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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

My understanding is that mods can silently remove content from their subreddits, but it will still show up in your comment-history. However, admins can silently remove content and it will NOT be in your comment history. Well, when I'm logged out, I noticed some of my comments were "removed" but when I'm logged in they show up. Looking at the comments more closely, I don't believe they broke any rules...at least not site-wide rules. I received no notification that they were removed either.

Further, these comments ALL related to the Trump/Zelensky interview. I get the need to moderate online communities, but there's something particularly dystopian about quietly censoring someone for expressing political-speech you don't like, and doing it in such a way that they (theoretically) don't even realize they've been censored (if they're not weird paranoid fucks like me). You've just secretly put a bubble around them, all for the crime of political speech you don't like.

Here are some screenshots to verify what I'm saying:

https://i.imgur.com/kff8INQ.png

...

And so the same thing happened when I posted this exact post (above the "...") in another sub on Reddit...one I participate in regularly. And here's how that looks:

https://i.imgur.com/NzRI5T6.png

all 38 comments
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[-] [email protected] 59 points 4 months ago

Yup that's shadowbanning for ya.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I think it's only on certain subreddits though?

So /r/law was in the link above as [removed] and I just tried posting something VERY innocuous there, and here's what happened within SECONDS:

And it doesn't happen always on /r/marchagainstnazis, after the BS:

[-] [email protected] 20 points 4 months ago

I think a shadowban used to be all or nothing, but now it's possible on a sub by sub basis and possibly even temporarily.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

So I had the [removed] thing happen before on every sub but /r/conservative. IDGAF about the conservative one. /r/marchagainstnazis, I did say something that could be construed as advocating violence. I said something about Nazis staying visible so we know who to put against a brick wall after this is over. Vague...but yeah, I get it. Though I comment there regularly, without issue, until I call this out?

/r/law, they [remove]d me when I said " I would vote for her for POTUS in a heartbeat. But flyover country would never let a black woman be President; it'd undermine their dumbshit egos too much. Imagine Obama's presidency, but ALSO a woman...we'd have someone new and worse that Trump building an alt-alt-alt-right incel circlejerkoff cult, and rising to power by spouting memes and literally showing up to debates and such in unwashed sleepwear.

...and they'd win, because grandpa thinks they look like "good wholesome" (read as "white") boys (read as "males")."

Which was also [removed].

And I don't know what I said in /r/worldnews.

But okay. So you're saying it's a subreddit based shadowban? Who initiates that? And more importantly, why is it removed from my profile? Sure, remove it from your sub...but I should be able to reference my own words outside of a sub.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

I honestly don't know, I haven't had a Reddit account for nigh on 2 years. I only lurk there now and honestly I shouldn't even do that. I've completely given up on all social media outside of the fediverse.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I've been there since 07. Since like 2022/3, they started getting weird and have permabanned me a few times (never happened before).

I created this account here after the last permaban, which I appealed along with the others...and somehow magically they gave me a sheepish apology and unbanned my account?! I'm kind of over it. But I'm still there. And there are certain communities there which aren't easily replicated here, like /r/phillywiki. But...I'm over Reddit for the most part. It's the people I'm not over...

[-] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

If a person who is shadowbanned tries to post a comment, a moderator can approve that comment so it shows up.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

People only learn what censorship really is when they starting to speak unsanctioned opinions.

And just like that, free speech is really speech that is approved by the owner class. They can't mod bots and bad faith actors but they sure as hell on it when "wrong think" is shared.

I am talking out of my ass, i don't have access to data... but there is a reason why so many here has similar experiences that led them to fedi.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Reddit is dead to me. 15 years of use and it's now a nazi, right wing shithole. Eventually, all left wing users will be banned.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

I'm so glad I left the reddit shithole.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

All social media is shaped to not upset powerful people and the noisier aspects of the right wing.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

All mainstream social media is owned by the rich who support the fascist coup and work to protect it.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Yup. Was permabanned for "advocating for violence" by saying a certain green hatted man was justified in his actions. And before that, a week long ban for directly quoting Rump's unhinged rambling during the debate to make fun of what he said.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

All against Plebbit, their admins are evil, a lot of power mods are human garbage, and one shouldn't contribute to that cesspool.

But I saw about a billion of anti-trump comments. /r/NonCredibleDiplomacy, /r/Ukraine, /r/UkrainianWarVideoReport. If yours were removed as you say, it's mods, sure as fuck not admins. Mods, rather often, just remove anything they fancy, especially anything that vaguely resembles controversy or a potential headache. No clue if you were wildly out of context or stuff either.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

It's not the mods. I've talked to the mods of various subs where this happened. Mods can't [remove] it from your own profile. Only admins can do that.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I haven't kept up to date with Reddit, but it is also my understanding that removed comments by mods are not removed from your comment history, so this looks like something site wide.

Also user-targeted automod actions (the mod-level version of shadowbanning) were a pain to set up, so it's more likely to be at the admin-level if it's happening in multiple subs.

You can message the mods of one of those subs to ask why. Many will probably assume you're being removed for a good reason and ignore you, but someone will probably be willing to say "it's not us". Humanize your message as much as possible. Mention your account age (if it's not young) and that you see comments staying up in other subreddits.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago
[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

With time, you will see Reddit gradually shift right. Pro Israel comments are going to be prevelant everywhere and censorship is going to take a drastic turn for the worst.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Wait you mean like Facebook and every other thing that starts off as smart people being in the know and ends with the unwashed (metaphor for education and using historic language, not jabbing those without) masses taking the red pill and making the intelligence just noise that gets drowned out as the agenda matches on??

Idk it's weird it's almost like that's 100% of human history!

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago
[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Oh for me? Well I know it's definitely happening now. Shit's gotten crazier. And, overall, well I pissed off Spez. Nothing special. The motive is..pettiness? They even removed this comment:

https://i.imgur.com/ndBd0PJ.png

And I confirmed with mods of various subs that I wasn't banned/shadowbanned, e.g.:

https://i.imgur.com/Kk0HbAW.png

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

My understanding is that mods can silently remove content from their subreddits, but it will still show up in your comment-history.

That's actually very unethical, no matter where it's done.

You should either let someone's effort be seen, or prevent them from making the effort in the first place.

But having them waste their time by doing the effort, and then having it not be seen, in essence fooling them, is very unethical, and intellectually dishonest.

~This~ ~comment~ ~is~ ~licensed~ ~under~ ~CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

The point of shadow banning is to waste the time of bots.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

And not to censor human beings? At all?

The point of shadow banning is to waste the time of bots.

That makes no sense. Detecting shadow banning can be automated.

~This~ ~comment~ ~is~ ~licensed~ ~under~ ~CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

It was originally for bots. Yes.

[-] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago

Well would you expect someone who wanted to censor others to come out and explicitly say the real reason is because they want to censor others?

No, they'll say things like because it's the help combat bots. We've all seen how well that works.

~This~ ~comment~ ~is~ ~licensed~ ~under~ ~CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

[-] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

Sure, now. But it was made to circumvent bots. To increase the amount of trouble it is to spam. Don't know what you're trying to argue here.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I got 2 nicole posts in one day here

[-] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

Have you tried checking on another computer without having logged in the Reddit first, to see if the comments are actually there or not?

Also, have you tried checking via one of the third party websites that check for shadow banning?

~This~ ~comment~ ~is~ ~licensed~ ~under~ ~CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Yes, that's how I figured out what was happening. And I'm not shadowbanned officially. If you're officially shadowbanned you can appeal it. On /appeal it says I'm not banned and can't appeal. Further I've confirmed with other mods that I'm not banned/etc. from their subs...but I have called Spez out a bunch. And honestly, I think he and I get done work around the same time or something, because my [removed]s only pop up around 4PM in the evening. If I wait and go back, they don't get removed at first...and if folks upvote or comment, usually they don't get removed later. It's been going on especially for a few days now, though it is tapering off a bit. I think maybe he's getting bored.

this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
175 points (94.9% liked)

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