Hi all!
Long read here. Feel free to ask me anything and I'll answer best I can. The following walls of text are based on 7+ years of me fighting the progressive lunatics on Reddit. Learning their strategy, documenting the methods they used and taking a stand where I and other mods could.
Sourcing: I was a PowerJannie in a sense but equal and opposite of the ones we all know and love. I was over various subreddits adjacent to KIA2 and some with 100's of thousands or even well over a million users.
--------------------The Hidden Rules--------------------
(Intro: These are all things that will get you banned or warned from Reddit despite not falling within their Content Policy or not being applied evenly.)
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Referring to any member of the LGBTQ as: Mentally Ill, Stupid, Ugly, Uneducated, Gross or pretty much anything that isn't a positive statement will get hits for "Hate" or "Targeted Harassment".
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Violence - Reddit's definition of "Violence" as it is in the content policy is not how it is enforced by Anti Evil Operations (AEO). ANY sort of comment that mentions a violent act even indirectly will get AEO hits. Such as "Punch Nazis!", "Sucker Punch".
2a. Violence Continued - Disagreeing about something such as Police Brutality or Self Defense in the case of Man vs Woman is considered advocating of violence.
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Reporting users of Black, Trans or "Women" spaces regardless of report reason will almost always warrant a ban. "Rules for thee". This is actually done by the powerjannies when they see reported content in their queue. They request the admins to ban you for reporting under ulterior motive.
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ModMail - Almost ANYTHING you say in a modmail (As a user) can get you permanently suspended in seconds. I've used this to ban TONS of woke idiots myself. Mods will report > Harassment > At me. Works 90% of the time, even if all you said is "Huh?".
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Downvotes - Downvoting pro-LGBTQ, pro-BLM, pro-Democrat posts can result in a ban for either harassment or brigading/vote manipulation. Generally this takes consistency however I have seen bans for this within a 24 hour timeframe.
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Exposing the Reddit Staff or PowerJannies in anyway will lead to a ban even if the evidence is damning. (See: CringeTopia's destruction for exposing Chtorrrrr)
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Reddit will not action slurs or violent threats so long as they are in a "Picture from someplace else" format. This is how /r/Greentext and /r/4chan are still alive. There has been SOME exceptions to this: Keffals, KiwiFarms, New Zeland Shooting. I believe this will change soon when PCM gets banned.
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Reddit will not action a subreddit for the AutoModerator removing and then repeating the word. IE: "Moot is a faggot". The post will be removed but Automod explaining to the user "We removed your post as (Faggot) is against the Reddit Content Policy" will not be. (If the inflection of the AutoMod's writing is direct in tone.)
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Reddit can (and has) banned for off-site behavior. AHS uses this tactic regularly to ban subreddit moderators who don't bow to their ideologies.
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Mod Action - Reddit can/will remove specific moderators of a subreddit for not handling specific comments/posts/messages in the way they want on a given topic. This is not an account ban, typically an Admin will message the entire mod team or the Top Mod and tell them that XX User is banned from being a mod and if they come back the subreddit will be striked. If you have mod experience, a "Approve" or "Remove" is a simple misclick most of the time.
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"Hate" - Does not apply to: Men, White People, Rich people, Christians or Right-Wing voters in America. (This has actually been publicly disclosed by RedTaboo previously.)
--------------------Bans - Types--------------------
Shadowban (Type 1) - Most common ban. Shadowbans appear completely normal to the user, you can still: comment, post, upvote, downvote...etc. However, it's smoke and mirrors. No-one is seeing any of those aforementioned items. You can use "Reddit Shadowban Checker" via google or /r/Shadowban to test this. (Note: Using /r/Shadowban can actually result in your new account getting Shadowbanned.)
Shadowban Conti- Shadowbans are most commonly given immediately after a main account suspension. They can also be handed out temporarily to silence users for X period of time. Shadowbans were originally meant for bots/MLM marketers..etc.
AEO Ban (Type 2) - Anti Evil Operations is Reddit's secret police that is outsourced to two separate countries. One of which being Ireland. AEO bans for a whole host of reasons but are mostly focused on hate against trainnes and factual information that sheds a bad light on blacks/LGBTQ. AEO ban's usually are "3 step" which are the following: 1. (Warning) 2. 1/3/7/14 day suspension. 3. Permanent Suspension.
AEO Ban Conti - AEO can also choose to bypass it's escalation path and ban you permanently on first offense. Most often seen with "Transphobia."
ZenDesk Ban (Type 3) - Reddit not too long ago opened their "Zendesk Ticket System" to Mods and later users. This allows you to create a support ticket directly with the admins themselves. This is abused by the powerjannies to the max, they will screenshot your comment/post & removal and then place a ticket to either get you permanently banned or if you have been temporarily suspended by AEO, increase it to permanent. (These reports the Reddit Admins handle personally and is not currently outsourced.)
ZenDesk Conti - Zendesk bans, almost always just say "You are permanently suspended" with no message or notification of the ban or what policy you violated. ZenDesk bans are un-appealable no matter the reason.
Additional notes: While these ban types are unique, they can often be used with each other. You may have a AEO suspension that is then extended via Zendesk or you may have a Shadowbanned account that get's AEO'ed for The Hidden Rules.
--------------------Bans - Logging--------------------
Reddit logs your account and alts in the following manner:
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Cookies - Reddit can verify alts via your cookies.
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Cache - Reddit can verify alts via your data in the web browsers cache.
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IP Address - Rare but Reddit can use your IP address to track your alts. (This is a manual process.)
--------------------Bans - Evasion--------------------
For all ban types, the following is recommended:
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Clear all history, saved passwords, cache and cookies from your preferred Web Browser.
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If you used Reddit's official mobile app or any third party Reddit browser you need to log out, remove the application, delete any files on your phone with the name "Reddit" (Including pictures) and reinstall before logging into the new account.
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A VPN may be needed if you have repeat bans.
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Do not comment/post in the same subreddits right after making your new account.
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Do not have your name similar, this makes it easy for someone like Merari01 to ZenDesk ban you.
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Do not downvote, talk shit or otherwise interact with the LGBTQ prior to reaching at least 5k combined karma.
--------------------Bans - Appeals--------------------
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If you are Zendesk banned you will not ever be granted an appeal. Period.
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You MAY have a chance of being unbanned if you appeal every 24 hours with the same copy/paste message. Before my "GIGABAN" I got unsuspended 4 times via spamming the appeals team.
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If you are shadowbanned, you will not be unbanned via the appeals system. Only possible via ModSupport.
--------------------Admins & PowerJannies Behavior--------------------
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Powerjannies absolutely liaison with Admins outside of Reddit via Discord, Steam and even locked Telegram groups. Find a red name, check the subreddits they own/mod, you'll notice MANY powermods in the clique. This is often how Merari01/Bardfinn gets people banned so quickly, being close with RedTaboo and Chtorrrr.
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Admins "Fake" working with subreddits they don't like in order to eventually get approval to remove the mod team and replace with tranny jannies or quarantine/ban the subreddit. This happened to: SJIA, Cringetopia and most recently LoveForLandLords. This is typically done through targeted "Warnings" in modmail and "Advice" which is actually demands that are unreasonable or simply impossible to meet.
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Admins CAN edit your posts without your knowledge and Spez himself has admitted to doing it in the past. Admins CAN see your subscribed subreddits as well as your upvote/downvote log. (One of the ways they catch ban evaders.)
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The "PowerJannies" or "The Cabal" actually comprises of about 12 people with a TON of sock puppet accounts but they control roughly 80% of all large subreddits. They rise to authority via: Subreddit Trading, Hostile Takeover via Admins or other "Quid-Pro-Quo" behavior. Most of these individuals are troons, most have criminal records involving Domestic Violence or Lewd Acts with Minors (Not a joke.).
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Admins/PowerJannies use propaganda to get users to turn against Moderators in subreddits that are right wing or simply not accepting of their ideology. Mods (Take KIA2 for example) are told bluntly that their subreddit will be punished if they don't do X action or change/make X rule. They do this to anger the community and make them do more of said thing which either ends up in the Subreddit getting banned or the Mods being removed for the sub being "Unmoderated." (This is happening to PCM right now.)
--------------------Trannie Jannies - End Game - --------------------
Since GamerGate, Reddit has fallen into scandal after scandal. Firmly planting themselves as the "Troon HQ". For years and years, various communities fought them tooth and nail on every little "Societal" change they tried to make, all of them failed.
Ultimately, the goal of the Trannie Jannies (Paid Admin or not) is to use Reddit solely as a American progressive left wing propaganda network to further move the societal pendulum in favor of their extremely twisted ideals of morality via exposure therapy.
Since 2018, they have been strategically targeting subreddits that were large enough to pose a threat from a social standpoint to said ideology. They became more bold with each and every ban.
Fast forwarding to 2023, they have banned almost every medium and large subreddit that either opposed or were otherwise not on board with Troon ideology or black penis worship. Cringetopia being the largest subreddit that fell for not bending the knee was the last support on the levy. In the same month that Cringetopia was banned the following medium sized subreddits were removed: SocialJusiceInAction/TumblrInAction, AverageRedditor, OffensiveMemes, ChurchOfTheCurrentThing.
This leaves just: PoliticalCompassMemes, Conservative, Kia2 as the last three medium to large subreddits not to bend the knee in totality.
All in all, the troons won. Reddit is completely destroyed and a shell of what it once was. My only advice is to backup your niche threads for your hobbies/interests and keep your kids the fuck off it.
--------------------My Conclusion--------------------
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad bit pissed about how all of this has turned out. So much time spent curating communities that were close-knit, where people had fun and learned shit and where you could speak openly in agreement or disagreement.
So much history will be and has been lost all in the sake of satisfying the sexual fetishes and power fantasies of delusional mentally ill men.
I'm old enough to remember the age of the internet where Moderators took that title to actually help the communities they were a part of and not to act like a digital monarch among his serfs.
At one time, Reddit was in fact one of the greatest places on the internet with some of the coolest shit to learn, or edgy thing to laugh at. While I smile to watch it burn as it is now, I deeply regret we couldn't save what it was. Rest in peace Aaron.
Would you say it's accurate that the troon takeover started when Something Awful users got together and planned the completely cynical attack that got violentacrez and /r/jailbait banned, or was it something else?
No.
I'd more attribute it to the death of Tumblr where the "Otherkin" and "NeoPronouns" got their start and popularity.
From there, I attribute Gamer Gate being the "Saratoga" on the ideology. It had a wide enough reach, all the emotional ties of women being abused and involved something almost EVERYONE today is aware of and partakes in. This allowed them to spread their roots and push Reddit to install these "Hate" policies. Granted, people just believed the outlets instantly and almost no-one knows Gamer Gate was blown WAY out of proportion.
Now of course, these troons have mastered "Double Speak". You may remember the pre 2016 "Trans memes" where they post a random: Game/Movie/Book character followed by "SAYS TRANS RIGHTS!!!!". That was an ineffective campaign and got them laughed at.
What was an effective campaign however, was them redefining "Rights" to mean "Privilege". Tell the average apolitical person "Oh wow, those mean right wingers won't let me in their space!" and you'd get laughed at...but "Oh my god these mean right wingers don't want me to have RIGHTS!" will garner a lot more support from the generally out of the loop mainstream.
It was these 3 things in combination: Fall of Tumblr, Gamer Gate, Weaponized Propaganda in the form of "Weasel Wording/Double Speak".
Interesting bit of trivia! We all sorta remember Trans being "Transsexuals" in the 90's and 2000's. Was hardly ever mentioned or an issue right? On Reddit, there is a last group of strugglers known as "/r/Truscum".
They are Transgenders who HATE this woke shit and believe you MUST have a medical diagnosis in order to be trans and that it is a medical issue. If you removed the "Trans" out of the subreddit you'd think it's /r/Conservative. Worth a read if you want to lol. Reddit is going to ban them and Detrans (again).
Their control of language helps them.
"Trans women are women" sounds reasonable to a normie. "Men who think they are women, are women" does not.
But the right is so incredibly dumb that it adopts the terminology of the radical left, even when 'opposing' it. Don't use terms like 'misgender' except when referring to how troons misgender themselves.
Controlling the language is the strongest way for a dictatorship to control a populace. You and I can say we have First and Second Amendment rights and we know what it is. If you can pervert language so those politically sound ideas become "Say Hate Speech" and "Own Assault Weapons" people get nervous and want it burned. Likewise if you redefine a problem from "Why aren't you housing and feeding working aged adults" to "No Human is Illegal", it sounds a lot more palatable. It's good to be able to identify what someone is trying to say with slogans and spins, but never let your own words validate their twist, make people say what they mean directly.
As a side note, have you noticed a recent push to change BC to BCE? It seems innocent, right, just another letter. Until AD, Anno Domini ("The year of our Lord"), is replaced with CE, and it clicks into place: Before Christ is being replaced by Before Common Era, and In the year of Christ is being replaced by Common Era. Don't use their words, even innocently.