Maximum times I've had to bump a thread was 4.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 7 points8 points  (3 children)

he shadowban happened in the last few hours, so his replies from earlier showed up as normal.

Yeah, I know this from your /r/drama modmail but /u/stopscopiesme actually wrote the post. He didn't like my original post and I refused to change it so he wrote a new one for me.

The admins don't reply to most messages tbh I generally only get a quick "Thanks!" when I report cp. Anything else is mostly ignored.

[–]stopscopiesmedoesn't even go here 4 points5 points  (1 child)

there was another mistake too. this one is better http://privatepaste.com/b3d4692a12

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

<3

[–]PhillyGreg 4 points5 points  (5 children)

This is the only LifeProTip I've found helpful

[–]ImNotJesus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

LPT: Inhale then exhale.

[–]DacryphileThere is no such thing as an infinite supply of threes. 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've found /r/shittylifeprotips is much more helpful. Every day I learn something I can put to good use!

[–]McCaberHere's the thing... 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a big fan of /r/DeathProTips myself.

[–]tlh053Show my flair on this subreddit. It looks like: 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LPT really is pretty horrible. It seems entirely focused on solving problems that no normal person would ever actually have.

A couple days ago, there was a gif at the top of the frontpage of someone pouring orange juice with the container held "normally"(which according to LPT means the orange juice shoots out and spills all over everything) and then holding it upside down with the flap at the top bent, which miraculously causes it to pour the same way it pours every single time I do it normally.
Completely worthless advice to anyone who doesn't have trouble pouring things. IE: almost everyone.

[–]glassshield 2 points3 points  (0 children)

LPT: Did you guys know that you can put a bagel in a cd/dvd cakeplatter?!

  • it isn't air-tight.
  • it means everything you put in your bagel also needs to have a hole in the center.
  • the bottom isn't dishwasher or microwave safe.
  • unlike a baggie it takes up the volume of a bagel rather it has a bagel in it or not.
  • your grandmother saw this on facebook and now wants you to buy only 25 disc carousels when 100pks cost less.

but, did you guys know?! you CAN put a bagel in a cd/dvd cakeplatter?!

Tomorrow : reuse your plastic water bottles ...once ...poorly ...in a manner that makes recycling them less convenient ...FACEBOOK!!

[–]Riverrun_past_eve 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I guess MillenniumFalc0n has to take down subredditdrama.com, now.

And just when he was going to get a Series A round

[–]NorwegianWood28Isn't it good? 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I can see why reddit is threatened by the site with excellent LPTs like these

[–]ttumblrbots 2 points3 points  (0 children)

doooooogs: 1, 2 (seizure warning); 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; if i miss a post please PM me

[–]elee0228 [score hidden]  (2 children)

I posted something in LPT yesterday that made the front page. It got deleted without explanation and got me banned. I can't figure out why. I messaged the mods and got no answer. Their rules state:

Note: We do not give chances, bans are immediate. You may appeal the ban by writing the Moderators and explaining what rule you broke and then agreeing not to break the rules again. If you break the rules one more time, the ban will become permanent.

How can I explain what rule I broke if I don't think I broke any? It's frustrating.

[–]zani1903 [score hidden]  (1 child)

THAT got you banned? That's like... theres no agenda, no underlying message... you aren't trying to get anything out of that... it's genuinely just an every day tip?!

[–]elee0228 [score hidden]  (0 children)

That's why I'm so confused. Then I noticed all this post about the drama, and I wonder if it's related.

[–]stopscopiesmedoesn't even go here[M] 6 points7 points  (15 children)

geraldo pls, don't just link to someone else's write up. do your own! can you edit and then tell me so I can approve? right now this is removed

[–]ItsSugar 10 points11 points  (7 children)

CENSORSHIP!!!

[–]ImNotJesus 10 points11 points  (6 children)

That's it, I'm moving to /v/SubverseDrama

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 14 points15 points  (5 children)

rofl is that a thing? I can just imagine the posts. "Should faggot bashing be allowed in an anti-nigger sub? /v/ImAfuckingNazi discusses.".

[–]ImNotJesus 14 points15 points  (4 children)

The Voat drama is the best. The top mod of /v/AskVoat has been accused of being an SJW.

[–]DaedalusMinionRespected 'Le' Powermod 12 points13 points  (1 child)

accused of being an SJW

I'm sure if Hitler was alive today, SRC/KiA/Voat would call him a SJW too.

[–]TheFunBurglarReddit: Hate groups eat free 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Don't get me wrong, I think his plan to exterminate the untermenschen is great, I just think there is an ancap solution for building the autobahn.

[–]MrLmao3Jewish shill 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Voat drama

Where can one find Voat drama? is there /v/subVoatDrama?

[–]ImNotJesus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

/v/AskVoat is a great read right now.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 17 points18 points  (5 children)

Oh for fucks sake. I give a summary of the drama and I link to the bit where the top mod gets in a spat with the op which is the real drama IMO. I could have just linked the comment chain as a link post (which would have given me a shitton of karma). I don't understand why a self post (which gives me no karma) is suddenly held to some higher standard.

[–]stopscopiesmedoesn't even go here 5 points6 points  (4 children)

check irc, I pasted the thing for you

EDIT: in case you can't get on irc here is the thng http://privatepaste.com/e4cb4220cc

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I was on a beer run. Edited.

[–]glassshield -4 points-3 points  (2 children)

So there's not going to be a thread then?

[–]stopscopiesmedoesn't even go here 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I'm hoping that geraldopai will notice me :c

I might be going to bed soon and maybe someone else will post. I made a quick and dirty writeup for him to use to save him the effort but then he must have went off to do something... IN REAL LIFE

EDIT: geraldo got beer. SRD got the post back

[–]glassshield -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Well I guess I won't get my SRD cherry popped tonight then after all

[–]pilgrimboy 1 point2 points  (21 children)

Here is what I don't get though. He created a subreddit to promote his site. Is that wrong?

It's not his fault that the subreddit then became insanely popular. Yet it was a result of his site and his promotion.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 34 points35 points  (2 children)

I believe the site was made after the subreddit.

[–]Riverrun_past_eve 5 points6 points  (0 children)

His particular hair to split is that since he registered the domain before the sub was popular, that his site was actually born then, so it precedes the subreddit-as-popular-phenomenon.

...and best of luck to him

[–]pilgrimboy 11 points12 points  (0 children)

That changes things some.

[–]glassshield 18 points19 points  (11 children)

Yet it was a result of his site and his promotion.

It was mainly a result of the thousands of reddit users who posted and spent time on his subreddit, not his website or his efforts. He even admits in the thread that the success of the subreddit came mostly as a surprise and that it grew organically on its own.

He created the website around the same time as the subreddit, and as the sub grew he increased his efforts to direct traffic from reddit to lifeprotips.com. It's pretty clear that his end goal was to create a self sustaining standalone community that he would then make money off of and claim was successful because of his efforts and not because he directed people to it from his 4.5 million subscriber subreddit.

I don't think that /u/someprimetime is a bad guy, or that he deserves to be publicly ridiculed. /r/LifeProTips is a great subreddit, and they have done a great job with it. The issue here is that if LPT is allowed to use their status as a default subreddit to promote their personal projects (and make money from it) then that opens the door for everyone to do it.

[–]tlh053Show my flair on this subreddit. It looks like: 5 points6 points  (1 child)

/r/LifeProTips is a great subreddit

Whoa there, let's not go that far. It's been shit for a long time, especially since going default. The only reason I'm still subscribed there is because I find some of the advice to be so bad that it actually kind of makes me laugh.

[–]glassshield 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A lot of my comments should have a /s after them.

[–]the_undine -1 points0 points  (7 children)

I don't see what the problem would be with that. It seems like reddit partially uses that as an excuse to make this site a dead end.

People put a lot of energy into maintaining subs, but their benefiting from that as opposed to only reddit benefiting is against the rules. Content is stolen from other places on the web and hosted on imgur, diverting traffic from people who actually create shit and funneling it back to reddit. But if the people who created this content posted it themselves with links attributable to themselves, it's self promotion and banned. It's like reddit is a site only takes and takes and only rewards the most low effort posters.

[–]glassshield 4 points5 points  (6 children)

I don't see what the problem would be with that. It seems like reddit partially uses that as an excuse to make this site a dead end.

I think it's great actually. It prevents reddit from becoming facebook, where every idiot is trying to push a product/event/cause/political candidate all day every day.

People put a lot of energy into maintaining subs, but their benefiting from that as opposed to only reddit benefiting is against the rules. Content is stolen from other places on the web and hosted on imgur, diverting traffic from people who actually create shit and funneling it back to reddit. But if the people who created this content posted it themselves with links attributable to themselves, it's self promotion and banned. It's like reddit is a site only takes and takes and only rewards the most low effort posters.

Reddit is meant to be a news/content aggregator. So yeah, people take content from other places and post it to reddit. It's not meant to be a place for people to sell things or promote their work.

[–]lifestyledles enfants beurre 2 points3 points  (4 children)

I think it's great actually. It prevents reddit from becoming facebook, where every idiot is trying to push a product/event/cause/political candidate all day every day.

I don't know why you'd think that doesn't happen all the time on reddit. I mean, sanders is like 50% of /r/all most of the time, LoL as well, Bitcoin used to be pushed all the time, various political platforms make up the majority of the drama we see in SRD.

you can't prevent reddit from becoming Facebook when it's been Facebook for years now, except Facebook has better moderation and I don't have to worry about seeing copypasta from Stormfront show up randomly on a post about cupcakes.

[–]glassshield -2 points-1 points  (3 children)

I mean, sanders is like 50% of /r/all most of the time

DAE think all the mods of /r/SandersForPresident are likely directly affiliated with the official campaign?

[–]lifestyledles enfants beurre 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I can't tell if you think I said that, or if you think I'm implying it, or if that's something people actually say.

my point was that it's ridiculous to pretend reddit doesn't suffer from the "facebookisms" of shit getting pushed all day every day.

[–]glassshield -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

I know that's not what you meant. I think that myself.

[–]lifestyledles enfants beurre 3 points4 points  (0 children)

ahh. I just thought you thought I was saying that. I don't know nor care whether they're part of his campaign, but it gets annoying when even filtering the sub from /r/all, it'll still show up in the comments of various other subs like a jehovah's witness.

[–]the_undine [score hidden]  (0 children)

I think it's great actually. It prevents reddit from becoming facebook, where every idiot is trying to push a product/event/cause/political candidate all day every day.

Never experienced this on facebook. Maybe your experience there is largely dependent on the types of people you choose to become friends with.

Reddit is meant to be a news/content aggregator. So yeah, people take content from other places and post it to reddit. It's not meant to be a place for people to sell things or promote their work.

In a lot of cases, it doesn't function as an aggregator, just a platform for theft and an incentive to anonymize content that was explicitly created by someone else (usually without their consent) i.e. in any case where the work is posted but not in the form of a redirect. Why should anyone want their work hosted on reddit if it's going to be ripped from their site and then hosted on imgur? The "no self promotion" rule means content creators have no control over how their work is presented on reddit, but reddit still profits from their efforts every time. That just makes reddit a literal parasite. I never said reddit had to act as a platform for self-promotion, but people implicitly being able to rip others off for the sake of Karma is just as stupid as this being an all day ad fest, and less valuable. Agendas and causes are already pushed here constantly. Any Celebrity AMA. Those science AMAs. Preventing people other than celebrities from using this site as a way to do anything of productive value, especially in this instance, just seems like a way for reddit to trap people here and inspire mediocrity.

[–]catmoon [score hidden]  (1 child)

Subreddits were originally created as a platform that could be used by external sites. As an example, TheCuteList.com still redirects to /r/aww and has done so for seven years. There used to be a field on the subreddit's settings page for moderators to list their main site's address.

Obviously the rules are different now, but 4 years ago when /r/lifeprotips was created this kind of thing was tolerated if not encouraged. The admins have been super inconsistent over the years about this.

[–]pilgrimboy [score hidden]  (0 children)

That would be why I thought differently on the issue.

[–]hotcod 0 points1 point  (2 children)

In a word, yes. Subreddits about a given thing are not really meant to be "officially" run by that thing because Reddit is intended as a community driven platform. Subreddits, even officially endorsed ones, are then meant to be, by and large, fan run. It's kinda the point.

[–]pilgrimboy 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I'm in LifeProTips and didn't even notice this. Was there subscriber outrage about this? We're in SubredditDrama and know that there are many subs where the subscribers hate the mods, yet Reddit doesn't deal with those mods.

[–]hotcod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's just a part of accepted reddiquette along side the fact you'll get yourself banned if you do nothing but post links to promote your own stuff.

[Please don't] Take moderation positions in a community where your profession, employment, or biases could pose a direct conflict of interest to the neutral and user driven nature of reddit.

Reddit sometimes let this slide if fan communities add, say, a dev of a game as a mod so long as they aren't running it. But by a large you have to think in terms of how Reddit does not exist to be your promotional platform and using your mod position to link to a site you can potentially profit off is seen as crossing that line.

[–]MemePolice 1 point2 points  (2 children)

[removed]

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

:(

[–]MemePolice 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't worry it's back up!

[–]DjEmmit 2 points3 points  (7 children)

Didn't the new owner of reddit say users should never be shadowbanned?

[–]hemenwaykid 3 points4 points  (3 children)

I think he said that there would be a wider range of banning options, so that shadowbanning could go back to being used for its original purpose, but any further particulars escape my memory. Could someone confirm/deny?

[–]ElagabalusRexDoctor of Cultural Marxism 3 points4 points  (2 children)

The alternatives have not yet been revealed.

[–]glassshield 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I heard a rumor that for Shadowban 2.0 they are planning to pay Chinese hackers to set your computer/phone on fire, delete all of your email and social media accounts, and then call in a bomb threat that will eventually be attributed to you.

[–]SJHalflingRangerFailed saving throw vs dank memes 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I appreciate them going the extra step like that. Really makes the reddit experience seem special.

[–]etan01234 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The technology just isn't there yet.

[–]ImNotJesus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He said that was a goal. They don't have the tools to do anything else yet.

[–]Ailureanti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-circlejerker -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I like the idea of shadowbans for people who were banned for spamming and harassment but there should really be non-shadowban for bans of other kinds.

[–]Estahh 1 point2 points  (11 children)

Kind of shady for the guy to do, but I feel bad that he lost all that hard work.

[–]darwin--supersix--6 8 points9 points  (3 children)

I can sort of understand why some moderators feel entitled to try and profit from their subs because if the build up an active community from stretch and garner like 100,000s of subscribers if they managed to do it through Youtube they would be raking in cash.

I think like the makeup addiction sub made a youtube channel,(but it didn't go over well) but that is allowed.

Is it allowed to build up a massive sub to have like 1,000,000 subscribers then make a monetised youtube account where you indirectly profit off the subscriber base you have made?

I think it is?? Reddit policy on this confuses me.

But yeah I can still understand why they don't want people profiting from their subs because of how it would affect the site.

But still I'm sure there are some mods of some big subreddits indirectly profiting. And I'm sure the muaddiction or skincareaddiction sub or whatever is doing that, just poorly.

[–]all_that_glitters_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you're thinking of skincareaddiction? Those mods got booted too IIRC. There was some minor drama on the indie makeup subreddit about that as well too that could be it.

[–]glassshield 6 points7 points  (1 child)

I can sort of understand why some moderators feel entitled to try and profit from their subs because if the build up an active community from stretch and garner like 100,000s of subscribers if they managed to do it through Youtube they would be raking in cash.

The difference with YouTube is that there your success is directly connected to your efforts. On Reddit the success of your subreddit is almost always the result of the contributions of hundreds/thousands of other people. Unless you are the only person posting content to your subreddit, other people have a hand in helping to make it successful.

Is it allowed to build up a massive sub to have like 1,000,000 subscribers then make a monetised youtube account where you indirectly profit off the subscriber base you have made?

There really aren't any non-default subreddits with over a million subscribers, and once you become a default you're guaranteed to have a massive and unrelenting flow of traffic to your sub. It's not fair for a single person, or even a group of people, to claim that they are solely responsible for the success of that subreddit and try to make money off it.

I think it is?? Reddit policy on this confuses me.

It's not allowed. https://www.reddit.com/help/useragreement#section_your_reddit_account

[–]darwin--supersix--6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the thorough explanation.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 7 points8 points  (5 children)

I feel like a lot of times the real solution is for the admins to contact the people in question and discuss what's going on and give them time to fix it. Sure, he was abusing reddit but the rules on what's ok really aren't that clear and they're subject to change year to year and even hour to hour depending on which admin is online. It seems kind of cruel to take a sub that he basically made from scratch and grew himself away like that without at least giving him a chance to make changes.

[–]glassshield 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Well he has been doing it for years, and they likely talked about ways to better promote it in their modmail, so I'm sure they saw it as a clear violation of the rules. Last night when I sent them a modmail about it he was pretty smug and dismissive of me like he thought the Admins wouldn't do anything about it. I mean I guess if you have been getting away with something for 4 years you might think the same thing.

[–]catmoon [score hidden]  (0 children)

so I'm sure they saw it as a clear violation of the rules.

which rule is that again? Here's a link to moddiquette.

Also, 4 years ago there was a field in the subreddit settings where you could link your main address. /r/Aww was originally TheCuteList.com, and the redirect still works today.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

From a different perspective you could say that as it had been happening for 4 years an admin must have run across it at some point (it's a default for christs sake. You'd hope they would at least visit a sub before they make it a default) and tacitly approved. I think you were right to bring it up and make a stink. It's something that needed to be discussed but i'm not sure banning and removing him was the best response.

[–]glassshield 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From a different perspective you could say that as it had been happening for 4 years an admin must have run across it at some point (it's a default for christs sake. You'd hope they would at least visit a sub before they make it a default) and tacitly approved. I think you were right to bring it up and make a stink. It's something that needed to be discussed but i'm not sure banning and removing him was the best response.

If they had no idea until now then that would blow my mind. But yeah, I didn't expect him to be banned. They had to know he was doing this, seeing as he had been doing it for such a long time. They likely didn't care until myself and others brought it to light. I'm kind of disappointed that they were so quick about it. If they chose not to act on it then we could have all done the same thing and made some $$ for a while.

[–]nuomici 1 point2 points  (0 children)

After the skincareaddiction flak I expected the same thing, I just wondered why it took so long for LPT to catch the admins eyes. The site actually looks good, and they'll most likely operate as usual - as other sites who feed on reddit content do, just minus the mod status.

[–]DubTeeDubSave me from this meta-reddit hell 1 point2 points  (8 children)

I think an interesting point of this profiting of moderation aspect of reddit is that there are a number of game developers that moderate subs for their own games.

These subs have links to their webstores (a much more profitable means of using their mod abilities than a link to a website which may generate minimal ad revenue) and yet when I've reached reddit admins about it the response I received was that they generally let that stuff slide.

[–]missbombshellYou catch flies with honey, but you catch more honeys bein fly 3 points4 points  (0 children)

there are a number of game developers that moderate subs for their own games.

Interesting, that definitely makes Reddit look hypocritical. But I feel their argument would be "well none of those subs were/are defaults, it's was a set rule in LPT, etc."

[–]wookiee42 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I would say I have very different expectations for a LPT sub vs a gaming sub run by the game's creator.

For LPT, I want the community to produce the content and impartial mods. For a gaming sub, part of the appeal is access to the creator -- for answering questions, taking suggestions, etc. I know the creator isn't going to be impartial, and am happy to reward them for the access. There's also a certain transparency to the arrangement.

[–]qtx 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm guessing it's because those subreddits were set up when the game was already released unlike lpt where the mod started the sub and then started to try and profit from it.

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Yeah, that's exactly why I feel some empathy for this guy. It's not a cut and dried situation. The rules have never been completely clear and they're not enforced very consistently. I think the best solution would have been for the admins to open a discussion with the guy and ask him to remove the links instead of just blindly snipping off the very large subreddit that he created and maintained for 5 years.

[–]DubTeeDubSave me from this meta-reddit hell 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Yeah, it seems really shitty to me. I don't really get why some indie gamedevs get to be some kind of protected class on this issue.

Also, didn't that make up sub have the same problem earlier this summer and all their mods got the boot?

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The skincare addiction (or whatever sub it was) business was a little more egregious from what I remember. I don't think that was as much of a grey area, it was more like the quickmeme stuff.

[–]ImNotJesus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a big difference between people who already have a product using reddit to engage with their community and someone trying to monetize a subreddit though.

[–]hotcod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Game subs tend to be created and run by fans with the main ones often ending up getting officially endorsed and building an active relationship with the devs.

However it's pretty very rare for a game dev to actually control a subreddit. I remember when the Mech Warrior Online devs Piranha Games set up their own subreddit for a new game they were crowed funding. It got taken away and all the company accounts got shadow banned.

You have to remember that Reddit is about creating communities and fan communities are part of that. They are always going to link to the thing they are a fan of and it's good for both that community if they can build a relationship with the people who make the thing they are fans of.

Reddit isn't going to step in to stop that happening without good reason and just having devs as mods in and of itself isn't seen as one of them.

[–]oskarw85 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I hate LPT. It's usually "how to be an asshole and live at expense of others"

[–]R_Sholes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey now! LPT is much more than that.

There's also "Captain Obvious to the rescue!", "Be the envy of /r/frugal_jerk!" and "DIY: How to waste $20 and create safety hazards instead of spending $5 at a hardware store".

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've never subscribed so i'm only vaguely aware of what the subreddit is about.

[–]indifferentmehplugit [score hidden]  (0 children)

I completely forgot about that sub. I was with them for a good year before I realized like 90% of the shit posted to that sub is just common sense or way overthinking something.

[–]Felinomancy [score hidden]  (0 children)

Huh. When did SRC changed their layout? At first I thought I was in blackout2015.

[–]ngxp [score hidden]  (0 children)

That sub is filled with some truly dumb advice.

LPT: If you live with roomates and they tend to be in the shower for too long reduce the amount of water spent by regulating main water supply valves

[–]NickCarpathia -1 points0 points  (1 child)

C'mon, who didn't click on this thread thinking it was /r/prolifetips and about the best ways to blockade abortion clinics or to photoshop pictures of dead foetuses on your billboards?

[–]geraldo42supergauntlet sux[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

lol

[–]anonymau5Dick Pimp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I fucking knew it. Now to take down the rest of those Reddit-gaming powerusers!

[–]funkmasterjambo666The Peanut Gallery [score hidden]  (0 children)

God, the admins give way too much of a shit about this kind of stuff. I know it's their job, but who honestly gives a fuck if the owner of a subreddit wanted to start a website as a more functional, more accessible way to convey these. Honestly, it's just a bunch of fucking words on a computer screen. I know that this is their job, but honestly, shadowbanning someone who is advertising a relevant webpage is scraping the bottom of the fucking barrel when they get bored and need to flex their internet muscles. The website is obviously only fueled by the subreddit, so the admins need to fucking stop being such babies about insignificant "breaches" on their whiny little rules. Your views aren't going to go down. Jesus, sometimes Reddit is like a goddamn elementary school playground.