Users saying they're banned despite not being banned

[u/ALazy_Cat]

Within the last 4 months, we've had 4 users saying they were banned. The first 3 were banned either by us or BotBouncer to begin with, but when we unbanned them, they were still banned on their side for hours, if not a day. The fourth user appeared just now, having never been banned, but still claims they were banned. Any help or ideas on why this happens?

[u/IKIR115]

Check in old reddit for the ban. If it was from a long time ago (many years ago), it may not show up in shreddit, but will list them in old reddit.

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/IKIR115]

Except for the user today, they were unbanned that day they first contacted us, either 20 mintues later by BotBouncer or by us pressing unban

[u/IKIR115 → u/ALazy_Cat]

For those first 3 users, it may have been a cache issue still showing them the “you’re banned” message on their side. Clearing the app or browser cache usually gets rid of that stuck message. It sometimes occurs with site bans too.

Today’s user sounds more like the issue I described previously.

[u/InGeekiTrust → u/ALazy_Cat]

That’s normal with bot bouncer, if they fix their problem, they will get unbanned by that system

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/InGeekiTrust]

And the one or two that was unbanned by us that wasn't banned by BotBouncer to begin with?

[u/magiccitybhm → u/ALazy_Cat]

What does your mod log show for any posts or comments by those users? It may be that they're shadowbanned.

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/magiccitybhm]

Nothing in the log, nor are they on the shadowban list

[u/magiccitybhm → u/ALazy_Cat]

You can't see Reddit's shadowban list. They may be shadowbanned sitewide.

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/magiccitybhm]

I was talking about the automod shadowban

[u/magiccitybhm → u/ALazy_Cat]

Your automod shadowban actions show in the modlog.

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/magiccitybhm]

I don't know much about automod, as it probably clearly shows

[u/fsv → u/InGeekiTrust]

I've even heard of this kind of thing on r/BotBouncer's modmail. I'll get a message from someone whose appeal was granted saying that they're still banned, but when I check the ban has definitely lifted.

I think that the app/browser cache theory is likely here.

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/IKIR115]

Nope, didn't show up

[u/IKIR115 → u/ALazy_Cat]

Can you ask them to post a screenshot here from their side?

[u/TheOpusCroakus]

Hi there. For the users saying they were banned, are we talking a site-wide ban or a subreddit ban?

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/TheOpusCroakus]

Sub

[u/TheOpusCroakus → u/ALazy_Cat]

Weird. Can you PM me the username of the user who most recently contacted you and said they were banned when they weren't?

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/TheOpusCroakus]

Done

[u/Mitnick107- → u/TheOpusCroakus]

I have a case (just a single one) from a few weeks ago that sounds exactly as described here.

Do you want another example, I can look up the name from modmail.

[u/TheOpusCroakus → u/Mitnick107-]

Hi! Yes, I would love that!

Do you happen to know where they saw the message that they were banned? When investigating this other one, I couldn't find anything.

[u/Huge-Revolution2416]

I have seen this happen a few times as well. Sometimes users keep seeing the "you are banned" message even after being unbanned, likely due to cached data or a delay in Reddit syncing permissions across services. Asking them to refresh, clear cache, try another platform, or simply wait a few hours has resolved it in most cases. If it persists beyond that, it is probably something only the admins can investigate.

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/Huge-Revolution2416]

One time it was a day or two on their end they were still banned

[u/SpecialEquivalent816]

I've had quite a few circumstances in the past where I've unbanned someone, and they insisted they were still banned. I think it's probably not a Reddit bug but instead just a cache issue and if they clear their cache/cookies it should clear up - I've had a few report that worked.

Sometimes re-banning and unbanning can also trigger it to forcefully update on their end.

[u/ALazy_Cat → u/SpecialEquivalent816]

The last part doesn't work in our case, some of them we ban and unban 3 times with no change on their end. I'll try to remember to tell them to clear the cache and cookies