Even worse is the Reddit approach, where leaving your VPN on will get your account shadow banned permanently. But you are not notified of that, so if you are wondering why nobody is replying to your comments, check in a private session if you can visit your profile page.
I wasn’t even aware of that, but it does not at all surprise me, since it fits right in with the trajectory Reddit has long been on; from freedom of information, to full spectrum thought control and digital psychological reprogramming dungeon.
i can live without reddit and hackernews. i can't live without online banking, bill paying, insurance, healtchare portals, etc.
it is funny i have been probing HN for years, and i've found a number of cases when everything is normal, but i check the account from another device and it isn't there, or is free of posts despite having made many. yet i would do the same if i was an admin trying to keep a walled-garden free of trolls.
Something like that happened to me, my 10+ year account and everything I've ever written just vanishing one morning. Even posts to a subreddit I moderate were repeatedly removed after every approval.
No idea why, (the "wrong" public Wi-fi?) but my appeal was granted and nothing was fixed.
Now I can't contact anyone, and the appeals page falsely claims that my account is in good standing and refuses to operate.
When I went looking for help from a throwaway account that I made many years ago for resume reviews, the exact same thing happened.
So at this point, I only lurk occasionally, because I'm not going to go through that social hell again, and it sounds like moderation failures have only gotten worse in the years since.
> So at this point, I only lurk occasionally, because I'm not going to go through that social hell again
I feel ya. Sad thing is, there really isn't anywhere else to go for niche interests, or really much any particular information. AI fallout has finally killed the struggling web and online community. I think, there isn't much left besides cutting losses, resetting your dopamine receptors and finding community in the real world and all...
Well, now that's gonna be a bit of a challenge living outside big cities, where you can't afford rent, of course. I guess, if meeting other people is out, you can still always watch brain rot TV, or strap in the amyl nitrite inhaler and goon away for the time between work shifts. Until things are worth remembering again. When those investment trillions finally paid off and humanity accelerates into the new age of blissful meaning.
Wow, very shitty, but I don't expect anything nice out of Reddit. What gets me is: Imagine being the developer writing the system for unaccountable shadowbanning. How do you justify it, ethically? I mean, we all need a paycheck, but come on, at some point one must take a break, walk outside, and think about the effects of the software they are writing. It makes me sad that there are so many in our profession who see that JIRA ticket and say "Yes, boss, no problem, boss, I'll write whatever you ask for, boss!"
