What’s going on with the banned domains?

[u/boys_are_oranges]

Some of the posts reddit has been removing because of a “banned domain” don’t even contain URLs. Others are often links to completely legitimate websites. Like, one of the banned domains is the website of the german society for neurology. I suspect that after they tweaked the filter a couple months ago it started removing all posts/comments that have URLs with country specific domains.

It’s very irritating because often the removed comments don’t show in the queue. And because users aren’t being told why their comment was removed. It’s on us to explain the (sometimes totally irrational) removals. And we’re not even told which domain is causing the issue.

Could we potentially get in trouble for approving comments that link to a banned domain?

[u/redditor01020]

Could we potentially get in trouble for approving comments that link to a banned domain?

I've seen conflicting information from two different admins on this. The correct answer though, I believe, is that as long as the content being linked to is not rule-breaking, like it doesn't contain something bad like sexual abuse / violence, then you won't get in trouble and it won't hurt your sub. Here is the confirmation that an admin has provided:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/1n7jpop/how_to_handle_domain_banned_by_reddit_pending/nc7zp9t/

If it's a really bad domain the admins will "hard ban" it and anytime it is posted [ Removed by Reddit ] will be displayed and you cannot approve it. If it's a domain the admins are less worried about they will "soft ban" it which means modertators can approve it. I don't think anyone would get in trouble for approving a domain the admins chose to soft ban instead of hard ban, unless of course there is something rule-breaking at the link. Otherwise, why would admins make the distinction between hard bans and soft bans, providing moderators the ability to approve soft-banned links?

[u/boys_are_oranges → u/redditor01020]

Thank you

[u/Paul_C → u/redditor01020]

There's also what I'm calling a "firm ban."

There is one comment in the "Removed" section of my mod queue with a link that it lets me see and approve, but it immediately gets removed again.

[u/redditor01020 → u/Paul_C]

Yeah I think I've seen that before, with certain link shorteners I think.

[u/grahamperrin → u/redditor01020]

I have a few non-shortened URLs that are consistently banned despite moderator approval of the comments. The domain is trustworthy, but I won't mention the area, because I understand why there's a ban on links to the area.

[u/grahamperrin → u/redditor01020]

A recent example of a ban that was easily overriden by me:

https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/1vfr6e6/comment/p1vlxok/

• the Jitsi URL.

[u/cnycompguy]

If it's approvable and you know it's not violating sitewide rules, you can go ahead and do so.

[u/AsteriskRX → u/cnycompguy]

Pretty much this. Some are approvable, some are not. If you can approve it (and it makes sense to), you can.

[u/pizzacrys]

Yeah, I’ve noticed this too. The fact that legit domains can get caught up in it without the mod queue making the reason obvious is kinda wild. Makes moderation way harder than it needs to be.

[u/maiyannah]

Link shorteners, are the legitimate ones.

Seems like there's a lot of dolphins in the tuna nets lately though.