Was recently granted the privilege of a permanent ban on reddit for a username I had for over four years and it led me down the rabbit hole of seeing more and more claims from other people who went through similar experiences. Hell, there’s a lot of them. Frivolous reports resulting in punishment, appeals being automatically denied, the works, etc.

It might just be a presumption, seeing how many bots slide under the radar each day on that site through posts and comments, but I have a strong feeling that most (seemingly random) admin bans are designed to flush out active and semi-active human users rather than weed out bot code posing as people online. The end goal? Whether it’s to create an automated, cyclical platform designed to extract marketing and ad revenue from a steady stream of new users or anything else for that matter, I know not. All I know for certain is that the ban tendencies have ramped up in the recent year and the people actually being punished for it are those who have been using it for long periods of time and manage to conveniently fall on the edge of a subjective TOS offense.

I had my suspicions that it was gradually turning into an AI-fueled cesspit, but now I’ve had my chance to really believe that it has. Good riddance in that case

  • Contramuffin@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    No, I don’t think there’s an ulterior motive. Reddit kicked out all the active mods and mods who knew what they were doing, and then brought in people with zero mod experience. Of course you’re going to get more issues with mod abuse now. Not everyone has the temperament to be a responsible mod, and I think Reddit is simply reaping the consequences of its choices

  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Yeah, those ramped up in early 2023. I was guessing that it was related to an impending IPO, and guess what was announced shortly thereafter. The enshittifiation had already begun.

  • tortina_original@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    The only thing I still use reddit for is to browse Fortnite sub sometimes (once every few days), on a desktop (Firefox with ublock) and if I post anything it’s useless shit.

    I got a reddit (not sub) warning for personal attacks.

    In a message that said “Fuck you, EPIC”.

    If i remember correctly, warning even implied that it was an automated warning.

    Works great. Can’t wait to post even more nonsensical shit there.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    So if it degenerates to the point where every user is a bot, who are the advertisers going to sell their crap to? Are they going to shift to advertising antivirus software and machine oil?

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    They’ve gone down the shitter any way you cut it, unless you’re actively profiting from the stock somehow.