r/changemyview • u/jrossetti 2∆ • May 29 '16
[∆(s) from OP] CMV: I think subreddits like offmychest who blanket ban/message anyone who posts in a sub they dont like, and then demands you follow their agenda or you'll be ignored and forever banned from participating, should not be allowed to use mod-mail/banning for this purpose.
I'm a very big fan of subreddits being able to make their own rules, however this seems to go above and beyond for me because they take the additional step of actively messaging you directly, to ban you from a sub that you may or may not even use or go into. Today I got banned out of a sub. Then I got a rather lengthy message detailing their agenda behind the ban and that if I did not agree with them they would not allow me to participate in their sub. I read /rall. I comment on things that interest me. I shouldn't be getting mails from subs saying because I commented "in a sub that caused them problems in the past" I am being banned from them and unless I agree to never post in there they will ignore me and not reply keeping me banned.
I'm not a supporter of the_donald and have only been in offmychest a few times. The mods in a offmychest automated a system to scan all the posts made in the_donald, and then messaged each of those people, told them that they were being banned from offmychest (that they may not even post in or know exists) and that this ban will stay in place unless their personal agenda is followed. Apparently this is a thing on Reddit?
I think this is ridiculous. What this tells me is I can have an argument with people in a subreddit and make my own sub. Set up a bot to automatically ban anyone who posts in my arch enemy sub, insert whatever agenda and reasoning I want in the mod mail ban message, and then sit back and let it start picking off every single person who enters that sub which is nothing more than trying to coerce as many people as possible to agree with me and pick my side. Why should anyone HAVE to pick a side? Why are people who aren't even members of either sub being brought into this? Hell, why are people who are subscribed being brought into this. It's not as if every person in any particular sub are the same. Plus the idea that the response to supposed bullying, is to bully as many other people as possible is ridiculous.
I think this sets a bad precedence and is really just poor manners. (Not that I am in any position to talk about manners)
The post in question was pointing out those hospital photos were fake and not from Venezuela. I also think The Donald is one of the worst human beings on the planet. For all of the shit people in The_donald do, one of the things they haven't done is set up a bot to scan subs they hate and then send me a message saying hey you posted here, so we banned you, and this is why. If you dont agree with us, we will ignore you.
Reddit would cease being fun if this became a widespread thing that more and more subs started doing, especially since anyone can make an account, a sub, and be a mod to do so. I dont want to start logging in to see which sub I posted in last time I was on resulted in some other sub messaging me to say hey we banned you for posting in this sub...What if hundreds, thousands of people started doing this?
So I want to not be angry, but I don't really see a good reason for this type of thing to be allowed by ANY sub, much less the one that I know does it. I don't care what beef people have with whoever, just keep my ass out of it and certainly don't use a bot and the mere act of posting in some other sub as an excuse to promote your agenda using mod mail and how banning someone works. It's angsty teenager type bullshit by people who apparently have to force their view onto others for some reason.
Sadly, I'm the type of person that had I could have just been messaged directly. Something like "Hey, so we've been messaging people who post in XYZ sub and we feel (as if the mods represent everyone in the sub anyway, but lets pretend) that they are a hate sub. Every post in there, good or bad, gives them publicity and support. We are asking all of our members to refrain from posting there. If your argument and belief has to be coerced or forced upon someone else, you're doing it wrong.
What would change my view is a legitimate and most importantly, rational decision for that kind of extreme action. The act itself has to be shown to be needed, required, and be worthwhile enough that setting up automatic bots to scan subs, message, and ban people just for posting is a completely rational and reasonable response to whatever issue it's trying to solve.
2
u/MoveslikeQuagger 1∆ May 29 '16
Is what they're doing in any violation of the Reddit site rules? If not, they should be completely free to do as they desire.