I've been banned from /r/india for just commenting on another sub (/r/chodi, which was recommended by the app itself!); banned from /r/worldnews for disagreeing with the herd.
The moment a decent, democratic discussion forum comes along, I'll jump ship to it.
It took me a while just to figure out that I was banned. When I inquired, it was because because I posted videos that are spammy advertising, which couldn't be further from the truth.
Based on the response, it was clear that I was not dealing with someone in normal state so I just wrote it off as lost cause and stopped visiting.
I had already thought the sub was on decline due to aggressive and unnecessary policing, because despite its huge membership, the content has become very stagnant.
It's a shame because I've been on reddit for 10 years and I joined it the sub since its inception.
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Looking at the sub now, it's clear that there was change in mod / ownership. https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtisanVideos/comments/oo7oxm/annou...
Quite unusual.
Many forums once they reach critical mass even if they aren't heavy handed with policing still have an unsavory softhanded stiff-arming mechanism that's rife with bad [mod/mob] judgement, IE push everything not condoned by the mods or mobs into the place where few read. I'm sorry what I'm trying to describe is hard to put a finger on, but after being on reddit for 10 or more years yah notice some strange consistent peculiarities that are hard to put in words.
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Edit: I was going to respond to [1], but I'm rate limited. Below is my comment:
> Anonymity really hurts profits.
That's what killed YikYak and continues to beleaguer anonymous message board monetization (well, maybe it's the content).
Reddit at least has an interest graph going for it. If they can figure out how to boost subreddit discovery and encourage users pick the things they'll spend money on, then they'll be golden.
Also, make it hard to perma-ban someone with over 100K karma points, especially in regional subs (like /r/india, etc.); you can change your interests, but you can't really change where you are from. If nothing else, force the mods to actually justify bans; and one subjective offense should not be enough to ban someone.