On: Ask HN: Discord banned me with no recourse

[ridgered4]

> A few days ago I made three accounts to try to test ways to get them off my back. One was made on a virtual machine on a VPS located a thousand miles away from me and had no connection to me. Although I did give vague hints to friends that it was me. They banned all three accounts, even the VM one. I had a nervous breakdown knowing I may never be able to participate on the platform again. I also felt like I was being watched.

Curious what the mechanism for identifying the VPS account was. Phone number? Some sort of client signature? I don't use discord.

[cloudwalk9 → ridgered4]

Well, I was very vague but still identified myself to a few friends in a trusted server using subtle cues like the cloud emoji. This was a mistake in hindsight because I'm sure they could put two and two together, but it also made me realize how dedicated they are to keeping me away that they're now watching the server I join for any sign of me.

There should have been no other link to me, no fingerprint. This was an environment that has never touched Discord.

As of now I set up a new account that is less-than-discreet, obviously me if they're paying attention, and another account that is very discreet, on a VPN. I'm testing to see if an Android work profile is leaking anything. If both accounts get disabled, then it's back to the drawing board. If the not-so-discreet account gets disabled, the work profile is working and I'm on the right track. Although it sucks to have to abandon my friends and identity over this nonsense, just to stay hidden and be fearful of seeing that damn login screen again.

Hey, if neither get disabled in the next, say, month, maybe this Violet person was fired or they gave up. I can only assume it's them if they're the ones intercepting my appeals every time.

[breakingcups → cloudwalk9]

Alternatively, they ban any new accounts made from a known VPS ip range due to scam bot issues and that ban was just unrelated.

[Nuzzerino → ridgered4]

The vps account was banned because it was created on a vps. Probably wasn’t linked to you if you ask me.

[cloudwalk9 → Nuzzerino]

I dunno. All three accounts were banned at the same time.

[Nuzzerino → cloudwalk9]

The process that does the bans will do them in batches. It is not a person pressing a button for each account.

[cloudwalk9 → Nuzzerino]

Huh. That's reassuring.

[workethics → ridgered4]

They probably use the user's social graph. Taking all those precautions won't help if the new account just rejoins the same servers and talks to the same people as the banned account.