Reddit’s use of shadowbans can mean your post may not show up to others even when it shows up on your account. Follow the steps below to check if your Reddit post is live, deleted or shadowbanned.
How to check if your post was filtered
- Open an Incognito or Private Browsing Window and ensure that you are logged out of your Reddit account.
- Open the subreddit your post was submitted to. Do not visit the post URL directly.
- Search for the title of your post.
- Check if your post shows up. If your post does not show up when you search for it in an Incognito window, this means it does not show up to other Reddit users.
Posts that are filtered by Reddit’s sitewide spam filters will continue to show up if you visit the URL directly or are logged into the account that posted them. For this reason, the best way to check if they show up for other users is to search for the post.
How to see why a Reddit post was removed or filtered
By visiting the post URL and adding /.json at the end, you can see all information about the post. This includes whether the post was removed by Reddit or by the subreddit’s moderators.
For example, to check the post https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/rnnenq/i_found_a_stray_cat_she_followed_me_home_i_guess/, simply visit https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/rnnenq/i_found_a_stray_cat_she_followed_me_home_i_guess/.json
You’ll see all of the post’s data as above. Use Control or Command + F to search the page for removed_by. If the post was removed by moderators, it will show “removed_by_category”:”moderator”. If the post was removed by Reddit’s spam filters, it will show “removed_by_category”:”reddit”. If the post is live, it will show “removed_by_category”:”null”.
Reddit Post Status Checker
Enter your Reddit post’s URL to check if it is deleted or shadowbanned. Follow these steps to find your Reddit post’s URL.
If your post was deleted or banned, there are a few potential causes and actions you can take to have your post approved or ensure that future posts aren’t deleted.
Why are posts deleted on Reddit?
Reddit posts can be deleted for many reasons. This is because Reddit is moderated on two levels.
First, there are the subreddit moderators, who determine the rules and enforcement within the subreddits they moderate. Secondly, there are the Reddit admins, who have sitewide powers to delete posts and even shadowban or permanently suspend accounts for rule violations.
Violations of Sitewide Rules
Reddit enforces its content policy and other rules site-wide. While many of these rules are intuitive, such as banning users that post illegal content, others are less clear. You can find the most up to date version of Reddit’s sitewide content policy here.
Violations of Subreddit Rules or Moderator Discretion
Subreddit rules are typically listed on the subreddit’s sidebar, found on the right side of the page.
Reddit gives significant power to the moderators of each subreddit. As each subreddit is treated like its own community, moderators have the right to set-and enforce-their own rules as they see fit, so long as they are consistent with Reddit’s sitewide policies.
Common Subreddit Rules
Common subreddit rules include prohibitions on advertising products or services. This is particularly true if you’ve posted similar content or mentioned/linked to a particular business or website many times.
Minimum Karma Requirements
Another common issue is a lack of karma or age on your Reddit account. To prevent spam and ban evasion by users creating large numbers of accounts, many subreddits have implemented rules requiring a minimum amount of karma to post.
As a result, Redditors have created subreddits like FreeKarma4U to gain karma required to post in certain communities.
Why Reddit posts can be removed without notification
If you spent time and effort on a high quality post only to find out that your post was deleted, you may be asking “why was my Reddit post deleted?”
While many moderators choose to let users know when they’ve removed their posts, others do not. If your post was removed without a notification or message to your account explaining why, there are a few potential reasons.
It is up to each moderator’s discretion to decide whether or not to notify users when their posts are removed. Reddit also occasionally uses methods such as shadowbans that don’t notify the user of their ban to prevent organized spamming.
What can I do about a deleted Reddit post?
If your post was deleted by subreddit moderators, you can message the subreddit’s mods to find out why.
Moderators are not required to answer all inquiries or explain all actions, but a nicely worded message over an honest mistake can help get an explanation for your post’s deletion or have it approved.
Before doing so, be sure you read the subreddit’s rules and Sitewide Content Policy.
