Definitely. The Overton window on Reddit is tightly managed. Anything outside of it is shadow banned at admin level and whatever is inside is amplified by bot comments. Been going on for years.
Not to mention rando control freak mods can get you cast out for posting in other subs even because they "banned" you from theirs (even if you never joined or even posted there) and reddit has no way to see if you are "banned" in a sub other than a one time notice that's easy to forget. I have sent in a few requests notifying how fking dumb that is, but haven't heard a peep. If you are banned from a sub, then you should not be able to post there -at all- because it's extremely easy to forget. I deliberately delete my account after about 1 year of activity so I don't get too attached to them. It's a good renewal exercise.
I brought this up to Huffman (u/spez) during ModWorld and followed up with him later. The mods on r/pics have been on a pre-emptive banning spree lately. The issue is on his radar now at least.
Cool! just reviewing my comments. Thanks for bringing it up. A simple "you are banned from posting notice" after trying to post would be all it takes. If I'm banned from a sub, then don't let me post there. It shouldn't let vindictive, power hungry mods permaban you from reddit because you "ignored a ban".
Absolutely. Honestly, I took the presence of this HN post itself, and the fact that it directly contradicts my own first hand experience, as a really bad sign (for HN).
Very little has changed on Reddit since the protests. A few tight knit communities went to discord. But tons of people loooove to complain.