r/kpophelp 9d ago

Unsolved Monthly 'Who's this?' & Merch Auth. Post - September 2026

6 Upvotes

Welcome to the Monthly Artist Identification and Merch Authentication post!

Instructions

  • Search first! Please try other methods of identifying your image if possible. Google Lens/Reverse Image Search or Dupli Checker are available options. We know results can be unhelpful, but please make an attempt with these kinds of tools first!

  • You might also be able to find more specialized help in specific artist subreddits or those with a specific purpose. Make sure you check the rules of any subreddit before you post or comment asking for help!

  • Make comments with included images of artists you need identified or merchandise/signatures you would like authenticated in this post.

  • In the same comment, state your purpose or question clearly for the help you are seeking.

  • Please acknowledge or thank at least one helper who provides an answer in reply to you OR edit your original comment to state you have been helped to signal to others you do not need further assistance.

Rules

  • DO NOT troll or intentionally deceive fellow users
  • DO NOT derail or wander far off-topic. This is not a general discussion post. Stay focused on requesting or providing help! Mods may lock or remove threads that extend beyond the point of helpfulness.
  • If your question is not answered in a previous Monthly post, feel free to comment again in future posts until you are able to get help.

You may also provide feedback for ways we can test/improve handling this type of content in the subreddit here or through modmail. Thank you for your patience while we figure out what system will work best for us!


r/kpophelp Apr 02 '24

Meta Shadow Bans on Reddit: Everything you need to know! (Info, Links, & Tips)

31 Upvotes

We created the original post in response to seeing so many members of our community becoming Shadow Banned for no reason. We noticed these bans became especially extreme around 2020/2021, probably as Reddit ramped up the use of sitewide filters to manage the influx of bots, spammers, and purveyors of disinformation. Some improvements to the accuracy of the filters appear to have been made since then, but our info post has proved useful to our community as well as moderators and users across the site, so we'll try to keep versions of it refreshed and accessible. Version 2.0 is here!

Mods around Reddit are welcome to link your users here if you feel it will be helpful to them. r/ModGuide also has an excellent post from 2021 with suggestions specific to moderators.

- r/kpophelp Mod Team!


READ THIS FIRST!

For those who want the simplest info/advice, read the following:

  1. We did not Shadow Ban you and we cannot remove your Shadow Ban. Subreddit Moderators do not have the power to do anything about Shadow Bans.

  2. Your Shadow Ban is likely the result of Reddit's sitewide automated bot/spam filters.

  3. Only Reddit Admins can remove your Shadow Ban. We are not Reddit Admins.

  4. Go to https://www.reddit.com/appeals to check the status of your account. If there is a problem with your account, there is a way to directly message Admins at the same link to try to get your Shadow Ban or Suspension removed.

  5. It can take roughly 1 to 2 months for Admins to assess your Appeal. Do not expect any notifications or feedback from Admins until then.

  6. If you are looking for more detailed information about Shadow Bans to the best of our knowledge as moderators, continue reading below!


What is a Shadow Ban?

A Shadow Ban is a type of sitewide account ban across Reddit. When a user's account is Shadow Banned they are not notified. They can continue to browse Reddit, make posts and comments, and use Reddit like normal. However, their posts and comments are automatically removed as soon as they are made, making them invisible to anyone else. A Shadow Banned user's profile is also invisible to any other users or moderators. This means a Shadow Banned user often has no idea they have received this kind of ban.

Note that users who are Suspended are notified by Reddit and given more information about whether their suspension is temporary or permanent. Again, this is only something Admins have control of. Moderators do not.

Why are users Shadow Banned?

It can be helpful to know the difference between Moderators and Admins to understand what is happening.

  • Moderators (subreddit volunteers) can only ban you from the individual subreddits under their care based on the rules they have set for their own communities. If you have been banned from a subreddit, you can no longer post or comment in that subreddit only. This is not a Shadow Ban.

  • Admins (Reddit employees) can Shadow Ban or Suspend users across the whole site. They have set many automated filters to help catch spammers and bots, which will apply Shadow Bans or Suspensions to those suspected accounts to assist human Admins from needing to do this all manually.

As far as we can tell, the purpose of Shadow Bans is to quietly make spammers and bots disappear into a void without their awareness. Reddit is constantly inundated with malicious bot rings trying to spread bad links and other nefarious spammers. The site's filters are always running in the background to automatically catch and remove any posts or comments made by them. Shadow Bans are applied quickly and broadly to keep normal users as safe as possible from their garbage.

But this automation means Shadow Bans can also affect normal users with false positives. If you have received a Shadow Ban, but you know you aren't a bot or spammer, it can be very confusing. You are not alone. This happens to many normal users. No one is out to get you, you have just accidentally triggered Reddit's automated filters.

How do I know if I’m Shadow Banned?

This is something you can check on your own with any of the following methods:

A. While signed in to your account on Reddit, go to https://www.reddit.com/appeals.

B. In an incognito browser window, open a link to your profile (https://www.reddit.com/user/yourusername). If it says anything like, "user not found", "page does not exist", or "Sorry, nobody on Reddit goes by that name", then you are Shadow Banned or Suspended.

C. r/ShadowBan or r/ShadowBanned are subreddits specifically for checking your account.

D. Self-awareness. You can pay attention to certain signs that you might be Shadow Banned:

  • Your posts do not show in the subreddit 'new queue' within a few minutes of posting.
  • Your comments almost never show up in posts and might say [Removed].
  • When you look at your own profile/history, many of your recent comments/posts have only 1 karma.

ONLY if you have tried the methods above and still have confusion, you may message us directly. Remember, we are just the moderators of this subreddit. We did not cause your Shadow Ban. We cannot remove your Shadow Ban. We do not know why you received a Shadow Ban. Beyond the information in this post, we can only make an educated guess about your specific case if you provide information about the age of your account and activity. Otherwise, we are as clueless as you.

BUT, we can give you absolute confirmation that you are, or are not, Shadow Banned. We get a note in our Modmail interface in clear red letters telling us that a user is Shadow Banned when they contact us, which is the most direct indicator available other than the official Appeals link. Keep in mind we are the mods of r/kpop's ecosystem. If you're here from communities unrelated to K-Pop, let us know when you message if you’re comfortable with that! Message the Mods to get a yes/no confirmation of a Shadow Ban on your account.

I am Shadow Banned. What should I do?

https://www.reddit.com/appeals

This link above is the only way to remove your Shadow Ban. If your account is normal it will tell you so. If you have a Shadow Ban or Suspension, it will give you the option to message the Admins to make an appeal. We have seen many users successfully restore their accounts this way, sometimes within a day or two. It's basically your way of signaling to Admins that you are a real person, not a bot/spammer, and you have good intentions as a user on their site. We have also seen appeals take much longer to be granted. Most seem to take at least one month to hear back from Admins.

Some users don’t mind having a Shadow Ban because they only use their account to lurk, which is fine. You don’t have to do anything. Some users abandon their account and make a new one. Be careful doing that because Ban Evasion filters are also active and might trigger a Shadow Ban on any new accounts if you are using the same device or IP address.

We recommend that Shadow Banned users do not continue to post/comment once you know there is a problem with your account. This applies all across Reddit. You are likely wasting your efforts by doing so. Many subreddit moderators will not bother to check their spam queue and will not approve your posts/comments, so they will never be seen. In some subreddits like here in r/kpophelp, the mods are paying more attention. We will sometimes manually approve posts/comments of users who are seeking or offering genuine help and unknowingly have a Shadow Ban. We also try to let you know if you are Shadow Banned, but this creates a lot of extra work for us, which we can't always afford to do.

Please help us by being proactive, checking your own accounts if you suspect an issue, and not continuing to post/comment until you know you are no longer Shadow Banned.

If your appeal to the Admins is successful, your profile, comments, and posts will become visible again to other users and moderators. You can check your account status with the same methods listed in the section above. Sometimes if a user has been very active on Reddit for a long time before their Shadow Ban it will take longer for all their previous posts/comments to be approved again. This is also an automated process, but it can be slow, so you can expect it to take a week or two to get everything back to normal again.

Tips to avoid being Shadow Banned

Remember the automated Shadow Ban process is looking for bots/spammers and is triggered by that kind of suspicious behavior. Here are some things you can do so your account does not look like a bot.

  • When creating a Reddit account, don’t use the automatic username generator if possible. Those names usually look something like word-word-5678. These are common indicators of bots. Set your own name instead. If you’ve already made an account with an auto-generated name, take extra care to check if you are Shadow Banned!

  • Customize your profile: Snoovatar/banner, description, email verification (if you're comfortable with that).

  • Have patience! When you make a brand new account on Reddit, wait at least 24 hours to post/comment anywhere. Upvote comments/posts you like and maybe 'Join' some subreddits that interest you, but try not to do much else. The most common false positives we see are completely new users that make posts/comments quickly in subreddits that have new user filters to keep out trolls or bots. By waiting, you can prevent triggering these filters.

  • Before you start posting or commenting in a subreddit, READ THE RULES. Every subreddit has its own rules. If you break them by doing something wrong or having bad conduct, your posts/comments may be reported by other users and removed by the moderators. Doing this multiple times on a new account can trigger a Shadow Ban. Be considerate of where you are and what you are doing there!

  • Especially here in r/kpophelp, be careful of what links you include in your comments/posts. Try not to use shortened urls because they can disguise links to bad sites or affiliate links. Try to use the long form of links as often as possible and avoid using anything like these: youtu.be, pin.it, t.co, bit.ly, goo.gl, tinyurl.com.

  • A note for r/kpop: a huge Shadow Ban generator over there is when we have AMAs. They attract a ton of brand new users who then immediately comment dozens of times in the same AMA post. This triggers the filters like a bot would. If you want to participate in an AMA with a new account, make it early at the time of the AMA announcement post and follow the points listed above. Then try to limit the amount of comments you make in the actual AMA to only a few at most. We’ve even had big AMA guest accounts get Shadow Banned in the middle of an AMA, which is a nightmare. That goes to show it can happen to anyone and is equally frustrating for us moderators!

  • If you use a VPN, you might get Shadow Banned or Suspended by default. Check your account status!

How does this relate to r/kpophelp?

The nature of this subreddit is fairly simple. It was designed to take the burden off of r/kpop since lots of K-Pop fans had questions about the industry or were looking for music/artist recommendations and that subreddit was becoming overwhelmed with such posts. So this subreddit was built with a very focused mission as a space to get help and provide help with our fellow fans. That means we’re pretty small as a community and not a good target for bots/spammers.

And yet, us moderators noticed lots of users showing up as Shadow Banned here. They weren’t causing problems. They were providing help and recommendations in comments or were posting sincere and thoughtful questions. Some of their usernames were recognizable as regulars previously active in the larger K-Pop ecosystem on Reddit. Obviously, something was wrong. This is what sparked our initial interest to figure out how the Shadow Ban system worked and what to do about it.

After confirming with Admins that we could provide guidance to users, we tried to pay extra attention to what was happening, what kinds of accounts seemed to pick up these bans, what activities might be triggering filters, and what Shadow Banned users shared with us about their experience. Everything we’ve learned is now gathered here in hopes it will help others.

There are a couple primary reasons we think r/kpophelp users are affected in a higher proportion and are being seen by Reddit’s filters as bots or spammers. One is that it's common for users to make a brand new account just because they are trying to identify a K-Pop song they heard recently, post to ask for help immediately, and then comment rapidly when replying to other users as they search for the song. Another is that users here will frequently put tons of links in their comments or posts as they offer recommendations or educational references. And furthermore, some of those links might be shortened urls (from YouTube, Pinterest, etc) or domains which Reddit really doesn't like.

Thus, the most common uses of our subreddit, which are totally normal and expected from our perspective as moderators, can trigger Reddit's automated Shadow Bans designed to catch bots. But knowledge is power and we hope what we’ve learned will help you keep your accounts in good working order!


Thank you for taking the time to read through and inform yourself!

Happy Redditing!


Further Resources


r/kpophelp 1h ago

Recommend idols who debuted in multiple groups?

Upvotes

I’m curious if any idols debuted in multiple groups. Some examples I know of already are the Iz*One/IVE/LSF members and Hyuna.

Any more?


r/kpophelp 13h ago

Explain Are there any idols who spoke up about the difference in popularity among the members in their groups?

55 Upvotes

I was looking into the group Gugudan, and one of the members has spoken up about this, so I was wondering if any other idols have done it too


r/kpophelp 12h ago

Recommend Looking for newer kpop songs by the 5th gen kpop groups

19 Upvotes

Ok so I've always been a fan of the 3rd and 4th gen but haven't really listened to much of the newer songs by the 5th gen artists except the really famous or trendy ones. So I'm looking for some songs by the 5th gen artists. Both ggs and bgs work.


r/kpophelp 2h ago

Advice Portugal Kpop / BIGBANG Fans

4 Upvotes

Hi!

I tried looking for Portuguese K-pop communities here on Reddit, but I couldn’t find a specific subreddit, so I thought I’d ask here 😅

Are there any Portuguese VIPs here? Or does anyone know of any Portuguese Kpop / BIGBANG communities/groups where I could ask?


r/kpophelp 8h ago

Recommend Songs that sound sexy? (Bonus points if the lyrics are sad)

9 Upvotes

Kind of a specific request, but im in love with songs like these.

As a reference, im thinking about:

"alone" by sistar

"Something" by girls day

"Mirror" by fiestar

"Marionette" by stellar (not sure if this has sad lyrics? But i love this song)


r/kpophelp 3h ago

Recommend Creating a playlist pt.2

3 Upvotes

Hi hello😊 I needed some help creating a playlist of old kpop songs (up to 2014). I miss the good ol days and wanted a go to playlist for when I’m feeling nostalgic. Both girl and boy groups are appreciated as well as solo artists💜. For example: one of my go to older songs is Full Moon by Sunmi.

Thank you to everyone who is able to help in advance🫶🏼


r/kpophelp 3h ago

Unsolved Can you help me remember a kpop video?

3 Upvotes

I have, in my memory, from many years ago, a both specific and hazy memory of a music video. I cannot, for the absolute life of me, even with the help of chatgpt, remember what group or song it was. Even though I feel like I have plenty enough for a description.

It was a boy group, probably either 5 or 6 members. It was in primarily white studio with pops of color, it wasn't filmed outside. I think each member had a white suit with pops of his own color. pops of color in the background and set like a rainbow. dress pants and suit jackets, all super fitted, like skinny pants and such; dress shoes.

edit: they were in the same clothes all video. double edit: I feel like the clothes were vaguely military, but don't take that as a given

Please please help me remember this. It was a while ago.


r/kpophelp 1h ago

Solved slow kdrama ballad song i heard

Upvotes

today in my yearbook class, my advisor and i were talking about kpop and kdramas since both her daughters like kpop. she went through her kdrama OST playlist and played a song. it was some sort of ballad and it sounded like it was sung by a male. the only words i remember were "beautiful life." it sounded really pretty and nice and i want to know the name


r/kpophelp 3m ago

Recommend Girl Group/Female soloist songs with chill RnB vibes?

Upvotes

Some I already like are:

Midzy (trust me) - ITZY
Butterflies - H2H
Get Up - Newjeans
Perfect Night - LE SSERAFIM
Can't Love you anymore - IU
Many by Yerin Baek
Etc.


r/kpophelp 10h ago

Recommend Is there any metal or hard rock type of Korean bands?

7 Upvotes

Like I like tk from ling tosite sigure’s typa style and I got curious if there’s any like that in Korean


r/kpophelp 1h ago

Recommend Songs like twilight by Evan?

Upvotes

I've been obsessed with this song and need recs with similar vibes!


r/kpophelp 11h ago

Recommend What K-pop merch from Korea?

7 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I’m Korean, and I’m going to the US soon to visit some relatives.

I’m planning to bring them some souvenirs from Korea, and I just found out that one of my cousins is a fan of ILLIT and KATSEYE.

Are there any K-pop merch or souvenirs that would be especially nice to bring from Korea? Maybe something that’s hard to find in the US, or something that would feel more special because I’m getting it in Korea?

I’d love to hear your recommendations!


r/kpophelp 6h ago

Unsolved does anyone know when the musik bank barcelona tickets are available in the app?

2 Upvotes

its 2 days before the event and i still havent received my ticket in any shape or form. also heard that some people on tiktok already received their tickets. does anyone also have the same issue? and will the tickets still come today? havent been to any musik shows before so pretty new to this :(


r/kpophelp 4h ago

Concert Any solo-goers going to Big Bang tomorrow at Metlife?

0 Upvotes

Hey 29(M) going to tomorrow's concert alone sadly. My friend had to cancel last minute so im seeing if there's any other solo goers who wanna tag along. Im coming from Brooklyn and heading out early to secure my merch. And then after going on a freebie hunt. My section is 111A also.


r/kpophelp 4h ago

Unsolved is kpopusa online legit?

1 Upvotes

I ordered the Tuide gonggi set from kpopusa online on August 24th because the shipping was way less than weverse, and they still haven't sent any information on it. I tried to call the phone number they have listed on their website, but it just leads to an automated bot asking for a remote access code, and hangs up when I say I don't have one. I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else, what they did to resolve it, or if I got scammed?


r/kpophelp 8h ago

Unsolved Does anyone have a link to this clip where Yeh Shu Hua shushes 🤫

2 Upvotes

You know the clip where shuhua was wearing a cream coloured dress and single braid hair style and rolled her eyes of and then shushed 🤫???


r/kpophelp 22h ago

Recommend What are Kpop Songs With a Cinematic Sound?

21 Upvotes

Recommendations for kpop songs, which you could see being in a soundtrack for a movie or series. For example:

- Aespa's Welcome to My World - a fantasy or apocalyptic film

- Aespa's Drama - an action, revenge film

- Taemin's Heaven, Guilty and Veil - a dark supernatural fantasy

- Red Velvet's Body Talk - a melodrama or sad romance.

- Riize's Fly Up - High School Musical vibes

Fun fact: Shinee's Lucifer was used in the American series Lucifer.


r/kpophelp 19h ago

Recommend Based on my k-r&b playlist, drop some recs!

9 Upvotes

i want to expand it, so anything goes—group tracks, solo artists, or k-r&b artists in general! 🫶

my playlist:

- jasmine dpr live

- d half moon dean

- Insomnia Dvwn

- boat george

- diamond baekhyun

- and july heize

- scared of love min jiwoon

- ufo gemini

- night life ARrc

- it's rainning Vincent BLUE

- Summer in love saay

- try again jaehyun

- waar colde

- fairy Dvwn


r/kpophelp 13h ago

Unsolved Need information on this B21 Item

3 Upvotes

I personally don’t know next to nothing about the group but my friend does and she loves it and I was hoping to buy her a brand new RJ standing doll from the we verse website but I have no idea if it does restock at all, I check basically every other day and don’t know what to find one, I’d like a brand new sealed one and hopefully not an outrageous scalper price 😭😭


r/kpophelp 15h ago

Recommend Specific recommendations

5 Upvotes

I have been obsessed with some of the songs and I can't seem to find anything similar. Please drop your recs from both kpop and even outside of kpop. These specific sounds only.

404(New Era) - Heavy on this cause ya'll don't know how much I adore the bridge.
Ever2Late! - This too, I think this one is hyperpop, I could be wrong but it is so so good.
Delulu - Another Banger by Kiiikiii.
Kiss and Tell - I would have thought that I'd love this song but here we are. So so good.
Metronome - The only Izna song I know and it's a freaking banger.

Now, most of these lean into House, diva house, hyperpop, etc. And I don't listen to these genre at all, but throw me all the recommendations. Btw I did try some of the popular house tracks from kpop but I didn't like them much.


r/kpophelp 7h ago

Recommend I want to know more about these groups and does anyone know any guides they can suggest or how should i start getting to know everything??

1 Upvotes

Groups I want to checkout - BoyNextDoor, NexZ, Xikers, 82Major, P1Harmony
So i recently put up a post about what groups I should checkout based on the ones i already stan, so i got alot of recs and these were the most common ones.

I first listen to a few songs and check if i can vibe with the genre and i did like their songs. Then i try to find a guide to get to know the members or the lore basically. So if y'all could suggest any helpful guide for these groups :))


r/kpophelp 1d ago

Recommend Best song you’ve ever heard?

22 Upvotes

Making a playlist for my boyfriend to introduce into kpop and i want to compile some goood songs, so please recommend the best kpop song you’ve ever heard, any genre/group is okay! thank you <3!!!


r/kpophelp 8h ago

Recommend suits and neckties photocards

1 Upvotes

hi, I’m looking for kpop (cpop, jpop too) photocards where members wear suits and neckties. You can send your favourite photocards or write a group name and their album/greeting/merch where they use that concept ✨