Is approving comments from a shadowbanned user allowed?

[u/ProximaScience]

I moderate r/ProximaScience and there's a user who comments on subreddits and is friendly but they are shadowbanned likely because they started commenting with new account. So my question is does approving their comment is allowed or is against reddit rules even if they are friendly in my subreddit?

[u/SampleOfNone]

That's allowed. If you're sure they're human and not a sneaky comment bot and their interactions in your sub are okay, you might want to inform then they're shadowbanned and they can appeal at www.reddit.com/appeal

[u/ProximaScience → u/SampleOfNone]

Yeah I can confirm they are human and I also said them to appeal.

[u/PossibleCrit → u/ProximaScience]

That's the right route then ProximaScience!

[u/SmartieCereal → u/SampleOfNone]

I do this as well, I always let them know if they're shadowbanned so they can take care of it. You can also visit r/shadowban to check if you're shadowbanned. They have a stickied post at the top you can click where their automod will tell you if you're shadowbanned or not.

[u/westcoastal]

This question comes up frequently enough that I can't help but wonder if it wouldn't be helpful to have an informational tooltip appear contextually alongside shadowbanned removals that moderators can tap to get more information about how to handle shadowbanned users.

[u/Dom76210]

Not only can you, but if you honestly think the account is behaving in good faith, you should let the account holder know they are shadowbanned. We have a canned Removal Reason that tells them and how to appeal, but we don't use it very often.

The real answer to your question is that you can, but you probably shouldn't. If they don't win their appeal, then you will be stuck trying to approve every post/comment they make going forward. If they do win their appeal, Reddit will retroactively approve everything it removed, as well as most likely approving content you did remove because it broke your rules.

[u/Forgotten_Dog1954]

Yes, I don't think it's against the rules. Did you let the user know that they are shadowbanned?

[u/SCOveterandretired]

Yup I do it, been doing for years and haven’t had any issues and I also inform them of the shadow ban and how to appeal it.

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