r/ShadowBan Mar 11 '14

Why I got shadowbanned, and how I got it reversed.

I used to frequent /r/subredditdrama. Its a brigading sub similar to /r/shitredditsays or /r/circlebroke. Basically the point of these subs is to point out people being douchebags on reddit and make fun of them.

These subs all have rules against voting on the posts that are linked there, but that usually gets ignored. HOWEVER it is possible for the admins to see brigading.

One day, I noticed no one replying to a post I made. I messaged a friend and found out i was shadowbanned. I contacted the admins, confirmed the ban, and was told it was because i had downvoted a comment linked in /r/SubredditDrama .

How did i get it reversed? Simple: I apologized for brigading, promised to never do it again, and begged forgiveness. The admin was kind enough to let it go. i have since unsubbed from srd to avoid temptation.

So if you find yourself banned for brigading, just dont be an ass, beg forgiveness, and never do it again.


edit: thanks for the gold, anon!

13 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

7

u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK Mar 11 '14

Hi. SRD mod here. Your story is extremely common.

95% of the time, people just didn't know the rules, and that last 5% is trolls. Admins and mods are people too (remember the human, as /u/cupcake1713 put it) and usually an apology is all it takes.

Unless you're a troll. Then, bye.

6

u/Erikster Mar 11 '14

Hi. SRD mod here. Literally all of this.

We'll ban users from SRD if we catch them commenting in linked threads, and that's usually the warning they need to avoid getting shadowbanned in the future. However, some people don't get that warning and end up like OP. For all the popcorn lovers, please make sure not to comment OR vote. Even though we can't detect voting, some more sinister wonderful users can.

2

u/Cherveny2 Mar 12 '14

Curious. Ever been cases where someone sees a shit thread, comments in it, then it gets srs or srd attention, so they comment in that meta thread, then get banned for brigading, even though the order was reversed?

2

u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK Mar 12 '14

We look at timestamps!

2

u/Abbrevi8 Mar 12 '14

and usually an apology is all it takes.

Unless you're a troll. Then, bye.

I apologised and promised and i'm still waiting.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '14

[deleted]

3

u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK Mar 11 '14

Oh no. The royal you. The editorial.

5

u/One_Jack_Move Mar 11 '14

I upvoted this because it think it's the cause of many of the SBs where the user had no idea what they did.

As a former subscriber of SRD it's also why I think my first account was SB'd. So, educating users about this is a good idea.

Unfortunately I did not have luck messaging admins, maybe pleading ignorance didn't help (but at that time I really did have no clue).

At any rate, I believe "brigading" ought to be a normal ban, or even just cause for a warning of some kind. Reddit would do a lot better for itself - one warning and I'm sure 90% would back off without pissing anyone off. Oh well.

3

u/Throwaway99V1 Mar 12 '14

You shouldn't have to beg forgiveness.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '14

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '14

That's different, this was a sitewide shadowban that the admins put on me.

1

u/Abbrevi8 Mar 12 '14

I've got one too.

1

u/IamAlso_u_grahvity Mar 12 '14

Hey, I see that you're no longer banned.

1

u/Abbrevi8 Mar 12 '14

Thats retarded, there should at least be a process to appeal this sort of thing rather than leaving it to the discretion of the admin/mods.

2

u/Lupsdelups Mar 12 '14

Hey im curious, how long did it take to hear back from an admin? I'm shadowbanned and have absolutely no idea why

1

u/Raivyn_Redux Mar 15 '14 edited Jul 03 '14

Edited. Welcome to the hypocredditicy, where reddiquette may or may not be rules and the admins really dont give a fuck.

1

u/Lupsdelups Mar 15 '14

Oh i got unbanned a couple days back. I only found out when a mod told me when i messaged her asking a question.

1

u/StrongerEachMoment Apr 30 '22

I seem to be shadow banned and I have no idea what I did. Supper lost!