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Comment by Cthulhu_ | Hacker News Reader

It's a very effective method of thwarting trolls / unwanted commenters though. Before shadow bans, people would get Very Upset at whoever banned them and they'd reach out to the content moderators to try and get unbanned, or they'd just create a new account.

If implemented right, the undesirables aren't even aware they're banned; the trolls just don't get fed anymore, and ideally they get bored and move away again.

If you don't want someone on your platform for whatever reason, shadowbanning has proven to be much more effective than regular banning.

I mean I could be shadowbanned on here for all I know, I never check replies to my comments, lol.

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But that it is efficient doesn't mean that it is not also crap. Suppose there is a community where people argue for X or Y. The moderators like X. 50 % of the users are assholes and 50 % are level-headed. The moderators shadow-ban all users who likes Y and who also level-headed. What you have left are the users who like X and assholes who like Y.

Uninvolved people who visit the community have no idea the moderators are so underhanded so appears to them that everyone who likes Y is an asshole. Thereby giving them the impression that X is more likable.

On Reddit tons of political subs moderated in that way. It's one of the reasons why there's multiple subs for Covid news. One for those who think more lock-down is needed and one for those do favor less lock-down.

I think when you take a look at the prevalence and profitability of spam on YouTube, see the fake contest links posted below popular videos etc., shadow banning is extremely net positive.

> the undesirables aren't even aware they're banned

Chilling. Given the scope of BigTech, 10x chilling. An 'undesirable' can end up on a secret black list for whatever petty reason, and then have a huge streak of targeted algorithmic 'bad luck' to destroy their life. Can't find a good job, a good mate, a good house, everything costs you 15% more? It must be something wrong with you.

>It's a very effective method of thwarting trolls / unwanted commenters though

It may have been effective back when it was novel but at this point anyone commenting in bad faith, especially anyone doing it for money (the spam link posters, paid shills, trolls and bots) knows to look for it and then create new accounts as necessary to circumvent it.

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