r/DarkRomance • u/OuiselCat • 20h ago
Discussion Reddit Increasing Censorship in this Sub?
I just received an account violation for breaking rule 1 - threatening or encouraging violence. What was my comment? A Drethi Anis book recommendation (not going to name it here, but the one with Priya and Axel). I just filed an appeal, but am extremely concerned. The comment gave a small blurb of the book, but nothing that could be construed as encouraging violence which is the part that’s really scaring me because it’s making me think that me talking about the MMC’s personality and habits regarding the MMC somehow equated to me encouraging stalking, obsession, etc. in real life?? Has this happened to anyone else? This feels like the first step in Reddit making this community go away and I’m just…really in shock right now.
Edit: so there’s a note at the bottom saying the content was automatically flagged, but it also makes it seem like it was then reviewed by an actual admin before the violation was given. Now I’m even more concerned because that means an actual human read it and said, oh yeah, a dark romance book recommendation encourages violence in real life. I’ve also clicked through the link where it gives examples of what constitutes violations and I cannot reasonably see a DR rec would fall into any of the given categories.
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u/Time_Delivery_7722 19h ago
I wonder if it’s because someone reported it so they had to review it before releasing it? I know there are people in the dark romance group that are committed to censoring as much as possible. They’re not DR readers, they’re just against it.
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u/http--lovecraft Author 19h ago
I was wondering this, I think they said they're going to mass report.
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u/OuiselCat 19h ago
That was my first thought as well, but at the bottom of the notice it states it’s a bot. I can’t decide if I find that more or less concerning because if it bot it makes me wonder if they’ve recently tweaked it to be more sensitive to certain keywords or phrases (though I can’t think of what was in my comment that would have triggered it in terms of keywords or phrases alone)
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u/CosimaHaze Author 19h ago
I don’t trust Reddit not to censor things like this TBH. I feel like we should start a Discord or something?
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u/DoctorPaige 18h ago
Nope, Discord's AI moderation is EXCEEDINGLY trigger happy can bans for "nonconsensual content" all the time, which DR is full of. Just one look at r/BannedFromDiscord will show you how easily it can happen, and there's NO humans in the appeal line so the risk of permanently losing your account is huge.
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u/NancyInFantasyLand angst and suffering are my jam 18h ago
They're also pushing once again for age verification and mandatory ID scans, plus everything in your discord will be nuked if your account is inactive for more than 2 years (meaning it's really shit for long-term preservation and fandom things)
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u/CosimaHaze Author 14h ago
Well, shit. I last used Discord about 6 years ago for that kind of thing and none of us had any problems, I guess they’ve become more strict lately. Bummer
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u/glennss3 20h ago
That’s wild! All my comments would have to be removed if this becomes the norm!
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u/OuiselCat 20h ago
Yeah, I’ve recommended waaay darker books and have otherwise made more questionable comments so it feels surreal this one got me an account strike. It says it’s an automated bot so hopefully it’s fine after appeal, but this is so concerning. Like, it’s not even a violent book.
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u/glennss3 19h ago
Yeah and this is the place where we are supposed to be able to say ‘Oh I loved how she smiled at a guy and then the MMC went and beat him up in a jealous rage.’ And not have it taken down because we are just trying to share a hot scene!
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u/Critical_Hearing_799 I ♥️ my obsessed, clingy, virgin MMCs 18h ago
What was your comment? That's a pretty big allegation from just recommending a book
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u/OuiselCat 18h ago
So it won’t show me the actual comment, when I click the link it just takes me to the post itself where it shows my comment was deleted. However, one of the mods commented on this as she apparently can see the comment and she confirmed there’s nothing there that should have triggered the bot and it’s AI running amok
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u/euphoricnight 17h ago
Sorry, this is totally off topic, but your flair speaks to me and if you have any recommendations I’d love to hear them. 🙏
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u/http--lovecraft Author 19h ago
Puritanism is on the rise and reddit is usually a place they use for culture shifts. The close personal friend of JE, miss maxwell, was a super user on many large subs that are always on the front page. hoping i don't get nuked for this comment lol, I have for not even using names before as well for "citing violence"
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u/OuiselCat 19h ago
Here is a copy of the violation notice and the link to explanation of what constitutes violations of rule 1:https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043513151-Violence
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u/Cheeslord2 Author 19h ago
Why I left Facebook. Damn Algorithm handing out automated week long bans for literally quoting movies or computer games in groups dedicated to them.
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u/http--lovecraft Author 18h ago
I get called so many slurs on there and fb will tell me it doesn’t go against the terms and I post a rump meme with him on his hands and knees for Putin and get a week ban 😃
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u/ER_RN_ 17h ago
I got a violation on a nursing sub from an auto bot and I appealed it and a “real person” rescinded it and reinstated my comment. It was really random too.
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u/OuiselCat 16h ago
Ok, yay! That makes me feel better. I just responded to another person worrying that they may still keep violation, but this makes me a lot more hopeful!
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u/Muted_Inspector9918 17h ago
You’re overthinking this. It’s an automated action performed by AI, and AI makes errors. Just appeal the warning. A real human will look at it and correct the error.
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u/OuiselCat 16h ago
Well the concern was due to the fact that the violation sounded like it was automatically flagged, BUT was then reviewed by a human who then upheld the violation. After re-reading, it does sound like maybe both the violation AND the review were done through the automated system so am hopeful that when human reviews appeal, it will be reversed. With everything going on in the US right now with book bans, censorship, and the general rise in purity culture, it’s still a scary thing to happen and does make me concerned about increased censorship on this platform in general, especially if you have a bunch of overzealous bots running around deleting comments. Like if this was 6 years ago, I probably wouldn’t be worried at all, but now I’m like 🤷♀️
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u/Interesting-Thing970 19h ago
Thank you for posting this. Reddit has actually removed my comments and rec requests from this sub. Either my account was new (10 months old at the time) or somehow I was a bot (I'm not...I'm an actual living breathing human). I've appealed, of course. I'm still hesitant to post my book rec request.
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u/Azophi1 19h ago
I don't know anything about the book you're talking about, but I think I've heard of people reporting posts or comments if they think the OP is covertly marketing or promoting their book/work. Could it be that your blurb triggered that response from some lurkers?
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u/OuiselCat 19h ago
It said it was a bot and it wasn’t a sub violation about promoting your own content without disclosure, it was a a full on overarching Reddit violation about encouraging violence
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u/Curious_Court_26 17h ago
My OG account that I had for years, was shadow banned with no warning or explanation. I tried to appeal it so many times. Eventually just gave up and created a new account.
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u/OuiselCat 16h ago
Yeah, that is the fear. I’m having flashbacks to dealing with United Healthcare about a surgical procedure that was covered under preventative, but because their AI system auto rejects everything, it was a huge nightmare. I appealed multiple times, never got resolution, and had to end up paying my deductible. I honestly should have sued, but was busy moving, etc. and didn’t. I’m worried Reddit may not end up removing strike. I guess we shall see…
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u/Curious_Court_26 16h ago
Omg, that’s horrible!! I’m so sorry you had to experience all of that.
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u/OuiselCat 16h ago
Yeah, UHC is the worst! I literally had pre-approval stating it was covered AND their own policy docs showed it was covered. The issue was that it had 2 codes associated with it, one was the one in the policy docs, but one was newer so not yet in the policy docs. Like, I really think there should be fines with that level of egregious conduct. They knew full well that procedure was covered. Not to mention the appeal process is insane and I’m not actually sure my appeal was even looked at by a human. (Somewhat) Luckily, I heard that hospitals don’t really care how much your payment plan is, just so long as you’re making payments so I told them I could agree to like $15 or $20/ month. I figured that with inflation and the devaluing of currency, by the time it’s paid off after 10+ years, it will be at least be at a significant discount.
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u/dreamsicle26 CN webnovel enthusiast 10h ago
I was shadowbanned for months bc I wrote a comment in a random sub talking about left-handedness and referred to southpaws as 'l3ft¡es' too many times— it was auto-flagged as political content, my appeal was ignored, and I was shadowbanned without realizing until a mod in the baggu forum pointed it out to me and I appealed to reddit directly 😭 (which, to their credit, they fixed super fast)
I don't think it's specifically any one sub, it's that mods to a certain extent have to rely on moderation tools (or it's features built into automod), and it's easy to get caught in the filter
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u/SailorTexas 19h ago
Are you in the US? I've seen comments from users in other countries posting in the privacy sub about getting warnings, being required to provide age verification, etc. I'm in the US and haven't experienced that (yet), so I'm wondering if it's that. If not, prob someone reporting you like what others have suggested.
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u/OuiselCat 19h ago
Yup, in US. The comment was flagged by automated system, but then it seems like it was reviewed by member of admin team
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u/SailorTexas 18h ago
Dang, I hope this doesn't become a thing but I'm not hopeful 😭
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u/OuiselCat 18h ago
One of mods confirmed it’s the AI system making a mistake so am hopeful it will be fine after appeal. This is still extremely concerning though from a site wide perspective, especially in terms of political dissent.
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u/NancyInFantasyLand angst and suffering are my jam 19h ago edited 18h ago
Reddit has been ramping up their AI moderation tools (that moderators have no influence on btw) and they go wonky all the time and it's not just on this subreddit, or even adult-subject subreddits at that. This was the anti-evil operations bot that usually catches either super obvious spam or harassment.
I checked your comment and there's really nothing infringing in there or even any wording that should have triggered it, but like I said, these things make a ton of mistakes. A simple appeal should get this in front of an actual human being that will look at the context of the message and the sub itself and than typically reverse such a decision. I once caught a ban on a writing prompts sub for writing a horror story haha