Ask HN: Is this normal for Reddit – ban after 5 posts in 5 months? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is this normal for Reddit – ban after 5 posts in 5 months?

1 pointtsenkov11 comments

4 of these posts were about an app I am developing (https://pagehopapp.com).

They were all submitted in the appropriate places - r/macapps and r/mac (no duplicates).

Why would they shadowban me?

The first time I tried using reddit I've made the mistake of submitting the same thing in 2 sub-reddits and I got shadowbanned. I tried apologizing but there was no answer.

I just made another account, read all guides and tried to play nice.

Is this normal for Reddit? So if you are a content creator - "don't share your stuff" is what I am supposed to take out of this action?

That sucks...

Edit: @benologist has educated me in reddiquette - reddit users should post at least 90% links that don't belong to them. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9123751

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Reddit has a policy on submitting your own content that insists users who submit their own stuff spend 90% of their time being a legitimate reddit user and 10% on self-promotion.

Sub-reddits also have additional rules that must be met, and these can be enforced automatically like karma requirements or age of account that will auto-kill your submissions if you fail to qualify.

http://www.reddit.com/wiki/selfpromotion

http://www.reddit.com/wiki/faq#wiki_what_constitutes_spam.3F

Your takeaway really should be to be a legitimate reddit user, or don't submit your links.

So let me get this straight - a reddit user is someone who should primarily post other people's stuff?

And if he/she is a content creator and want to post anything of his/her own, he/she should post at least 9 times more content belonging to others, first?

That's messed up, but thanks for clarifying this one for me.

It's not about submitting 9 other links for every 1 of your own, it's about being part of their community or not. Being a legitimate reddit user instead of someone preying on them.

You are a legitimate HN user. It is not hard.

benologist, I don't want to argue with you. Thanks for letting me know of the rule, which I wasn't aware of.

I don't meant to argue, just trying to explain the rules aren't as simple as meeting a quota. For instance if you submit 90 links to <random big subreddits> and 10 links to yourwebsite.com in <onespecificsubreddit> that subreddit may consider you to be spamming them.

I could no longer work within the 90/10 rule, it is just not appealing to me to use reddit that much right now although in the past I have helped moderate some of the largest subreddits and submitted many things I have created.

They have advertising you can use instead, you can target subreddits as well:

http://www.reddit.com/advertising

So did I understand correctly - you too are not happy with the 9/1 rule?

I support the rule because it keeps out the spammers. They have given you two official ways to try and reach their community, if that is important to you then be an active user or pay a few bucks.

When a rule does so much damage, no matter how much good it does - it's wrong to enforce it.

No it doesn't keep out the spammers - they are only becoming legitimate (after they pay) and more aggressive in their campaign.

I am not a spammer and I take it as an insult to be called one - I don't get paid to post all day long about someone else's product. I am posting my own work - ONCE, EVERY COUPLE OF MONTHS, after much work and new content.

I am not trying to stick a banner at someone's face for as long as they are on reddit or anywhere else, I am simply posting the news of something, which I guess will be useful to some of reddit's auditory. They can buy a license, indeed, but that's completely up to them - my app has unlimited, fully functional, free evaluation.

You talk about a community - a community that not only doesn't invite content creators, but banishes them. This is not the type of community I would want to be a part of.

Now, since I wasn't direct-enough the last time I said I don't want to argue with you - I don't care what you have to say next, simply because I am sure you will not convince me in something different than what I already believe.

I am not and have not called you a spammer. It is up to you to obey their rules or not, the people who circumvent their rules are called spammers by everyone.

r/macapps says "Be sure to double-check that your app hasn't already been submitted before you submit it!"

Sharing your stuff is fine, only being active posting your links risks being considered spam. Many subreddits also have automatic systems that hide suspect content for a mod to check, which can be quite aggressive.

I THINK reddit-global anti-spam deletes your account, so it's probably just the individual subreddit blocking your newest submission. Their sidebar even says that they have a spam filter.

Thanks detaro, I have already spoken with the moderators of /r/mac and they said it wasn't them - I am shadowbanned.

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