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Reddit mods now just default to IP bans (www.reddit.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/reddit@lemmy.world
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So I've discovered recently that instead the moderators and admins doing their due diligence, they'll just ban your IP. I can't wait for this to blow up in their face.

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[–] 17 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

From the linked discussion it looks like there’s a new feature rolling out where mods can activate “automatic ban evasion protection” during a ban

It is just a subreddit setting https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/wrnnvb/piloting_a_new_ban_evasion_tool

It isn't something a subreddit moderator can use to ban OP's specific IP in the subreddit let alone sitewide Reddit. (OP did not say if they are talking about a subreddit specifically, or if they were banned sitewide)

In fact it's just that random person posting a year ago calling it a "IP ban", the Reddit admins never explained how that subreddit setting works. I'm guessing it's using some sort of algorithm to calculate the likelihood of ban evasion e.g repeated post links / new/unused account / maybe the usage of VPN / Tor IP, that sort of thing. Reddit admins do already sitewide auto-ban accounts spamming links that were already reported and banned prior.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    I got site wide banned earlier this year for 1-2 weeks because I stated to a mod that I was going to circumvent their sub ban with an alt account. I got instantly permanently banned from a sub for holding a having a different opinion to the mod. I used an alt account using the same IP addresses and devices and didn't do abything; not even a warning.

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  • [+] [S] -6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    A sub setting that tracks IPs and impacts a person's reddit account(s) or use. And mods can at the very least flag IPs that get banned and admins won't actually follow up with the issue. I never said that I have or have not been banned from reddit

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    A sub setting that tracks IPs and impacts a person’s reddit account(s) or use.

    Reddit admins haven't said how it works, I'm sure IP address is a factor in the algorithm but calling it a "IP ban" is misleading.

    And mods can at the very least flag IPs that get banned

    It's a subreddit setting, moderators are not flagging anyone's IP addresses, they don't even have access to that type of info. The best that moderators can do is ban accounts for "ban evasion" or whatever other reason. Then those banned accounts and their post/comment histories likely get sent into that ban evasion algorithm when the sub has the ban evasion setting enabled.

    You're talking about a setting that has been enabled sitewide for over a year now

    https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/130vnbo/ban_evasion_filter_coming_soon_to_all_communities/

    and admins won’t actually follow up with the issue.

    Sometimes they do, but yeah you're right usually there won't be much of a review. They do review that stuff on and off but with the sheer amount of actual ban evasion on that site it's unlikely they spend much time on that.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Yea, it's certainly more complicated than a simple IP bans.
    Reddit uses a shit ton of fingerprinting on top of just using the IP.
    IP info can be a part of said fingerprinting, but banning just an IP is moot and easily bypassed with a lot of possible collateral damage they'd want to avoid.
    IP bans could ban unrelated accounts that happened to connect from your workplace proxy or mobile ISP proxy, but is easily bypassed by anyone with even a free VPN or coffee shop wifi.

    I'm sure they have extensive data points to connect the dots between alt accounts, but it's assuredly not using only IPs.

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  • [–] [S] -3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    If you don't mind, I'm going to comment and edit as I read your comment. That cool?

    So they decided to choose an algorithm that matched like accounts? Bullshit

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    How would mods get access to that data? I don't see why Reddit would give away such metrics to volunteers.

    What is probably happening is that Reddit is maintaining the database of problematic accounts and letting mods choose which accounts are problematic. From the list of problematic accounts, Reddit could probably pull together a list of problematic IP addresses, especially if the problem is across multiple subs.

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  • [–] [S] -2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So if they're (what you're saying) looking to ultimately ban by, what they consider, problematic IPs, and banning them with that assumed problematic IP under the impression that no one can learn from said experience, and they can do that for forever is asinine(this sentence was a hard think for me, so please read carefully). Originally, the only people that could IP ban were admins, which in this current point in time, admins don't do shit. And that's because mods got overly precise in their prejudice and big reddit gets far too much money for commercializing.

    So in short, devoted neckbands get big confidence in their parents basements, and Steve Huffman keeps getting richer

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    It is likely more that admins created a system to look for problematic IP addresses and gave mods access to use the admin system by providing user account names and the ability for the admin system to work on different subs.

    And this could be useful because mods in some communities would see people try to evade bans in order to harass a community. I wouldn't be surprised if a system like this was requested by mods even mods weren't given access to IP addresses.

    Lemmy has an equivalent function that has been used here. It is defederation.

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