How to appeal a Reddit ban, and what to write

Reddit gives you six months to appeal a sitewide ban. It may not give you a second try.

So the first appeal is the one that counts. It should be short, true and sent to the right place.

Here is how to write it, in 4 parts, with 5 things you can copy.

Save this. Read it before you write a word to Reddit or to the mods.

Short answer

To appeal a Reddit ban, first find out who banned you. For a ban from all of Reddit, follow the instructions in the notice in your Reddit inbox, or log in and use reddit.com/appeals, within six months. For a hidden spam flag, a shadowban, use the same appeals page while logged in. For a ban from one subreddit, write to its moderators through modmail. Keep it short, say what happened, send it once, and don't post from another account while you wait.

Key takeaways

• A subreddit ban comes from that subreddit's mods. A Reddit ban and a spam flag come from Reddit's admins. Each has its own appeal route.
• Reddit takes sitewide appeals for six months after the ban notice.
• Reddit says it reverses a ban when its first call was wrong. An appeal works best when it shows exactly that.
• Reddit may limit how many times you can appeal one decision. Send one good appeal.
• Posting from a second account while banned is ban evasion, and Reddit says it can lead to a sitewide ban.

1. Which kind of Reddit ban do you have?

Look at how you found out. A chat message from a subreddit's mods means a subreddit ban. A banner on Reddit plus a notice in your inbox means Reddit banned the account, for a set time or for good. No message at all, while your profile is missing when you are logged out, usually means a spam flag, which most people call a shadowban.

Reddit's help center calls a sitewide suspension a ban, and splits it into temporary and permanent. Here is the table I use to sort them. Copy it.

Not sure about the last row? Run the shadowban checks first. They take a few minutes.

Reddit's page on enforcement and appeals also explains why some bans come with a timer. For some rule breaks, the steps go warning, then a 3-day ban, then a 7-day ban, then a permanent one. Other breaks skip straight to permanent.

A brand new account that posts a link on day one looks a lot like a spammer, even with a real person behind it. Rankhog warms up accounts you own, slowly, in your own browser.

2. How do I appeal a sitewide Reddit ban?

Open the ban notice in your Reddit inbox and follow its appeal instructions, or log in to the banned account and go to reddit.com/appeals. You have six months from the notice. Name the rule, say in a sentence or two why the ban was a mistake, and stop. Reddit asks you to explain why you think it was wrong, so that is the whole job.

Reddit's page on banned accounts is plain about it. If you think there was a mistake, appeal within six months and Reddit will take a second look.

That framing matters. Reddit's enforcement page says it reverses a decision when it finds its first call was wrong. An appeal that shows the mistake has something to work with. An appeal that only says sorry gives the reviewer nothing to reverse.

Here is an appeal for a ban you think was a mistake. Copy it, and only keep the parts that are true.

Hi, my account u/yourname was banned for [the rule named in the notice]. I think this was a mistake. The [post or comment] in question was [what it was, in one plain sentence]. [The one fact that shows it didn't break the rule, such as: it was my own photo, the link was to a free guide the thread asked for, or the other account isn't mine.] Could you take a second look? Thank you.

Five sentences is plenty. The reviewer can open your history, so every claim has to hold up.

What if the ban was right? Then be honest with yourself about the odds.

For a temporary ban, I would not appeal at all. Let it run out, read the rule, and come back on the date in the notice.

For a permanent ban you earned, an appeal is your only door, and it is a narrow one. Say what you did in one sentence and what you changed in another. Don't argue the rule.

For a spam flag, a Reddit shadowban appeal goes through the form at reddit.com/appeals, the route Reddit's spam flag page gives. Log in to the flagged account first. The shadowban post has a template for that case.

Before you press send, run this check. Copy it.

1. You are logged in to the banned account, not another one.
2. The appeal names the rule from the notice.
3. Every sentence is true and matches your post history.
4. It is under 100 words.
5. Nothing in it blames a mod, a user or Reddit.
6. You are sending it once.

3. How do I appeal a subreddit ban?

Write to the subreddit's moderators through modmail, from the banned account. Reddit's help center sends subreddit ban appeals to the mods, because they run their communities as they choose, within Reddit's rules. Be polite, be brief, and ask what you would need to change.

Mods see a lot of these. Reddit's modmail even has a Ban Appeals folder just for messages from banned users. Yours sits next to every other one, so short and polite stands out.

Two things to know before you write.

First, write from the banned account. Modmail has a ban evasion filter that mods can turn on, and it moves messages from suspected ban evaders into a filtered folder. A message from your second account can land there, and it tells the mods you have one.

Second, mods can mute you in modmail. One angry message can close that door.

Often the ban message doesn't say what you did. Here is a message for that case. Copy it.

Hi mods, I was banned from r/[subreddit] today, and I'm not sure which post or rule it was about. Could you point me to it? I'd like to understand so I don't make the same mistake here or anywhere else. Thanks for your time.

If you do know what you did, the shadowban post has a modmail template that owns the mistake.

And if the answer is no? Reddit's own help page on disputes with moderators suggests finding a similar community instead. That is the right call. There is almost always one.

4. What should you do while you wait?

Wait, and keep your hands off the other accounts. Don't post from a second account, don't send the appeal again, and don't take the fight to other subreddits. Read the rule you broke, fix what led to it, and let a temporary ban run out. Reddit publishes no appeal time, so don't sit refreshing your inbox.

How long does a Reddit appeal take? Reddit only says it handles appeals in a timely manner. I have seen nothing more specific from Reddit, so I would not guess.

Here is the list for the waiting days. Copy it.

Do

• Read the rule named in the notice, and the subreddit's rules if it was a subreddit ban.
• Fix whatever caused it: a link habit, a copied comment, a post in the wrong place.
• Check your inbox and your email for the answer.
• Let a temporary ban run to its end date.

Don't

• Post or comment from another account. That is ban evasion, and Reddit says it can lead to sitewide bans.
• Send the same appeal again. Reddit may stop processing appeals from people who send many unfounded ones.
• Make a new account to start over. Reddit's enforcement tools include restricting new accounts.
• Post about the ban in other subreddits, or message the mods from other accounts.
• Delete your history in a panic. It doesn't undo the ban.

When the ban ends, start slower than before. The Reddit rules that get marketers banned covers the rules that most likely caught you, and the Reddit marketing guide covers how to come back as a company without tripping them again.

What I don't know yet

• Reddit publishes no approval rate for appeals, so I can't tell you your odds.
• Reddit publishes no appeal time either. Six months is how long you have to send one, not how long an answer takes.
• I don't know how much a reviewer weighs tone against facts. My templates are plain because plain is easy to check.
• Reddit doesn't say how many appeals it allows per decision. It only says it may limit them.

Who this is not for

If you want to argue that a rule is unfair, an appeal is the wrong place. Appeals are about whether the rule was applied right.

If you ran several accounts that voted for each other, I would not write an appeal that pretends otherwise. The history will say what happened.

What to do next

Today, in this order:

1. Find out which kind of ban you have, using the table.
2. Read the notice and the rule it names.
3. Write one short appeal, from the banned account, to the right place.
4. Run the six-point check, then send it once.
5. Wait, and stay off your other accounts until you have an answer.

Sort. Read. Write. Check. Wait.

Thanks for reading. When you are back, give the account a slower start than last time. Rankhog warms up accounts you own, slowly, in your own browser.