Spam, shadowbans, and false positives

https://www.reddit.com/r/modguide/comments/pap2a6/spam_shadowbans_and_false_positives/

created by SolariaHues on 24/08/2021 at 15:00 UTC*

43 upvotes, 5 top-level comments (showing 5)

EDIT 7 March 2023

Change to spam https://new.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/11k7y7w/q4%5C_safety%5C_security%5C_report/[1][2]

1: https://new.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/11k7y7w/q4%5C_safety%5C_security%5C_report/

2: https://new.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/11k7y7w/q4_safety_security_report/

Also, the queue isn't called spam anymore but 'removed'.

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Reddit is in an eternal battle with spammers and recently this has been impacting Redditors and mods more than usual, presumably due to an increase in volume and changes in tactics.

Here's a round-up of what I've found on this.

About 2 months ago this update was posted: F*** Spammers

The sticky comment announced this:

*“This afternoon we're making a change aimed at relieving some of the impact on you....* ***Moving forward, posts removed by our spam filter will be automatically moved to the spam listing, rather than your main mod queue.*** *This means that future incidents will not clog up your modqueue.*

*Important note: content filtered by Automod will still appear in the standard modqueue as they do today.”* source

And it was later shared on r/modnews too here[3].

3: https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/o7655f/were_back_with_more_safety_updates_on_preventing/

It is great Reddit is working hard on this issue however, this change has meant that any false positives (good faith posts and comments removed by mistake) are harder to see for mods and some Redditors may find their posts removed with no reason, and only mods who are checking their spam queues will notice unless the Redditor modmails.

So, for now at least, it's important to be checking your spam queue when you can, and perhaps inform your community of the situation if there are a lot of false positives.

Some communities have their spam filter set to ‘all’ in order to review all content that gets posted - that should not be affected.

*“we just rolled out a change so subreddits that use the spam filter in that manner should be able to continue to do so. We received feedback yesterday and tweaked this so it will not affect communities that have their spam filters to all, nor will it affect soft domain bans (like URL shorteners). This content will still show in your queues as normal.”* source

You can view your community spam queue here (change the subreddit name) https://www.reddit.com/r/YOURSUBREDDIT/about/spam/[4][5]

4: https://www.reddit.com/r/YOURSUBREDDIT/about/spam/

5: https://www.reddit.com/r/YOURSUBREDDIT/about/spam/

Or go to Mod tools > spam (on desktop). I don’t know of any apps that display the spam queue, desktop mode in your mobile browser is a workaround.

You can also use the combined (all the subs you mod at once) spam queue here https://www.reddit.com/r/mod/about/spam[6][7]

6: https://www.reddit.com/r/mod/about/spam

7: https://www.reddit.com/r/mod/about/spam

How to tell if it was the spam filter that removed something? There will be no removal reason, and no mod log note.

The spam filter may also have been tightened and in r/ModSupport there are posts from mods about more removals than usual.

You can lower your community spam filter to reduce the impact on your community.

In new Reddit go to Mod Tools > Community settings > Posts and Comments > Spam filter strength

​

Image showing the new Reddit spam filter settings

In old Reddit go to subreddit settings > spam filter strength

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Image showing old Reddit spam filter settings

You might also consider lowering the filter over time anyway:

*“Over time the spam filter "learns" and in larger subreddits with a lot of moderation high can become too strong."* *source*

There is also an option to not see site-wide banned Redditors content in modqueue and unmoderated queue:

In new Reddit go to Mod tools > Community settings > Safety and privacy

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Image showing new Reddit setting for excluding content from site-wide banned users

In old Reddit go to subreddit settings > other options

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Image showing old Reddit setting for excluding content from site-wide banned users

The spam filter update goes further than this setting:

*“This actually goes further than that setting, that setting only removes content from site-wide banned users - this will remove any content our spam filters touch from your modqueues.”* *source*

Some things are known to set off the spam filter - banned domains, maybe using a VPN, and link shorteners.

If you notice several posts containing the same linked domain it's likely that is the issue and OP can be informed to change their link or remove it from the content. As u/001Guy001 says below, some domains might not be allowed at all, so removal from the content might be the only way.

VPNs

*“Hey there - this is something we are actively looking and and figuring out the best way to avoid hitting real users but still get the bad actors who have been abusing the site.*

*We are very aware that there are many many legitimate uses for VPNS but also they are commonly used by not great folks who try to flood communities with assorted abusive activities. We’re hoping to find a balance that mostly impedes folks who are engaging in abuse.”* source

There seems to have been an increase in shadowbanned Redditors. I've been seeing lots more than usual recently.

Shadowbanned Redditors can post and comment but all of their contributions are automatically removed to the spam queue. They won't have received notification of their shadowban and their profile will say "no one goes by that name" or "page not found".

Image showing New and Old Reddit shadowbanned Redditor profiles

Shadowbanned users are also labelled as such if they modmail in the panel on the right (and if you click 'share' on a post the crosspost option seems to be missing for shadowbanned users).

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*“It is absolutely fine to let folks know they have an issue with their account and should fill in the appeal form here if you think they look like a normal human:* *https://www.reddit.com/appeal[8]*[9]*”* source[10]

8: https://www.reddit.com/appeal

9: https://www.reddit.com/appeal

10: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/oiyiic/increase_in_legit_users_who_are_shadowbanned/h4ygb95

In addition to the appeal link, Redditors can be linked to the help centre on account status[11] and can check their shadowban status at r/ShadowBan[12] or r/ShadowBanned[13].

11: https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360003602632-Account-Status

12: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowBan

13: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowBanned

If you have genuine good faith Redditors who are confused by all of this and by karma and account age restrictions, r/NewToReddit aims to help them - the goal of the community is to help good faith Redditors find their way on Reddit and navigate these issues without karmafarming, and at the same time trying to avoid providing any help to spammers.

I don't know if this will be useful, but here is a guide on why Reddit may seem unwelcoming to new Redditors[14] you could share.

14: https://www.reddit.com/r/NewToReddit/comments/p4yw5c/why_reddit_may_seem_unwelcoming_to_new_redditors/

It's a complicated issue I'm sure I don't fully understand, but as a mod I'm am informing good faith Redditors if they are shadowbanned, and checking my combined modqueue. As I say in the above-linked guide, the other thing everyone can do is to report the spammers to help Reddit stop them and identify how they are doing what they do to improve measures against them. And use 2FA[15]!

15: https://www.reddit.com/r/modguide/comments/k3zsu0/how_to_set_up_2_factor_authentication_for_your/

Follow r/redditsecurity[16] and r/modnews for updates.

16: https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/

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17: https://www.reddit.com/user/PervOtaku/

Help with spam:

Comments

Comment by 001Guy001 at 24/08/2021 at 15:15 UTC

8 upvotes, 1 direct replies

This is a great overview!

I will add that if a domain is hard-banned (meaning it can't be approved), then editing the post/comment won't work, the user needs to re-submit the post/comment without the link (this is based on other mods' experience, so I'm not sure if it still happens)

Also, today a user told me that https://www.reddit.com/appeal[1] brings up a deleted post (when accessing through the official app), so it's worth checking to see if it also happens in the appeal**s** version of the url

1: https://www.reddit.com/appeal

Comment by SolariaHues at 24/09/2021 at 20:37 UTC*

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

RSS can be used to track the spam queue

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u/001Guy001's canned response for shadowbanned users

Hi, I've noticed that your account is shadowbanned

This means that your posts/comments get auto-removed by Reddit and need to be manually approved by a mod. Notes:

Comment by SolariaHues at 24/08/2021 at 19:39 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I'm not sold on the 'Round-up' flair category. Suggestions welcome!

Comment by [deleted] at 24/08/2021 at 21:12 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[removed]

Comment by NeuronsToNirvana at 28/08/2021 at 06:08 UTC*

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Excellent guide! Re:

How to tell if it was the spam filter that removed something? There will be no removal reason, and no mod log note.

These seem to flagged on the spam queue with just a solitary 🚫 although some may also have been shadowbanned.

EDIT: I just checked the 'Exclude posts by site-wide banned users' and it is off in our case, so it seems (from checking only a couple of entries) the spam filter (or another API/bot) is also removing posts from shadowbanned users.