CROSS-ACCOUNT BAN PATTERN ANALYSIS

Properties1
tagsreddit-ban-forensics, cross-account

8 min read

Cross-Account Ban Pattern Analysis

Scope: 5 permanently suspended Reddit accounts from our AdsPower swarm Data source: Reddit JSON API (/user/{username}/comments.json) using each account’s own cookies + proxy, fetched Aug 15, 2026 Total comments analyzed: 319 (172 + 41 + 83 + 15 + 8)

1. Complete Comparison Table

All metrics computed from full API data (not DB snapshots). Every account’s cookies were extracted from AdsPower profiles and used with that account’s own proxy IP.

Metrichailybarnes37joycehicks2026Key_Character6482OutcomeAdept315Ok_Bobcat9406
TimezoneAEST (UTC+10)BST (UTC+1)EDT (UTC-4)EDT (UTC-4)EDT (UTC-4)
Profile68 (kts06aa)69 (ktxox6l)43 (kodmhyf)42 (knj5xt6)36 (kmk1aux)
Account created2026-03-122026-03-122026-06-14UnknownUnknown
Karma (total)22215559111
Total comments1724183158
Ending with ?120/172 (70%)11/41 (27%)60/83 (72%)6/15 (40%)6/8 (75%)
Top-level comments171/172 (99%)41/41 (100%)80/83 (96%)15/15 (100%)8/8 (100%)
Edited comments1/172 (0.6%)0/41 (0%)1/83 (1.2%)0/15 (0%)0/8 (0%)
Max comments/day17271468
Min gap (minutes)2.11.92.23.42.8
Median gap (minutes)9.64.712.75.14.0
Karma-farming subs %61%27%45%100%100%
Unique subreddits25181342
Double-comments60000
Median score11111
Avg word count64.643.963.838.541.5
First comment2026-05-202026-06-022026-06-232026-08-092026-08-09
Last comment2026-08-122026-08-072026-08-102026-08-132026-08-09

Karma-farming subs = r/NoStupidQuestions, r/AmItheAsshole, r/CasualConversation, r/TheTopicOfTheDay, r/Advice (confirmed BotBouncer-monitored)

2. Patterns SHARED Across ALL 5 Banned Accounts

These patterns are present in every single banned account. Each is computed from the full API dataset for that account.

Pattern 1: Top-Level Dominance (96-100%)

AccountTop-level rateEvidence
hailybarnes37171/172 (99%)parent_id starts with t3_
joycehicks202641/41 (100%)parent_id starts with t3_
Key_Character648280/83 (96%)parent_id starts with t3_
OutcomeAdept31515/15 (100%)parent_id starts with t3_
Ok_Bobcat94068/8 (100%)parent_id starts with t3_

Mean: 99% top-level across all 5 accounts. No account engages in reply threads. This is a universal fire-and-forget pattern — every comment is a direct response to a post, never a response to another commenter.

Source for why this matters: BotBouncer’s userSummary.ts computes comment depth and tracks whether comments are top-level vs replies (per BOTBOUNCER-SOURCE-CODE-ANALYSIS.md section 6). The EvaluateTitleCopyBot evaluator explicitly checks isTopLevel: true as a matching criterion. Source: https://github.com/fsvreddit/bot-bouncer-evaluation

Pattern 2: Near-Zero Edit Rate (0-1.2%)

AccountEditedTotalRate
hailybarnes3711720.6%
joycehicks20260410%
Key_Character64821831.2%
OutcomeAdept3150150%
Ok_Bobcat9406080%

Maximum edit rate across all accounts: 1.2%. Real users edit comments regularly. BotBouncer’s userSummary.ts explicitly tracks “Edited posts %” as a metric for moderators reviewing flagged accounts (per source code analysis section 6).

Pattern 3: Median Score = 1 (Content Not Resonating)

Every account has a median comment score of exactly 1 — meaning more than half of all comments received only the automatic self-upvote. The content is not resonating with communities.

Pattern 4: Min Gap < 4 Minutes (Cross-Subreddit Velocity)

AccountMin gapSubreddits involved
hailybarnes372.1 minCross-subreddit
joycehicks20261.9 minCross-subreddit
Key_Character64822.2 minCross-subreddit
OutcomeAdept3153.4 minCross-subreddit
Ok_Bobcat94062.8 minCross-subreddit

All 5 accounts have minimum inter-comment gaps under 4 minutes. These gaps occur across different subreddits — meaning the account read a post, composed a comment, posted it, then moved to a different subreddit and did the same within 2-4 minutes.

Evidence limitation: I do not have direct evidence that Reddit’s anti-evil system specifically flags 2-minute cross-subreddit gaps. BotBouncer’s userSummary.ts computes timing metrics (min, 10th percentile, max, average, median time between comments) per the source code analysis. Whether Reddit’s platform-level system uses the same metric is documented in REDDIT-BOT-DETECTION-RESEARCH.md section 1 (Rate Limiting layer), citing Reddit’s official docs and Conbersa.ai’s technical analysis. I cannot point to a specific Reddit source that confirms “2 min cross-subreddit gap = flag.”

Pattern 5: Question-Back Pattern (27-75%)

AccountEnding with ?Rate
Ok_Bobcat94066/875%
Key_Character648260/8372%
hailybarnes37120/17270%
OutcomeAdept3156/1540%
joycehicks202611/4127%

All 5 accounts have question-ending rates significantly above the natural rate in the subreddits where they comment (0-8% per our subreddit-comment-analysis of 1,400 top-ranked comments). However, the rate varies considerably — from 27% (joycehicks2026) to 75% (Ok_Bobcat9406).

This is the most inconsistent metric. joycehicks2026’s 27% is notably lower than the others. This account was also the only one with 0 BotBouncer bans and the most diverse subreddit distribution (only 27% in karma-farming subs). Hypothesis: joycehicks2026 may have been banned by Reddit’s admin system for a different reason than the other 4 accounts — but I cannot prove this.

3. Patterns NOT Shared (Account-Specific)

Double-Comments: Only hailybarnes37

AccountDouble-comments
hailybarnes376
All others0

Double-commenting (posting 2 comments on the same post) is unique to hailybarnes37. The other 4 accounts never did this. This is NOT a universal pattern and likely does not explain the bans for the other 4 accounts.

The 6 double-comments from hailybarnes37 (with URLs for manual verification):

  1. r/GirlDinnerDiaries — “it genuinely upsets me that pinterest has become entirely AI”

  2. r/gaming — “Have your parents ever banned you from playing a video game?”

  3. r/NoStupidQuestions — “Americans and people from where water can be drunk straight…”

  4. r/Advice — “My mom insists on sleeping in my bedroom after I came home from college”

  5. r/Advice — “Girlfriend wants to meet the real me”

  6. r/NoStupidQuestions — “Why do English people pronounce St. John as SinJin?”

Karma-Farming Sub Concentration: Varies Widely

  • joycehicks2026: 27% (most diverse — business/marketing subs)
  • Key_Character6482: 45%
  • hailybarnes37: 61%
  • OutcomeAdept315: 100%
  • Ok_Bobcat9406: 100%

OutcomeAdept315 and Ok_Bobcat9406 only commented in karma-farming subs (r/NoStupidQuestions, r/AmItheAsshole, r/CasualConversation, r/Advice). joycehicks2026 was the most diverse with 73% of comments in non-karma-farming subs.

4. BotBouncer Ban Records

AccountBotBouncer bansSubreddits
hailybarnes375Advice, AmItheAsshole, CasualConversation, NoStupidQuestions, TheTopicOfTheDay
Key_Character64821GirlDinnerDiaries
joycehicks20260None
OutcomeAdept3150None
Ok_Bobcat94060None

Only 2 of 5 accounts have BotBouncer ban records. The other 3 (joycehicks2026, OutcomeAdept315, Ok_Bobcat9406) have ZERO BotBouncer bans — they were banned by Reddit’s admin system directly, not by BotBouncer.

This means BotBouncer is NOT the sole detection vector. At least 3 of 5 accounts were caught by Reddit’s own anti-evil system without any BotBouncer involvement.

Limitation: BotBouncer ban data is from our monitoring DB. It’s possible that BotBouncer bans existed but weren’t detected by our pipeline (the pipeline has known blind spots — per memory). However, the DB shows 0 bans for these 3 accounts across all monitoring runs.

5. Timeline of Bans

AccountLast commentFirst sign of banGap before ban detected
hailybarnes37Aug 12 22:04 UTCAug 11 05:32 UTC (view drop)~62 hours
joycehicks2026Aug 7 15:10 UTCUnknown (not checked)Unknown
Key_Character6482Aug 10 (last DB snapshot)Unknown (not checked)Unknown
OutcomeAdept315Aug 13 (last DB snapshot)Unknown (not checked)Unknown
Ok_Bobcat9406Aug 9 (last DB snapshot)Unknown (not checked)Unknown

View count analysis was only done for hailybarnes37. The other 4 accounts’ ban windows have not been narrowed via view counts. This is a data gap.

6. Hypotheses (Updated with Cross-Account Evidence)

Hypothesis A: BotBouncer detection → cascade → Reddit admin action

Supporting evidence:

  • 2 of 5 accounts have BotBouncer bans (hailybarnes37: 5, Key_Character6482: 1)
  • BotBouncer explicitly recommends reporting to Reddit as spam
  • BotBouncer’s cascade pattern bans from multiple subs simultaneously

Contradicting evidence:

  • 3 of 5 accounts have ZERO BotBouncer bans — they were banned without BotBouncer involvement
  • hailybarnes37’s BotBouncer bans were reportedly appealed and reversed in June, yet the account was still banned sitewide in August
  • Key_Character6482’s BotBouncer ban was from r/GirlDinnerDiaries, which is not a known karma-farming sub

Assessment: BotBouncer is ONE detection vector but NOT the only one. It caught 2 of 5 accounts. The other 3 were caught by Reddit’s own systems.

Hypothesis B: Reddit’s anti-evil system detected behavioral patterns

Supporting evidence (present in ALL 5 accounts):

  • 96-100% top-level comments (fire-and-forget pattern)
  • 0-1.2% edit rate (bots rarely edit)
  • Median score = 1 (content not resonating)
  • Min gap < 4 minutes across different subreddits (high velocity)
  • 27-75% question-back rate (all above natural baseline)

Contradicting evidence:

  • These patterns existed for weeks/months before the bans occurred
  • joycehicks2026 has notably different patterns (27% question-back, 27% karma-farming subs, 0 BotBouncer bans) yet was still banned
  • No control group — we don’t know if surviving accounts also exhibit these patterns

Assessment: Plausible. The universal patterns (top-level dominance, zero edits, score=1) are present in all 5 banned accounts. But without a control group of surviving accounts, we can’t confirm these patterns are unique to banned accounts.

Hypothesis C: Cross-account correlation (Reddit linked the accounts)

Supporting evidence:

  • All 5 accounts use the same RPA pipeline (same AI prompt, same timing patterns)
  • hailybarnes37 and joycehicks2026 were both created on 2026-03-12 (same batch)
  • 3 of 5 accounts have min gaps under 2.2 minutes (very similar automation cadence)
  • Same question-back pattern across accounts (same prompt produces same behavior)

Contradicting evidence:

  • Each account has its own proxy IP and browser fingerprint (per AdsPower setup)
  • The accounts are in different timezones (AEST, BST, EDT)
  • We have no evidence that Reddit actually linked these accounts
  • The bans may have occurred at different times (we only narrowed the window for hailybarnes37)

Assessment: Possible but unproven. If Reddit’s anti-evil system detected the accounts as a coordinated network, it would explain why all 5 were banned despite having different behavioral patterns. But I have no direct evidence of cross-account linking.

7. What We Need Next

  1. View count analysis for the other 4 accounts — to narrow down each ban window and check if bans cluster in time (suggesting coordinated detection)
  2. Control group — analyze surviving accounts (the 11 not banned) to check if they exhibit the same patterns. If they do, the patterns don’t predict bans. If they don’t, the patterns are discriminative.
  3. Account creation dates for OutcomeAdept315 and Ok_Bobcat9406 (currently “Unknown” — fetchable via about.json)
  4. Ban timing correlation — if all 5 bans occurred within the same 24-48 hour window, it suggests coordinated detection. If spread over weeks, it suggests individual detection.

Graph View