Obviously a few years ago, the API changes caused the reddit community mods to strike, and caused a mass-blackout of most reddit core communities. Eventually Reddit removed a handful of mod teams on some notable subreddits and caused the rest to chicken-out. But it did birth the Fediverse properly.
I suspect Reddit will make another step at some point which causes another comparable exodus. This time, if they do, the Fediverse is far better developed to handle it. What do you imagine it might be?
There have been mass bannings recently
Some AI or something that banned anyone it thought may have had an account in the past
One sub I’m active in lost almost 60% of its members overnight
Got perma’d from Reddit by their AI bot on a Rule 1, I’ve appealed it but it hasn’t been reviewed and we’re steadily approaching 2 months since my appeal submission.
It’s either a deliberate attempt to silence certain people and opinions, or a rogue AI bot that they don’t want to rollback in order to save face. Either or, fuck Reddit and fuck Spez
My suspicion is that they’re gearing up down-the-line to convert to an AI moderating system entirely, and they’ll start taking away specific large subreddits from moderators to be managed by AI.
Man fuck the mods and the “super”mods, but tbh, fuck AI more.
Might be a tactic to get people to lose old historic accounts and start new ones. A good way to bump up the numbers is to ban an account but don’t delete the account, and just let it just sit there. Then the banned person is forced to create a new account if they want back in again.
A common theme I read from banned accounts is that they can’t get in again yet no one said the account was deleted … and the assumption is that the user just gave up the account and restarted a new one.
My account was 15 years old, even had a reply from the famed Keanu Reeves on one of my comments! However, I can sign in to my account, I just can’t comment, upvote, downvote, or post.
I attempted to make a new account but that one got banned as well because they attached the ban to my IP and electronic signatures - which… seems excessive to me hut okay.
I got a fifteen year old account permabanned for reporting someone that kept calling me slurs. Appeal got tossed out. I’ve since moved to an entirely different country and got all new devices, but my attempt at making a new account was still permabanned for ban evasion before I even made a comment or joined any subs. Lasted about two hours.
It’s very excessive. And now I’m genuinely curious what all they use to determine which accounts belong to former users. It’s quite odd that they were able to figure it out when I’m not in the same part of the world anymore, was on a brand new device, was using a new email address to sign up, and hadn’t even joined any of my former subreddits or said anything. Or is there just an over-sensitive AI that autobans a lot of new accounts just in case now?
Was planning to use it to just help with settling in where I’m living now, but I guess not lol
My appeal was rejected within 24 hours
It’s easy to make new accounts though if you just use a different browser
I waited a month before making an alt so as to “not break any further rules”. When I did, I used a different browser at a different IP of account creation than the ones that got banned, and it literally got banned in 24 hours.
I’ve had them banned after a few hours, and after a few weeks (I think someone who didn’t like me snitched)
Current one’s a few days old and going strong
Godspeed to ya then lol, maybe I’ll do a cache clear and redownload the apps if I get the itch to participate again.
Download a new browser that you haven’t used before onto a pc, don’t import any bookmarks or anything
Set up an account and let it sit for a while, participate in subs that you normally wouldn’t, things like knitting subs etc. for me,
Be patient
Eventually uninstall and reinstall the app on your phone if so inclined
Don’t link anything to the profile like a social media platform
Appreciate the tips! I’ll give that a shot.