Resolved:

Reddit itself doesn’t filter. Reddit HFY does.

It is not possible to link from Reddit HFY to Lemmy HFY directly due to shadow-filtering. The whole message with the link will be only visible for the creator. Working around with eg https://lemmy(dot)world/post/94994 though works as long as the user edits the link while copying it.

— old text —

Does Reddit block Links to Lemmy.World?

I just wanted to post a link in a Reddit Answer. To my utter surprise the message was not shown to other people. I as the author could see it without any hint it would be invisible.

But everyone else couldn’t see it. It just wasn’t there, even an direct linkt didn’t help. Editing the message didn’t help either. I had to delete it and rewrite it without mentioning “lemmy.world” in the message.

Here is a workaround where I avoid a link and it works:

Reddit Post without Link Workaround

Reddit Post with Link

Edit 1: To make myself clear again, you should see at least one message without a link and one with a link to Lemmy. But you will only see the one without a link. The trigger seems to be the exact word “lemmy.world”. Is that a known problem?

Edit 2: Wow, this goes deeper. A fresh Edge browser does show the link post. A old Edge browser doesn’t. All browsers with strict privacy settings don’t show the link. Firefox in Private Mode and with Adblock doesn’t show it. Edge and Chrome in private mode don’t show it either. A fresh chrome doesn’t show it. An older Installation of Chrome does. Reddit is doing something very strange.

Edit 3: https://lemmy(dot)world/post/3375662 seems to bypass the filter. So it is true: Reddit filters their biggest competitor.

Edit 4: The Shadow-Ban doesn’t seem to work on r/help but definitely on r/hfy.

  • Crass Spektakel@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    752·
    10 months ago

    Wow, this goes deeper. A fresh Edge browser does show the link post. A old Edge browser doesn’t. All browsers with strict privacy settings don’t show the link. Firefox in Private Mode and with Adblock doesn’t show it. Edge and Chrome in private mode don’t show it either. A fresh chrome doesn’t show it. An older Installation of Chrome does.

    Reddit is doing something very strange.

    Edit: It seems some browsers showed the messages when they were fresh in the cache. Obviously they are displayable for a fraction of a second before getting shadow-filtered.

  • gabe [he/him]@literature.cafe
    541·
    10 months ago

    Reddit blocks large lemmy instance links. Going as far as to remove them at times, with some users even getting account sanctions over it. lemmynsfw has specifically faced people getting account warnings as nsfw subs have advertised that site

    • HTTP_404_NotFound@lemmyonline.comEnglish
      18·
      10 months ago

      Can confirm, have had “admins” edit all of my comments containing links to lemmynsfw.

      I cannot edit those comments now either. “Link removed by reddit”

      • Solarius@lemmy.sdf.org
        3·
        10 months ago

        that’s not admins editing your comment that’s just what it says when it’s removed by admins vs mods

    • Crass Spektakel@lemmy.worldOPDeutsch
      141·
      10 months ago

      NSFW seems reasonable though there is so much porn on Reddit I wonder what they are thinking. But normal Links? That is pretty low. But well, it is Reddit. Only X is worse.

  • glad_cat@lemmy.sdf.org
    401·
    10 months ago

    It seems to be censored somehow. I can see your post from multiple locations (with a VPN) and you’re not shadowbanned.

    My piece of advice: create your own community on lemmy, I don’t use reddit anymore.

  • exododo@leminal.space
    231·
    10 months ago

    So just like Xitter and Mastodon links. Actively trying to erase from the public FOSS and community driven alternatives. Wich means pushing disinformation. Reddit went full Elon level corpo bullshit.

    • elscallr@lemmy.world
      5·
      10 months ago

      It’s bad when meta is the one on our side. Granted that’s probably an EEE thing but I’d like to think we learned last time to keep swinging until we hear the bell.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
        351·
        10 months ago

        It’s not yet in numbers, but this already feels like the spiritual successor to Reddit and basically has all of the functionality I care about from Reddit already.

        • FediFuckerFantastico@lemmy.world
          12·
          10 months ago

          Agreed, I love coming here to contribute now that I can’t comment or upvote on Reddit. This platform will eventually be considered Reddits successor.

    • Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.comEnglish
      7·
      10 months ago

      Yeah I got banned from /r/AskReddit for mass editing all my comments to something that included a Lemmy link before deleting. The automod perma-banned me from that sub (and several others) after the second edited comment.

      My guess is that they had it set to send a warning first, then a ban on the second offense. But since I used a script to do it, both edits happened so quickly that it simply banned me on the second edit.

  • Nerd02@lemmy.basedcount.comEnglish
    5·
    10 months ago

    To add to this discussion, the problem only arises when mentioning certain instances. I have a bot posting links to mine (lemmy.basedcount.com), has been for months now, and still no restrictions. Another cute trick (doesn’t work for links, though) is writing Lеmmу with Unicode lookalike characters (you can copy it from here).

    • glad_cat@lemmy.sdf.org
      6·
      10 months ago

      Shadow ban is for the user only. I can see his first message without the link, and without being logged in, which means that he’s not shadow banned.

    • Destragras@kbin.social
      5·
      10 months ago

      To give some more information on this, reddit can “shadowban” users, which will cause all of the user’s submissions and comments following the shadowban to be automatically removed. Moderators of subreddits can see and can “Approve” these removed comments on subreddits they moderate, but only reddit admins can remove the shadowban from the user if they appeal. This shadowban system is often used on spammers so that they waste time spamming into the ether without realising it, however the shadowban would affect all of their comments and submissions, not ones with a specific link in them.

      Reddit does also maintain a list of domains commonly used for spam purposes. I believe ibb.co is an example of a domain on that list that instantly gets any comment or submission it is in removed.

      When a comment is removed, it is replaced with “[removed]” text, however this can only be seen by other users if there are any replies to the comment. Otherwise the comment disappears from view except to the user themselves and the subreddit’s moderators.

      @Crass_Spektakel you should try testing this in places other than the subreddit you have seen this in. Subreddit moderators can apply their own link filters and automatically remove comments and submissions without notifying the user.

      • Crass Spektakel@lemmy.worldOP
        31·
        10 months ago

        I updated the original post, it is not Reddit but Reddit HFY.

        Gawd, the way Reddit tries to shadow ban is like a five minute hack for me to counter with a tiny perl script. It helps absolutely nothing against bots but annoys normal users.

    • Crass Spektakel@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      21·
      10 months ago

      Well as the banning is instantaneous I guess it is from Reddit itself. The post just never shows up. Simple tricks seem to bypass the filter: https://lemmy(dot)world/post/3375662 (Reddit filters their biggest competitor) gets through

      • RoundSparrow @ .ee@lemm.ee
        2·
        10 months ago

        It’s the spam filtering, and they consider people spamming any link… and each subreddit can set the spam fitler higher or not. This was going on long before Lemmy and I’ve seen it even with BBC links.

      • m4xie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        Lemmit looks great to follow meme subs that I’d never read the comments of anyway!

        EDIT: I can’t see any post when accessing it from my instance? Is it blocked?

        EDIT: Perhaps I’m the first on my instance to subscribe to that community. It’s showing post from since I joined.

  • voxel@sopuli.xyz
    3·
    10 months ago

    makes sense because Reddit already shadow-hides (?) any posts or comments that contain Telegram t.me links

  • RoundSparrow @ .ee@lemm.ee
    2·
    10 months ago

    Edit 4: The Shadow-Ban doesn’t seem to work on r/help but definitely on r/hfy.

    I’ve seen this come up with a large number of links on Reddit that were even to BBC website. It comes down to the subreddit settings on spam filtering…

    I think the whole process of automatic hiding of spam filtering for user accounts is a bad-faith experience. People on Reddit are infamous for not actually reading links and wanting bots to bring in text and such, and I think a lot of the anti-spam measures cultivated this for a very long time.

    One thing that crowdsoucing never was very good at was spam filtering… because too many would sell out and buy upvotes/likes on Twitter/Reddit etc.

    • Crass Spektakel@lemmy.worldOP
      21·
      10 months ago

      I remember they were filtered even by Reddit because people couldn’t see where the link led.

      Using Unicode-Chars doesn’t help for Links :-)

      There is a stupid alternative: I now link my Reddit-Wiki (yes, my 30something stories have a Wiki) and put the link there. I have no filters on my Wiki ofcourse.