I’ll share the post here and drop a few #s where I will make a point.
Here is a reply by @Saoiray in the thread “How does Reddit shadowban work and can Brave properly counter it?. Hopefully I can clear up some of what I believe to be his mistakes
@Chara-Freedom they use a variety of tools, but primarily tend to look at your IP address(#1). Thing is, why do you think it’s in anyone’s rights to try to trespass somewhere when they’ve been banned(#2)? Just give up on the site and take action elsewhere(#3).
Privacy tools aren’t being made to try to enable bad behavior and help bots, trolls, or other “bad actors” from trying to circumvent safety controls(#4). Trying to do that would just completely destroy websites and the internet in general(#4).
Also, you keep mentioning about a physical replacement for a PC, but that has nothing to do with it (#1). I’m not even sure where that idea is coming to your mind. (#1)
-NOTE-
Brave’s privacy controls aren’t made to prevent websites from recognizing us when we return(#4). It is there to prevent cross-site tracking. Even that is limited though, as you consider server side tracking and all the ways that can work(#1).
The tone of this response was so infuriating and confidently incorrect that I made an account to reply! Let’s see how much the Brave Community mirrors Reddit… Can we have an honest discussion here, or will this post be removed and my account banned because I disagree and know many of these things to be incorrect.
#1 - Nonsense. They absolutely use a variety of tools, but IP address is not the primary tool used. In fact, you insulted OP for pointing this out, but they actually look for various fingerprints. including MAC addresses and data that might be shared by Chrome if you sign in an account. So, @Chara-Freedom, you were absolutely correct… A thought – You may not need a whole new PC. Consider things like a Ubuntu OS install on your drive or a Tails bootable USB. Be sure you keep these clean of things like your gmail login in Chromium or really any shared web data that might go to Reddit. Also, be sure to avoid VPNs, as Reddit will ban you for that alone – Let’s face it, a VPN is you lying about your location for some advantage (bypass a law or hide your identity). This is also for sure related to #4.
I mean, think about the large Wifi Networks (McDonalds or College Campuses or Libraries) where people would get banned if the system was based on your IP.
#2 - What gives someone a right to something called “a critical layer in the global ‘information literacy’ ecosystem?” What gives someone the right to the largest social news aggregator and real-time information hub on the Internet? Something literally known as the “Front Page of the Internet?”
As people in Ukraine who are fighting for their lives. Or people who used it to coordinate and stay alive during Hurricane Helene or the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes or Protest in America and Russia.
Of course, if you broke the rules, the owners of the site have the right to ban you! Stop breaking the rules, right? As it turns out, that’s not at all how it works. Mods are volunteers and anyone can become a mod. The prerequisites? None. Mod training, maybe? Not required. But you can only ban people for agreed rule breaking correct? Nope, they can do anything they want. May I remind you that many prominent mods used to mod a child pornography subreddit and there are a few mods who reign over MANY communities and are known to push their opinions.
What got me permanently banned from Reddit was disagreeing with someone on r/fauxmoi that Amber Herd was 100% a victim and Johnny Depp was the fault of all their relationship flaws. I said they both seem like bad people… Then, suddently, an accidental post later after the ban, I was permanently banned. I was able to get around that with new hardware unconnected to fingerprints that could be used… Then recently, I was banned from r4r because I was presumed to be a bot… Well, I’m not, and I had to fight and fight and fight to get this recognized, as the (ironic) bot that banned me for “bot like activities” was implemented on many subreddits. Finally, I got in touch with that bot and they removed my bans, but somehow missed r4r!, where it all began! They told me I’d need to speak with the moderation team, and that team has now gone without a reply for about 6 months.
Many of these mods are extremely bias in how they ban and there’s no real set of rules. Again I remind you, even u/spez was a mod for jailbait.
#3 Take actions where? What competes with the largest news aggregator and real-time information hub on the Internet? Where? Looked up competitors to Reddit through ChatGPT and their traffic…. Reddit gets ~4.45 BILLION monthly visits. Quora? 318 million. Reddit? Lower. Lemmy? Mastadon? Not even close. You can compare Monthly users on Discord (231 million) to those on Reddit. (785 million), but that’s all you’ll get. And, again, the ability to be part of something that can be a huge news source and social site? Seems important and not something some child pornographer should be able to take away from you because you insulted his favorite Pokemon.
#4 Brave is great (although using it will get you banned from Reddit, if you’re not careful), but you act as if it was created for morally superior reasons? Brave specifically markets itself for browsing video and streaming sites with ads blocked, so basically not paying for your end of the deal. “What gives you the right to……” Hypocritical. And VPNs are fundamentally a lie, let’s not pretend otherwise. Convince me that’s not a fact. Try. Private searches/browsing/hiding your IP none of those constitute being “made to prevent websites from recognizing [you]?” BS. “What gives you the right….” You’re on their website! Your moral argument is shenanigans and you’re a hypocrite.
Dude, do better. I assume you could have been honest…. Or, if you were honest, take a pause and educate yourself before posting factual information when you’re the moderator of a commuinity…. Or, just ban me like a Reddit mod because we didn’t agree. You’re attitude shows that you have the charisma of someone who had to be a mod, like the “tough guys” who become cops. I’m disappointed.
Can’t stand arrogant authoritative ignorance. Do better.
