So - while the challenge of people saying they're been unfairly banned comes up quite frequently - its taken a new twist.

We've been building our sub quite rapidly - since I joined, growing to 480k members. We also have a great friend and pod network across YT and TikTok and X. We're the fastest growing sub, almost the only spam and bot free SEO sub and the biggest SEO community in the world. And thats part of the problem: so many SEO tool companies just see giant $$$ signs

I've been blamed, personally and on LinkedIn by a CEO for their banning from the sub last year. I dont the Mod who did the banning should be named but it wasn't me but I am the public fall guy.....!

Mod Abuse at Scale

We recently adopted or formalized a one strike and you're out situation - because the deluge in posts, the abuse we get on ModMail. I understand and empathize with SaaS builders, Tool builders that being banned from such a large and active community can be hard. I've been banned from the sub that shares the name of the city I live in for posting a video of the Hilton WPB Hotel that I made myself - which I did thinking it was helpful to people like me - digital nomads. I got a one strike and you're out - because I'm an SEO - that was seen as everything I post = spam.

But I'm talking about people who spam without any prior engagement to the community whatsoever and their first post is - I'm going to see how quickly I can turn this into $'s

We;ve had to ban a few people and we keep getting flamed by a neighboring sub- hwo have posted the most ridiculous "in defense" of posts. We ahve reported them 5 or 6times - with evidence of them using bots, tolerating doxxxing/publishing personal information of mods, showing them WPB Police Case records/numbers... but all the Mod has done is ban me. Now I can't even reply.

and the smae spammers, scammers grifters have posted in other subs and had them immediately removed - becauase they have absolutely nothing to do with the sub - they contain salicious and fabricated allegations of Mods trying do all kinds of things - anything to threaten and intimdate us.

Here;s a part of a modmail of an account that clearly fit the bill for banning:

>"If you are open to re-instating my account after actually looking more deeply at my post history and my appeal, I would be happy edit my post on XXXXXX about it. But this is exactly what I'm talking about in my post, banning without even looking into the appeal.

>I understand you go through a lot of spam, but there's gotta be a better way to approach this instead of just calling me narcissistic and giving me a lifetime ban."

How and where and when do we get relief from Reddit for this? Why are Reddit ignoring us?

Are you an experienced mod?

Howdy mods, it’s your local askmods top mod here with a request (again!) Our last thread about this got archived so here’s a new one! No need to comment again if you commented in the last one.

If you are a moderator of a subreddit with over 5k weekly active users please comment below!

If you are an experienced moderator who participates here, the mods of this subreddit want to be able to tag you so that we can keep our comment sections a space where every answer comes from someone with experience who is here to help. It really helps us instantly recognize trolls etc who are not tagged.

The tags are only visible to the moderators of askmoderators for privacy reasons.

If you wish to participate on an alternate account, please send us a modmail from your moderator account with the username of the alt you wish to use.

Thanks for volunteering even more time participating here to help users.

Former mods are welcome too so long as there is a way to verify that. I.e. old stickied comments/posts, asking current mod teams if you modded there, etc.

Edit: If you commented on the last post about this or sent us a modmail to verify in the past you are all set and do not need to reverify!

Don't have to get into details and its best we don't, but I'm sure as a moderator we've all run against things that crop up consistently that annoy or irritate us and I was wondering - what my fellow moderators run up against?

I've been on here before after I've had what could be called a hectic history on this website, which is an understatement. This has led to others (well, one other person who did then shared those with others) archiving my posts after misinformation about me spread before the original post was finally taken down after Reddit admins stepped in to do so on a (still) unmoderated thread given that targeting users is a TOS violation, regardless if that awareness is well intended or not.

Even if saying this comes across at the expense of sounding paranoid, I've had to keep an eye on others with accounts who've followed me and my posts to make sure there isn't any more drama around what happened 3 months ago. Fortunately, that hasn't been the case since I quickly found out most who were adamant on stalking my activity on this website are middle aged autistic men who are almost or fully retired. The autistic piece is only relevant since I am one myself and they found me in neurodiverse subreddits before making attempts to say and do things voicing their dislike of me. Turns out they've done this not just to me, but to many other autistic adults who are around my age and have troubles right now or are much younger. Seems like they get something out of doing it and I'm not sure quite what, but it doesn't bother me anymore given they have no pull to affect anything in my real life nor should I let their dislike bother me like it used to over the years I've been on this website and just more engaged online in general since not everyone is going to like me and that's true for every person ever.

Even the misinformation, which I still dislike, is something I need to let go given that explaining myself and clarifying things multiple times just made things worse given that many never engaged with me in good faith. I'm also confident they knew I disliked the half-truths they'd bring up sometimes to bait me into responding at first. I explained once and will only explain things that upset others once in the future and leave it at that for good.

With that context out of the way, what's happened with the API this past week and what will happen with it in the future? I ask since I can't exactly use Arctic Shift to pull up post history of those who followed my activity and would hide their post history unless I used Arctic Shift. I'm not saying it should come back or anything since my need to check every other day can be let go knowing this isn't an issue within my control.

A tangential question, but is this at all related to what's happened with archive dot ph (I can't put the link here I believe) and Wikipedia taking down archives of its own website as well? It seems weird to me given that I grew up on the whole notion that "once it's out on the internet it's forever," but now that's less and less true it seems. I can selfishly wash my hands clean of my past drama on my end, but losing informative stuff is just plain odd to me.

I've been trying to post on a community for more than an hour and every time I publish my post is deleted by Reddit’s filters or suspended by the moderators deletes everything when I’m just trynna discuss ! How do I have to provide a link to the source when it's a discussion that I'm trying to open and it really frustrates me because I've been trying to publish for more than an hour and my post keeps getting deleted when there's nothing that breaks the reddit rules!
And I can’t even complain because Reddit redirects me everywhere except where I can get help!!!!!

Anyone can help me ? Modo?

I'm writing with two related questions about Reddit's harassment policy and moderator conduct standards.

On the harassment policy question:

Reddit's Harassment Help Center states the policy is "designed to protect people from targeted personal abuse, not to shield ideas, beliefs, organizations, or public figures from criticism, even if it's harsh." It further identifies as permitted activity "a post criticizing a public figure's voting record or public statements."

Posts about a nonprofit organization's Vermont Secretary of State corporate standing and IRS tax-exempt classification—sourced entirely to public government databases—were removed from r/[band] and characterized as harassment. The same records were submitted in formal complaints to the IRS, FTC, Florida Attorney General, and two divisions of the Vermont Attorney General. No personal information was posted. No action against any individual was directed.

Does this conduct meet Reddit's definition of harassment? The posts appear to fall squarely within what Reddit's own policy identifies as permitted activity.

On the Reddit Legal misdirection:

Following the removal of these posts, I was directed by the r/[band] moderation team to contact Reddit Legal directly. The mod team stated via mod mail: "We were contacted and made aware that Reddit Legal was contacted regarding your posts and alleged harassment. You must reach out to Reddit Legal from this point forward. We do not want to risk having our sub shut down because of your perceived agenda."

Reddit Legal handles legal process—subpoenas, DMCA requests, court orders. Is it appropriate for moderators to direct users to Reddit Legal rather than process a standard moderation appeal? Is citing a "perceived agenda" and Reddit Legal contact an appropriate basis for refusing to engage with a moderation appeal?

On enforcement consistency:

Reddit's Moderator Code of Conduct requires consistent, good-faith enforcement. The documented pattern in r/[band] during this period:

• Eight posts sourced entirely to public government records were removed
• A post titled "Let PHEMA Scam"—arguing no one should care whether community members were misled about a nonprofit's legal status—remained up throughout
• A post from a separate 501(c)(3) organization's account was removed May 2 with the justification "unclear how it relates to [band]"—on the same day posts with no [band] connection beyond a song title remained up
• I was muted from mod mail May 1 for three days
• Moderator #1 made a false public claim about my outreach to a named organization, walked it back without acknowledgment when I produced documentation, and closed the exchange with "Have a nice night girl"
• Moderator #2 directed me twice to contact the full team through official channels; when I did, the r/[band] MOD account responded: "Holy shit. This is a god awful wall of text. Why are you obsessed with this person? This is just plain scary. We have nothing to do with [organization], we don't know the women, and stop dragging us into your obsessive problem with her."

Does this pattern meet Reddit's standard for consistent, good-faith moderation?

What I'm requesting:

• Clarification on whether posts sourced to public government records about an organization's legal compliance can constitute harassment under Reddit's policy
• Admin review of whether the r/[band] moderation team applied Reddit's rules consistently and in good faith
• Clarification on whether directing users to Reddit Legal in lieu of processing a moderation appeal is appropriate moderator conduct

Documentation available on request.

Pretty sure almost all the human moderators have been replaced by AI agents am I right? Because I just had an account permanently banned from a temporary band by a temporary band that was not a violation of the rule that they said was the infraction and I'm not giving a place to appeal that bad other than here because this thread it's rules say it has to be a question and it can't be a band about a subreddit it's not about a suburban it's about an account man where do I violate the rules?

I've been banned by reddit automatic admins, for a submission where I told a story about someone else threating someone I knew. It was overturned two weeks later when someone human finally read it

I've been shadow banned (not actually banned mods so dont mod me), no messages no reason, nothing from one subreddit for 90 days

Another subreddit (this one I'm not upset about, I took the joke) a mod flared me as ComfortablyDumb

Then Reddit decided to message me about becoming a moderator

I carefully read each subreddits rules. What is going on?

I mean offline, outside your reddit account.

Edit: This is in context of not doxxing myself too. If I tell someone, they can quickly look me up!

All my comments are hidden on certain subs run by one moderator who does not like my criticism. The comment counts and shows, but only on my account, not for anyone else.

The thing is I have not and am not ba nned in that sub. I read other users have also experienced the same thing.

So how can that mod specifically censor users? I never had something weird happen like this.

I was a common poster before on that sub, same for the others.

Welp, I've now hit the magic "5 high traffic communities" limit. One of my subs became too successful, apparently.

Just to me clear, I'm not a hoarder. I'm not even a head mod anywhere. I just help out with 9 subs, three of which are tiny.

But I feel like I now have a disincentive to build/promote medium-traffic communities, because any work that I put in will eventually be rewarded with losing them.

Is anyone else feeling it? What are you doing about it?

Hi mods, is there any way to get a subreddit automod to quit flagging non rulebreaking comments?

I've been having issues in one particular subreddit where all my comments are being hidden by the Automoderator. I contacted the mods of that subreddit and they did verify that it's the Automod and that I haven't broken any sub rules, but when I asked why my comments were being flagged they just noted that "it's something Automod does for "new members and subscribers or people who just started commenting here until it realizes the comments are normal behaviour." What I don't understand is that I'm not a new subscriber or commenter. I have a 10 year history on Reddit, and a several year long history in this particular subreddit but it's only in the last few weeks that my comments have been hidden by the automod.

The mods in the subreddit have not been helpful when I've contacted them ("it's just something the sub autocontrols now" and "just ignore it and it will realize it's normal behaviour") but I want to know if there's anything I can suggest or do that will get the automod to quit hiding my comments since they aren't breaking any rules and I have no idea what I did to make this happen.

I got permanently banned from a subreddit after posting a picture of my dirty cabin air filter.
I questioned the permanent ban, but I never threatened or insulted anyone. After the exchange below, I got muted and told I was reported to Reddit security for moderator harassment and I would be kicked off Reddit entirely.
I’m posting the full conversation so nobody thinks I’m leaving anything out:
Reddit:
Hello,
You have been permanently banned from participating in a subreddit because your post violates this community's rules. You won't be able to post or comment, but you can still view and subscribe to it.
Note from the moderators:
“Banned permanently for violating Rule #6; No spam posting, self-dealing, PSAs, promotional linking, or posting content that is totally off topic. Linking to outside content is allowed only if it's in answer to a poster's question and germane to the current discussion.”
“If you have a question regarding your ban, you can contact the moderator team by replying to this message.”
Reminder from the Reddit Admin team: If you use another account to circumvent this community ban, that will be considered a violation of the Reddit Rules and may result in your account being banned from the platform as a whole.
Me:
“What? I don’t understand my post had a lot of likes was on topic (vehicle maintenance) the frame of a friendly reminder was just a random way I framed how to show how bad my air filter was
So I don’t really know why it would be removed”
Moderator:
“That’s not what the sub is about. It’s a Q&A sub you posted a public service announcement that no one asked for.
So that’s considered spam”
Me:
“It wasn’t a psa it was just a post of how nasty my air filter was. The title was just a random title had 0 to really do with the post I thought it was better than something like ‘look how nasty this is’ or ‘um hey guys I guess I did a thing’. I think a perma ban for a post that had like 150 likes and had good discussions going on is kind of ridiculous.”
Moderator:
“Your opinion is not noted. You’re still banned.”
Me:
“Is there no appeal no time limit?”
Moderator:
“What would be the basis for your appeal? It’s pretty obvious you don’t agree with the rules. We’re not going to change the rules. The rules are in place to keep the sub on focus, which is only questions and answers. There are other Automotive subs that let you post whatever you want. Feel free to post your experiences there.”
Me:
“Ignorance and the fact it wasn’t a psa”
Moderator:
“Ah, so not only don’t you follow the rules, but you also like to get kicked off of Reddit completely. So you’re now muted so we’ll never hear from you again, and you’ve been reported to Reddit security for moderator harassment.”
So my question is: how does a moderator harassment report actually work on Reddit? Do admins manually review the messages or is it mostly automated? I’m trying to understand whether this is something serious or just something mods commonly say after a ban dispute.

So lately I have been using "Trash" as a removal reason against posts that are totally obvious why they are being removed. The removal comment is just "This content has been removed as trash."

Do you think that is a good idea?

For several days now it shows me I have chats then it disappears and never shows up. My posts say I have comments but then will only show a fraction or none. I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of interactions and people think I’m ignoring them! Any help?

Obviously there are some that well deserved the mute, but then sometimes I saw many examples that being the opposite.

For example, the case I often saw is when someone asking why and the mod just responded them with "self explanatory", and when that person asked again because they still don't understand, mod either permanently mute them or banning them.

Do you guys think it's often a fair judgment or they simply just being lazy?