Developer says Reddit keeps banning accounts over GitHub links
The post is a short first-person account from a developer who wanted to share an open-source project on Reddit. The author is unnamed in the text, and so are the projects and the communities involved.
It starts simply. The author created an account, found a community where people post links to their projects, and posted a GitHub link. The post was deleted at once and the account banned. The author then learned that a new user is expected to write normal comments and link-free posts first, so as to look like a regular user and not a promoter.
The second attempt used a new account from a different IP address. The author immediately wrote three comments, and that account was banned too. The next lesson: wait a few days after signing up, then post one to two comments per day.
The author did exactly that. The new account posted comments gradually and nothing went wrong. Then came a link-free post that had been popular on other platforms. A minute later, someone wrote that it was AI slop. The post was deleted and the account banned. The author's conclusion is that a post longer than two paragraphs, well formatted and free of errors will be judged AI-generated by moderators or algorithms, and that generated text leads to bans.
The fourth attempt applied that lesson. A new account, comments first, then short posts written in the first person (not as an article or essay) with deliberate mistakes. The posts were not deleted. But when the author published a post with a link to the project, the account was banned again.
The author then tried a different route: a new account, a self-created community, and a link post inside it. The community was deleted and the account banned.
The author wondered how other people post links to their GitHub projects without bans, and asked moderators from various communities and other Reddit users. They all said to earn 1k karma first and only then post links. The author was also advised to sign up through the mobile app, which would make the account look more trustworthy.
The author followed that advice: installed the app, created an account, posted and commented, and reached 1k karma within a month. The author then posted a link to another GitHub project. The post was sent for manual review. After several hours the community moderators had still not reviewed it. An hour later, the account was banned.
The author did not try to create any more accounts, and ends with the remark that Reddit users never got to learn about the projects, which might have interested them.
Key facts
- The author says a first GitHub link post was deleted immediately and the account banned; a second new account from a different IP address was banned after three immediate comments.
- A link-free post that had been popular elsewhere was called AI slop within a minute, then deleted, and its account banned. The author infers that long, well-formatted, error-free posts get flagged as AI-generated.
- Short first-person posts with mistakes survived, but a post with a project link still got the account banned, and a self-created community with a link was deleted along with the account.
- Following advice to sign up through the mobile app and earn 1k karma, the author reached 1k karma within a month, posted a link, waited several hours for manual review, and was banned an hour later.
- The author did not try creating further accounts.
Why it matters
The post gives a concrete, if one-sided, picture of what a newcomer can run into when sharing open-source work on Reddit. Each ban comes with a new piece of folk advice: warm the account up, post one to two comments per day, avoid polished text, collect 1k karma. None of it worked for the author. The story is anecdotal, but it shows how opaque the rules feel from the user side, because the source gives no reason for any ban and the causes are the author's own inferences.
Who it affects
Developers and makers who want to share GitHub projects on Reddit are the obvious audience. The post also touches ordinary users whose well-written posts may be mistaken for AI-generated text, and community moderators, whose manual review queue was part of the final episode: the author's link post sat unreviewed for several hours before the ban.
How to use it
This is a personal account, not a tool or guide. What a reader can take from it is the list of things the author tried and what happened: a new account with immediate comments, a few days of waiting, short first-person posts with mistakes, a mobile-app signup and 1k karma. The author reports that none of them prevented a ban once a link to a project was posted.
How solid is it
It is a single first-person blog post. The author, the GitHub projects and the subreddits are not named, and there are no dates beyond 'within a month'. No reason for any ban is given by Reddit or moderators, and no Reddit statement or policy is quoted. The explanations, such as AI detection and the effect of text length and formatting, are the author's inferences.
Risks and caveats
Treat the causes as unproven. The source gives no data on how many other people post GitHub links without being banned, and it does not say whether any ban was appealed. The author gives no sign of knowing which rule or filter triggered each ban. The advice the author received (1k karma, mobile signup) is relayed second-hand and did not work in this case.
“Reddit users never got to learn about my projects, which might have interested them.”
— Author of the blog post 'Account bans on Reddit' (unnamed in the text)