I've been a Reddit user since 2007 and yesterday they permanently suspended the accounts I used supposedly for breaking a rule I had no way of knowing about. I had 5 total reddit accounts:
-
Account with a username tied to my real life name. I only ever used to participate in discussions and assist people in several of the tech support subreddits.
-
Account I used for normal browsing. This is account I used the majority of the time. I had it set to hide posts if I voted so I could just /r/all and always see new content. If wanted to comment in the defaults I used this one.
-
Account I used for "edgy" comments. I know people check user histories all the time for no reason at all to attack you. I had this account soley for if I wanted to post a dumb joke in /r/ImGoingToHellForThis or say something about a post in /r/Conspiracy and not have someone harass my normal account.
-
A throwaway account I used to answer one AskReddit post 7 months ago. I used it to post one answer and a reply to a few responses that day then never touched it again.
-
An account on my PC at work. I never used it for commenting or anything, just so I could turn off custom CSS and set NSFW posts hidden so I could browse at my desk when I had a few minutes to kill without worrying about what would pop up on the screen.
I've always tried to be a careful redditor. I read the sidebars before I post so I don't break rules. I never insult other users. I never get in fights with the mods. A lot of my comments with my normal account would probably have you all yelling "SJW!" at me.
Well yesterday there was a Christine McConnell post. If you don't know her I'd describe her as Reddit's Martha Stewart. She posts different arts or food related projects that are crazy talented. Every post of hers is also filled with drama about whether or not it is spam. There was a top comment about how dumb the complaining about her posts always is. I typed up what I thought was a thoughtful response to voice my disagreement. I admitted that a good portion of the hate in her posts definitely was tied to the fact that she was female, there is no denying that if you read some of the comments. However, I told them I thought there was definite merit to the spam complaint. I linked to a similarly formated post from another user I had save because I liked it. The mods had removed it for spam. I pointed out how the self promotion rules tend to get small normal accounts banned for spamming while real life celebrities and certain popular reddit users get a free pass. I didn't use any insulting language or call names or anything I'd consider controversial. It was also the only comment I had posted in a couple days.
I posted the comment and shut off my laptop to watch Walking Dead. After the show was over, I booted back up to read the discussion on the Walking Dead subreddit. I noticed immediately there is a red banner across the top of my window telling me my account is suspended from Reddit. I checked my inbox. I had a few replies agreeing with me. I had a message from the site telling me I was suspended for using multiple accounts to evade bans that I'd received roughly 20 minutes after I made that comment. Immediately after that I a message from a new account telling me to kill myself. I checked the timestamps. My account was suspended, 14 seconds later that account was registered, 39 seconds later they posted the death threat. I thought that timing was strange. I also couldn't figure out why I was suspended. I'd only used that main account for awhile and I'd never been banned anywhere.
First thing I tried to do is use the report button on the death threat comment. I couldn't file a report because of the suspension. I tried the other three accounts I had. Even the throwaway I'd only used for that one thread months ago was permanently suspended. I checked the profile for my last account that I only used at work and it was still active. I logged into that, reported the death threat, and sent a message to the admins about my accounts. I was sure it was a mixup so I was very polite as I expected they'd be reactivating my accounts. It was late so I went to bed immediately after.
Today I work when I opened Reddit I had a response. The account I used for "edgy" comments had been banned from offmychest because I commented in subs they don't like. I had never participated in that sub, so I received no notification of the ban. I had then at some points in time run across posts there with my normal browsing account and commented/voted. I replied back to the admins and asked why I wasn't suspended back when I'd actually done the "evading" but instead happened after I made a public comment critiquing their content policy enforcement. I told them I was fine losing the other accounts but I'd like my tech support back if i could as it's useful to me in my job. Again, I was being polite because I wanted that account back and thought this was just a misunderstanding. A couple hours later I had a break and checked to see if they responded yet. My work account was now suspended as well.
Years of participation are now wiped out for me. I can no longer use that support account as an illustration of my positive public contributions to the tech community. I'd received three job offers simply from that account. Like I said I'm fairly moderate so many here would consider me the SJW type for refusing to take part in negative online activities. I have to believe the only reason my accounts were banned was the coherent and detailed comment I made showing examples of what a clusterfuck their content policy is and who gets to break the rules. And of course my comment that sparked all this is no longer visible.
TL;DR: Got banned in some subreddits because I commented in a "bad" sub but never received ban notifications since you need to have been active in those subs to get the ban notice. I still occasionally participated in the "good" subs with my normal account. I made a comment the admins didn't like, got nuked for ban evasion I was never told about.
[–] go1dfish 0 points 52 points 52 points (+52|-0) ago
[–] GatorJumper [S] 0 points 36 points 36 points (+36|-0) ago
[–] go1dfish 0 points 22 points 22 points (+22|-0) ago
1 reply
[–] Javik2186 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
1 reply
[–] chronicdiscord 0 points 16 points 16 points (+16|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Arotaes_Forgehammer 0 points 15 points 15 points (+15|-0) ago
[–] GatorJumper [S] 0 points 34 points 34 points (+34|-0) ago
[–] Arotaes_Forgehammer 0 points 12 points 12 points (+12|-0) ago
1 reply
[–] ginx2666 1 points 2 points 3 points (+3|-1) ago
1 reply
[–] Gkar 0 points 13 points 13 points (+13|-0) ago
[–] AnarchoCapsLock 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
load more comments ▼ (27 remaining)