Can confirm this is happening. My main with 60,000 karma, much of it from r/conspiracy was shadowbanned a week ago for "Vote brigading" even though I've never deliberately vote brigaded anything.

It's just a BS excuse used to silence people who spread the truth about censorship here.

Edit: I would also like to add that "shadowbanning" is completely ineffective in its current format. It is meant to ban bots and spammers without them realizing - however it is simple for a bot to intermittently log out and check their user page to see if they're shadow-banned or not.

The real reason Shadowbans are used is that it is a largely automated, one size fits all, hands off approach, and the Admins don't have to give you any reason or justification for your ban.

You will never know why you were shadowbanned unless you pester the admins for days with messages to reddit.com, until they respond (often never).

Reddit seriously needs to scrap using shadow-bans and implement a real ban/appeal system that tells you why you were banned, gives you a chance to appeal if it was wrongful, and in which you can communicate with a real person hired for that specific job who can investigate the facts on a case by case basis.

It is common for legitimate users who have broken no rules to be Shadow-banned and eventually (often many weeks later) unbanned. Check out /r/ShadowBan for examples.

I believe we will continue to see more selective application of rules to silence dissent as corporations and governments gain more power over Reddit in future.

It's pretty funny, this is the kind of shit that happened at Digg not long before it's demise. If only there was an alternative to migrate to.

Yeah the whole issue was that powerusers had all the control of the front page and if you weren't one of them you were screwed.

Seems like reddit is going the same way.

I couldn't tell at first, because I thought the OP was being ironic. Are people here just in denial? The same exact thing happens right here if you speak on certain key topics which run against the narrative.

I'm sure many here have also experienced being banned and/or having their posts deleted for nonsense reasons. Even if they are later undeleted, the post is on the second or third page and is never seen.

I've just had to learn to avoid those topics entirely.

It would appear social media sites follow a typical rise and fall pattern just like societies in general only the cycle happens much faster on the internet.

I expect the same thing to happen to FacePalm too.

I'm working on it.

Does your vote matter in this instance? I just don't know the entire story behind it, but vote brigading is calling for a mass of people to come in and either upvote or downvote a post. Creating a bot or multiple accounts for voting would also be considered brigading. But your one simple vote couldn't be considered a "brigade", could it?

I don't know. I assume that if you follow a link posted here to another part of Reddit and vote anywhere in that thread, they can accuse you of vote brigading and use it to shadowban you.

It is obvious they are selectively enforcing this rule though.

we need new reddit that allows for masses to vote out admins/moderators.

I'm sure that would be abused too. (Corporations/governments using bots or paid PR companies to vote for their own shills/mods)

We definitely need a new website though.

Probably doesn't help that the hypothetical voters came from /r/conspiracy given the negative opinion often supported by many popular admins.

How is it obvious that they are selectively enforcing it? It's not possible for you to see who has been banned from "the other side", so why claim persecution?

Remember what sub you're in

I can't access the front of the post. It seizes up. I can't help but wonder if it's due to my previously expressed opinions. I couldn't give a hoot. Online life is not real life.

However, you are communicating w/ real people here. So, yes and no. Just depends on how you use the Internet.

Whoever it is, we are all human (hopefully.) Some of us prefer a bit of James Brown to Dan Brown.

Agreed! I say, what's the point of voting if you can't vote in anyway you please? If Reddit and moderators are upset b/c votes aren't going the way they want them to, then it's quiet clear that said moderators have an agenda, in which case, they should not have the power to shadowban, unless the person in question is abusive or filled w/ rage, hate, and ignorance associated w/ trolls.

Unfortunately, Reddit is ruled by humans and their bots, which I admit are sometimes cool, but annoying at times... I wonder if there are any bots out there programmed to be shills...

But your one simple vote couldn't be considered a "brigade", could it?

Apparently, it is now. That is precisely why I had been shadowbanned a few months prior. I was told I had "participated" in a vote brigade simply for voting in another thread, one that was linked from this sub but not asking for votes in any capacity.

Since then, I have been careful not to repeat that mistake, and advising others to do avoid doing so as well.

I repeat: DO NOT vote in any thread upon following a link from another. It only gives the admins, and those users who I suspect have now been granted administrator privileges, the ability to censor any user critical of their agenda, to ban you arbitrarily whenever they please under false pretenses, while maintaining the advantage of plausible deniability.

Thank you for being a good moderator

I appreciate the feedback. I have to say, the other mods have demonstrated that they're more than capable and deserve a lot of credit in their own right. As for myself, I generally prioritize what's in the best interests of the sub and its users first and foremost when moderating, yet no less extend that same courtesy and fairness to any other user, skeptics and contrarians included, so long as they do not harass or mock other users here or cause any problems in general. And while I may not always agree with every rule in every sub, I understand as a newer mod here I have to abide by these rules and enforce them as reasonably as possible. It's also kind of nice to know that I'm now in a position to take direct action against those who wish troll the sub or cause problems for other users, banning the worst offenders on the spot, giving leniency to most if not all others (within reason) and allowing those banned to plead their case, often extending second chances to those who deserve them and demonstrate they would not continue to violate the rules or disrupt the sub in general.

If they have the ability to shadow ban without having to give a reason why they shadow ban can they shadow ban anyone for any reason?

For example, can one of those users come across a post in a thread that they don't like and check the users history and determine that user consistently posts ideas contrary to the reddit group think and therefor bans them?

It seems this power will be, can be and probably has been grossly abused.

Iff they have the ability to shadow ban without having to give a reason why they shadow ban can they shadow ban anyone for any reason?

In my experience, that would appear to be the case. Whether that is what happened to the OP here is less certain.

For example, can one of those users come across a post in a thread that they don't like and check the users history and determine that user consistently posts ideas contrary to the reddit group think and therefor bans them?

I would assume this only be done in extraordinary circumstances, for example when I pointed out the more nefarious content of the Talmud in a post and was shadowbanned minutes later.

If what OP alleges is true, it could hypothetically be used to silence those who are critical of the mods who have been granted administrative privileges.

So reddit is turning into a microcosm of the US society where it is ruled by thugs rather than ruled by law that is applied equally to everyone?

Funny how shit rolls downhill huh?

So reddit is turning into a microcosm of the US society where it is ruled by thugs rather than ruled by law that is applied equally to everyone?

That seems probable.

Funny how shit rolls downhill huh?

Indeed.

It would have to be determined by evaluating historical patterns. There is no way one vote could every be considered brigading. It's like saying someone is a big fan of the Jonas Brothers because they purchased one mp3. That's ludicrous. But if they purchased every or most songs as they were released, you would have plausibly conclusive circumstantial evidence (sorry about the poor analogy).

Even if people had multiple accounts, I would not feel it a beach of privacy if they used IP addresses as a factor in determining if one person is behind one or more accounts (Google uses IP addresses to associate accounts all the time).

I am just thinking out loud in these comments, but you could build a very detailed data analysis engine which could provide support for a user's brigading (or any other forbidden/unfair conduct on Reddit) and ban them...never having to resort to shadow-banning again.

There is no way one vote could every be considered brigading.

When a link is posted with the intent of brigading, any person who clicks that link and then downvotes is actively engaging in that brigade.

Brigades are made up of single votes from individual users, who are acting en mass.

Just one vote can most definitely constitute brigading, so long as it's a part of an actual brigade, which is where the difficulty comes in.

You must look at the context to determine whether or not a brigade has actually occurred.

dsprox -- I just brigaded you with my ONE vote!

Ok, you are right. But your vote cannot be considered brigading on its own....even if you and 2000 other people happen to vote the same post down or up in the same ten minutes.

The only way would be for them to establish you had done the same thing 3, 4, or 5 times in past. If you were observed taking part voting with the same people all of whom are subscribed to one sub (for example) at that point one could presume your intention each time was to brigade (or the presumption would be reasonable).

Otherwise, it's just a witch hunt.

But your vote cannot be considered brigading on its own....even if you and 2000 other people happen to vote the same post down or up in the same ten minutes.

Unless you all "happened" to click the same link which was implicitly provided for the purpose of brigading, which makes every single individual vote count as a brigade vote.

Context makes whether a brigade is actually occurring or not pretty obvious, especially when viewing the net total via RES.

Well yes, if you all clicked the same link which advocated brigading for a certain post. But I think we are are saying the same thing. You need to reasonably show intent (if one were to follow basic legal doctrine)...

But you could write a script that would look at every user's past behavior from logs...and then it would be rather easy to establish this. I don't know why they don't... unless they want the flexibility to ban someone without cause.

I have been banned on my main for brigading here. All I ever did was follow from ctard links and vote on the stuff I thought deserved downvoting (which sadly is quite a lot), so it really goes both ways. Personally I think it's retarded either way as long as there is no botting or a concentrated effort ("everyone go there and vote" etc).

Conspirtards are the biggest offenders of vote brigading.. In fact, that is ALL conspirtards are. And my feeling is that the only reason they do it, is b/c some are paid shills and then the rest are just village idiots. They've got their heads so far up their ass, there's really no contest, they all smell like shit.

Kids these days... what kind of insult is that even supposed to be?

The kind of insult that doesn't care about what you think.

Myself and /u/lastresort09 were both shadowbanned, conveniently after questioning bipolarbear01's integrity in the r/futurology (purposely unlinked to avoid "brigading") new mod thread.

I nagged the shit out of the admins and they told me it was because I had alt accounts and must be vote rigging. Got this account back, but I believe I'm one of the few who was reinstated.

Happened to me but a few months ago when his race baiting story broke out.

I'm surprised i wasn't SB'd again last week, because i was all over that futurology thread in needamod, posting his IRC screenshot lol

I've heard quite a few of us got banned after that thread, I'm honestly shocked that you weren't lol. Maybe they couldn't find a good enough "excuse" for you to give themselves plausible deny-ability...

I know the mods there deleted my posts so maybe that saved me lol

Ah what? He mods /r/benswann with me and is an amazing user, goddammit.

I love working with him in /r/UnitedWeStand. He's currently using an alt, but we're hoping he can get his main back up and running soon.

/u/Gooiesc, /u/Bubba-Booey, /u/cccpcharm, /u/InternetPropagandist - all legit users who were apparently shadowbanned as well.

Reddit seriously needs to scrap using shadow-bans and implement a real ban/appeal system that tells you why you were banned, gives you a chance to appeal if it was wrongful, and in which you can communicate with a real person hired for that specific job who can investigate the facts on a case by case basis.

I won't be holding my breath. How would they be able to censor opinions/speech they didn't like if this were implemented?

Secrecy allows the corrupt to evade accountability for their behavior. The Kryptonite of corruption is transparency that links names to behavior.

While all the shill/troll accounts on conspiratard, ELS, EPS, etc... are allowed and protected to freely operate and manipulate votes all day long.

Please give out the names of the admins that banned you!

cupcake x 3

Are you certain it was cupcake and not another mod with administrative privileges?

I've noticed cupcake often replies to inquiries regarding bans. That doesn't necessarily mean it was the same person who banned you, unless you have evidence to suggest otherwise.

Good question, i just assumed it was her since she's the only one who ever replied but i guess i don't know.

[deleted]

Sometimes the mods of whatever sub you're commenting in will tell you.

We can see your comments even though you're shadowbanned and we can manually approve them.

btw, you're shadowbanned and I had to manually approve your comment :(

I don't understand how the concept of shadowbanning can be tolerable in a community that is such a strong proponent of democratic principles.

It seems to me that if they decide to shadowban someone, especially veteran redditors, they should at least extend them the courtesy of explaining why.

how do you know if you are shadow banned?

Ironically you need an ALT account to come into the thread and see if your comment shows up. I learned this from /r/conservative. Hang out there if you want to learn about insane levels of censorship.

Or logout and visit your account page. If shadow banned it'll show your page as missing.

Like I said, comments can also be shadow-deleted individually by mods, not just admins. So you will see the comment logged in as yourself but not as someone else, if it was 'shadow deleted'.

That is not the standard shadow ban that is being discussed then.

LOG OUT AND CLICK YOUR OVERVIEW. If it says not found, there ya go.

You are.

[deleted]

Good to hear...and TBH sometimes folks do need to be banned...

That would make too much sense. my privatejoker account was like 4+ years old i think and had tens of thousands of thread and comment karma...gone like that because i clicked a link and then clicked a downvote arrow. This place is a joke now, and I just do whatever, not worrying about bans.

Because its not really a strong proponent of democratic principles?

Reddit is sounding more like a communist governement these days /r/technologymeta

/u/groupuscule checking in. redditor for four years, shadowbanned several weeks ago.

Not to sound cold, but honestly, you can't take reddit this seriously. Reddit go co-opted a while ago. It still has it's uses in terms of browsing and there are still some reddits (generally the smaller ones) that are about community. But generally speaking, reddit has become a forum filled with posts from PR firms or vendors trying to sell stuff under the guise of 'opinions'.

If you think the powers that be will let reddit simply exist as a forum for free exchange of ideas you've got another thing coming.

[deleted]

This is the biggest concern. Since Reddit is one of the most visited sites on the internet with millions of unique visits, it's vitally important the masses understand just how disingenuous its content and moderation can be.

The thing is, with Reddit, the concepts of free speech and censorship don't apply. You're using a site and the administrators (and mods, to an extent) have complete control over what you can and cannot post. I've seen a handful of people get shadowbanned for simply talking about A_ntique J_etpack. Is it aggravating? Absolutely. However, if you want to post criticism about Reddit or any of the higher-ups, Reddit probably isn't the best place to do it.

If it's any consolation: look for another community outside of Reddit. There are significantly better websites in terms of both content and users. Most have some sort of paywall in place (pay for an account) to keep shitheads out, but the sites are out there. They don't have nearly as many users, of course, but Reddit is filled with ads, memes, forwards from grandma, and pictures of cats. Save yourself the frustration and find another website that won't sap away at your will.

It would be great if you would list some of the sites you're talking about. I've been sick of all the group-think bullshit and horrible moderation on Reddit for a long time now but I don't know of any alternatives.

same

Agreed

i've never seen a paywall one, but I am pretty excited about hubski.

We all know reddit is largely controlled by a cabal of power-hungry moderators (whose reasoning and goals we can only speculate on)

This was what killed Digg. Reddit is going the same way. It's time to move on.

Yup, sounds very familiar. My first shadowban, jfq knew i was shadowbanned before I did. Either he was given a heads up or he just happened to click my user page a few minutes after i was banned (which i highly doubt)

What does it mean to be shadow banned?

Surely they must be able to shadowban in specific subs? If not, why not? It would be much more effective.

I believed in the past that shadow Bans was subreddit specific. To stop vote bridging form one subreddits to the next. But it looks like they're sitewide a parently

Shadowbanned = banned from the entire website, except no one tells you. You can keep posting away except no one can see anything you post.

go to /r/shadowban if you ever think you've been shadowbanned, you can check there. Normally, unless you're "brigading" or posting sandy hook addresses you're fine though

What does posting Sandy hook addresses mean?

"doxxing" is the other way they've been able to delete users here. Posting names/addresses of people in sandy hook = shadow ban

Ah, I see. Thanks for the explanation.

I did not know what a sandy hook was. Google says it was a schools shooting at a school named sandy hook

I knew what happened at Sandy Hook, and I know what doxxing is, so I just sort of put them together to figure it out. I don't know that saying "posting Sandy hook addresses" is a common enough phrase for people to know exactly what they mean though.

[deleted]

I think either some mods are very tight with admins or have admin capabilities themselves. I leave towards the former though.

[deleted]

Going to need someone on the inside of these private subreddits/irc chats to do it. Or someone leaking a memo from a company pertaining to it. It's obvious the flow of information here is now stifled though.

[deleted]

There was just another thread here this morning about their favored mods and the IRC chats. Look at the other shadowban thread

[deleted]

I can't find it now, i just read it this morning...HAD to be linked in one of the two shadowban threads on the front page here though. i'll post it later if i can find it.

Agreed. I have most of the default subreddits blocked (thanks to RES) and every once in a while, I'll run into something interesting, but Reddit has been wholly forgettable for years. I realize I sound like a hipster, but even in late 2009 when I finally created an account, Reddit was already degrading quickly. It was all bacon and narwhals when I joined, but now it's nothing more than clickable ads.

More often than not, if something looks suspicious on the front page, I'll check the account out. It's usually <1 month old with a few "that looks cool" and "hahaha that was funny" comments. Yet, this picture with a brand front-and-center and <30 comments is somehow the number two post on the site.

When users rejected flash/video ads was something of a tipping. Reddit looked for other ways monetize a fast growing site, so we got reddit gold, which was lame, and regular shills - some female name was the first to be outed I think. SOmeone will know.

Anyway, since then there have been a number of corporate shill accounts that are managed and somewhat protected from normal rules, because they are viral promoting one thing or another.

Today, reddit gets massive amounts of traffic, and big business it's attracted a lot of business who want exploit it - so there are a ton of very subtle campaigns to make sure every knows that the new product X gives you a whiter brighter smile. It's debatable whether reddit is party to this, or whether they act to combat it (since it can happen without reddit getting a penny)

Finally, in a world where 10 bucks buys 1000 twitter followers, what do you you this it can do for reddit votes ?

edit: also, because of this amount of traffic for the the large subs, its dumb for reddit to still pretend they have 'volunteer mods' in place who run it as they choose. those millions of pages views simply cannot be left to 'volunteer mods' to managed.

edit just noticed thats barely comprehensible gibberish from my fat fingers on mobile.

IIRC, marketing accounts need to get permission from admins to advertise. They'd (admins) much rather they (advertisers) use the designated ads instead of cluttering with viral submissions, but there are so many astroturf/sockpuppet accounts that it is impossible to get rid of them without a dedicated team. The admins say they don't make a whole lot of money from ads on Reddit, but the site is still flourishing. I think it has a lot to do with the privacy changes over the past couple of years. They're selling our browsing history to agencies for use on sites including, and other than, Reddit. Adblock and Ghostery have no effect on this form of advertising.

Try 7+ years, friend.

Way to keep at it. I lost interest when the front page was flooded with rage comics and, later, memes. I still check /r/all once a day since RES gives us the ability to block specific subreddits. I can't imagine how different Reddit must have been in 2007.

It was very different. There was some comedy. But no memes. Very few front page posts were images. Now we see extremely high % of memes and/or images on the frontpage, often 23 or 24 out of 25 frontpage (/r/all) items will be images that open in RES.

There was a lot greater focus on technology and science news as well as interesting world news events which are still visible if you head over to /r/worldnews

Generally it was a lot more nerdy/geeky. Now it feels a bit like someone distilled the top 4chan and facebook posts then combined them into some strange noxious mixture..

I also like RES filtering a lot.

You are describing slash dot. Go there for "real" discussion. People are here for fun.

Yeah slahdot is great but their submissions all seem to have to be approved and they don't cover nearly the same breadth of topics as reddit does.

Slashdot is pretty fucked after the beta fiasco.

edit: horrible grammar / typos.

Right there with ya.. Took me like 2 years to make an account.

reddit has become a forum filled with posts from PR firms or vendors trying to sell stuff under the guise of 'opinions'.

You're right, that awful! You know what's great?

Olive Garden's Unlimited Breadsticks! Now with more preservatives! They're GMO-Upgraded so that they reproduce asexually, in your stomach! You'll never have to eat again!

Look at the magazine Bon Appétit: half of the ads are disguised as articles. And the magazine is 3/4 ads, 1/4 very half-ass content. Reddit is owned by the same company.

Up vote. Bans for all sorts of things are common now. Didn't used to be this way. A mod doesn't like your user name, or doesn't think you fit in with what they are trying to market... Banned.

But it doesn't have to be a joke, right? I mean if we made it a fair and transparent system then maybe we could take it seriously.

Censorship is very heavy here in /r/conspiracy, this is true.

I have found however that /r/worldpolitics and /r/911truth are both very good in this regard. Not the readership you get with a default sub, no, but do you know what else I've found?

I am NOT on Reddit for the cat pictures, Bacon or narwhals. I am here for the infinite intelligence of mankind, to watch the ideas and revolutions spread. I'm here to slowly move towards the Star Trek future. I am here for Occupy Wall Street, I am here for Arab Spring, I am here for a Edward Snowden, I'm here for a Julian assage and wiki leaks. I'm here to overthrow the billionaire's that control my life and country that I love so much. I am here because I can only bring change to&through the hearts and minds of the people. Reddit is my only legitimate outlet other than becoming a terrorist or some hippy on a corner with a protest sign. I love reddit and I take it very seriously.

I lost 3 accounts over the last few months to "vote brigading" and met the same brick wall when I questioned it.

I made sure after shadowban #1 NOT to vote on anything linked here so either that's a generic excuse or their process is just wrong.

Oh and coincidence that this span of time has involved me railing on bip0larbear and jfqueeny? Seems like a big coincidence...i'm waiting for another shadowban soon.

Get em. Don't give up.

They bring it on themselves with their selective enforcement bullshit. I lose accounts for "supposedly" hitting a downvote button meanwhile that fuck bpb admits race baiting here and NOTHING is done. He's the kind of person you want modding /r/news isn't it?

He destroyed /r/restorethefourth. He should not be a mod of anything.

If you look at my posts from about 3-4 days ago i posted a quote from one of the real founders there about he destroyed it.

I wouldn't doubt that you did. I was a member of that sub since the day it was created. I warned the other subscribers numerous times about what was going on but was always attacked or banned by the mods.

Sorry to ask an obviously easy to comprehend question, but can you ELI5 this whole "shadowbanning"? I just got banned from r/abandonedporn. I got my post removed for not having the pic size posted. I admit I flipped my shit and got pissed, but now this has become a situation that seems to be growing and I would like to me more informed. Thanks!

Shadowban is noticeable when you log out from your account and try to view it but instead of your usual summary (comments, submissions etc.), you see a reddit's equivalent of 404 - see /u/Fluck or /u/kattoo (the latter was my own page). You can still log to your user, but your submissions, comments and PM's sent to others are invisible to anyone but you.

Oh...ok. Thanks, I was just wondering if that coulda happened cause I pissed off a mod. I try and keep up, but there is sooo much. Even after a year of reddit. Thanks again!

Mods can not shadowban. It's fucking amazing how many people don't realize that simple fact of reddit. Mods can ban, but no one wonders why the "shadow" is there.

Shadowbanned = banned from the entire website, except no one tells you. You can keep posting away except no one can see anything you post

You just got banned from one subreddit, you can make a new account to post there if you want

go to /r/shadowban if you ever think you've been shadowbanned, you can check there. Normally, unless you're "brigading" or posting sandy hook addresses you're fine though

This thread has been linked to from elsewhere on reddit.

• [/r/JustShillThings] Abort Operation KarmaPay. I Repeat, Abort Operation KarmaPay

^{I am a bot. Comments? Complaints? Message me here. I don't read PMs!}

28 downvotes. That thread gets reported to the admins if it hits 40

Honestly wouldn't be surprised if they get paid to silence people. Human being are interesting creatures in the regard that they can be the most compassionate beings or the most despicable monsters.

Some people are willing to die a thousand deaths to save another. Some are willing to kill a thousand for personal gain.

We may not know the true reason: whether it be for their self induced power trip or it's something much more sinister. But we do know one thing. The system on reddit is rigged more for a few people than others. Sounds familiar no?

My question is what is the motivation for doing this and why do this? Are they ignoring the chance for repercussions? Or is there something deeper where they don't care about the consequences because they've already accomplished their goal?

I lost my 5 year old main for the same thing. I wish I had pressed them for more specific reasons because I really don't think I brigaded. They took days just to tell me why I was shadowbanned though.

Integrity? Reddit? It is all about the cash.

I was banned for calling out admins on selective censorship. Regulars would recognize my uname, but for now I'm enjoying faux-anonymity. Any reasonable admin woulda banned ppl like davidreiss666 long ago. He's a very slick operator.

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/wiki/automoderator?v=07cdc14e-15f3-11e3-8453-12313b0b1e60

Yeah, I was shadowbanned for the dumbest reason. Reddit's becoming a huge joke unfortunately.

Jokes are funny, reddit is becoming a fascist state answering only to the interests of business and Govt. propaganda. So sad compared to the glory days.

I've said several times that the mods of /r/conspiracy should just create a separate forum somewhere that allows discussion without the reddit admins being in control. I believe this subreddit is important to reach the greater masses of reddit. But an external forum could complement it in a great way. Unfortunately non of the mods seem to take this seriously or want to pay the 10 dollars a month for a host.

Report auto-removal -- lots of reports with no mod intervention. Auto-remove as precaution.

reports: 16

action: remove

modmail: The above item has been automatically removed due to receiving an extremely high number of reports (16+) with no moderator notice taken so far. Please verify that this action was correct.

I chuckled.

Does anyone think Conde Haste took over reddit for any other reason than to control the conversation?

its both.

Division and suppression for profit, and the actual making of profit have been extensively studied. Getting combined is just glee engendering efficiency for outfits like conde naste and the trilobytes that live by them

I used to think it was because they saw potential in using it directly to generate revenue with advertising and "premium services". One has to wonder, now...

It still is mainly about ads and premium services. That's why they need to cleanse the site of alternative discourse by censoring dissent and controlling the flow of information

The best is yet to come.

I was shadowbanned for vote-brigading and also came to the link as an individual with no intention or belonging to any 'brigade'. This shadowbanning is really immature and winds me up beyond rationality. Why not ban someone, give an explanation and let them defend themselves? Instead you are taken for a fool, posting without knowing that you are banned. I find that practice almost childishly sadistic: "Haha, you are banned and still posting because you don't know, how funny."

Who enjoys this extra sting? Just be adults and do what you think you have to do without embarrassing, humiliating and condescending the recipient because in the end those you accuse may not actually have done anything wrong.

Shadow banning is there for a very good reason, it is there to keep bots from spamming. I do agree it is childish to do it to a real user but I don't thing the admins give a shit either.

but why would the mods have this ability. There should just be a program that Reddit itself runs that bans accounts.

Mods don't have the ability to shadow ban, only admins.

No but mods can 'shadownban' or shadow delete specific comments all day long - even from particular users by adding them to the spam filter and never approving their posts.

Completely true but we are discussing admin shadow bans, not the mods half whacked shadow bans.

They are essentially the same thing, except one only works in one subreddit and one is for the whole site.

They are in a way very similar but function differently. Either way the discussion at hand was ADMIN shadow bans.

I wasn't trying to argue one point over another, I'm just trying to make people aware that they can be muted from an entire subreddit and never know unless they check with an alt account. Happened to me, just passing on some knowledge, not trying to be pedantic.

This thread has been linked to from elsewhere on reddit.

• [/r/conspiratard] /r/conspiracy user banned for vote brigading with admins confirming that was the reason. Other users are talking about their MULTIPLE brigading shadow bans. Of course it is a conspiracy against them.

• [/r/muhcensorship] Are reddit admins shadowbanning people critical of power mods?

• [/r/funny] The reason I&#x27;m unsubscribing. X-post from r/conspiracy WARNING: Reddit admins are selectively enforcing rules to shadowban people who criticise the most powerful moderators in control large chunks of the site, such as qgyh2 and davidreiss666.

• [/r/circlebroke2] lol

• [/r/metacanada] Metacanada hated them before it was cool

• [/r/conspiratard] Got called a shill and banned from /r/conspiracy today for saying that the top post was childish. The dude then spied on my comment history and then copy/pasted them. There are some seriously creepy losers on that sub.

• [/r/conspiratard] Got called a shill and banned from /r/conspiracy for saying the top post was &quot;childish.&quot; Then the dude went through my comment history and copy/pasted to the sub. Ya know, because they&#x27;re all about free speech and privacy on that sub.

• [/r/SubredditDrama] /r/conspiracy believes the admins are shadowbanning users who dare oppose the most powerful moderators on reddit.

^{I am a bot. Comments? Complaints? Message me here. I don't read PMs!}

So this bot is showing us potential vote bridging from other subs lol I like it. Not that I think anyone is vote bridging. If you click any of these links and vote or comment you could be banned lol.

It's really dumb to punish someone for participating in a thread (which is the entire reason reddit exists) simply because they got there without clicking the 'subscribe' button. It's essentially the same as a friend inviting you to hang out and talk.

So dumb, in fact, that I figure it's real purpose must be to provide a justification for censorship.

Hell, it's a wonder I haven't yet been banned. I just click the links and read the comments and participate, I don't look at the sub or the url.

Wait, this happens?

I always participate and comment on things without subscribing.

In fact I'm not even subscribed here. ^{pleasedon'tbanme.}

Yeah it makes no sense t all. Now when I follow a link to something I want to participate in I just open a new tab and find it through normal means.

I don't get what this accomplishes except to waste people's time. What if I organically follow a link and find myself involved in the discussion? Am I a bad person? What about /r/bestof. Anything tha thits front page there gets brigaded like crazy.

I think /r/technology is just over. It's too messed up to save.

/r/tech is still relatively free of censorship, I'm sure that'll end when bipolar or reiss get a sock puppet/shill friend in.

[deleted]

Aaron must be spinning in his grave so hard he has a gravitational field.

It's probably a black hole by now, he has been spinning for quite a while.

I would like to resubmit my solution for reddit. Make the moderators selectable or de-selectable for each user. No more censorship, rather the moderators can hide "poor" content and set up rules for those who wish to use their services. No more banning, no more censorship, each user can decide who gets to filter content for the pages they are viewing. If you don't like what /u/davidreiss666 is doing, remove him from moderating/filtering the content that you see. See to many trash links, add him back to use his moderation services... its all up to you.

This is brilliant! And for that matter, let us upvote/downvote admins and mods, let us see how many users have them selected/deselected, have a comment thread for each mod where people can leave accolades or complaints.. Total transparency.

Who watches the watchmen? Us!

I warned you guys when Conde Naste took over. They still own it, just through an intermediary entity.

Shadowbanning

Banning a user from a web forum in such a way that the banned user is unaware of the ban. Usually takes the form of showing that user's posts/profile/etc. only to that user; other users never see them. Considered underhanded chicken-shit behavior.

[deleted]

wtf does that mean?

adding np to the front of the address makes it so users who go to the linked thread with that link cannot easily vote on it. It's supposed to stop vote brigading (it doesn't though).

Mainly because it's trivial to remove the np. from np.reddit.com

This is not true at all. It includes a custom CSS that may or may not hide upvote/downvote arrows depending on the subreddit.

It doesn't disable voting at all. And if you have subreddit stylesheets disabled (as most do I believe) it won't even show any difference at all.

[deleted]

Because it only works for people with subreddit styles enabled and only in certain subreddits.

This is in no way a general solution and in most cases won't even make a difference at all.

[deleted]

I just upvoted your post using the np. subdomain. Does it show up (it is orange for me even if I visit from www.)?

i show 2 upvotes for that comment, not sure if it's yours or not though. They do still show up orange though, i've seen that before

I have just tested it with an alt account. Upvotes and downvotes on the np. subdomain do count. I can see them with my other account immediatly.

Maybe someone else can chime in with a better understanding of it

or maybe you just figured out why we're all being shadowbanned for "brigading" lol

Creator of NP here. NP does not block any votes, it just hides the arrows. Purely cosmetic.

this explains a whole lot...the arrows are never hidden for me lol

I have also been shadow Banned, but i have absolutely no idea why

I just come on here for cool pictures and nice discussion, why does there have to be all this censorship );

Approved :(

Welcome to reddit, the biggest waste of potential in human history.

RIP Aaron Swartz, who was probably the only one of the founders that had real brains.

Can anyone explain to me how /r/bestof can operate if vote brigading is so bad?

selective enforcement

the same reason that reddit investigation subreddit can dox

Yeah that's fucked up. Ever notice that when they tell you you've been shadowbanned it's for vote brigading FROM CONSPIRACY?

They specify that it's from conspiracy, but they won't specify any further if you want details.

Yup. Oh, after one of my shadowbannings I got this asshole reply from the admins when i asked why 'tard still exists when it's sole purpose is brigading...this was the reply

http://i.imgur.com/RiS642E.jpg

Yeah that's a pretty dumbass response.

I'd really like to get some sort of poll of /r/conspiracy users that have been shadowbanned...i think we're sitting on a pretty big conspiracy of our own here...

We are, and no one is talking/has talked about it. In the last 3-4 months alone I've noticed at least 10-15 legit users from this sub have just disappeared completely.

Can confirm, I've been shadowbanned and was never given a reason despite asking several times. Also no one will reverse it.

I think mine was to skew the odds in a giveaway that was occurring on the subreddit.

I've approved your comment...lots of shadowbanned folks showing up ITT!

Reddit appears to currently floating in some sort of a hand basket and the direction appears to be a place of fire and brimstone.

What with the shill mods, the shill accounts, the up and down vote bots, the fact you can buy a mod account, the fact you can buy several normal accounts, and anything I may have left off here... I seriously hope this site gets the axe.

Its like a microverse of the macroverse; we as a society need a revolution to change the course we're on, otherwise the system will collapse and crush most under the weight.

Fortunately, reddit is just a shitty albeit addictive site, but appears to be playing out the same song and dance.

my main was shadowbanned for no reason. absolutely no fucking reason, just shadow banned.

I have another question. What is "no participation" mode and what benefit does it serve?

If I were to make any inference, it would be that one only has "standing" to vote or comment if they would have otherwise read it on their own or subscribed to it, etc. If that's the case, it's absurd...to preclude redittors from voting on a thread just because it is linked to by another thread says a lot more about sacrificing fair and honest opinion by creating some specious rule necessary because of the rampant corruption.

If it is trying to avoid up-, down- vote brigading, I would think just reading the server logs to keep track of "group behavior" would be sufficient. People suspected of that conduct world warned and after an appropriate amount of violations would formally banned.

I mean come on! This is the age of algorithms and metrics...It would be so easy to find conclusive patterns of brigading by users just by watching their behavior and comparing it to others who exhibit the same behavior, and who also subscribe to the same sub, who read the same x-post, etc. etc.

Pardon the stupidness of this question, coming from one who frequents Reddit daily ... but I do agree with the statements that Reddit has become a giant PR-for-all ... So what is a good alternative to Reddit presently?

r/tech is being moded by someone connected to govt. they will delete your posts if you hit certan keywords like, net neutrality or bitcoin

http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/pwle1/no_information_leaves_this_room_is_reddit_in/

This happened 2 years ago, think it's gotten better or worse since then?

Wait I recognize your name from somewhere, did you ever get bestof'ed? Or wait I remember, someone said you needed gold for a post you mde about Americans demanding their country back. Your awesome man, your the person who reddit mods will hate the most.

That was a brilliant comment, whats sad is that the truth set you free, in the worst sense.

Can someone please explain "vote brigading".

Hey, let's all go up/downvote this post/user/sub over here!

It's kind of like a ponzi scheme.
Hype hype hype...
Get a lot of people to artificially move the situation one way or the other to benefit a few(one).

I stumbled on this user thinking it was a cupcake sockpuppet...

agent_le

Not linking directly because i don't want to summon them, but if you look down at their posts you'll find these dandies..

It's not drama, a handful of mods use SRD to promote their new subreddits by creating drama with alt accounts. This is all to get the casual redditor/hivemind to link to the imaginary network in the default subs to generate interest in the imaginary network and grow subscribers. I really wish I had proof of how far the rabbit hole goes, but outside some modmails I was included on, I can't prove anything.

Meh, 5-10% of reddit knows this post is a ad for the imaginary network and moves on. The rest of the SRD that doesn't know any better spams links to the imaginary network, like they found something cool that no one knows about yet. Once the mods creating the fake drama see the spike in traffic or the SRD post hit the front page, they laugh (in the mod mail) at how dumb reddit/srd is for believing their bull shit.

It used to be the act of drumming up drama for a submission in another sub, then going over there and voting with bias, like some kind of "mob attack."

From OP's post one can only assume that reddit admins have expanded the definition to include everyone that votes or participates in a thread after arriving in it via a link from another sub. Which is grade A absurdatronic, and they should be ashamed of themselves if that system is working as they intend. I think the more likely answer is that it's automated like others in this thread suggest. So many reports by users or mods or whatever and you get banned by some algorithm that they didn't really put much effort or thought into. Equally absurd but more excusable than the former because I wouldn't put much thought into that type of shit if I ran a company, just hire some dude to handle it. Who knows, though.

/r/bestof

that's how it works and apparently it's bad.

A democratic voting system without a democratic electing system.

Yeah, but reddit isn't a democracy. It's a company, and you don't elect CEO's. A company will do what's in their own best interest.

Talking about mods, not the admins or CEO's, at the moment a mod can make anyone else a mod with no restrictions, a little ridiculous if you ask me.

If Reddit admins aren't even holding to Reddit guidelines, or otherwise reasonable habits, its a pretty scary thing. The amount of bans and censorship is skyrocketing lately. We've been banned from both /r/news and /r/college on separate occasions for very unclear reasons. How can mods be expected to behave reasonably if admins are not?

It seems like in the past censorship was an issue that made the front page once every year or two and when it did it was a big deal. Now it seems like things are being censored daily and no one cares.

The userbase has become too large. Reddit is falling under its own weight.

Anyone who has been involved with any of the men's communities such as /r/MensRights and /r/TheRedPill knows this is par for the course for Reddit.

The Admins back the shittiest elements of Reddit when it comes to Mods. It's why you see /r/shitredditsays get away with so much vote brigading and even Borderline Dox'ing of other reddit users.

They have always selectively applied the rules, and always will.

I don't think reddit mods need to exist for monitoring content (ensure nfsw, stopping spam). Downvotes that hide posts allow the community to decide if a post is appropriate or not, we don't need people to decide for us.

I'd rather have mod deletion powers removed and changed to "hidden", canceled with enough upvotes.

I lost my love for reddit the day "cupcake" arbitrarily deleted pcmasterrace.

When a new company offers the same features as reddit without the censorship and overzealous moderation, i'll be there. Reddit can hang out with myspace in the "dun goofed" part of the internet.

Thank you for reminding me of the shenanigans, the deleting of PC gaming master subreddit. I had all but forgot. It would seem our victory in its reinstatement made me to think all was well

The administration of Reddit is corrupt and power hungry assholes. Who thought a freedom of speech site would have such harsh ignorant admins.

This is obviously govt and corporate PR shills that have worked their way into admin positions, or admins that have been co-opted by govt or corporate interests. I mean, if you were an admin, would you shadowban somebody for $1000?

This, along with the ACTUAL vote brigading by shills, is absolutely ruining Reddit and destroying trust over huge chunks of the internet. I don't know what the right answer is.

For what it's worth, my previous account nokilli was banned after when messaging the admins and calling davidreiss666 a "racist Jew".

If I recall correctly, he had deleted a submission I had posted about how the Norwegian terrorist who killed all those people in 2011 was a zionist.

This, despite being, like OP, a five-year member. Reddit Gold. Good karma scores. Etc.

Messaged hueypriest about it. Said I was banned for cheating. Pure shit. And he couldn't even keep his story straight. First said it was "activity on my account" that caused the ban, but when the alleged offense became clearer--that I was supposedly upvoting my own submissions--he later had to retreat and say it was "activity from my IP address".

And then when I told him I was sharing a proxy with about 100,000 other users of my shit ISP, a fact which he must have been aware if indeed he was looking at the logs, he just gave up and I never heard from him again.

I never heard from him again because the filthy little douchebag got caught in a lie.

The sub reddit "morbid reality" is full of abusive admins who will silence anyone who dares speak out about the abuses of government. A lot of stuff on there is so close to the truth that the admins have to keep the masses from putting all the pieces together.

The best thing to do is just keep posting comments calling out mods and shills, doesn't matter if it is a alt account or not. They can try to censor but this is an "anonymous" message board after all. Keep the heat on the mods, make solid points and shoot to get as many people to see them as possible. Admins/Mods have limited resources, they may have the goal of rigging Reddit but it's easier said than done. I'd say we're winning.

Hey guys, a while ago I've heard there's an alternative reddit for things like politics and world news without heavy bias moderation. Any one know of this site? I can not remember it.

most likely this guy has somthing to do with it. http://www.reddit.com/user/anutensil/

yet this thread is upvoted with upvoted visible comments right now

wow such censorship very silence

The mods at r/redpill are really abusive with shadowbans too! Theyll call you a cunt to bait you into a fight then have you shadow banned if you chirp back. True bullys abusing power.

Mods can not shadow ban. They can only ban.

The admins enforce the shadow bans.

[deleted]

Not a shadow ban if it isn't site wide.

Mods have friends they send people to for shadow bans. They jest and jeer theyll shadow ban you and submit you to the administration for the shadow ban.

My advice- don't post on redpill.

I posted a query in reply to the comment in question

I had a 5 year old main with hundreds of thousands of karma and was shadowbanned for 'vote brigading FROM CONSPIRACY'.

Notice how they always say from conspiracy. If you follow a link from /r/bestof that's not a vote brigade, but somehow if you do it when discussing conspiracies it's horrible.

This site is fucked.

its one of these mods or a few of them: qgyh2 (355786) 6 years ago full permissions
maxwellhill (2393604) 5 years ago full permissions
anutensil (1766554) 12 days ago full permissions
PondLife (49602) 11 days ago full permissions
slapchopsuey (10021) 11 days ago full permissions
reeds1999 (312516) 11 days ago full permissions
ketralnis (22239) 5 years ago flair, mail, posts
AutoModerator (104) 12 days ago flair, posts, wiki
X019 (1030) 11 days ago flair, mail, posts
neoronin (149783) 5 days ago config, flair, mail, posts
creq (5396) 5 days ago flair, mail, posts
Calimhero (5824) 5 days ago flair, mail, posts
billyup (4040) 4 days ago flair, mail, posts

That bastard AutoModerator, he's in on all of the big subs! - i Blame him.

How do ypu know if you're shadowbanned?

i'd post the link but the admins put it in the spam filter lol

go to /r/shadowban and look on the sidebar

Why is it in the spam filter?

Probably the only way they can keep that info from being posted. No idea why they do that and don't delete the subreddit dedicated to it but whatever

Why do they care about posts or comments about shadowbanning?

Shadowbanning is a way to ban someone (or a bot) and hope they never notice. Telling people what shadowbanning is, and how to tell if it's been done to them defeats the whole purpose of it.

Ask a mod here about that link, they're the ones that told me it kept being added to the spam filter whenever i tried to post it.

Just like governments, mods need to be watched, monitored or released for over stepping the rules of Reddit. Being a Mod or Admin does not place them above everyone else!

When a site gets infiltrated by corrupt mods and freedom of speech diminishes, I tend to stop posting there and take my opinions to new forums or subreddits. Think of it like an immune system to fight shills. If we keep on the move, then we can stay out in front of the herd and the shepherds.

I got banned from r/morbidreality for an off the cuff comment I made. The mod who blocked me seemed to follow my posts, about 6 months later a question on askreddit wanted to know about those who have been banned. I commented on that, then that same mod replied to my comment, putting me down and embellishing my original comments.

I've never done anything about it, but it seems like some mods take their roles way to seriously, and it's ruining this website.

Shameless plug to /r/tech. Were trying to make a better technology subreddit.

It seems we need a new home

Is there an alternative site to reddit out there, even if it's only small? If so, perhaps we could promote it here? I think those of us who are here for discussion about important things (and can do without memes and cats) need a new place to call home free of corporate and government censorship.

This submission has been crossposted

Timestamp - 2014-04-29 18:40:21

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If what you are saying is true, it shows that even on a site like Reddit, power corrupts absolutely.

David Reiss is one of the most well known shills ever on Reddit, he must be one of the head shills. He's always mocking /conspiracy here's one of his latest

"The entire mod team of /r/conspiracy could be caught gutting and eating Jewish children and the rest of them would claim it was a false flag operation."

Thanks for sticking this note. HOWEVER... What's NEW?!

---- How long has this been really going on I ask you? Perhaps it's b/c so many shills have been infiltrating any and all relevant subreddits that may make it to the front page of Reddit. There's a lot of socks, specifically on Reddit. A high percentage of Internet traffic (in America & [interestingly] India) comes to read Reddit. here's some stats

Why /u/davidreiss666 is allowed to mod is beyond any reasonable explanation. Even by a simple search on google there's more than enough to make it clear that he bans people left and right who he doesn't like for some reason. There should be a campaign on reddit removing him from all of his mod powers.

The internet is always full of power hungry/abusing little twat kids that are made mods/admins. It's a serious problem.

Whats funny, look where you guys are posting, its reddit.

Better off taking conspiracy to more to the looney places like godlikeprod/ATS.

Sure jailbait/bestiality/racism is ok.

When it comes to conspiracy OH MY.

You're so banned.

said it before I'll say it again.

mods should be put under heavy scrutiny. because who actually has time to mod?

people with lives, jobs, families... mostly do not have time to moderate.

so, who are these mods? paid shills? creepy ass losers spending all their time away from work being a power hungry asshole on the internet?

My account was shadowbanned for this post:

www.reddit.com/r/undelete/comments/23h4al/meta_analyzing_rtechnologys_automoderator/

mirror: archive.today/zixzG

What does np.reddit.com do?

This submission has been crossposted

Timestamp - 2014-04-29 08:53:04

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Big Brother at his finest.

My last account was shadowbanned for brigading too, and I wasn't. I believe it was my incredulousness toward AGW in another sub. All I got was "vote brigading."

Same here, even though I got there as an individual, not belongingbto any brigade. I read the posts and dwnvoted those I disagree with. Something I always thought was the point of reddit. Yet because I am subscribed to /r/conspiracy I was believed to belong to some group that planned to vote brigade. Not only were the mods wrong [as I hate vote brigading] but they also banned me from all of reddit. Neither fair nor logic.

Reddit noob, this site is owned by the fucking janitors

I know that this sounds mean, but I kinda want to see OP get shadowbanned over this.

Not because I disagree with him, but because I'd want to have shadowbanning known as "getting Flucked"

Do you get shadowbanned from single subreddits, or do moderators of single subreddits like those two actually have the power to essentially delete somebody's account.

Yes, you pi** them off on their sub and they ban you from the whole of reddit. It's too much power.

How do they have that much power? Couldn't I just make a sub and have someone banned? That's crazy.

Does criticizing average users coincide with the Reddit dictatorship . . . or is that fine, do to their rank?

Oh… Sorry… I didn't specify social class. ...Silly me.

I'm referring to criticizing serf members: members with low-karma / new members.

I am under the assumption that individuals with high-karma are also untouched by criticism.

Why is this a stickied post? The OP wrote this in another thread:

"/r/conspiracy is a mental institution for some people and those people shouldn't be released onto the internet. As someone who isn't ashamed to admit going there, I know first hand that there are some downright lunatics in that subreddit."

and this:

"I think you need to scan /r/conspiracy a little deeper if you think you'll get many honest answers to a survey like this. You are clearly one of JP Morgan's JTRIG JDIF dissident locators. You think I'll give up my info so you can sell me out to the lizard people UFOS? Jokes aside, you wouldn't be interested in this information from anyone who's willing to give it to you. Anyone that's spent any significant amount of time in that subreddit will be way too paranoid about the implications to offer even that banal information freely. I'll admit to being especially paranoid on reddit because I'm allergic to aluminium, so I have to leave my head uncovered which leaves my thoughts open to remote probing."

What happened to the excellent vaccine skeptics thread that was previously stickied?

What a sad joke.

I used the shadowban checker link, and it says I'm shadowbanned.

I have no idea why either.

Mudduck3006 is shadowbanned or deleted

hnhfn

are they /u/bipolarbear0 as well as those other accounts?

RemindMe! 4 days 12 hours "read this post and comments."

I'll message you on 2014-05-07 01:57:43 UTC to remind you of this post.

^{Hello, I'm RemindMeBot, I will PM you a message so you don't forget about the comment or thread later on! More Info Here}

^{NOTE: Only days and hours work for now. Max wait is one year.}

Hey all, just created a page to try and combat things like some of the major issues on this sub going on in our country currently, see you there! /r/TimeToAct

Can someone ELI5 me what shadowbanning is?

The truth is, the admins do not enforce the "vote-brigading" rule for the purposes of preventing "vote-brigading". It's a rule that is kept on the books in order to censor dissent.

I'm beginning to suspect this is likely the case. I was shadowbanned once, immediately after posting probably the most controversial article regarding Israel and their culture I had to date, and was told it was because of a "vote brigade".

Since then I've encountered instances wherein a mod from another sub appeared to have had access to this sub's mod mail, one who had issued me a thinly veiled threat to ban my account. This, coming from a user who was not an administrator, but appeared to have been granted administrator privileges.

There have been other incidents since that lead me to conclude this may be the case: that certain users have been granted administrator privileges.

Edit: The post in question was regarding the Talmud.

I'm definitely on-board with this theory just based on personal experience.

Reddit admin /u/cupcake1713 is very shady. She has been banning power users for no reason and without explanation.

This submission has been crossposted

Timestamp - 2014-04-30 17:33:52

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I can only post a comment every 10 mins. They are indeed censoring us.

Is that just for this sub?

[deleted]

How would you propose they combat spamming? I'm not arguing that they have a perfect system of basing it on votes, but is there a better option?

[deleted]

Here's another gem from bboynicknack:

More children on reddit? Get this, if you're young, its supposed to be tight. Also, its mostly in her head. If she is new to sex or is generally a nervous person she is going to have an extra tight twat. She needs to relax and get used to sex, but when that happens she will be a woman and will have full power over men with that vagina of hers.

A /r/conspiratard contributor offering sex advice...

I'm really sorry you got banned. But can someone explain how people on reddit being jerks equals a conspiracy? This used to be my favorite sub reddit, but I feel like we've gotten a little too sensitive and a little too quick to start crying wolf.

Read through this thread at the sheer number of users claiming to have been shadowbanned

I appreciate the old technology mods. Look at how without them the sub is just all FCC post and sensationalist post about net neutrality.

This submission has been crossposted

Timestamp - 2014-04-28 20:49:18

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Even if you're right you can just not use reddit. Like, there are other websites which foster open discussion, or you can create one.

Also you can just create a new account.

IMO deleted comments constitute censorship more than anything.

The only reason one would consider this a big deal would be if one considers reddit.com a big deal.

Yes! This! If you have a problem with the site, there's hundreds of other forums you could use! Or you could just make your own, it's not that hard.

That's really not fully true. There are plenty of other forum sites. Few are as big and bipartisan as Reddit. It's not a traditional government, but, in cyberspace, it's a superpower.

Fifty years from now, maybe most of our lives will take place in virtual reality inside the Internet, and sites like Reddit will be as powerful in our lives as a brick and mortar country.

So, I think it's extremely important to take ideasike fairness and freedom of expression on big forums seriously. Right now, we can say "it's just a website," but websites could eventually be where we effectively live.

So on the hunch that we live in the internet... Lol.

And what other forums do you recommend that encompass all the material and the same amount of content that reddit has because I know of none.

Yeah it's not like it's DOTA2 or anything

Of course there's a conspiracy about the admins of /r/conspiracy. I actually would have been a little disappointed if this didn't exist.

-edit- I was at 5, now I'm at -7. something fishy is going on, I bet the lizard people are behind this.

Admins are not the same as mods. Get edumacated.

[deleted]

Is it the lizard admins or the shadow admins? Unidentified Flying Admins?

Or you know, doing their job...

It's a fucking website. It's a fucking website.

It doesn't matter how menial, a public forum whose administrators and moderators use scummy tactics like shadow banning to support unfair and likewise deceitful rules deserves to have that laundry aired publicly.

If you bring your kid to a playground and the playground's owner slaps your kid's hands off the slide ladder every time he tries to climb up, you're going to be like, what the fuck guy? Why are you doing that? And the owner remains silent, just slapping your kid's hands off whatever he's trying to play with. You're going to be like, look this playground fucking sucks dude, why even have a playground if you won't let my kid play?

It's just a playground though right? No big deal, there are plenty of them. No. It is objectively better to persist, ask people in the neighborhood why the owner won't let your kid play, tell them what he's doing every time your kid tries to play, and discuss the issue publicly not only to find out some answers but also to inform others that the playground is doing some shady shit that concerns their lives too.

Dude...it's a fucking website and not even that original of one. It will be cool and then it will die like the millions that have come before it. There will be something to take it's place and they will be the exact same.

If /r/technology is acting shitty then start another subreddit and if people agree they will come to the new place.

If Reddit died tomorrow the world would keep on spinning. /r/technology isn't even that great of a subreddit with or without the moderators.

Why are you posting here if caring about reddit is beneath you?

I enjoy coming to Reddit. I enjoyed going to Digg. Before that I enjoyed going to CollegeHumor. I don't need any of those sites to enjoy myself, but they are/were great resources to shoot the shit and kill time. That's it. I don't feel this ownership of this website or some strong tie to it, but I also enjoy reading what people submit and what they comments on. If a moderator of a specific subreddit is an asshole that doesn't really bother me. There are lots of assholes in the world and if I got my panties in a wad over each one I'd die way sooner than necessary.

It matters not if this is a website or Town Hall this is the place we choose to discuss the ideas and problems of the world and how to fix them if that ability is being taken away from us or heavily manipulated to confuse us, that is a very significant issue.

If you look at my posts from about 3-4 days ago i posted a quote from one of the real founders there about he destroyed it.

Shadowbanned = banned from the entire website, except no one tells you. You can keep posting away except no one can see anything you post.

go to /r/shadowban if you ever think you've been shadowbanned, you can check there. Normally, unless you're "brigading" or posting sandy hook addresses you're fine though

I stumbled on this user thinking it was a cupcake sockpuppet...

agent_le

Not linking directly because i don't want to summon them, but if you look down at their posts you'll find these dandies..

It's not drama, a handful of mods use SRD to promote their new subreddits by creating drama with alt accounts. This is all to get the casual redditor/hivemind to link to the imaginary network in the default subs to generate interest in the imaginary network and grow subscribers. I really wish I had proof of how far the rabbit hole goes, but outside some modmails I was included on, I can't prove anything.

Meh, 5-10% of reddit knows this post is a ad for the imaginary network and moves on. The rest of the SRD that doesn't know any better spams links to the imaginary network, like they found something cool that no one knows about yet. Once the mods creating the fake drama see the spike in traffic or the SRD post hit the front page, they laugh (in the mod mail) at how dumb reddit/srd is for believing their bull shit.

Is it the lizard admins or the shadow admins? Unidentified Flying Admins?

Why is it in the spam filter?

Shadowbanning is a way to ban someone (or a bot) and hope they never notice. Telling people what shadowbanning is, and how to tell if it's been done to them defeats the whole purpose of it.

Ask a mod here about that link, they're the ones that told me it kept being added to the spam filter whenever i tried to post it.

There was just another thread here this morning about their favored mods and the IRC chats. Look at the other shadowban thread

The kind of insult that doesn't care about what you think.