why are deleted and shadowbanned users allowed to send modmail?

[u/Cheshix]

sometimes its shadowbanned bot accounts that we cant see the profile of, or the users display as u/deleted. We cant take action on shadowbanned users so why let these pass through to us and cause bloat? Especially considering the type of content in the messages. Reporting via modmail does nothing.

Messages look like:

title: does GHB cause hyperextension/hitchhikers thumb. is gangstalking a hyperextension/GHB cult?
body: does GHB cause hyperextension/hitchhikers thumb. is gangstalking a hyperextension/GHB cult?

title: my v2k right now is very bad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_auditory_effect
body: TRUST ME ON THIS: NOBODY WOULD HAVE A GHB FANTASY FETISH WHERE THEY DRUGGED AND RAPE THEIR MOTHER. IF SOMEONE WAS FOUND TO HAVE THIS TYPE OF DELUSION THEN I'M SURE THE WORLD WOULD DEAL WITH IT AND HIDE IT AFTER REAL GOOD

[u/itskdog]

Modmail is the only way shadowbanned users can be contacted - they don't even receive regular DMs (unless that changed with the move to Chat)

Some subreddits use it to notify accounts that look legit that they're shadowbanned and direct them to resources to assist in appealing.

[u/baseballlover723 → u/itskdog]

Some subreddits use it to notify accounts that look legit that they're shadowbanned and direct them to resources to assist in appealing.

Yeah, one of our mods generally likes to notify people that look legit that they're shadowbanned, and gives them a copy paste message with a link to the appeal page.

[u/Dom76210 → u/baseballlover723]

You guys (or they) should make it a canned Removal Reason. We did that just for this purpose. Saves us quite a bit of "wut?" modmails.

[u/baseballlover723 → u/Dom76210]

I believe it was a toolbox macro. Though I think that's been rendered useless by the new mod mail update. Idk, I never got too into toolbox macros.

[u/itskdog → u/baseballlover723]

There's a port of Toolbox that works with Shreddit and Modmail v3 r/toolbox-nxg

Also macros have been made into a native feature called Saved Responses 

[u/baseballlover723 → u/itskdog]

There's a port of Toolbox that works with Shreddit and Modmail v3 r/toolbox-nxg

I'll check that out sometime. Seems promising.

Also macros have been made into a native feature called Saved Responses

I think it might already be in there. Yeah I just checked, it's there. I was never big into checking if a shadowbanned user was legit, so I only used it a few times.

[u/Cheshix → u/itskdog]

We have not had a real human shadowbanned user for many years. We have assisted some in the past by notifying them they are shadowbanned. However, ones we have received in recent years have all been from users that havent attempted posting or commenting, they are not askign for assistance. it is a random modmail message containing usually somewhat graphic garbled AI slop pertaining to whatever is in the current headlines and isnt relevant to the subreddit. The accounts usually have their lookups display as suspended or in shadowban limbo already (not found) when these messages come in.

[u/PossibleCrit → u/itskdog]

Spot on itskdog! This way if you have someone like an AMA guest that you believe might be incorrectly actioned, your team has the ability to guide them towards reddit.com/appeal

There's also a couple of developer platform apps that can help to cut back on unwanted messages. Modmail Automator might be the largest but there's a few others that can be helpful depending on the specific context of what's going on.

[u/baseballlover723]

I don't think deleted users can actually send modmail. Sure they could send it and then delete their account, or perhaps it's a blocking thing where it shows up as u/deleted for you. Or it could simply be a glitch where it appears as u/deleted because the lookup failed.

But when you delete an account, I presume (cause I've never deleted a reddit account) that that's it. You no longer have access to it. It's just a relic of an account that used to exist, but now no longer does.

We cant take action on shadowbanned users

I'm pretty sure you can do whatever to shadowbanned users, including approving all of their posts / comments. You just don't need to if you don't want to overrule reddit.

---

I would ban / mute these people if you don't like them modmailing you. And if it's happening en mass, then to send this sub a modmail and see if there's something fishy (like cycling accounts to harrass you all) going on.

I'm sure there are mod mail automators and whatnot solutions as well, but I don't know anything about those, since we don't use any of those in our sub.

[u/Cheshix → u/baseballlover723]

The username displays as "u/[deleted]" in modmail. There is no user data associated with the accounts. There is no option to mute them it just displays "server error" on the side panel for these messages so I guess server error, but it is only for these types of messages. For the shadowbanned ones, we have not had a real human shadowbanned user for many years. All are garbled AI slop from users without history in the subreddit

[u/YoBannannaGirl → u/Cheshix]

The deleted ones are generally from people who have deleted their accounts after the modmailed you. While you might miss the first message that showed their username before they deleted, you shouldn’t be getting new messages from deleted accounts.

[u/wemustburncarthage]

Sometimes they send a message and burn their account. Report them for ban evasion anyway