I voluntarily quit Reddit when the API fuckery happened. Deleted all of my posts, comments, etc. after 16 years, and millions of useless points. I don’t and never will give a fuck. Also a refugee from Digg before that, Fark, /. etc. I’m pretty happy with the fediverse so far, and will likely stand up my own server(s) in the next year or so.

Oh, you want a story? I’ll give you a story.

I was banned for using a MVNO while on holidays. A MVNO (mobile virtual network operator - aka a phone company) often has changing IP endpoints.

I was in Japan (using Rakuten) which has dynamic endpoints in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore. To the reddit bots, that seems like someone stealing or spoofing your account.

Reddit flagged my account and forced password change to confirm identity “for my safety”. I complied. They then silently shadow banned my account after I did so. Like, immediately.

I followed the appeals process (such as it is - basically howling at the moon). I provided logs, GPS co-ords and even details of my flights / boarding passes.

Auto mod replied “lol, get fucked”. (Its an auto mod, BTW. Their entire appeal process.Very easy tell).

OK then.

I then used their takeout service to at least grab my old posts, which have some niche technical know how that is worth preserving.

In the course of that, I notice reddit has set up their system in such a way that unknowingly (?) breeches GDPR rules and privacy laws.

Well, well, well…

At this point, I’m stunned at what a cluster fuck reddit really is. Like…wtf?

I then emailed them directly and basically said “listen.I know the laws that govern this. You have 48hrs to email me XYZ or I escalate”

A few days later, Reddit legal emails me saying “hi…we’re not sure what your complaint is. Please clarify”.

So I do - with forensic level detail. Politely. Professionally.

No response.

I send a follow up email a week later saying “look, one way or another this issue needs to be resolved and my complaint answered. I’ll give you 3 days. If its still radio silence, I escalate”.

I fly home yesterday (a full 7 days after the fact). Still radio silence.

Perfect! Today I launch GDPR and OIAC complaint, with full evidence trail, screenshots, logs - the whole works. Takes me 5 minutes.

Will that get me unbanned? Don’t know, don’t care.

Will it cost reddit time and money? Very likely yes.

For those not in the know, breech of GDPR and OIAC laws carry pretty significant penalties for the service provider (to the tune of several million pounds)…and reddit is registered in a EU country. Oops.

The moral of the story (if there is one) is this:

Reddit is rented land. Lemmy is too…but at least with Lemmy, if you really wanted to, you could set up your own instance, with n=1 users and turn off new sign ups, effectively creating a sovereign, unbannable island, where you actually own what you post.

I suppose I should thank Reddit, really. This is the second account in as many years they killed like this, for this very reason.

I was going to set up my own homelab anyway: this just pushed me to do it faster and create a telecoms stack to replace cloud based social media services.

What gals me the most is I spent a fair bit of effort rebuilding my fake internet points over the course of 3 months, to satisfy their “yo, is this a human?” algo…all the while watching bots and stolen accounts spam and flourish.

TL;DR: fuck reddit. You owe them nothing - not your knowledge, time or efforts. Let it enshittify.

Meanwhile, Reddit: I hope your lawyers cost $5k/hr.

… Every single person on Lemmy is a Reddit refugee. You’re not going to find a single person here who has not used Reddit before.

Truth is, regardless of how fucked that platform is, I still resent being banned and the insane extent to which they prevent you returning. The use of throwaways was entirely normal back in the day, now it’s called ‘ban evasion’. It’s nearly impossible (or at least super-tedious) to get back on once they kick you off. It just seems like such an extreme over-reaction. Permanent bans are insane. I’ve seen people get barred from pubs after drunken violence, but that’s usually only for a year or so. This is basically forever.

I was on there for over a decade and posted in multiple communities all the time. Had a load of karma and rarely got into any aggressive arguments. Then one day I upset a mod for complaining about a removed post, that apparently contravened some petty rule. I’m banned from the sub. I use another account, they found out it was me I’m permanently banned. 12 years of contribution just forgotten, all because of some vindictive little basement dwelling prick.

Same here. Permanently banned from all of Reddit, and I was never told why. I suspect it was my criticism of the Orange One. I appeal every day, just to give them a little more paperwork.

I came here and leave Reddit forever because I am trying to use less US products and services. Right now I don’t know how to bypass Microsoft and Google. Everything else is easy (like forgetting about Reddit or not drinking Coca Cola).

I’m also here from the API thing. This scratches the itch for me and that’s more than enough in this day and age.

I got banned for low key implying there’s a genocide going on in Gaza.

Not even stating it.

Just implying it.

“antisemitism, permaban”

That was in 2023 iirc

Dozens of us!

They killed 3rd party apps, I didn’t wanna use their app, so I switched to something else and that something else happened to be Lemmy. Turns out, Lemmy is even better than Reddit in many ways.

They killed 3rd party apps. I left when my app stopped working and lemmy conveniently worked with some of the same clients that reddit was breaking.

When Reddit killed Apollo, I no longer had the means to use Reddit— I’d rather not have Reddit than use the Reddit app.

Unlike so many people here, I have nothing against centralized social media, and I actively miss it— I miss having a large user base to talk with, I GREATLY miss all the specialize niche communities I followed. But it’s not good if I can’t access them.

Yes, the centralized nature of Reddit means that one person can fuck up the entire community… but decentralization means I have no one to talk to about the things I want to.

Anyway. I’m here hoping that enough people will eventually join that I can have MY Reddit back. I’m frustrated that the place is so tankie infested though, and fear that’s greatly holding it back.

I think the majority of Lemmy users are Reddit refugees, not because they got banned, but because of the Reddit API changes that forced 99% of the third party apps to shut down.

I quit the big R when they killed third party apps.

Would have paid them a monthly fee to use my app,but the way they killed them really soured me on Reddit. Burned my account, and moved on

Another one here for the API exodus 👍