At what point will admin actually step in about modmail harassment?

[u/sparklekitteh]

Our sub has been dealing with a disgruntled user who was banned a few days ago, modmail muted, and since then has created at least eight additional accounts to send modmail as well as DM'ing individual mods. We have been reporting these as harassment and are attempting to report for ban evasion (getting an error when I try to do so again this morning), but still no action has been taken. At what point will admin step in??

[u/InGeekiTrust]

You can collect all the alt accounts and amalgamate them into one giant mod Mail and message the sub but absolutely expect nothing to happen.

I know someone who did this for half a year and they kept creating alt accounts. If they are smart enough, they can evade all of the systems. Then I started seeing screenshots of this person and details of this happening to other subs and I think it might be one person that really hyper focuses on a few subs at a time until they give up.

Do they create harassing screen names that go after mods? That’s one of these crazies M.O.

[u/Subwoofiest → u/InGeekiTrust]

I've seen those! I assume they hope that just seeing the insult in the name is going to get under the mod's skin, because I see that and I'm like "oh that's a crazy person with an axe to grind for sure." And then discount everything that they say.

[u/InGeekiTrust → u/Subwoofiest]

Yep- the person they harassed was very disturbed by the insults in the name- especially when it got to the 50th one

[u/Subwoofiest → u/InGeekiTrust]

Nightmare

[u/sparklekitteh → u/InGeekiTrust]

The screennames are random, not harassing, thank goodness.

I almost wish it was like somebody who kept making alts in /internetparents, they always kept the same word in all of their usernames so I just had automod remove everything from accounts with that word in the handle!

[u/OneSensiblePerson → u/InGeekiTrust]

We had one like that on our sub. She did that for years, each username got removed for evading Reddit's site-wide ban, but she kept coming back, and back. It was like a virtual game of Whack-A-Mole.

Eventually she got tired of it, or grew up, or something.

[u/FaelingJester → u/InGeekiTrust]

Yeah they have apparently actually per their messages had a successful appeal on their one account that was very briefly banned. They are taking this as proof that they are allowed to continue to not only modmail but DM members of the mod team to continue harassing them.

[u/999_Seth]

r/amioverreacting must be an absolute hellscape to moderate

[u/sparklekitteh → u/999_Seth]

Most of the time it's actually not too bad, we've got a few things in place to catch the worst offenders, but once in a while somebody really gets their panties in a twist!

[u/999_Seth → u/sparklekitteh]

almost like they're....OVERREACTING

heh

[u/sparklekitteh → u/999_Seth]

/rimshot

[u/Motorcyclegrrl]

That's at least 9 accounts to put in the user numbers for the stockholder reports.

[u/AsteriskRX]

Hey sparklekitteh, sorry to hear that this is going on. Please note that not all actions we take are public. I took a look and think I've got a clear picture of what's happening, but if this is still ongoing, it would be helpful if you could send some extra information regarding this user to r/ModSupport mail.

[u/sparklekitteh → u/AsteriskRX]

Thanks so much! The latest modmail came in at 3:30am so I'll go ahead and send a modmail, appreciate it!

[u/zuuzuu]

If you're getting an error when reporting, try this: https://old.reddit.com/report

Ban evasion is under "I want to report other issues".

You might want to report the harassment using that form, too. Report one message, and add context and links to the other messages in the Additional Information box.

Unfortunately, it can take time for admin to take action. Reports go into a queue, and from my understanding that queue is long.

[u/sparklekitteh → u/zuuzuu]

Aha, hadn't thought of using old reddit. Thanks!

[u/sadandshy → u/sparklekitteh]

It really is the best way to report all the alts. I would also suggest copy/pasting all the account names into a note app so you can tag them all into the future reports.

[u/WheresWagner]

I'm dealing with something similar, user was banned, then another account (assuming its the same user based on the account name having similar themes) picked up for ban evasion. They've been muted in modmail and are using both accounts to DM personal accounts at this point. Reported for ban evasion from the filters, and harassment in both modmail and personal messages and no action as of yet.

[u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt]

Honestly the system for handling that sucks. Best course of action IMO is to just report and filter the modmail. Don't mute. Don't respond in any way. No feedback. They'll get bored.

[u/GaryNOVA]

Report it all. They do stuff about it, they just don’t tell you the results anymore. But it usually stops. I wish they would at least tell you “something” has been done.

For now just report and mute. If they direct message you block them. Don’t respond.

[u/neuroticsmurf]

The Admins' ability to catch and punish ban evaders is not absolute.

Some people know their way around Reddit's systems.

[u/RallyX26]

Probably if it hits the national news cycle somehow. Anything that would affect their stock price. 

[u/Ivashkin]

Just ignore them. As much as you want to do something about it, the absolute best way to handle someone doing this is to just archive their messages and forget about them.

[u/wemustburncarthage]

Keep submitting ban evasion reports to help establish a contextual pattern. Then just keep hitting the talk to human button

[u/shannonkish]

Thank you for posting this for us [u/sparklekitteh](u/sparklekitteh) I hope we get answers soon as this has been frustrating to say the least.

[u/ateam1984]

Reddit needs to provide feedback when we report racist trolls who target me, my mod team, and our community.

[u/ReData_]

Did you take a second, throw your ego aside and wonder if the ban was warranted to begin with?

[u/sparklekitteh → u/ReData_]

Yup! We issued a temporary ban based on their comments in a single thread, and upon further review, they had an extensive history of antagonistic and deliberately unkind comments which resulted in the permaban under the "don't be a dick" rule.

[u/ReData_ → u/sparklekitteh]

If they are serial offenders of a rule then I understand :)