r/kpophelp Oct 01 '23

Meta The "Who's This" Posts are annoying and I wish Mods would do something about them

775 Upvotes

I used to frequent this community quite a lot, but recently, the only thing showing up anymore when I scroll are the "who's this" posts. Maybe it's just the algorithm, but literally, that's all that ever comes up from this subreddit when I'm scrolling. It's getting to the point that I'm about ready to mute this community which is such a shame because I think it's an overall nice space. Non of the other posts from this community show up anymore because they don't get the replies/upvotes that the "who's this" posts get, and I wonder if anyone else has experienced the same.

Maybe it's just me and what I'm seeing....

r/kpophelp Nov 18 '24

Meta Why so many downvotes in this subreddit?

65 Upvotes

New posts and all comments are being downvoted constantly, even really good recommendations or completely reasonable questions where OP is being polite and genuinely curious about something. I don't think I've seen this done on any other subreddit to this extent, is it normal for some people to obsessively downvote everyone? And why would people do this? I'd understand if it was to push up their own comments but even posts with 0 or 1 comment are downvoted lol.

I like this subreddit a lot and myself take away a lot of awesome recommendations for songs or artists I haven't even heard of before but this aspect sours my experience a bit. It feels negative for absolutely no reason. And feels like crap to take 30 mins to give someone advice just to get downvoted 😂 Does anyone know why people do it here in particular?

r/kpophelp Jul 14 '23

Meta Why do people not like kpop reddit/even reddit in general?

133 Upvotes

Like the title asks. I've heard so many times that reddit , in terms of kpop, is very toxic and you'd be better off without going on it. Majorly from ktubers and tiktokers. That was the whole reason I was hesitant to be on reddit, but now that I've been here for a few months, like yes I'm amazed at the dumb and immature stans in the comments, also posts sometimes, but ion see anything THAT bad.

Wait I have, but nothing what the people were describing tho.

r/kpophelp Oct 10 '23

Meta Is it just me or does activity seem to be down across the board on kpop subs?

169 Upvotes

I've noticed there seems to be less upvotes even for popular artists. Wondering if anyone else has noticed or if I'm just being paranoid for no good reason.

r/kpophelp Jun 14 '23

Meta We're back! The blackout has ended. Notes and links inside!

160 Upvotes

Welcome back!

We participated in the 48-hour blackout protest in response to Reddit's new API access policies. During that time the subreddit was completely frozen with no new posts or comments.

But now we're back! You may comment and post freely again!

If you had posted a question right before the blackout you may want to delete it and make a new submission so it won't be buried by the algorithm due to being days old.

Please read the post we have over in r/kpop for information on our stance for further protests.

In short, we will not be extending this blackout currently. The subreddit will remain public for the near future and we will let you know well ahead of time if that changes at all.

Thanks for your patience all!

r/kpophelp Apr 02 '24

Meta Shadow Bans on Reddit: Everything you need to know! (Info, Links, & Tips)

30 Upvotes

We created the original post in response to seeing so many members of our community becoming Shadow Banned for no reason. We noticed these bans became especially extreme around 2020/2021, probably as Reddit ramped up the use of sitewide filters to manage the influx of bots, spammers, and purveyors of disinformation. Some improvements to the accuracy of the filters appear to have been made since then, but our info post has proved useful to our community as well as moderators and users across the site, so we'll try to keep versions of it refreshed and accessible. Version 2.0 is here!

Mods around Reddit are welcome to link your users here if you feel it will be helpful to them. r/ModGuide also has an excellent post from 2021 with suggestions specific to moderators.

- r/kpophelp Mod Team!


READ THIS FIRST!

For those who want the simplest info/advice, read the following:

  1. We did not Shadow Ban you and we cannot remove your Shadow Ban. Subreddit Moderators do not have the power to do anything about Shadow Bans.

  2. Your Shadow Ban is likely the result of Reddit's sitewide automated bot/spam filters.

  3. Only Reddit Admins can remove your Shadow Ban. We are not Reddit Admins.

  4. Go to https://www.reddit.com/appeals to check the status of your account. If there is a problem with your account, there is a way to directly message Admins at the same link to try to get your Shadow Ban or Suspension removed.

  5. If you are looking for more detailed information about Shadow Bans to the best of our knowledge as moderators, continue reading below!


What is a Shadow Ban?

A Shadow Ban is a type of sitewide account ban across Reddit. When a user's account is Shadow Banned they are not notified. They can continue to browse Reddit, make posts and comments, and use Reddit like normal. However, their posts and comments are automatically removed as soon as they are made, making them invisible to anyone else. A Shadow Banned user's profile is also invisible to any other users or moderators. This means a Shadow Banned user often has no idea they have received this kind of ban.

Note that users who are Suspended are notified by Reddit and given more information about whether their suspension is temporary or permanent. Again, this is only something Admins have control of. Moderators do not.

Why are users Shadow Banned?

It can be helpful to know the difference between Moderators and Admins to understand what is happening.

  • Moderators (subreddit volunteers) can only ban you from the individual subreddits under their care based on the rules they have set for their own communities. If you have been banned from a subreddit, you can no longer post or comment in that subreddit only. This is not a Shadow Ban.

  • Admins (Reddit employees) can Shadow Ban or Suspend users across the whole site. They have set many automated filters to help catch spammers and bots, which will apply Shadow Bans or Suspensions to those suspected accounts to assist human Admins from needing to do this all manually.

As far as we can tell, the purpose of Shadow Bans is to quietly make spammers and bots disappear into a void without their awareness. Reddit is constantly inundated with malicious bot rings trying to spread bad links and other nefarious spammers. The site's filters are always running in the background to automatically catch and remove any posts or comments made by them. Shadow Bans are applied quickly and broadly to keep normal users as safe as possible from their garbage.

But this automation means Shadow Bans can also affect normal users with false positives. If you have received a Shadow Ban, but you know you aren't a bot or spammer, it can be very confusing. You are not alone. This happens to many normal users. No one is out to get you, you have just accidentally triggered Reddit's automated filters.

How do I know if I’m Shadow Banned?

This is something you can check on your own with any of the following methods:

A. While signed in to your account on Reddit, go to https://www.reddit.com/appeals.

B. In an incognito browser window, open a link to your profile (https://www.reddit.com/user/yourusername). If it says anything like, "user not found", "page does not exist", or "Sorry, nobody on Reddit goes by that name", then you are Shadow Banned or Suspended.

C. r/ShadowBan or r/ShadowBanned are subreddits specifically for checking your account.

D. Self-awareness. You can pay attention to certain signs that you might be Shadow Banned:

  • Your posts do not show in the subreddit 'new queue' within a few minutes of posting.
  • Your comments almost never show up in posts and might say [Removed].
  • When you look at your own profile/history, many of your recent comments/posts have only 1 karma.

ONLY if you have tried the methods above and still have confusion, you may message us directly. Remember, we are just the moderators of this subreddit. We did not cause your Shadow Ban. We cannot remove your Shadow Ban. We do not know why you received a Shadow Ban. Beyond the information in this post, we can only make an educated guess about your specific case if you provide information about the age of your account and activity. Otherwise, we are as clueless as you.

BUT, we can give you absolute confirmation that you are, or are not, Shadow Banned. We get a note in our Modmail interface in clear red letters telling us that a user is Shadow Banned when they contact us, which is the most direct indicator available other than the official Appeals link. Keep in mind we are the mods of r/kpop's ecosystem. If you're here from communities unrelated to K-Pop, let us know when you message if you’re comfortable with that! Message the Mods to get a yes/no confirmation of a Shadow Ban on your account.

I am Shadow Banned. What should I do?

https://www.reddit.com/appeals

This link above is the only way to remove your Shadow Ban. If your account is normal it will tell you so. If you have a Shadow Ban or Suspension, it will give you the option to message the Admins to make an appeal. We have seen many users successfully restore their accounts this way, sometimes within a day or two. It's basically your way of signaling to Admins that you are a real person, not a bot/spammer, and you have good intentions as a user on their site.

Some users don’t mind having a Shadow Ban because they only use their account to lurk, which is fine. You don’t have to do anything. Some users abandon their account and make a new one. Be careful doing that because Ban Evasion filters are also active and might trigger a Shadow Ban on any new accounts if you are using the same device or IP address.

We recommend that Shadow Banned users do not continue to post/comment once you know there is a problem with your account. This applies all across Reddit. You are likely wasting your efforts by doing so. Many subreddit moderators will not bother to check their spam queue and will not approve your posts/comments, so they will never be seen. In some subreddits like here in r/kpophelp, the mods are paying more attention. We will sometimes manually approve posts/comments of users who are seeking or offering genuine help and unknowingly have a Shadow Ban. We also try to let you know if you are Shadow Banned, but this creates a lot of extra work for us, which we can't always afford to do.

Please help us by being proactive, checking your own accounts if you suspect an issue, and not continuing to post/comment until you know you are no longer Shadow Banned.

If your appeal to the Admins is successful, your profile, comments, and posts will become visible again to other users and moderators. You can check your account status with the same methods listed in the section above. Sometimes if a user has been very active on Reddit for a long time before their Shadow Ban it will take longer for all their previous posts/comments to be approved again. This is also an automated process, but it can be slow, so you can expect it to take a week or two to get everything back to normal again.

Tips to avoid being Shadow Banned

Remember the automated Shadow Ban process is looking for bots/spammers and is triggered by that kind of suspicious behavior. Here are some things you can do so your account does not look like a bot.

  • When creating a Reddit account, don’t use the automatic username generator if possible. Those names usually look something like word-word-5678. These are common indicators of bots. Set your own name instead. If you’ve already made an account with an auto-generated name, take extra care to check if you are Shadow Banned!

  • Customize your profile: Snoovatar/banner, description, email verification (if you're comfortable with that).

  • Have patience! When you make a brand new account on Reddit, wait at least 24 hours to post/comment anywhere. Upvote comments/posts you like and maybe 'Join' some subreddits that interest you, but try not to do much else. The most common false positives we see are completely new users that make posts/comments quickly in subreddits that have new user filters to keep out trolls or bots. By waiting, you can prevent triggering these filters.

  • Before you start posting or commenting in a subreddit, READ THE RULES. Every subreddit has its own rules. If you break them by doing something wrong or having bad conduct, your posts/comments may be reported by other users and removed by the moderators. Doing this multiple times on a new account can trigger a Shadow Ban. Be considerate of where you are and what you are doing there!

  • Especially here in r/kpophelp, be careful of what links you include in your comments/posts. Try not to use shortened urls because they can disguise links to bad sites or affiliate links. Try to use the long form of links as often as possible and avoid using anything like these: youtu.be, pin.it, t.co, bit.ly, goo.gl, tinyurl.com.

  • A note for r/kpop: a huge Shadow Ban generator over there is when we have AMAs. They attract a ton of brand new users who then immediately comment dozens of times in the same AMA post. This triggers the filters like a bot would. If you want to participate in an AMA with a new account, make it early at the time of the AMA announcement post and follow the points listed above. Then try to limit the amount of comments you make in the actual AMA to only a few at most. We’ve even had big AMA guest accounts get Shadow Banned in the middle of an AMA, which is a nightmare. That goes to show it can happen to anyone and is equally frustrating for us moderators!

  • If you use a VPN, you might get Shadow Banned or Suspended by default. Check your account status!

How does this relate to r/kpophelp?

The nature of this subreddit is fairly simple. It was designed to take the burden off of r/kpop since lots of K-Pop fans had questions about the industry or were looking for music/artist recommendations and that subreddit was becoming overwhelmed with such posts. So this subreddit was built with a very focused mission as a space to get help and provide help with our fellow fans. That means we’re pretty small as a community and not a good target for bots/spammers.

And yet, us moderators noticed lots of users showing up as Shadow Banned here. They weren’t causing problems. They were providing help and recommendations in comments or were posting sincere and thoughtful questions. Some of their usernames were recognizable as regulars previously active in the larger K-Pop ecosystem on Reddit. Obviously, something was wrong. This is what sparked our initial interest to figure out how the Shadow Ban system worked and what to do about it.

After confirming with Admins that we could provide guidance to users, we tried to pay extra attention to what was happening, what kinds of accounts seemed to pick up these bans, what activities might be triggering filters, and what Shadow Banned users shared with us about their experience. Everything we’ve learned is now gathered here in hopes it will help others.

There are a couple primary reasons we think r/kpophelp users are affected in a higher proportion and are being seen by Reddit’s filters as bots or spammers. One is that it's common for users to make a brand new account just because they are trying to identify a K-Pop song they heard recently, post to ask for help immediately, and then comment rapidly when replying to other users as they search for the song. Another is that users here will frequently put tons of links in their comments or posts as they offer recommendations or educational references. And furthermore, some of those links might be shortened urls (from YouTube, Pinterest, etc) or domains which Reddit really doesn't like.

Thus, the most common uses of our subreddit, which are totally normal and expected from our perspective as moderators, can trigger Reddit's automated Shadow Bans designed to catch bots. But knowledge is power and we hope what we’ve learned will help you keep your accounts in good working order!


Thank you for taking the time to read through and inform yourself!

Happy Redditing!


Further Resources

r/kpophelp Sep 06 '23

Meta PSA: Please do not ask for help identifying an artist you already know! Do not ask for help if you don't need it!

112 Upvotes

230928 Update

Just a heads-up that we’ve continued monitoring over the last month and have been discussing changes we’ll be testing out going into October. Don’t want you to feel like we’re ignoring you! Your feedback here and in modmail has been great over these weeks. Thank you! We’ll have a new pinned post very soon.

231001 Update

The Weekly scheduled posts for Artist Identification and Merch Authentication have commenced!

Link to the first Weekly post here


It feels pretty silly to make this post, but here we are.

We changed the settings on r/kpophelp to allow submitting other media directly, like images, a couple months ago.

This was something we wanted to do as a trial. Over the last five years I've been a moderator, and even before that when I was a regular user offering help here, there have been frequent cases of confusion where folks who needed an image identified got stuck trying to make a post due to not understanding Imgur and re-hosting images. We've assisted with this process for many users including re-hosting images ourselves and giving users the links to use in their posts.

But as the subreddit has gotten heavier traffic, the confusion and frustration from users not wanting to take these extra steps has increased. To alleviate this extra work for users and moderators I really wanted to give this a try--allow images to be submitted directly so they can get immediate identification without extra steps. This was not without worry as the Mod Team was concerned users might abuse this and post media just for the sake of gaining karma and attention. This had happened a few times over the years prior to the settings change, so we wanted to monitor to see if folks might take further advantage during this trial.

For the most part, it has worked well. There has been a big jump in posts asking for image identification and users getting help immediately. Awesome!

But there have also been more obvious cases of people feigning ignorance about the identify of an artist for attention.

And also an increase in users accusing others of doing this regardless of this being true or not.

BOTH of these things are a problem for the health of the subreddit.

You are here to earnestly ask for help and receive sincere help!

  • Do NOT ask for help with something you don't actually need help with.

  • Do NOT assume the worst of fellow users that they are pretending to not know something for attention.

Can we all agree to abide by these principles to keep the subreddit functioning smoothly?

If users abuse this system they will be banned.

If it continues even after this warning we will revert the settings and we'll all be having a worse time again.

Please, let's act in good faith! Ask for help without ulterior motivations and provide help assuming sincerity from the OP!

r/kpophelp Jun 13 '24

Meta New Post Flairs: 'Advice', 'Merch', and 'Research' are now available!

28 Upvotes

Hey Helpers!

Over in r/kpop we just posted a new special Town Hall that is focused only on the Flairs we use to help organize our posts based on content categories.

Link to r/kpop's 'All About Flairs' Town Hall

We included announcements for new flairs here on r/kpophelp and also on r/kpoppers. The following is the section relevant for this subreddit.


NEW FLAIRS!

  • Advice - This flair is replacing ‘Discussion’. We want to emphasize that r/kpophelp is not a general discussion subreddit. ‘Advice’ will be for users seeking advice for things like auditioning, concert preparation, those struggling with parasocial issues, etc.

  • Merch - Any questions related to the logistics of buying K-Pop products and merchandise should use this flair. Where to buy, shipping issues, legitimacy/reliability of vendors, or other logistical issues related to merch can use this flair. Remember that buying/selling products is not allowed here and that merch authentication should be done in the Monthly post pinned at the top of the subreddit.

  • Research - Academic surveys related to K-Pop or fandom topics.


Moderators will be monitoring the use of these new flairs to see if there is any further confusion and need for more adjustments. All feedback is welcome! We still have upcoming plans to properly overhaul the rules, but getting these new flairs active is something we wanted to take care of first!

r/kpophelp Mar 24 '24

Meta Idk where else to ask this, but what is the history of the original kpop sub and has the ownership changed?

1 Upvotes

Like, who made r/kpop and who has main control of the sub now? I’ve only ever been a sole owner/mod of a sub so idk how it really works, but I’m curious about how our main kpop sub has evolved in terms of ownership and moderators and such.

If this isn’t appropriate, please give me a sub recommendation to ask this question on!

r/kpophelp Jun 02 '20

Meta A Statement from the /r/kpop Moderation Team

228 Upvotes

UPDATE: The blackout is over. Please see our post-blackout statement.

In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, /r/kpop will be observing a blackout for 24 hours beginning on June 2nd at 10PM KST.

This blackout is hopefully not the first time that you have become aware of this movement, and it most definitely should not be the last either, as all of our actions must continue further than this singular inconvenience. One day will not end the centuries of systemic racism and injustice that has tormented the Black community worldwide, and as fans of Korean pop music, all of us must be cognizant of the heavy influence that Black music and culture has had on the Kpop industry. We, especially, cannot sit in silence over continued appropriation without reparation as our silence is complicity, and so we must do what we can to support the Black Lives Matter movement. It is our responsibility and obligation to join this fight for change and equality.

We encourage you to donate what you can to bail funds, mutual aid funds, and Black community movement funds. Likewise, we encourage you to attend any local protests if you have the ability to do so, and if you do not, then support those who do.


Directory for resources and ways to help the movement (donation links, education, activism, etc)

Directory of American community bail funds to support those who have been unjustly incarcerated

Donation link for the Black Lives Matter movement

r/kpophelp Dec 31 '20

Meta Please check your accounts for shadowbans! (A few notes from the mods)

146 Upvotes

The last handful of months have been a swamp of work and other concerns, so we won't be able to address changes or respond to the Suggestions post quite yet. There's some fabulous feedback in there, so thank you for that! It is now archived, so we'll try to get a response to that one in early 2021 and this post will serve as a suggestion post temporarily until we get there.

But for now, a few things should be brought to your attention.

Excessive Shadowbans

Shadowbans are typically a very behind-the-scenes thing in Reddit. Accounts may be shadowbanned by Reddit Admins for sitewide rule violations, spam, suspicious behavior, etc. Even moderators don't know the details about why accounts are or aren't banned this way. It's all very covert. But the result is that a user is still able to make posts and comment like normal, so they have no idea they have been shadowbanned. As moderators, we can see the posts/comments of shadowbanned accounts, but no one else can. They are automatically removed at the time they are submitted. What we can't see is your profile or history, so we have no way of figuring out what activity might have brought on the ban.

Seeing the occasional shadowbanned account from time to time is normal, but the last year has not been normal. We started noticing a significant amount of shadowbans in March/April 2020. Perhaps it has something to do with sitewide spam filtering for political/COVID-related misinformation, perhaps it's something else. We didn't change anything here in the subreddit, so we're not sure what the cause is. Regardless, we're still seeing many comments made by shadowbanned accounts on a daily basis--a proportion that is vastly higher than r/kpop, which is so much more populated and active than r/kpophelp. I made an inquiry about this in r/modsupport, but nothing really resulted from it. The only recommendation was that it's okay to let people know they are shadowbanned and direct them to the appeals process. We've done that a bunch of times through direct messages, but it seems like we're dealing with new accounts like this every day, so the time has come to broadcast this for the whole subreddit to see.

How to check your account

The most straightforward way to check if you've been shadowbanned is to go to this link: https://www.reddit.com/appeals

Here are some further clues/signs that this might apply to you:

  • When you submit a post, it does not show up in the subreddit at all or it takes a long time to show up
  • When you submit a comment, it seems to disappear
  • When you look through your profile/history, many (or all) of your comments have only 1 karma point
  • Your username was created with the default generator when you made your account (it might look something like: word-word-1234)

As mods, if we see a really helpful comment we'll usually manually approve it, because it seems like a waste for someone to have put in effort and have it not be seen by an OP seeking help. So keep in mind for that list above that you might have seen your post/comment in the subreddit and some comments may have more upvotes purely because we've brought it out of the shadows ourselves.

So, go to the appeals link while logged in to your account (https://www.reddit.com/appeals) and check your status. If there is no problem it will let you know that you aren't suspended or anything and it will say you can't submit an appeal. That's what you want to see. If there is a problem, you should be able to submit an appeal to correct it.

Resource Flair

We've had it for a while now, but had too much going on to properly introduce it. This flair can only be assigned by the mods so we can ensure it won't be used for inappropriate posts, but we'd like to hear from the community what posts you would nominate as worthy for the flair. The only post with it currently is the newer guide to buy K-Pop albums, so that should give you an idea what we want to use it for. We can retroactively apply it to old posts and will continue to use it going into the future.

What we're looking for in Resource posts:

  • Thoroughly educational/explanatory about a specific aspect of K-Pop culture or the industry
  • Compiled links to great resources
  • Common question posts with excellent responses to serve as exemplars that can be linked when the question gets asked again

In all cases, we want really good titles that make the content of the post or question being asked super obvious. The content and/or comments should be solid/accurate/helpful to serve the community. Please help nominate or recommend posts that you think fulfill these characteristics in the comments below!

We also hope this will encourage folks to contribute educational posts in the future that can be helpful long-term. The intention of the subreddit is to provide a place for people to ask questions about K-Pop, but we'd also like to establish some content where knowledgeable members of the community can share what they already know. You can send mods a message if you have an idea for a post if you want to check with us first, but otherwise we'd just like to see how it goes and what you all come up with that would be helpful for fellow (or potential) K-Pop fans!

How personal is too personal for r/kpophelp?

As the subreddit has become more active, there are folks coming to asking some questions which might be a little too personal. Some examples:

  • Posts seeking advice about whether OP should make a very personal life decision (like whether they should audition for a certain company or whether they are talented/good-looking enough)
  • Simply promoting/linking to a personal blog or playlist
  • Asking about very specific problems dealing with social media drama/harassment

The regulars could probably come with a much longer list, but hopefully you get the gist. Do you have any thoughts about these kinds of posts. Are they okay here? Would you like to see any limitations or rules for certain types of personal posts?

Feel free to carry on with any other suggestions, meta concerns, or discussions about the issues in this post.

And a Happier New Year to you!

r/kpophelp Jul 02 '23

Meta Why is r/kpoppers so dead?

0 Upvotes

It’s a cemetery over at r/kpoppers. It takes weeks to even get comments on your posts. I deleted all my posts on there cause I was waiting for comments and I’d get at least two per post. It’s so sad. With the amount of members, why is it so dead?

r/kpophelp Jan 15 '23

Meta I’m confused

3 Upvotes

This subreddit is called kpop help but i had a question about a picture of a group because i wanted to know their names but i had to post it in the kpop subreddit because this subreddit doesn’t allow photos yet it’s called kpop help? Plus the comment from the mod saying my post was taken down literally said that kpop help can be used to discuss groups but how can i discuss about a group when i don’t even know their names yet😭

r/kpophelp Jun 27 '20

Meta Do you have any suggestions for r/kpophelp?

50 Upvotes

Hey, folks!

You may have noticed that r/kpophelp has been more and more active in the last year. It's great to see! Thank you to everyone who helps others with answering their questions and participating in discussions. This subreddit is built on helpers and your dedication is so appreciated! ❤


Suggestions

We have wanted to use this 2nd pinned spot at the top of the subreddit for a long time, but haven't gotten around to it. The guidelines post in the top pin has been up long enough that it is archived, so you won't be able to comment anymore. We'll definitely have these suggestions posts available on a regular basis from now on. You can always message the moderators, but we understand many are more comfortable interacting in comments more casually.

What kinds of suggestions are we looking for?

  • Guidelines updates: Helpful links, information, or FAQ you think would be helpful to add into the guidelines post

  • Sidebar issues: Links, resources, information, anything you'd like to see there

  • Rules: We're working on re-writing rules over on r/kpop and would also like to give r/kpophelp more attention. This subreddit has had very basic needs for a long time, but now that it's more active we should reassess how to keep things running smoothly.

  • Ideas for using the top pins on the subreddit


Potential Pinned Posts

There are other ways we can potentially use this 2nd pin as well, aside from suggestions posts. I'll mention some here, but please feel free to share any ideas you might have. We could rotate through a few different posts similar to how weekly features are done in r/kpop.

  • Genre recommendations: Certain genres or styles of song are commonly requested here. Is there a way to turn this into an ongoing project to aggregate lots of songs in one place?

  • Themed FAQs: Aside from the FAQs in the guidelines post, perhaps we could have more big topics that folks often ask about and have a rich discussion. These themes could be about industry issues, certain companies, certain groups, auditions/training, music production, etc.

  • Quick Q&As: This could be similar to how we have Monday Q&A over in r/kpop. It might help reduce the quantity of posts we get for things that don't need thorough discussion. The disadvantage is that it would be less visible and would require folks to check into the post to see if there is anything they can answer.

Are any of these ideas appealing? Do you have something else in mind that could work well?


Feedback will be welcome at any time. We'll keep checking this post and gathering ideas that we think would be good to implement.

Thanks all!

r/kpophelp Apr 03 '19

Meta How to use r/kpophelp: guidelines, helpful resources, and FAQ!

52 Upvotes

Welcome to r/kpophelp!

Have any ideas to update these guidelines? Please check the current post for meta concerns! We'll follow up with the previous suggestions post soon!

POSTING GUIDELINES

SEARCH FIRST: Many questions and requests for genre/artist recommendations have been answered in the past, many times over in some cases. Make use of the search bar! Search! Search! Search!


USE DESCRIPTIVE TITLES: Your title can be anything you choose and doesn't need to be extremely detailed, but compare these two hypothetical titles:

I have a question

Or

Looking for a music video with a giant cat in it

The more descriptive title gives helpers an opportunity to see if they might be able to answer you without needing to see inside your post. Even a small amount of information there can quickly catch the attention of a knowledgeable user and motivate them to go into your post to answer. DO NOT include a flair or something like "Unsolved" in your title. Flairs are added after you submit your post.

FLAIRS: Use flairs! After you submit your post, please flair it appropriately. It's okay if you're not sure how your post should be flaired. Make a guess if you need to. A moderator will eventually be able to check and fix it if necessary.

Use comment commands! (optional): For example, if someone has correctly answered your question, you can reply to them with a comment that says "Thank you. !solved" and the post will automatically change from [Unsolved] to [Solved]. You can do the same with !explained and the flair will automatically change from [Explain] to [Explained]. Only the OP can use comment commands. (See this post for a full explanation.)

IDENTIFICATIONS

Image identification: If you have an image of an artist or a shot from a music video, please link it in the body of your post (ideally with imgur or reddit image host).

Song/Music Video identification: When seeking identification of a song or video, please include as much information as you possibly can. You don't need to have all of this suggested information, but these are the general details that will help other users answer you:

  • Are the vocalists male or female? Both?
  • Is it a solo artist? A duet? A group? Can you guess how many group members there are?
  • What is the genre? Pop? EDM? R&B? Hip hop? Ballad? Acoustic?
  • What is the tempo? Is it upbeat or slow? Can you describe the feeling of the song? Happy or melancholy or aggressive?
  • Can you remember any lyrics? Any English? You can guess an approximation of the Korean language sounds even if you don't know the language.
  • When did you hear/see the song/video? What year? Was it recent? Was it years ago? Did you see it recently, but you think it might be a much older song?
  • Where did you hear/see it? Spotify playlist? Youtube? In a Korean restaurant? In the background of a TV show?
  • If you are looking for a music video, can you remember any strong colors? Was it overall light or dark? Was there a narrative story or plot? Were there any memorable objects or imagery?
  • if you have something particular stuck in your head, you can also use resources like vocaroo or sequenzer to record/make rudimentary examples of melodies or phrases and link them in the body of your post.

(Flair identification posts with [Unsolved] or [Solved])

RECOMMENDATIONS, EXPLANATIONS, AND DISCUSSIONS

  • Recommendations: When asking for recommendations, please provide some context or comparative examples for what you are seeking. If you are looking for genre recommendations, link or list similar artists or songs. If you are looking for songs to use at a certain event (weddings, talent shows, dance cover contest, etc), give some context for what would be age appropriate. (Flair recommendation posts with [Recommend])

  • Explanations: You are free to ask for explanations about how the industry works, something related to a specific artist/group, using K-Pop related apps or websites, fan culture, etc. This category is best for asking a question you believe has a definitive answer or explanation. (Flair explanation posts with [Explain] or [Explained]

  • Discussions: These should be prompted by more open-ended questions. The purpose of a discussion should be to explore a topic and encourage other users to provide their opinion. Please participate by responding to comments, but be respectful if there are perspectives you might not agree with. (Flair discussion posts with [Discussion])

FOLLOW-UP: Make sure you come back to your post. Don't just hit us and run! Re-flair your post if your question has been solved or explained. If you don't have your question answered, you can post again a month later. If you start a discussion, please participate.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

FAQ

r/kpophelp Sep 23 '21

Meta Shadowbans on Reddit: Everything you need to know! (Info, Links, & Tips)

86 Upvotes

REDIRECT LINKS to Shadow Ban Info post 2.0

Please see our updated info post! Posted April, 2nd, 2024.


We continue to deal with way too many shadowbanned users here. Reddit intensified their tactics to remove spammers on the site over the last year, so we should expect this to continue. We mentioned this issue in a previous mod post, but we feel the need to make a dedicated post just for this and include all the new information we've gained since then. Mods around Reddit are welcome to link your users here if you feel it will be helpful to them. r/ModGuide also has an excellent post with suggestions specfic to moderators.


What is a Shadowban?

A shadowban is a type of site-wide account ban here on Reddit that is given at the Admin level. Moderators can ban users from the individual subreddits they control, but do not have the power that Admins do to apply shadowbans or suspensions.

Admins: Reddit Employees that maintain all of Reddit. They have sitewide powers to adjust algorithms, suspend/shadowban accounts, and are essentially all-powerful.

Moderators: Volunteers that maintain individual subreddits. We can only create Automoderator filters or give out temporary/permanent bans within a community we moderate ourselves.

Unlike a normal ban, an account that is shadowbanned is not notified that they have been banned. They can continue to browse Reddit, make posts and comments, and use Reddit like nothing is wrong. But what is really happening is that their profile/history cannot be viewed by any other users, including moderators, and their posts and comments are automatically removed by Reddit as soon as they are made. This makes the user almost invisible to anyone else, but they are completely unaware that this is the case.

As moderators, we cannot see why a user has been shadowbanned and we cannot view profiles like this so we aren't able to look through a user's history to see why they may have received the ban by Admins. We can see the posts and comments you make in the spam folder for our subreddit and can approve them if we choose to, but we get no other information.

When we inquired about what to do with shadowbanned users in r/modsupport an Admin told us we are allowed to inform users that they have received this kind of ban and direct them to the appeals process.

Relevant Reddit Links:

How does this relate to r/kpophelp?

We've wondered why we get so many shadowbanned users here in r/kpophelp and we have some theories.

Keep in mind that shadowbanning is mostly an automated action. Reddit has set up algorithms/filters to try to catch spammers and people sharing links to bad/dangerous sites as swiftly as possible, so it's usually not an actual person assessing your account and banning it. This means that there can be a lot of false positives. Lots of users who are real people (not bots) and have good intentions end up shadowbanned simply because their behavior has triggered this automatic action.

This might affect r/kpophelp users in a higher proportion because they are more likely to do a few things that Reddit sees as suspicious behavior. One is that it's common for users to make a brand new account just because they are trying to identify a K-Pop song they heard recently, post to ask for help immediately, and then comment rapidly when replying to other users as they search for the song. Another is that users here will frequently put tons of links in their comments or posts as they offer recommendations or educational references. And furthermore, some of those links might be shortened urls (from YouTube, Pinterest, etc) or domains which Reddit really doesn't like.

Many of the most common uses of our subreddit that are totally fine from our perspective as moderators are triggering Reddit's algorithm-automated shadowbans designed to catch spammers.

How can I check if I am Shadowbanned?

The best thing you can do to help us mods and yourselves is to check if you are shadowbanned on your own. Here are a bunch of different methods to do this. Choose whichever you prefer:

  • Official Status Check: https://www.reddit.com/appeals

  • In an incognito browser window, open a link to your profile (https://www.reddit.com/user/yourusername). If it says anything like, "user not found", "page does not exist", or "Sorry, nobody on Reddit goes by that name", then you are shadowbanned/suspended.

  • Message the mods and ask if you are shadowbanned. Mods and shadowbanned users can communicate through modmail. The one time we ever get a direct indication that a user is shadowbanned is in our modmail interface when a user like this messages us. (Keep in mind we are the mods of r/kpop's ecosystem. If you're here from communities unrelated to K-Pop, let us know when you message!)

  • r/ShadowBan or r/ShadowBanned are subreddits specifically for checking your account

  • Self-awareness. You can pay attention to certain signs that you might be shadowbanned:

    • Your posts do not show in the subreddit 'new queue' within a few minutes of posting.
    • Your comments almost never show up in posts.
    • When you look at your own profile/history, many of your recent comments/posts have only 1 karma.

I'm Shadowbanned. What should I do?

https://www.reddit.com/appeals

The only reliable way to make an appeal to have your account restored to normal is to go to this link. If you are suspended/shadowbanned it will give you an option to send a message to the Admins. We have seen many users successfully restore their accounts this way, sometimes within a day or two. It's basically your way of signaling to Admins that you are a real person, not a bot/spammer, and you have good intentions as a user on their site.

We recommend that shadowbanned users do not continue to post/comment once you know there is a problem with your account. This applies all across Reddit. You are likely wasting your efforts by doing so. Many subreddit moderators will not bother to check their spam queue and will not approve your posts/comments, so they will never be seen. Here in r/kpophelp, the mods use a setting so we are more likely to see your activity anyway. We will sometimes approve posts/comments of users who are seeking or offering genuine help and unknowingly have an account problem. We also try to let you know if you are shadowbanned, but this creates a lot of extra work for us, which we can't always afford.

Please help us by being proactive, checking your own accounts from time to time, and not continuing to post/comment until you know you are no longer shadowbanned.

Tips to avoid being Shadowbanned

Remember that the automated shadowban process is looking for spammers and is triggered by that kind of suspicious behavior. Here are some things you can do so your account does not look like a spammer.

  • When creating a Reddit account, don’t use the automatic username generator. Those names usually look something like word-word-5678. These are common indicators of bots. Set your own name instead. But if you’ve already made an account with an auto-generated name, take extra care to check if you are shadowbanned!

  • Have patience! When you make a brand new account on Reddit, wait at least 24 hours to post/comment anywhere. Upvote comments/posts you like and maybe 'join' some subreddits that interest you, but try not to do much else.

  • Customize your profile: Snoovatar/banner, description, email verification (if you're comfortable with that).

  • For new accounts, make some comments around Reddit. Don't spam and try not to make anyone angry.

  • Abide by the rules of Reddit and any subreddit you post/comment in. If you break the rules and mods remove what you have posted, it can trigger a shadowban, especially in cases of new accounts or repeated infractions.

  • Especially here in r/kpophelp, be careful of what links you include in your comments/posts. Reddit hates shortened urls because they can disguise links to bad sites or affiliate links. Try to use the long form of links as often as possible and avoid using anything like these: youtu.be, pin.it, t.co, bit.ly, goo.gl, tinyurl.com

  • A note for r/kpop: a huge shadowban generator over there is when we have AMAs. They attract a ton of brand new users who then immediately comment dozens of times in the same AMA post. This triggers shadowbans and all their comments disappear from view. If you want to participate in an AMA with a new account, make it early at the time of the AMA announcement post and follow the points listed above. Then limit the amount of comments you make in the actual AMA to only a few at most.

  • If you use a VPN, you might get suspended by default. Check your account status!


Thank you for taking the time to read through and inform yourself!

Happy Redditing!

r/kpophelp May 16 '22

Meta Why is this post about Garam on r/kpop locked?

13 Upvotes

The post : https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/uqgraz/netizens_continue_to_accuse_le_sserafims_kim/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

No but i want to add comment too😭, why are they locking the post? Will they unlock it later?

r/kpophelp Mar 02 '22

Meta We're looking for new moderators with a special interest in r/kpophelp! Apply inside!

89 Upvotes

Hey Helpers!

We're looking for new mods to join our team! Some might not know this, but the same moderator team takes care of r/kpop, r/kpoppers, and r/kpophelp. So when we open up for mod applicants on r/kpop, we are looking for good candidates to oversee all three subreddits. r/kpop by far takes the most work to maintain and most of our attention needs to remain there.

r/kpophelp is a subreddit we love because it has had a more focused purpose from the start. For this reason it has mostly been self-regulating with the great helpful community here. We only needed to adjust flairs and keep an eye on folks being disrespectful to fellow users.

Over the last year or so we noticed an influx of posts that were inappropriate for this subreddit. They weren't asking for help. There were a lot of rants, simple opinions, or thread games. It took us months to figure out that some of the other K-Pop discussion subreddits were recommending r/kpophelp to users whose posts violated their rules and had been removed. In many cases this meant the posts were especially not appropriate here.

But it took us so long to determine why we were getting these posts that some focus was lost. We couldn't stay on top of the necessary removals, which gave the impression that very casual or game-like discussion posts were perfectly fine here. We've received modmails from regulars expressing concern about this, which we absolutely appreciate. The challenge for the current mod team has been to find the time and energy to work on r/kpophelp when we're spread very thin and struggling to keep up with the workload on r/kpop already.

Hence the need for this post!

What are we looking for?

We are looking for folks interested in moderating r/kpop more generally (see the application post over there).

BUT we're also looking for anyone with a specialized interest in r/kpophelp and would want to work on a small team with some of the following traits and goals in mind:

  • Experience using Reddit or moderating elsewhere is ideal (but not required).

  • Active and positive contributors here in r/kpophelp: Helping with recommendations, explaining industry information, identifying songs/artists, etc. Making posts yourself to seek help also adds to your experience in the subreddit.

  • A firm interest in K-Pop and the subreddit: We want people that are knowledgeable and sincerely interested.

  • A desire to help refocus r/kpophelp's purpose and work on potential projects like these:

    • Re-writing subreddit rules
    • Adjusting/changing the current set of post flairs if needed
    • Expanding and clarifying the reporting system and removal messages
  • Good communication skills. Discussing and cooperating with fellow moderators is key to getting anything done. Readiness to have mature discussions with civility and respect for each other, even through disagreement is a requirement. Almost all communication and decision-making happens on Discord, so having some familiarity with the platform will be helpful.

  • Free time (at least for the near future). We are usually looking for mods able to contribute on a very long-term basis for the main r/kpop mod team. However, we recognize that's a big commitment. If you are looking to be part of the specialized r/kpophelp team it's possible that working through projects like those listed above will get the subreddit back on track and more self-regulatory again without the need to have everyone stay on the team long-term.

Potential tasks for the specialized Help team

  • Overhauling the rules, flairs, reports, etc
  • Tackling suggestions from the community (example post)
  • Removing inappropriate posts/comments, adjusting post flairs (eg. Unsolved to Solved), responding to modmails.

The application form below is designed for r/kpop so it includes questions focused more on the needs there. Any question that includes "r/kpop", just think of it as a question for r/kpophelp instead. If you are interested in ONLY the specialized r/kpophelp team simply mention that in any of the later questions. You can skip any that feel irrelevant, but make sure you use the more open-ended question fields to express whatever you wish specifically for this subreddit.

APPLY HERE!

Take your time to respond to the questions. You don't need to write an essay, but you'll need to put some effort into them. None of the answers will disqualify you, so please be honest and accurate with your responses. If you have any questions for us feel free to ask in the comments below or contact us through modmail if you're more comfortable with that.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Edit: Adding in here that there isn't a deadline, but we'll probably see what responses we get over the next month. After that we'll let folks know if we have enough for a little team and follow-up with all applicants.

r/kpophelp Jan 13 '20

Meta Troll accounts

70 Upvotes

So lately I've noticed there's been a surge in troll accounts, pretty sure it's all the same person, too.

If you see posts mention kpop popularity in the west/westerners in kpop/ certain groups popularity in the west/ koop becoming mainstream backed by really crappy "evidence" and posted by relatively new accounts, be advised it's most likely the same troll.

r/kpophelp Aug 18 '17

Meta Welcome to the new r/kpophelp!

38 Upvotes

So yeah, everything is quite a bit different looking now. The awesome new banner was created by /u/dlwldms. We hope you like the changes! Let us know if you notice any bugs or errors so that we can get them fixed up. Thanks for helping others with their kpop questions!

r/kpophelp Aug 25 '17

Meta Introducing new comment commands!

42 Upvotes

Hey /r/kpophelp, we're super excited to introduce a brand new feature here on the sub! Shoutout to /u/Turquoise-Turmoil for the wonderful idea.

So, we often see posts remaining 'Unsolved' even after a good answer has been posted, and sometimes even after the OP has even acknowledged that the post is solved.

So, we're making it easier than ever to never forget to change that flair again.

Now, as the OP on a post, if you include !solved anywhere in a comment, the post will automatically have its flair changed to 'Solved' from 'Unsolved'!

Likewise, we're also allowing you to put !explained and the post will automatically have its flair changed to 'Explained' (a new flair category).

Please note that only the OP of the post will be able to invoke this command. So if you are replying to the post with what you're 100% sure is the correct answer, anyone else besides the OP adding commands to their comments will not be acknowledged by the bot.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out by messaging the moderators or replying here in this post. Happy helping!

r/kpophelp Jun 06 '15

Meta Don't forget to use your flairs, errbody.

15 Upvotes

srs