Hey all. I’m here to tell you about my experience getting “shadow-banned” on my 8-year-old Reddit account. Short alike others: https://lemmy.today/post/49087735, https://lemmy.today/post/48784920, https://lemmy.today/post/47876190, https://lemmy.today/post/47779751
Almost smart
I basically stopped using Reddit 3 year ago around the whole “Reddit’s killing Thirdparty APPS” but, got sucked back in to a niche health/lookmaxing style Sub that I helped Mod for 10 months.
The day of
About a week ago I’m making posts, commenting, Moding, etc, and interactions stop working strangely lets of red error popups, and the “Important Information About Your Reddit Account” notification, saying “after detecting some technical irregularities on your USER_NAME account, we took the extra precaution of locking your account. To unlock your account, reset your password now.”
Figuring it out
So, I reset it via my email and log back in. Worried, but it seem top be working… then a few hours later the same red banner errors when I try to interact with users. So, I view my account on a logged out browser and it says “account suspended”
What to-do?
After filling out both https://www.reddit.com/appeal & https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000600232 I waited for an email, Reddit notification… And got nothing about it.
Now, the current non-signed in status is “This account has been banned” & all posts/comments are removed (Mods can still see them as from u/deleted & manually approve them)
When signed in:
- No banner on my account or reason for being banned.
- All public interactions fail with a Red popup error, and my entire history of posts and comments says “Sorry, this post was removed by Reddit’s filters.” or “Removed by Reddit”
Why?
What did I do wrong? Only reddit knows that! We can speculate, but, there is no point really. Reddit’s TOS allows them to!
How I feel about it
I feel disrespected, gaslit, lied to, and discriminated against. Sad, angry, depressed, etc… :( You all know the stages of grief.
Reddit pretending there’s a technical issue to me, but banning me without even saying it, and removing all my past posts & comments is very disheartening. From my personal experience, Reddit has proven to be largely a waste of time, and very much uninvestable.
Moving forward
Well, I’m not gonna make another Reddit account just for the same thing to happen, that would be me participating in (as I see it) a toxic relationship. I still get other random Reddit notifications (modmail, streak messages, etc) I can’t do anything with. It’s like Reddit is teasing me now. This guy has a good point https://lemmy.today/post/47176601/22123471
A little help?
Anyway, I know there is a lot of hate for conservative/Christian views around here, so any TIPS on where to find a ‘safe space’ to be me & express my self, and how to limit/block toxicity would be appreciated.
Maybe this is a sign from God, that my time is better offline.
Have these opinions of yours changed at all in the last year?

yep, this is reddit. did you say thank you?
If you think “Christian = conservative” then I have news for you, lol… Actually, I don’t; it would be a waste of time.
But anyway, sorry to hear about your experience and best of luck.
Anyway, I know there is a lot of hate for conservative/Christian views around here, so any TIPS on where to find a ‘safe space’ to be me & express my self, and how to limit/block toxicity would be appreciated.
there is a maga Lemmy , join that, it’s mostly defederated from everywhere because its toxic, but have at it ?
Truth Social and Gab (They use a version of Mastodon that’s thankfully defederated from the real world) are both toxic AF and may suit you?
Maybe this is a sign from God, that my time is better offline.
what the fuck ? Maybe go volunteer in rural Cambodia or Laos and help people instead, might also teach you some humility ?
Thanks for the reminder about humility, I struggle with that. I’m not really into echo chamber political type communities tho. I need to learn to stand ever when others won’t, feel better about my probably rather faulty idea’s.
Anyway, know there is a lot of hate for conservative/ Christian views around here, so any TIPS on where to find a ‘safe space’ to be me & express my self, and how to limit/block toxicity would be appreciated.
People don’t care about religion here like they do (did?) on Reddit. Some dweebs might get worked up, but it’s far more chill here.
People here are often wary of conservatism though because it’s an inherently reactionary ideology that seeks power by attacking targeted populations; that’s what upsets people, and the fediverse is full of those who have been targeted by such campaigns.
Almost nobody will care that you’re Christian, but nearly everyone will be upset if you antagonize trans people. If your faith is about personal improvement, that’s chill. If it’s about controlling people whose lifestyle you hate, then this isn’t the place.
Seem peoples presumptions about the terms conservatism & Christian are all over the place. Getting thrown in the "97% correlation between being a Nazi trash person and being a “conservative Christian” is trying.
You supported DOGE and hated DEI in your one relavant post here before you went inactive. I’m sure if you the conservative “christian” with a looksmaxxing obession were brave enough to share their reddit username that got banned we’d find a loud and proud MAGA chud. A nazi. Enjoy hell.
I’d say it’s far more about the conservative descriptor than the Christian one.
Personally, I’d much rather have a Christian friend who aligned with my values of celebrating diversity, defending personal liberty, and making the economy work for everyone instead of a select few over an atheist who constantly cries about “wokeness” and “cancel culture.”
People who identify as conservative Christians are frequently white nationalists who are more concerned with which genitals are in what bathroom or kicking brown people out of the country than preventing people from freezing to death on the street. If that’s not you, wonderful; but at least in the US you are indeed a rare breed.
I’m curious: what value does conservatism as a concept hold for you?
I look at conservatism as a concept that preserves the experiments that worked, and a necessary counterbalance to progressivism. Obviously, the ideal is a balance between them.
As an example, I think the separation of genders in such things as changing rooms, sports, & jails are all valuable traditions learn by hard lessons of those you come before us, and that we throw those out at are own peril. Basically conservatism = traditionalism in my mind. Who are we to be so bold as to think we are smarter than those you came before us? Or that the ‘old rules no longer apply to our lives’?
I know you didn’t come here for a debate, so I’ll keep my response as brief as possible.
You ask who we are to say that the “old rules no longer apply to our lives?” We’re the ones who have to live under the rules; why should we be beholden to the desires of a bunch of dead guys?
The women who fought for their right to vote, the strikers who brought us weekends and paid time off, the slaves who escaped their bondage, and the people who were driven out of their homelands by religious persecution all decided that the old rules were oppressive and in service of an elite who didn’t have their best interest at heart.
Take this passage from Mark 2 for example:
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
It illustrates the point that the rules are here for us, and that we should really think about the implications of what we are restricting.
The Republican brand of Christianity seems to be the opposite of everything that Jesus preached. From Matthew 25:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
The GOP has been cutting food aid (EBT) to desperate families, medical services to the poor and elderly (Medicare & Medicaid), splitting up families of people who came here to seek asylum (ICE), starting unjustified wars (Iraq & Iran), demanding schools give Christians special treatment (display religious texts, fund private Christian schools with public school money), and funnelling money to the very richest people in society for fifty years (the US has the highest wealth inequality of any country in the developed world)… all wearing the Christian religion as their mantle. That’s why people hear “Christian Conservative” and think about all of this reactionary nonsense. The Christian Nationalist movement is about power, not tradition. Rather than having a pluralistic society, the Christian Nationalist thinks that they should get the sole right to decide how things are done.
Take the bathrooms that you mentioned: why is this a thing that people want the government involved in? Why should the government be able to tell you who can use the bathroom in your business? Shouldn’t that be up to the business owner? Isn’t that the “conservative” solution?
The rules are here to serve us; therefore, there’s no better set of people to determine what those rules should be. Conservatism is about maintenance of the status quo, and most people in the country are unhappy with the status quo. Isn’t that a good enough reason to change it, and to move away from an elite who doesn’t have our best interests at heart?
I look at conservatism as a concept that preserves the experiments that worked
Basically conservatism = traditionalism in my mind.
That’s a progressive perspective on conservatism, and expressing it as such places you further Left than most Democrats in office.
America’s self-described “Conservatives” are mostly christian nationalists who don’t seek to conserve key American traditions like multiculturalism, but rather to impose their moral ideals on those who they see as “degenerates” in society and would gladly cut off their noses if it would spite the faces of those they see as “other”.
This is obvious when you consider that “Conservatives” are more offended that trans people like myself might use a public restroom than the fact that ICE is running concentration camps and separating families from their children.
Actually Conservative Christians are anti-Capitalists that care most about serving the needy and destitute and look down on the wealthy for their lack of charity. The self-proclaimed christians who voted a pedophile into office do not seek to conserve tradition, merely to preserve their own social status.
health/lookmaxing
Fucking yikes…
conservative/Christian
Now it makes sense.
I don’t even know what conservative means here but if it means you’re a fascist, I wish you the absolute worst. If you are an actual Christian which would mean putting kindness to your neighbor above all else then only some jerks would have a problem with you. But that’s likely not what it means. It likely means you spend a good deal of energy judging and hating lgbt people. Feel free to correct me. I don’t know you, but I do know that in some sense at least at one point you could be a good person and say you’re a conservative Christian, but currently there’s about a 97% correlation between being a Nazi trash person and being a “conservative Christian”.
Thank you for leaving room in your judgment, it’s only a %97 change you wish me “the absolute worst.” :)
Either way, I don’t feel I need to be less of my authentic self to please you. I will wear your hate with pride if need be.
Noticed you made no offer to deny being a nazi or a bigot against lgbt+. Interesting.
Feel free to hate that I hate your hate.
I can not oblige that. Hate is a sin, and sin hurts everyone.
I don’t feel the need to defend my self against such ad hominem attacks, or deny such baseless claims. You have feel will to think and say as you choose. Your opinions are none of my business. If you want a discussion, please start with some good faith questions. Else, how can I not see you as a hateful troll?
Also ya know what. “Looksmaxxing” is also a sin too, it’s called vanity. Except now it’s on steroids because you psychos are doing crazy shit like beating your own face with a hammer. One can only assume it’s to attract a less trollish Nazi wife. But who knows (or cares)? It’s a sin. But you don’t care about that do you? I wonder why.
Nazi then. Got it
And one asking for a safe space, XD. I hope he doesn’t like it here.
I really think your last line says it.
I’m not being a smartass, just framing the concept in the same language you used.
When shit like that goes down, taking a step back and a break is exactly what most people would benefit most from. Since you believe in a higher power that actively guides your life, you have to assume that is exactly what that higher power is arranging.
Take the time you’d normally spend scrolling in prayer. The time you’d spend commenting studying your religion of choice.
If after a few days to a week-ish you feel it’s right, then go looking for places where you can both find interaction and enrich yourself according to your faith. Truth is though, I suspect you’ll find greater fulfillment out in the real world with the people in your life than you ever could online.
Look, no bullshit, that’s true no matter what religion or philosophy you follow. This shit? Reddit? It’s for the time when more direct human interaction isn’t available. It’s for the toilet and insomnia and waiting rooms.
The religion side of it, you’re better off with some church group than an online space. I would hope you have the good fortune to be in a church that’s low on toxicity (not a guarantee at all lol) that also teaches love, compassion, and the principle of the Golden Rule.
So, yeah, take this as a sign and a chance to reengage with important things.
Thanks for your encouragement :) It’s nice to find someone who is not getting there exercise from jumping to judgment.
It feels like becoming schizophrenic, right? I had to use alts to verify my comments were invisible, created a private sub to invite only myself and made empty/ipsumlorum posts that still got artificial votes and views.
No there’s groups way more marginalized than Conservative/Christian that get targeted (usually by accident because the automod doesn’t know or can’t tell what’s an actual bad actor). But I won’t deny that it’s a worldview that will just draw more negative attention sometimes without provocation.
You can be conservative/Christian here and not get shit on, it’s just easier to stay under the radar if you make a habit of trying not to be both in the exact same sentence. There are no automods. Just people that already have a maga uncle IRL and came here specifically just to avoid interacting with him. So let that info shape how you move.
Haha, I’m trying to not think about it and move on. I don’t want more of the questioning my self stress from that experience!
Some people seem to really hate those two word already :| looks like I should be praying for them. Hate is a terrible thing in someone’s life.
It’s funny to think of them as ‘sleeper agents’, acting normal until the trigger words “Conservative/Christian” are spoken :)
The other commenter had some good advice in that right, too? Christianity was at its idealistic strongest at a time when it was an internal experience and a external revolution. If your journey with it is something you take seriously then it’s hopefully going to take you somewhere better than fighting with people on the internet. Or giving them time and opportunity to fight with you.
However you decide to spend your time or however you move among people, I hope you find your bliss.
Thank you. Your right about me enabling them, I need to reflect on that! It also seems I need to set some boundaries & not feed the hateful trolls with my limited time.








