How to avoid getting banned on Reddit

If you have ever been prohibited from doing something, then you probably know what banning is. When you get into trouble while you are sliding through social media, you could attract a temporary or a permanent ban. No one likes the sound of being shoved off space they so much like to occupy such as that of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and in the context of this article, that of Reddit. This article is going to show you how to avoid getting banned on Reddit.

See also: How to enable and disable NSFW content on Reddit

Reddit’s bans

Reddit has two types of bans – a subreddit and a shadowban. As you might be knowing, subreddits are the communities within which Reddit users engage in and they are usually based on a particular interest such as sport or love.

Subreddits are usually controlled by volunteer users (humans not AIs). If the question is ‘to ban or not to ban’, these volunteers (formally called moderators) are the ones who can answer it.

While being banned in a subreddit is easy to understand, shadowbanning is unique. A shadowbanned user can post or comment on Reddit but all their contributions to the website are recorded as spam and need approval so that they are broadcasted on Reddit. The only person who can see the contributions of a shadowbanned user is the shadowbanned user themselves.

You should know

Apart from its Content Policy (official rules of Reddit), Reddit has a list of ideas and guidelines housed on their Rediquette page. If these pages are visited by all users and read properly, there wouldn’t be anyone being banned.

5 for you to be on the safe side

You can protect yourself on Reddit by following the following (get it?) guidelines:

1. Familiarize yourself with the rules of a subreddit:

To navigate to the rules on the web, use the following steps:

1. After you have logged in to your account, scroll down to any post and click the label that looks like this (r/…). It should be on the top-right of the post. This opens you up to the subreddit’s home page.
2. On the right side of the screen, scroll a little and you will see the rules of that subreddit. Look at them clearly since breaking one of them could attract a ban.

To navigate to the rules on the app, use these steps:

1. Launch the app and navigate to any post on the home screen.
2. Tap on the subreddit’s icon. It will be zoomed in.
3. On the three-dotted icon on the top-right corner, tap on ‘Community Info’. The screen that appears will tell you all you need to know about the dos and don’ts of that particular subreddit.
4. Avoid sending too many directs – directs are messages that you can send to any user on Reddit. This means that you can even message strangers (just like with PMs). Don’t send too many – you’ll scare away people into reporting you and once that’s done, you’re done (get it?).
5. Ignore or avoid voter manipulation – on Reddit, votes help to popularize a post and get it on the front page. Vote manipulation can be in three ways:
   1. Using many accounts to upvote or downvote a post
   2. Calling people to vote in a particular way
   3. Creating or being part of a group that votes for or against something
6. Don’t post NSFW content if you have not set your account as an NSFW one.
7. Don’t expose other people’s identities, especially if they are using a pseudonym (doxing)

There are many other ways to avoid Reddit’s bans but the above should get you covered. This simple rule will take you very far – Always be nice.