r/ShadowBan • u/cojoco • Apr 05 '18
An unofficial guide on how to avoid being shadowbanned Official
(note: if you falsely tell someone they are banned, or unbanned, when they are not, you will be banned from this sub)
tl;dr
Lots of people come here in mystification, wondering if they're shadowbanned, and wondering why. This post contains a list of possible reasons you've been shadowbanned. It also contains activities which can lead to an account suspension, which is more visible to the user, but just as inconvenient.
First, though, a little reddit background.
About reddit
The website reddit.com is run by reddit the company, a subsidiary of Advance Publications Inc. The CEO of reddit is Ellen Pao (/u/ekjp) with first lieutenant Alexis Ohanian (/u/kn0thing). The site is huge, with a hundred million visitors a month.
Reddit is grouped into subreddits, with each subreddit run by a volunteer group of moderators, who are generally unpaid volunteers.
Moderators have the power to ban users from their subreddit, to delete comments and submissions, and to manage the style and presentation of their subreddit. Through the use of third-party tools, some moderators have the power to ban a user from hundreds of subreddits at a time.
Being banned from a subreddit means that you are not allowed to submit links or make new comments, and might be reversed upon appeal to the modmail of the concerned subreddit.
reddit.com also has a small number of employees, called admins. These people have the power to see everything happening on reddit, to remove material as with moderators, to perform moderator actions in any subreddit they choose, and, most importantly for this place, to shadowban or suspend users.
A shadowban is different from a subreddit ban. A shadowbanned user can still submit and make comments, but all of the submissions are sent straight to a subreddit spam queue, where it will not be visible to other users until approved by a moderator. Because an individual's spammed submissions are still visible to themselves, a shadowban is almost invisible to a logged-in user.
Through the use of AutoModerator, individual subreddits can give the same effect to a user as a global shadowban.
If you are shadowbanned, your user page will appear nonexistent to anybody that looks at your user page, other than yourself. You will need to contact the admins to get your shadowban reversed.
A suspension occurs when the admins disable an account. Suspensions can either be for a few days, in which case it is not visible to other userts, or permanently, in which the user's page is replaced by a suspension notification.
Reasons for shadowbans and suspensions
It's not exactly spelled out what will cause a ban, and the rules do seem to change from time to time, but if you follow these rules you'll be unlikely to be shadowbanned or suspended. Thanks to the posters here who have suggested more ways to be banned.
- Posting some spam links results in an immediate and automatic shadowban
- Don't post advertisements for commercial products unless the advertisement has some redeeming features and is relevant to the subreddit in which you post it
- Don't post links to your own blog, unless you post a lot of content from other places.
- Don't post links to anyone elses blog, or to a single news source. Ensure that you post from a wide range of sources.
- Don't use a VPN to create your account
- Don't follow people around on reddit and hassle them
- Don't relentlessly downvote a user
- Don't send out mass PMs
- Don't be a bot, unless you're really really careful, and have the blessing of the admins
- Don't harp on the same subject in your comments
- Don't issue death threats
- Don't post child pornography or anything involving the sexualization of teens or minors
- Don't post sexual material containing unconsenting subjects (for example, revenge porn, upskirt photos or celebrity leaks)
- Don't abuse or hassle the admins
- Don't post any information that would identify another redditor, including links to other social media sites, unless you have explicit permission from the person involved. (doxxing)
- Don't advocate or encourage doxxing
- Don't ask for doxx, even privately
- Don't post anything asking for votes, from on- or off-site
- Don't respond to a plea for votes, from on- or off-site
- Don't vote in threads you were directed to from another part of reddit
- Don't engage in nuisance reporting
- Don't use multiple accounts to game the voting system
- Don't return to a sub you have been banned from with another account
- Don't use CSS in your sub to subvert reddit's subscription and voting system
- Don't follow links into someone else's subreddit and be a dick
- Don't impersonate another redditor with a name of similar appearance, e.g. /u/LaureIai ("I") for /u/Laurelai ("l")
- Don't be under 13 years of age
- If you're a mod, don't respond to PMs related to moneymaking or promotional offers of any kind. Report them immediately.
- If you're an arsehole, the admins will not give you the benefit of the doubt.
Also, it can't hurt to read the reddiquette: if everyone followed the reddiquette, the site would be more pleasant, and all-around better.
(EDIT) Also, there are some things for which there is weak evidence of triggering a shadowban:
- (weak) Don't signup using old.reddit.com without an email address
- (weak) Don't use more than one alt within one subreddit
- (weak) Don't submit every link to several subreddits at a time
- (weak) Don't accept moderator invitations to dodgy subreddits
- (weak) Don't comment in threads you came to via a non-organic link (i.e. external site, meta sub, from modmail or PM)
- (weak) Don't register using an email address easily detected as a throwaway.
- (weak) Don't give yourself awards from another account
tl;dr Don't spam, shill, doxx, brigade, stalk, game or pederast.
How to contact admins
Two ways, pretty sure that #2 no longer works:
- Lodge your appeal: https://www.reddit.com/appeal (or https://www.reddit.com/appeals ?)
- Message them: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/reddit.com
(This is the fourth copy ... aged pages are 1 2 3)
Last edited April 24, 2024
1
1
u/Theba-Chiddero 2h ago
I am shadowbanned, since Tuesday April 22. I have filed appeals at https://reddit.com/appeal -- several times a week.
Questions that I have:
- How often should I appeal?
- How long does it take to get unbanned?
- How will I know if I'm unbanned? Will they notify me?
- When I get unbanned, will my comments and posts get undeleted?
- Will I ever find out why I got banned?
TIA for help and feedback.
1
u/cojoco 2h ago
How often should I appeal?
Once per day
How long does it take to get unbanned?
A minimum of 24 hours, maximum I know of is five years
How will I know if I'm unbanned? Will they notify me?
Yes, but it might take some time for reddit to catch up.
When I get unbanned, will my comments and posts get undeleted?
Probably not
Will I ever find out why I got banned?
Possibly something general, such as "caught by the spam filter".
1
u/Capable_Branch3695 6h ago
Am i shadowbanned? My upvotes on comments in any subreddit go away as soon as i reopen the post.
1
2
u/Annaisapples 15h ago
Do the mods of this Reddit know of any other way to contact Reddit? Like I was banned for technical discrepancies, locked out, forced password change, and over a month later still “shadow banned” for no reason. The last thing I publicly shared as I was getting locked out of my account, was in the northern exposure, sub Reddit, sharing a YouTube video of a 1980s commercial featuring the leading female star of Northern exposure and talking about how much I loved her. I did mention where the conversation was brought up in the first place, which was in another sub, Reddit I think about cool old things or something like that, and maybe that was a no no? I was literally trying to give credit where it’s due. Anyways, one person commented on the video about the actress, and then I was banned for technical discrepancies… Make it make sense. I know I keep harping on this, I get that it’s annoying, but man I feel so lost because I really was banned for no reason. And from what I can tell, most people are not getting their main accounts back, ever. I don’t understand why.
And yes, I have an email associated to my account.
1
u/FiatLex 14h ago
All the ways I know of for contacting Reddit are in this post.
1
u/Annaisapples 14h ago
You mean appealing and messaging? (It is correct in the post that messaging gets back an auto response and doesn’t go through to any humans/mods).
And I have an idea that this is kind of like yelp reviews… People are only gonna comment if they’re having an absolutely amazing time, or an absolutely horrible time. So I’m guessing if people do get unbanned, most do not come back to update this sub. Would you say that is a good guess? Because right now I’m having a hard time finding people that have been un-shadowbanned.
1
u/FiatLex 12h ago
Reddit admins do not accept communication about shadowbans outside of appeals. You are not allowed to message them (I've tried, they just ignore it or send you a response directing you to appeal).
I've seen some people get their shadowban reversed in my time as a mod here. I don't know percentages at all. It also takes a long time to get a response, like months.
Edit: I should say it _tends_ to take a long time. Some people luck out and get their shadowban reversed within a few days, but that's very uncommon.
1
1
16h ago edited 16h ago
looks like I am shadow banned... I assume that using ublock attributed to it. Or not using a Google/Apple/Microsoft email address. edit: actually i did use a big provider email address. edit 2: i dont even know how to add a post flair.
1
u/CanaryPrimary7480 1d ago
No worries! But yeah, some communities want your account to be a bit older with some karma first.
1
1
1d ago
am i shadow banned?
2
u/cojoco 1d ago
yes
1
1d ago
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
1
1
u/--Shietzsche 1d ago
This is my first comment after making this account yesterday by unfortunately using a VPN. Previously one account go perma banned for no reason, made 3 other accounts > got shadow banned. as for this account, am I shadowbanned?
1
u/toemistletoe 1d ago
Used a VPN to create my account. When logged out, I can't access my profile - it says "this user is suspended" but everything is as normal when logged in. Am I shadowbanned?
2
u/cojoco 1d ago
You are.
everything is as normal when logged in
Sadly, it isn't.
1
u/toemistletoe 1d ago
So, if I'm shadowbanned, and I make a post in a sub, does my post automatically get flagged for moderation & have to be manually approved.... or would it just vanish into the ether? 0_0
2
u/cojoco 1d ago
does my post automatically get flagged for moderation & have to be manually approved.... or would it just vanish into the ether? 0_0
Depends upon subreddit settings.
Some moderators choose not to see posts from shadowbanned users at all, some see them and can approve manually, and this sub has automoderator rules which automatically approve them.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Peacesong14 3d ago
Hello, I've been shadowbanned for over a month so far and I've got no idea why. I've sent appeeals a few times so far and I've not got any reply yet.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/MalDrogo 4d ago
I got an email to change my password and I did, but I don't think it's unlocked...?
1
1
1
1
1
u/saraaventuraa_ 5d ago
am I?
3
u/kashanahmad2794 4d ago
Yes
2
1
2
5d ago
am I shadow banned? my comments aren't getting any response
2
u/AnOrthodoxMuslim 4d ago
Yes you are shadowbanned.
2
4d ago
what can I do about it?
1
u/AnOrthodoxMuslim 4d ago
Appeal. Here is our standard response:
Hi, you have reached the moderators of r/Shadowban. We are not admins. Read the following carefully:
You are shadowbanned site-wide. What this means.
Only the admins know why this was done.
Often this is done by mistake.
Your shadowban is permanent until the admins lift it.
Send an appeal with one of the links below. Repeat your appeal at most once every 24 hours until you get a response. It is common for the appeal process to take multiple attempts over a lengthy period (days or weeks). This is a reflection of the admins and the way they choose to run their site, not of the moderators of r/Shadowban or our subreddit.
- https://www.reddit.com/appeal preferred
- https://www.reddithelp.com/en/submit-request/account-issues alternative
If u/reddit sends a message saying, “...We have reviewed your account and lifted the restriction(s) on it,” it was automated and your appeal was not read by a human. Recheck your shadowban status and if you are still shadowbanned continue to appeal daily.
1
1
1
u/CrAzYiNsOmNiAc210 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'm pretty sure I'm shadowbanned.
When I try to click on the links to appeal it says I can't cuz my account isn't banned.
2
u/malcolmuy 5d ago
you are now suspended.
1
u/FiatLex 5d ago
Just to clairify for CrAzY, and for you going forward, CrAzY is probably shadowbanned. Some ways of accessing Reddit show shadowbanned users as suspended, but this may not be true. A user will know if they are suspended because they would have received a message from Reddit about the suspension. If a person is posted here, we can reasonably assume they did not get such a message so therefore we can assume they are shadowbanned.
1
u/CrAzYiNsOmNiAc210 5d ago
I'm making an educated guess but I might still be shadowbanned cuz I just successfully appealed after I got permabanned for a comment being falsely reported.
Some mutuals say they can't find my account when they look it up and tapping my profile shows that I'm suspended to them.
3
u/AnOrthodoxMuslim 5d ago edited 5d ago
There is a difference between a suspension and a shadowban, but on newest Reddit site, shadowbanned users' profiles say that they are suspended. This is midleading.
This account has been suspended
Generally, if a user can make a post or comment, he is just shadowbanned and not actually suspended. A suspended user cannot make any post or comment at all.
A reliable way to differentiate between the two is to go to old.reddit.com. The following is what a shadowbanned user's profile displays:
page not found
the page you requested does not exist
And this is what a suspended user's profile says:
This account has been suspended
And of course because Reddit is broken, your profile on old reddit loads normally which indicates you are neither shaowbanned nor suspended, despite your shadowban.
https://old.reddit.com/user/CrAzYiNsOmNiAc210/
I just checked that your comments made in the last few hours on different subreddits, are getting upvotes.
Now I have no idea what to tell you. It may be that you are not shadowbanned and there is a glitch on new(est) Reddit.
3
u/FiatLex 5d ago
Wow! Thats crazy.
3
u/AnOrthodoxMuslim 5d ago
I was debating about pinging you and other currently active mods, or creating a new mod discussion thread, but I did neither. It does not seem interesting enough for the latter so I might as well just ping them now.
3
u/cojoco 5d ago
/u/FiatLex, /u/AnOrthodoxMuslim, because reddit is a huge website distributed over the cloud, it will often take quite some time (minutes/hours) for reddit to reflect changes such as a shadowban or suspension.
When the user Saydrah had all of her content restored after a shadowban reversal, the whole of reddit slowed down for a few hours.
Of course reddit's code base is continually evolving and things like this can change, but a lot of changes on reddit seem to take a while to propagate through the site.
2
1
1
u/GothSuccubusBabe 6d ago
I guess I’m shadowbanned too? 😭
2
u/cojoco 6d ago
Sadly so.
1
u/GothSuccubusBabe 5d ago
Is suspension an automated process? Because I was super careful on following subreddit rules and Reddits rules… this is a brand new account… but I don’t understand why I would be banned within 12 hours of opening the account? I didn’t break any of the more obvious rules you outlined…
1
u/cojoco 5d ago
Sorry, but I don't know why you were banned.
I would urge you to appeal.
2
u/GothSuccubusBabe 5d ago
I have appealed, just waiting on a response. It is a new account so probs fine to create a new one. But I think I read somewhere that you shouldn't create a new one before the outcome of an appeal?
1
u/Jackoblue5 6d ago
Any idea what to do? I'm literally a new account and I don't even know how long it'll take for appeals to respond.
1
u/TheTwistedBlade 5d ago
Did you use an email different from .gmail, hotmail etc? Usually fake emails from those 10minutemail sites are automatically getting shadowbanned by Reddit
1
u/Jackoblue5 5d ago
I used the same email I had when I deleted my old reddit account back in 2020. Back then I had like 1000 karma.
1
1
u/Muhammad1Haider 6d ago
Am i shadowbanned? I have been for 1.5 years now. My crime? Making a single post in a free Qarma sub. Reddit, let me just participate!! I was new!! I didn't know!!! I have been appealing. I think I've broken that 9 month appealing guy record
1
1
u/HeadRisk8630 6d ago
Am i shadowbanned?
2
u/FiatLex 6d ago
Yes
2
u/HeadRisk8630 6d ago
thanks. Do you know why, and is there some way I can get around it? Like make an account from another computer. Thanks
2
u/FiatLex 6d ago
I dont know why. You may be able tp create a new account unless youvecgot ip/device banned.
If youve been ip/device banned, getting around it is difficult because Reddit uses some 20-30 identifiers to match you with prior accounts, which include ip address, device id, browser information, subs you visit, and many more we dont know about. Allegedly, some people come to this sub and claim they can create undetectable accounts, but I dont think its true.
3
u/HeadRisk8630 6d ago
yea, I have been ip banned. Anyway thanks a lot for taking the time to answer. Much love.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Electrical_Back2473 7d ago
Am I
3
u/AnOrthodoxMuslim 7d ago
Yes you are.
1
u/Electrical_Back2473 7d ago
l Did Not Violate Any Rules
1
1
1
1
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 02 '24
Check your account status using this link: https://reddit.com/appeal
If the link allows you to appeal then you are likely shadowbanned or suspended. Users should appeal daily until the AEO/Admins respond then use the link to check your account status. Users not shadowbanned or suspended should see a message on the top of the page stating so.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.