It seems that /r/worldnews has a rogue mod. I was posting on a thread about the plan to release contaminated water from the fukushima nuclear facilty: - https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/13v31eq/85_of_koreans_oppose_japans_plan_to_dump/ When out of the blue comes a message that I've been permabanned. The only reasoning provided is the single word "troll". - Message here: https://ibb.co/56Y2dcv Note that there's no information othe rthan "troll", no indication of which post qualifies for "trolling". And note how they've jumped straight to a permaban, not a warning or a temp ban, just a straight permaban based on a single word "troll". I'm nonplused as I've been providing academic peer reviewed papers to back my comments, whereas the people I'm responding to simply say things, that are incorrect and intended to mislead mind you, without backing them up. Obviously the reporting system has been abused, right? So of course I question it - https://ibb.co/rQhvwm0 For reference the three posts I linked to in the message are: - https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/13v31eq/85_of_koreans_oppose_japans_plan_to_dump/jm4nbmv/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/13v31eq/85_of_koreans_oppose_japans_plan_to_dump/jm4o01d/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/13v31eq/85_of_koreans_oppose_japans_plan_to_dump/jm4rcel/ They were all summarizing or responding to malicious comments. Unfortunately the japanese comment brigades are very active on reddit, the pattern they follow is a very well known one as I summarized in the post here: - https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/13v31eq/85_of_koreans_oppose_japans_plan_to_dump/jm4omn2/ Note that I again provided evidence of how the japanese propaganda machine works. Push and repeat simple messages, silence opposition and create an echo chamber for the messaging. Exactly what's happened in that post. The response is simply "You broke the sub's rules". And "we have the final say" - https://ibb.co/pLgxFp3 Of course that simply begs more questions. How is providing peer reviewed evidence "breaking the subs rules"? How does that merit a permaban? This is odd to say the least. I feel forced to point out that providing evidence isn't trolling in any sense of the word, it's the people I'm responding to that are "trolling" if we have to use the word. Isn't the point of a subreddit like worldnews to be informative? What's more informative than providing peer reviewed papers? And also, the reporting system isn't there to be a tool for censorship. But the response leaves things as clear as mud. "This is not a debate. There is nothing further to discuss" - https://ibb.co/2dRkXRG I understand that modding is difficult and thankless, mistakes happen, and people get overloaded. But that type of response is simply tantamount to "we want to shut you up and we don't care how". I can't for the life of me believe that the mod team as a whole want /r/worldnews to be a cesspit of propaganda where anybody providing evidence gets banned if it goes counter to the narrative that's being pushed by the comment brigades. - https://ibb.co/YfSMNtJ But of course you get the inevitable muting - https://ibb.co/fDfL9BX Like I said in my message to the mods, if you're volunteering for something you're donig it because you feel passionately and principled about. I'd imagine that the majority of mods on that subreddit mod because they want people to be informed and to share information. I refuse to believe that the mod team as a whole has sold out to the propaganda brigades. It must be a single mod going rogue and as you can see from their responses they're blatantly abusing their powers for the purpose of silencing evidence. Let's be perfectly clear, the japanese comment brigades are very active on that subreddit, keep an eye on posts about japan and you'll clearly see the pattern that Pat Choate spoke about, but It would be a deep shame if things had gotten so bad that the mod team has been infiltrated by them and the modding system is being abused to silence people providing evidence that runs against their narrative. Leaving such people in position where they can abuse their authority would soon start to reflect badly on the rest of the team and as the saying goes "a rotten apple spoils the whole barrel". A spoiled mod will be involved in choosing new mods, and soon enough you've got so many of them that the entire team becomes rotten.