WTF is up with Reddit these days? I’ve gotten dinged twice in the past couple of months for posts that were describing figurative violence, or hypotheticals, and recently got my account permanently banned.
It’s like they’re terrified that some sort of movement is going to start on their platform and actually go out into the wider world and do something, so they’re cracking down on anything that could even remotely be considered inciting/glorifying/advocating violence, even when it’s idiotic.
One of mine was saying that hypothetically, the point when armed resistance to the current situation would be justified would be when there’s a blatant and open disregard for some element of the Constitution. Bang. One week ban.
The one the other day that got me permanently banned was a snarky comment that replied to someone who said they didn’t like the “They go low, we go high” strategy of the Democrats, to which I replied that the strategy should be “They go low, we kick them in the head and grind their faces into the mud” Not actually advocating violence, just using hyperbole to suggest a much more hard nosed and aggressive strategy on the part of the Democrats.
Booom. Permanent ban. Neither appeal worked, meaning that some person actually read them and decided that these bans were reasonable. (!?!)
What the hell? It’s ridiculous. In neither was I glorifying, advocating or inciting violence. Just using violent metaphor and making a statement about when something might be appropriate.
It feels very… Stalinist? Certainly rather Big Brother-esque. I guess I’m spoiled by being around here where neither of those situations would have resulted in a warning, much less a permanent ban.
I’ve been on Reddit for nearly eleven years without any issues until last summer when I was repeatedly banned for similar comments. I am permanently banned from several subreddits.
It seems to have become progressively worse.
My current strategy is to just read and maybe post innocuous comments on cat videos and laundry suggestions.
It’s almost certainly A.I. (Artificial Imbecility) which blindly flags posts according to rules of thumb about what constitutes “violent” speech. A.I. is like the blindest bureaucracy you ever encountered only without even any conscious intelligent humans somewhere behind the process. Try “Kafkaesque” rather than “Stalinist”.
Has it occurred to you that there are significant numbers of people who think there’s already “blatant and open disregard” for some elements of the Constitution?
my first thought is that the r/technology mods probably would prefer that politics not be discussed anyway. as a Reddit mod myself I’d at least probably lock a situation that got in any way heated if reported. So it makes sense to me that such subs might have a lower bar.
I will also say that they are indeed offering AI assist and stuff there. I have it turned off. I never saw it block anything that was actually a problem. It just created more work for me having to undelete posts
That said, my subreddit is relatively small. I have time to deal with things with the flagging system. I can see the musing the AI more on bigger subs. Though it does seem a bad idea to use them for anything more than temp bans (and usually just post deletions would be enough.
You haven’t clarified: are you getting a subreddit ban or an actual site ban?
It’s a bit absurd. It has all the hallmarks of someone being deathly threatened by something, so they’re cracking down extra hard out of fear.
I mean, in neither example was I talking about anything concrete or any specific people. Nor was I threatening anyone, just commenting on when violence might be appropriate, and using violent imagery to illustrate what the democratic party strategy should have been.
I’d have bet I’d have got the suspension and ban overturned on appeal, but apparently they are so afraid of whatever it is that they’re afraid of that they wouldn’t do so.
On Reddit, who do you think that you are dealing with? Mostly young, male, anti social shut-ins without girl friends, that is who. No adults anywhere in the room.
I’d think that a site-wide anti-violence mod-bot wouldn’t work very well. A lot of subredits are for things like video games, where it’s perfectly normal to talk about giving someone or something an axe to the face, or the like.
The thread was about how some government workers who are paused have had their OOTO replies and the like forcibly reworded to have a bunch of partisan crap about the shutdown blaming it on the Democrats.
Reddit has around 515 million users. Around 60 percent are male. That’s a majority, but it isn’t most. And it is around 300 million people. That’s a whole lot of people to call losers who can’t get laid.
I know an enormous number of adults who use Reddit, both men and women. Many have romantic partners. I’m sure there are subreddits dominated by horny young men, but that’s not most of Reddit, not by a long shot.
I’m not convinced that this is going to come across as innocuously as you think it is. I think to a lot of people it’s going to come across as saying that the Democratic strategy should have been violent, and that the time for violent methods is now; with that “hypothetically” appearing to be stuck on the front just to try to give you an out. I don’t think that your not naming anyone specific is enough to keep people from taking that sort of sense from it.
Some subreddits, most famously r/conservative, are real echo chambers and they ban everyone who voices any opinion that doesn’t align with their narrow viewpoint.
I recently got a warning for violent speech, for a comment that was in no way violent. I can’t remember the forum but it was probably LeopardsAteMyFace or possibly Facepalm.
There was a note that the moderation was performed by AI, and it seemed to be a general Reddit thing, not a forum specific action.
I contested the warning and it was removed and the comment restored within the hour. I was pleased with the response and I’m not happy that others haven’t had the same experience.