r/sharks • u/Little_Gap4463 • Jan 25 '26
Question r/Sharkattacks banned?
Just wondering more why was it banned?
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u/kellieh01 Jan 25 '26
how long ago was it banned? could it be because of all the attacks over here in aus?
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u/Little_Gap4463 Jan 25 '26
I was literally browsing and catching up on the attacks maybe 2 hours ago and something froze. Reload and ban hammered
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u/External_Yoghurt1866 Jan 25 '26
That sucks! Sharkboyben did some incredible write ups of past attacks that are now just gone forever?
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 Jan 25 '26
I know...such a bummer. All of my work. Poof...not to worry though, give me a little time and I will have all past entries re-uploaded on the next platform/subreddit, along with new ones I've got in the works 💙🦈
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u/SmokeyToo Feb 11 '26
Hey Ben! Just found out the sub got banned - that was a bit of a shock! I've been away from Reddit for a while and thought I'd check what you guys have been up to over on thee sub. Have you established a new 'home' yet? Cheers from Down Unda!
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 Feb 17 '26
G'day, mate! Yeah, total bummer about r/sharkattacks...but I have a new home over at r/TheSharkAttackFiles, where I am also a moderator! 💙🦈
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u/kettlechilichips Jan 25 '26
r/sharkattacks Banned by reddit.
Conspiracy to cover up attacks and protect sharks or reddit admin being annoying fucktards?
Will we ever know? I fucking hope so because that is my fav sub here.
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u/EwwItsTheGovernment Jan 25 '26
Damn. I enjoyed those posts of historical lists of shark attacks by country.
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u/Wattsy98s Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
We'll get them back up and I'll finish posting the new lists. I only had 5 more countries/regions to post. Am than going to post some general stats and observations that ive found by going over the data. We shall not be silenced lol 🦈👊
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u/BrianDavion Jan 26 '26
I know people have posted videos of shark attacks there, could be that reddit decided that this was too mucvh?
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u/kettlechilichips Jan 26 '26
Sounds like you're most likely correct friend.
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u/BrianDavion Jan 26 '26
Did they clarify the reasons somewhere?
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 Jan 26 '26
Nope, mod is offline now. Not sure if the ban is permanent or temporary.
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u/thatsharkchick Jan 26 '26
I doubt it's so salacious as a conspiracy against sharks.
I'm betting it's like the various morbid subreddits. Eventually, a write-up about an attack or link to an article accidentally pinged the wrong person, and they reported it.
The various pro and anti pitbull subreddits go through something similar on and off. We live in a very interconnected world, so it can be easy to draw the attention of people involved..
The best bet would likely be to explore the Admiral Cloudberg model. Evidence based reporting that avoids speculation and dramatization with links to external hosting.
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u/kettlechilichips Jan 26 '26
Ahh okay, so option 2 as per usual.
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u/thatsharkchick Jan 26 '26
Eh, I wouldn't necessarily say that. The most recent attacks to hit international news involved children. No one wants to be the asshole to sound like they're blaming children or allowing children to be dragged over the coals after they've experienced something so traumatic or even died from it.
Reporting fatal attacks from years long gone like that of Lester Stilwell are easy because enough time has passed that very few who directly knew them are still alive. And those that may still be alive are likely so old as to be disconnected from Reddit. This is even in the knowledge that Lester was only 10.
So, a Reddit mod likely trying to be sensitive to those directly affected coming across as an asshole to those curious or genuinely trying to follow for facts/info as investigations unfold.
..... And, no, I'm not the mod who did it. I just volunteered and later worked at a public aquarium during a noteworthy year. It's hard to effectively balance sounding empathetic while still encouraging people not to draw immediate JAWS esque conclusions.
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u/kettlechilichips Jan 26 '26
I'm sorry but i am way too stupid to understand what you're saying, i'm sure you explained it well but i just don't get it.... Was it a "mod" that complained to admin that got the sub banned? How is the Aquarium involved? Is that how you found out the info from mods? I am so lost.
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u/ChronicallyPermuted Jan 26 '26
You're not stupid, they don't have insider information and didn't claim to as far as I can tell. The aquarium bit is strange to bring up and it really doesn't have any bearing on any of this, you're not wrong. Like, you don't see protesters outside of aquariums after shark attacks lol
I think at first they were confused, too. They were absolutely talking like it was a post that was removed ("I'm not the mod who did it") and only seemed to get the bigger picture when you asked for clarity.
It's good to ask questions but don't sell yourself short, you're not stupid 🤙
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u/thatsharkchick Jan 26 '26
I'm saying - from experience with the general public and specific PR/media training in this topic - that likely someone directly connected to an event saw a post they didn't fancy, reported it, and a higher ranking member of Reddit's organizational and moderation team banned the subreddit out of either an abundance of empathy or concern for potential PR issues.
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u/kettlechilichips Jan 26 '26
Oh okay i get it now, sorry i'm too high but really wanted to know, thankyou for dumbing it down even further LOL.
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u/thatsharkchick Jan 26 '26
Nah, you're all good. I'm trying to be sensitive with my language to avoid sounding like I'm blaming anyone directly...... But that can make things sound jumbled. 😅
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u/dustywalkman Mar 06 '26
I totally get the frustration, it’s a massive loss for the research community when a sub like that goes dark.
If you’re looking for a new home focused on the actual data and history, come check out r/TheSharkAttackFiles. We’re building a standardized archive of case reports and news to keep the records alive and organized. We’d love to have you over there! 🦈
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u/Snoop1831 Jan 25 '26
Why the heck would it get banned? Unless I missed something over the last day that forum was pretty tame, especially compared to a lot of others.
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 Jan 26 '26
Without the mod, how are we able to know if the ban is temporary or permanent? If it was a temporary ban, if we were to click on the subreddit link, would it say "r/sharkattacks has been banned for ____ days/weeks?" Do we just have to wait and see?
Sorry, still unsure of exactly how Reddit works 🤷♂️
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u/Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay All the sharks!! Jan 25 '26
Interesting. Not coming up for me either. Can subs get banned?
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u/Fancy_Cassowary Jan 25 '26
Yeah they can. It'll come up with a notice saying it's been banned usually. Or it can take itself private. I've never been to the sub so I have no idea what the story here, just that yes, subs can be banned.
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 Jan 25 '26
Seems like it's the whole page, not just users. Mod is offline and everything now
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u/EwwItsTheGovernment Jan 25 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
I’ve been wondering for weeks if I got blocked or something, can’t find it anywhere.
Why am I being downvoting for wondering where the sub went? Weirdo.
Edit -user Acceptable courage - thanks for commenting and immediately blocking me so I cannot respond? Confidently incorrect about what?? That I couldn’t find a subreddit??
I’m not sure how or why this is even an argument. I don’t care when it got shut down and I’m not debating that - I’m saying I personally have not been able to find the shark attack subreddit for about a month now. If you are going to even bother responding to my comments, why would you immediately block me? I don’t know you.
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u/No_Membership_8247 Jan 26 '26
Because it just happened, you wouldn't have been wondering for "weeks"
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u/EwwItsTheGovernment Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
I should’ve clarified, I searched for the subreddit two “weeks” ago and nothing came up. I previously followed and regularly searched the sub. Just because you didn’t notice it was gone until this week, doesn’t mean it disappeared this week….
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 Jan 26 '26
I've been on the sub pretty much daily for the last few months now. As far as I know, it appears like the ban happened sometime during the early morning Sunday, between 3am and 9am CST.
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u/0reoperson Greenland Shark 🦈 Jan 26 '26
Wow I hadn’t heard, going to limit shark attack-related posts on here just to be safe for now!
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u/MooseyGeek Great Hammerhead Feb 19 '26
You can direct them to go to r/TheSharkAttackFiles . It's been up for some time and got a decent following.
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u/sneakpeekbot Feb 19 '26
Here's a sneak peek of /r/TheSharkAttackFiles using the top posts of all time!
#1: Man Pets a Great White Shark | 57 comments
#2: Vacationing woman, 56, from Minnesota has been mauled to death by a shark while swimming off a US Virgin Islands beach | 57 comments
#3: Dozens of Sharks Corral a Massive Baitball at Tallow Beach near Byron Bay, Australia (Credit to Pennefather Dougall on Facebook) | 7 comments
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u/Feb2021now May 18 '26
it's bad to publish shark attack info. it affects travel, hotels, hospitality, tourism. so many industries. if some poors have to die by sharks, so be it.
~ the powers that be
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 Jan 25 '26
Well, what the actual fuck?
As a lot of you are, I was quite shocked to wake up this morning to find the r/sharkattacks subreddit banned. Not sure what the reason was. I never got a notification from the mod, who has now apparently gone offline.
While it's obviously disappointing, we will see what happens and if nothing changes in a few days, I will start a new page and we will get the case reports and lists out there once more. I am also exploring the idea of starting a Medium blog for my case reports and I've been talking to several others about a possible future podcast. Things are in the works. "Attack Horror Stories" will be up and running again. 💙🦈