A little note on our Subreddits

From enjoying one of my favorite "forum" sites to slipping into the perma-banned abyss! When one door closes...stoked for the next to open!

I wanted to write this post briefly, not to air dirty laundry. But instead, to share with y’all candidly what has been happening with the (now two) Subreddit communities I’ve shared on my livestream (catch all the replays via YouTube) that have been banned.

Here’s what happened…

I originally signed up for my first “official” Reddit account back in 2019.

Yes, I was a little late to the Reddit bandwagon. But the timing for me couldn’t have been better.

I consumed posts across various Subreddit communities, including technology, fashion, relationships, and (of course) recruiting and talent acquisition.

Fast forward to October of 2024, and I realized that I’d like to start two separate communities for my two business “arms”:

• Life Journey: empowered brand about navigating life, personal growth, and a new term I coined, “Cozy Self-Development” (aka not a grind, but an evolution of sorts)

• Career Clarity brand (all things talent acquisition, recruiting, interviewing, and career advice)

I had read (multiple times/multiple places) that having a couple of accounts on Reddit was okay as long as they weren’t created to evade something, increase votes (manipulation), or violate their TOS or PP (privacy policy).

That's totally cool; it was not my prerogative.

I then proceeded to close my longer-term account and opened up two fresh accounts:

• u/EmpoweredWithin

• u/CareerClarity

Most immediately, I built out two communities, one in each (respectively).

Sadly enough, as of this official post, both are now banned.

Both accounts and both communities.

Where It Started

If I’m really honest, I’m not entirely sure.

It started with u/CareerClarity and its respective created community r/AskforCareerClarity.

One of the most significant catalysts for thinking about creating Subreddits came from my own love of the platform. It was then amplified by a Career Clarity community member who sent me a question to answer on my next livestream (you can ask yours by emailing me at advice@careerclarity.me!).

This awesome community member let me know that they appreciated how swiftly I could answer their question. Still, they also felt “terribly” about the “thousands” of candidates who had posted questions to various recruiting-related Subreddits…with no reply.

I checked out the links they sent me, and to my surprise (and confirming what they shared) I could see posts as old as four (4) years old going completely unanswered.

It was like walking through an odd time capsule of the pain, heartache, confusion, and frustration within each candidate’s journey. I believe they posted in these communities to get support or gain advice.

But it appears that they never received any answers back.

Where Things Get Murky

I rolled the dice and chose a random “Recruiter Megathread” among the links the community member sent me. This particular one contained posts from a couple of months old to over multiple months (one was as old as close to two (2) years old!).

I hopped onto my next livestream with the questions in tow, queued up on my iPad.

I covered as many questions as possible during my streaming time, intentionally answering each with the best of everything I knew.

Following the livestream, I hopped into my Reddit account and found the original Megathread. For those questions I could answer, I started to post on each of the original posted questions, including a link to the part of the video that featured the answer to their question.

Funny enough, after my third or fourth post, I noticed that each post was getting caught in the mod filter.

I wasn’t clear why it was flagging, as I was:

1. A member of the Subreddit

2. I was a Recruiter (well, Ex-Corporate Recruiter) by trade - only Recruiters were allowed to reply to the questions.

3. I was answering the questions that remained unanswered (there didn’t seem to be any specific rules on answering)

To prevent further confusion, I decided to “pause” and instead go right to the source. I messaged the mods directly to find out what the holdup was.

What the Mod Said

I initiated the message communication.

I elected to send a message to the mods directly.

In the DM, I let them know who I was, what I was doing, and expressed my confusion over my messages getting caught in the message filters. I shared my sincerest desire to understand what was happening. I let them know I was there because a community member of mine had pointed me in this direction and asked if I could help by answering as many of the unanswered questions/posts as I could. I wrapped the message saying that if I was causing any trouble, that I apologized in advance. I just wanted to understand what was best to do in this case.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t a “normal” thing done by Subreddit users (from all the research I’ve done since then).

I wasn’t “caught”. I paused and went directly to the source, as I just wanted to learn what was happening.

The mod replied pretty quickly following my message. They let me know that my account was newer, so that “normally” this is the reason why (newer accounts = newer posts get flagged).

But, they then also informed me that “normally” doing what I was doing would “get me banned”. They said I “broke rule #1 no self-promotion”.

I clarified what I had done wrong (or why the strong “ban” language).

While waiting for a reply, I went and took a peek at the Subreddit Rules.

Rule #1 stated that posts must be about “recruiting” and posted by “recruiters”. It said nothing about self-promotion.

Confused, I kept scrolling...

Rule #2 stated no “website SEO click-bait, self-promotion”.

I sat there thinking for a moment how what I was doing could potentially be interpreted as such.

But then they replied.

They said that I was doing “research”.

I immediately went back to the sub rules. No mention of research (and more on this in a moment).

Frankly, I sat there a bit stunned for a moment, knowing I wasn’t doing any “research”. Well, at least the definition I knew of research:

“Research is defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies and understandings.“

Source: Western Sydney University

Technically (and very technically) I was lending my expertise to answer the questions of candidates who didn’t know what to do. I was sharing my existing knowledge and experience to (hopefully) alleviate their (still) unanswered requests for help.

I wasn’t “creating new knowledge.” I was instead imparting mine.

I returned to the mod message and inquired more deeply into what “research” meant to them. As I didn’t see it in the sub rules, and from my understanding of the word, I wasn’t doing so.

I sat there (again), now even more stunned.

I was trying to help.

But I understood that it was their Subreddit; they were the mod, and what I was doing was not welcomed (regardless of my intention).

I then left it right there.

No additional posts, no additional replies.

The following day, I logged in to this:

My community was banned. My user (u/CareerClarity) was as well.

The hardest part? I discovered, in revisiting this specific sub’s rules, they had added “research” to their rules AFTER they sent their last message to me.
I have (fortunately? unfortunately?) the screenshots that show it.

Over the next couple of days, I ended up submitting multiple tickets directly to Reddit, as well as researching what could have been the reason.

I received no responses (as of the date of this posting, I still have not received a reply).

I Thought I’d Try Again

In chatting with our (incredible) community via a livestream this week, I asked again if it would be helpful for everyone to have a Subreddit.

There was a unanimous “yes”.

Since October, I have been using my u/EmpoweredWithin user as my “main” or “daily Reddit” account. I had rejoined a lot of those Subreddits I had on my previously-deleted account. I had put a post in my attached community (r/EmpoweredWithin) but had remained pretty low-key.

I decided this time it would be super convenient to have all my communities attached to one Reddit account.

So, I signed into my u/EmpoweredWithin and created a new community for the Career Clarity brand. This time, it was worded just slightly differently: r/AskCareerClarity.

I announced it on my livestream today!

This afternoon I hopped into the site to complete all the branding and put up the first official AMA post to kick it all off!

It was only minutes after I posted this…

…that this came in…

…and then this.

Ouch.

The moment I clicked “post,” the flag went up…and the communities (and my other existing user, u/EmpoweredWithin) all came down.

I went in to share the news with PencilKarate, and he looked at me like I was kidding.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t.

I’ve heard the horror stories of getting banned (and ultimately perma-banned) from Reddit. I never in a million years thought it would happen to me.

At this point, I am still dumbfounded at what I had really done wrong.

Techncially, I started posting replies and my comments got stuck in the mod filter…as the mod confirmed, because my account was new. It happened to “everyone,” they shared.

Three or four posts. I stopped. And then I reached out directly to the mod. Slid straight into their DMs! I had a convo with the mod. And then I left it all right there.

Then, it all got banned.

And now, I’m banned from Reddit altogether.

I’m assuming because of the Reddit TOS rules, it “looks” like I’m evading a ban by creating a new community that is closely named to my last one.

The crazy thing is that the technical “offender” wasn’t my communities.

It was (technically) my user.

But because my user created the communities, it all went down together.

To clarify, my other existing user (u/EmpoweredWithin) wasn’t a member of any talent acquisition Subreddits. And most definitely, I was never a community member of the original recruiting Subreddit that hosted the mod I had spoken to (referred to above).

Goodbye, Reddit?

As I write this post, I am now without a single Reddit account.

And the saddest part for me? I am sitting here without a Subreddit I shared with y’all I had created for us all.

I am so very sorry. I feel terrible.

I was truly so dang excited.

I’ll have to do some soul-searching to figure out exactly what I want to do next.

What I do know

I may never know exactly why the original ban happened, as I got no response from my multiple outreaches to Reddit.

I also was informed (and yes, I have screenshots) of the mod who told me that this was a warning, but continuing would be a “bannable offense”.

I didn’t continue. I instead dropped it right there.

I’m not able to hop back into Reddit even “personally”.

Dang…

I ended up filling out the “official” ban petition to inquire directly with Reddit about whether I can get it overturned. After researching the typical (or usual) response time on those, it sounds like it could be months, or it could be never.

What’s Next!?

It looks like possibly (at this time) Reddit is not in the cards for Career Clarity…and I just wanted to let y’all know exactly why.

I’m still not giving up hope!

I’m hopeful to see if there is another possible solution for community questions and community participation.

My vision: it would be fantastic to have a place where people can ask questions anonymously but where we (all) can contribute to the answers (especially for those who have professionally held roles like Hiring Manager, Leader, HR, or TA!) as often I find that having different perspectives on one situation can be extremely helpful.

That’s what I’m looking to build.

If you have any suggestions on sites where this might be possible, please let me know. I’m all ears!

💜 Lavender

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