Hi, I hope its fine to write about this here.
I recently got PERMANENTLY banned from Reddit on my alt for rule 1 (Hate speech / inciting violence).
Apparently the reason was for writing a slur ? I had no idea it the word I used was even a slur in the first place, because I saw so many others use it before me with no issue, and there were posts using the same word as I did BEFORE and AFTER I got banned and those posts are still up. I have no idea how Reddit AI moderations even judged that my own comment was offensive.
Sadly for me, even my main account, that I have had for 8 years and used to talk to a lot of communities, was also permanently banned.
In just one night, I had lost a lot of the communities I interacted with over the years. Besides, you might hate Reddit (and rightfully so) but atm its too mainstream and widely used, and there sadly isnt a better alternative for a platform where you can access forums for any sort of niche topics, ask questions etc… Many of these are not available elsewhere, not even here.
Anyway, I tried appealing to Reddit but I have been automatically rejected within 5 minutes of writing my appeal (idk if I can believe their “This decision was made without the assistance of automation”).
I have now written to them through their reddithelp explaining that I had no idea it was a bad word, that I will be more careful in the future and wish for another chance. But I dont expect a positive response (if I get one to begin with).
I have read how their ban evasion detection works and it seems either impossible or extremely hard to bypass, and I am worried about this because I am scared I will forever be unable to ask questions there ever again, or interact with my previous subreddits.
I think your problem is that you are expecting the moderation there to be based on some sort of consistent, rational logic. and common sense. I know from personal experience that is just not the case and has not been for some years. The decisions are completely arbitrary and almost certainly automated (very badly too), the “decision was made without the assistance of automation” is utter bullshit.
As for that rule 1 (Hate speech / inciting violence), I see it broken all the time there without consequences. I got a warning a few weeks back for hoping that the mullahs in Iran would meet the same fate that Mussolini and his fascist henchmen did at the end of WWII (hung upside down in a public square in Rome), something which was obviously totally theoretical and which nobody outside Iran can possibly influence let alone incite (I live in New Zealand, about as far removed from there as it is possible to be). Yet I see hatred and incitements to violence on reddit on the regular. Its completely inconsistent and as I said completely arbitrary. You are far from alone in this.
I also got banned from a subreddit for - get this - thanking someone for some information they posted. Appealed it politely, no response of course.
If it is any consolation, a permaban may not be all that permanent. My primary account which I’d also had for around the same time was banned two years back for posting a Google Streetview link of a layby (told you it was irrational) suddenly came back to life last week without warning. I’ll probably use that instead of the temporary account I’ve been using in the interim.
Dont worry about the ban evasion - if you create a new username/ login like I did, just make sure you are logged out of your old one on the same device while you are using the new one and you’ll be golden. Their “moderation” system is in the wrong, not you, so go ahead and abuse it for all its worth, the sheer absurdity and inconsistency of it is in my view a justification to do what you like as long as you arent actually posting real hate speech or making real, credible threats of course