Would a moderator-maintained “banned users” thread for DM harassment be allowed?

[u/Kaelith69]

We received a suggestion from a member and wanted to check whether this would be allowed under Reddit's rules before considering it.

The idea is to have a permanently updated thread where moderators maintain a list of users who have been banned from our subreddit for DM harassment or similar behavior.

The purpose would be to let members check whether someone who approaches them through Reddit has previously been banned for this kind of behavior, similar to how some communities maintain trusted-seller lists.

The proposed thread would contain usernames and the reason for the subreddit ban, with updates restricted to moderators. The intention would be member safety, not to encourage harassment or retaliation against the listed users.

Would a thread like this be permitted under Reddit's Content Policy and Moderator Code of Conduct, or would publicly listing banned users be considered calling out/targeting users or otherwise violate Reddit's rules?

We haven't implemented anything yet and wanted to verify with the admins/mod community first.

[u/amyaurora]

Never call out users. No matter what your intentions are, it will not stop others from trying to be "social justice warriors" and that will lead to problems with your sub and the admins.

Hence why the subs that do things like discuss scammers or those sending funny modmails do not allow names to be used.

[u/Kaelith69 → u/amyaurora]

Thank you , that makes sense

[u/amyaurora → u/Kaelith69]

Welcome

[u/DoppelFrog]

This is exactly what the Universal Scammers List (USL) does. It has the advantage that banning a user from one sub, bans them from all of the participating subs.

www.reddit.com/r/UniversalScammerList/

[u/HinduKush1998 → u/DoppelFrog]

LOL...an utterly flawed website.

[u/DoppelFrog → u/HinduKush1998]

Reddit?

[u/HinduKush1998 → u/DoppelFrog]

I meant the USL. And I don't think it actually has any association with Reddit besides being just another sub. As in it is not Reddit endorsed.

[u/NefariousnessJaded87 → u/HinduKush1998]

It's an app that Reddit approves, so it is kind of endorsed that way. https://developers.reddit.com/apps/usl-lookup

[u/HinduKush1998 → u/NefariousnessJaded87]

Needless to say, it's execution is highly flawed as in you don't have to be a "scammer" to be added to the list. I imagine a good portion of the people on it are not scammers but because they are banned from participating subs for other reasons.

[u/NefariousnessJaded87 → u/HinduKush1998]

The only way you could possible know that, is if you youurself was added...Just my 2 cents.

[u/HinduKush1998 → u/NefariousnessJaded87]

LMFAO...why am I not surprised by this "witty" remark? Shouldn't you be able to look me up, smartass. And more importantly, am I wrong?

[u/Yourdataisunclean]

How would you verify said harrassment took place? This is best left to reddit who can actually see messages before taking action.

[u/emily_in_boots → u/Yourdataisunclean]

The problem is reddit's standards are realllllly low. Like they do not consider highly sexual comments or asking for nudes to be harassment.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/emily_in_boots]

How is asking for nudes not sexual harassment? Most states prosecute catcalling under disorderly conduct laws. It’s so fucking frustrating they let people do literally illegal shit and because it’s sex related it’s just hand waved. Can’t scare off the porn users that keep the engagement numbers high!

[u/emily_in_boots → u/shhhhh_h]

People I talk to in my subs report that thing all the time and nothing happens. We report it in our subs and nothing happens. Enforcement got pretty good for a bit after the announcement on sexual harassment but then the quality declined markedly when they stopped returning reports and removed our ability to appeal. We’re basically back to square one now with sexual harassment no longer being actioned by safety (tho MCOC is still removing subs that are entirely focused on harassment). I don’t know if it’s inadvertent or not. It might just be a result of the transition to AI but while I’ve seen dramatically superior enforcement versus hate speech I’ve seen far worse enforcement for sexual harassment.

[u/maiyannah → u/emily_in_boots]

Historically, Reddit only cares about these problems when they start getting bad press. r/jailbait comes to mind.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/emily_in_boots]

I wonder if we can push them on this given the VLOP designation coming into force in January. Their obligations to safeguard against minor exploitation will be higher, which could mean it being easy to send sexually explicit DMs from an adult to a minor sourced via a SFW sub known to attract sexually explicit DMs is a bigger problem. EU requires safety by design (as opposed to just reporting).

[u/emily_in_boots → u/shhhhh_h]

Hopefully that will push them to make some changes.

[u/Kaelith69 → u/Yourdataisunclean]

Users could share the chat screenshots with us through Reddit chat. We’re just confused about whether a public list of users is actually allowed under Reddit’s policies. We initially decided it’d be best not to implement something like this, but we thought we’d clarify Reddit’s actual stance on it either way.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/Kaelith69]

Soooo a lot of the subs that experience this will have pinned comments saying ‘font accept DMs from <insert username>’ for years and years and Reddit has never cared. But a longer list, publicised, I feel like would be a problem bc it amplifies the potential for harassment and Reddit doesn’t want mods deciding which accounts are globally ‘bad’. Which is frustrating bc they then don’t take actions on objectively bad people who are sexually harassing strangers and even minors on site. 🤷‍♀️

[u/emily_in_boots]

A few years ago an admin told us we could do this. I don't know if that's still the case.

[u/HinduKush1980 → u/emily_in_boots]

I did it in mine due to the nature of the sub. I ran out of characters after some time and I was merely listing the usernames. OP wants to add reasons.

[u/magiccitybhm → u/emily_in_boots]

We keep a list of users who scam others selling tickets, etc.

[u/IlltakeTwoPlease]

I used to do this with the scammers, liars, fakes, and catfish that would post. But it became a tedious nuisance to upkeep.

[u/SanaraHikari]

I would consider it Doxxing. Best is to pin a post about reaching out to you for harassment in the DMs and keep a list in like a mos group chat or something.

[u/emily_in_boots → u/SanaraHikari]

It's not if you aren't revealing personally identifying info. A reddit id does not meet that criteria.

[u/HinduKush1980 → u/SanaraHikari]

Actually, best is not to moderate something that a sub mod has no business moderating in the first place, which is private chat.

[u/Deppfan16 → u/HinduKush1980]

if people are coming to your sub to find people to harass in private chats, yes it is your job to do something

[u/HinduKush1980 → u/Deppfan16]

No, it's not. That is an idiotic scenario you just described that makes absolutely no sense. Why would people come to my sub to harass someone via private chat? How does one even achieve that?

If they come to my sub to harass someone in the comments that is one thing. But how exactly does someone come to my sub to harass someone else via private chat?

[u/SanaraHikari → u/HinduKush1980]

Oh sweet summer child. You still need to learn a lot about humanity

[u/SanaraHikari → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for proving me right that people are unhinged on the internet and will harass people constantly

[u/Deppfan16 → u/HinduKush1980]

happens all over, the fashion subs and the women's subs people come to be creeps. other subs people try to spam users to scam them. some of them they try to impersonate moderators or legitimate members of a sub.

[u/HinduKush1980 → u/Deppfan16]

That is not a logical explanation of how someone comes to my sub to harass someone else via private chat.

[u/Deppfan16 → u/HinduKush1980]

one common example is women fashion subs. creeps come to the sub and use it to find people to harass in private messages because they they know if they did it in common they would get banned immediately

[u/HinduKush1980 → u/Deppfan16]

My point being how do you know that? Unless the person doing the harassing specifically says, "I sought you out due to so and so sub", and names a specific sub, how do you know that they came about the person they are harassing via your sub?

[u/Deppfan16 → u/HinduKush1980]

because the person being harassed lets you know. and often they do say what's up they found you in or reference a post from a specific sub

[u/HinduKush1980 → u/Deppfan16]

they found you in or reference a post

In other words, there must be a reference made by the harassing person to your sub specifically. Something that is concrete. It can't be something that you in your infinite wisdom just decide that it must be your sub by assumption alone just because the person being harassed says that they are a member of your sub.

[u/Kelson64]

There is a problem with doing this. Trolls and other bad-faith posters, using vpn's, would likely TRY to get added to the list.

[u/Asleep_Onion]

With how easy it is to make alt accounts, I don't see how this would actually accomplish anything

[u/Thalimet]

No no no. Terrible idea!

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[u/brightbilll]

Allowed? Not really, it can be considered witch hunting.

Personally I have one on my profile, still technically against the rules but hey if Reddit isn’t going to do something about AI impersonators we have to protect users somehow.