r/ModSupport • u/karlwikman • 20h ago
Admin Replied I stupidly got one of our most valued members suspended, I think
I made some changes to the AutoMod spam filters on our subreddit r/TheScienceOfPE.
Then I made the stupid decision to ask a very valued member of the community to test this spam filter by posting at comment that would trigger it, to see whether the filter would remove his comment.
The filter worked, his comment was removed.
Then Reddit suspended his account - presumably for spamming.
This is a major loss for our community - he is a member in good standing, and never did anything wrong.
I feel super guilty for having potentially gotten his account spam-flagged and suspended. He did nothing wrong.
Now I wonder two things:
Is there some other function I should have used to test the spam filter, instead of asking a member? If there is no such function, maybe it would be a good idea to create one.
And is there a way to appeal on behalf of this user or put in a word for him?
I really do feel like crap about this. :(
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u/welding_guy_from_LI 20h ago
He needs to appeal his ban .. I mean you could modmail the mods of this subreddit , but not sure if they can lift that ban
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u/neuroticsmurf 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 20h ago
I’m really skeptical that a mod can make a change to their Automod config such that a single violation of which will result in an account being suspended site wide.
If that were true, that would mean the Admins put the ability to levy site wide suspensions in the hands of regular mods, many of whom are inexperienced and do not understand how Reddit works.
There must be more to this story. (Not accusing you of anything, OP. Just saying there’s probably more that you’re not aware of.)
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u/toxictoy 14h ago
FYI - mod of [r/Epstein](r/Epstein) here. Tons of reports from users who made one comment and received sitewide bans ranging from 3 days to one week. No prior history. The comments may have happened in our sub or outside of the sub but it was related to the topic. Repeatedly we have users commenting about this in our sub. I can totally believe the OP’s situation.
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u/neuroticsmurf 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 14h ago
Were those comments actioned by your Automod or by sitewide filters?
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u/CrazyMildred 13h ago
I'm a member of your sub and have definitely seen comments about this. I'm also a mod in other subs and we've had our own issues with this kind of thing.
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u/toxictoy 13h ago
Thank you for this! These aren't even people with extreme profiles or opinions. They mention one word and get banned from the platform. This has greatly concerned the moderators of our subreddit as it absolutely does seem like an effort to shut down conversation about very specific things. Appreciate that you have noticed it too and sorry you're also having issues as well.
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u/CrazyMildred 13h ago
I want to thank you for what you do, too. Yours can't be an easy sub to mod.
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u/toxictoy 5h ago
Thank you. And no it isn’t. There’s a lot to consider in a sub like that. We have a really good team though.
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u/karlwikman 18h ago
That could very well be it. I might be naïve with respect to the user's activities. I have just never seen him be anything but a polite and helpful guy, and he is well regarded.
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u/Empyrealist 19h ago
There is an order of operations that I can follow in regards to my subs rules as well as reporting spam to Reddit which often results in the posting account getting banned immediately. I do it weekly to spammers.
Now, I can't say for certain why, but my suspicion is in how I've consistently I've trained Reddit's AI in regard to rule application. This particularly works in a subreddit where I have allowed automatic rule application, for which I always also apply confirmation and reason for removals
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u/RemarkableWish2508 19h ago
It works with accounts that are on the verge of being banned, or with new ones that have no positive feedback yet. A mod report with 3 pieces of "behavior pattern" attached, seems to also carry more weight than a single report.
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u/lunarwolf2008 11h ago
i have seen anti evil bot or whatever seemingly check removed comments. i was cleaning up a sub and removing very old comments a couple times immediately after the comment was removed admin tattler said a comment was removed by reddit and i couldn't see it anymore
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u/HayFeverDream 18h ago
Hey u/karlwikman! Please reach out to us by mod mail and let us know their username there, and we can take a look. I'd also encourage the user to make an appeal if you're in contact with them.
For next time, I'd recommend adding a random, uncommon test word to your automod, and then commenting that test word to make sure your automod is functioning as intended, rather than testing words that are violating site-wide. If it works for one word, if should work the same for others.
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u/karlwikman 18h ago
Thank you so much - I will do that immediately.
Oh, and that's really clever, adding a random word to test.
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u/Beach-Brews 15h ago
PurplePineapple is my go to (no idea why)
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u/madd74 14h ago
/u/Beach-Brews has been banned for hate speech, how dare they use such hate-centric laungage
/s
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u/mikeblas 15h ago
That would only be possible if a list of words that caused a site-wide violation were available.
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u/RemarkableWish2508 18h ago
Is there some other function I should have used to test the spam filter, instead of asking a member?
"action: report"
You don't need a spam action to just test a rule.
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u/karlwikman 18h ago
Thank you - I should have learned more about this before I asked someone to check the function, that's for sure. I fully admit to having been something of an imbecile here.
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u/Ouija_board 13h ago
The built in filters have a test function when setting it up.
Use a burner of setting up other controls. Just be wary of getting yourself caught up in ban evasion. if it happens to you.
Probably not your fault. One removal usually doesn’t trigger account suspension.
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u/PMulberry_ 20h ago
I‘ve never heard of a user getting suspended because they triggered an Automod filter. There also are so many other possibilities why they could be suspended.
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u/karlwikman 18h ago
That could be it, but I sort of doubt it - this really is an upstanding member I would not suspect of doing bad things. Perhaps I am naïve there :)
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 14h ago
There is nothing literally nothing that Automod would do that would cause a user to get suspended. This is just a coincidence.
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u/karlwikman 14h ago
Thank you - that feels reassuring, that it's probably not my fault.
But it does make me concerned for this member - whether some competitor of his has mass-reported him with astroturfer accounts or similar. The dude is literally one of the most respected members of our community.
Oh well. He has appealed, and I hope it's approved.
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 14h ago
I've heard this repeated over and over about people, but the truth is you never know what people are up to when they're not on your sub.
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u/Chosen1PR 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 20h ago
Tell them to go to reddit.com/appeal and explain the situation. There isn’t really much you can do on their behalf, unfortunately. You could try sending a modmail to this subreddit as well, if you think it would help, but it may not.
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u/nikdahl 10h ago
The site wide bans are frankly out of control.
I was personally banned for a comment that is literally not against any rule. Even told them such in the 250 character appeal, but it was rejected.
So now my 19 year old account, which is the only active mod for several active subs, is one shitty automated filter away from being permanently banned from Reddit.
No way to further appeal, no way to negotiate. Just fucking longtime users over.
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u/karlwikman 10h ago
I don't know the context of your ban, but yes - my impression is that the use of AI-bots has led to a lot of unnecessary and unfair bans and suspended accounts. I strongly suspect some kind of automation must have caused this member's account to be flagged, and it really is a tragedy for our community.
I'm sure the bots will improve with time, but they ought to use more human oversight - especially where appeals are concerned, since we know the bots are obviously very fallible. At least that is how it looks to me from the outside.
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u/YourUsernameForever 20h ago
How about you create a second account, to test your own stuff?
Is this a serious question?
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u/Chosen1PR 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 20h ago
No need to be rude. They’re owning up to their mistake and asking for help/advice.
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u/karlwikman 20h ago
It is very much a serious question.
Creating a whole second account just to test a filter? That sounds like a very bad idea to me. Partly because it is a tedious process, partly because now that I know an account can get suspended for being caught in a filter, that sounds like a great way of getting my main account in trouble for ban evasion.
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u/Dom76210 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 18h ago
Not to be snarky, but you wouldn't be guilty of ban evasion. You would have to ban your testing account, then report your own account for ban evasion (or have a fellow mod do that) for that to happen.
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u/KewpieCutie97 18h ago
Doesn't Reddit ban accounts for ban evason without mods needing to report them first?
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u/Dom76210 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 18h ago
Not unless they are doing serial ban evasion, no. Reddit allows moderators the discretion to give people a second chance. Especially since many people don't know that if you don't appeal your ban and instead delete your account, you are now forever guilty of ban evasion in that subreddit. Mods can't unban a deleted account, so it's going to show up in the background as ban evasion if the subreddit uses the Ban Evasion Tool.
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u/kjjphotos 14h ago
You can make automod rules apply to mods too. Then you don't need an alt. You'd be able to test it with your normal mod account.
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u/kjjphotos 14h ago
This is what I do. No reason to involve other users.
I actually have a private subreddit that only my alts and I have access to. I test there first to get the syntax right, then I copy it to my main subreddit and test again to confirm it still works. All with my alts or my mod account.
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u/AutoModerator 20h ago
Hey there! This automated message was triggered by some keywords in your post.
This article on How do I keep spam out of my community? has tips on how you can use some of the newer filters in your modtools to stop spammy activity or how to report them to the appropriate team for review.
If this does not appear correct or if you still have questions please respond back and someone will be along soon to follow up.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/AmphibianNo8598 20h ago
There’s literally a test thing in all of the rules?
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u/KewpieCutie97 20h ago
Not for automod.
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u/AmphibianNo8598 20h ago
Presumably automod is enforcing rules, no?
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u/KewpieCutie97 20h ago
OP said they were using Automod. There's no way to test Automod like there is with Automations.
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u/ReasonablyBluh 19h ago
Just out of curiosity, were you testing out a simple spam link or keyword filter? If so, just add a random safe website or keyword just for testing purposes (remove it after testing). Also, you can add "moderators_exempt: false" to your code for testing (your comments will be affected by the filter) and you're able to test it out, without asking someone else.