this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025

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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards

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This is a community in the spirit of "Am I The Asshole" where people can post their own bans from lemmy or reddit or whatever and get some feedback from others whether the ban was justified or not.

Sometimes one just wants to be able to challenge the arguments some mod made and this could be the place for that.

Posting Guidelines

All posts should follow this basic structure:

Which mods/admins were being Power Tripping Bastards?
What sanction did they impose (e.g. community ban, instance ban, removed comment)?
Provide a screenshot of the relevant modlog entry (don’t de-obfuscate mod names).
Provide a screenshot and explanation of the cause of the sanction (e.g. the post/comment that was removed, or got you banned).
Explain why you think its unfair and how you would like the situation to be remedied.

Rules

Post only about bans or other sanctions that you have received from a mod or admin.
Don’t use private communications to prove your point. We can’t verify them and they can be faked easily.
Don’t deobfuscate mod names from the modlog with admin powers.
Don’t harass mods or brigade comms. Don’t word your posts in a way that would trigger such harassment and brigades.
Do not downvote posts if you think they deserved it. Use the comment votes (see below) for that.
You can post about power trippin’ in any social media, not just lemmy. Feel free to post about reddit or a forum etc.
If you are the accused PTB, while you are welcome to respond, please do so within the relevant post.

Expect to receive feedback about your posts, they might even be negative.

Make sure you follow this instance's code of conduct. In other words we won't allow bellyaching about being sanctioned for hate speech or bigotry.

YTPB matrix channel: For real-time discussions about bastards or to appeal mod actions in YPTB itself.

Some acronyms you might see.

PTB - Power-Tripping Bastard: The commenter agrees with you this was a PTB mod.
YDI - You Deserved It: The commenter thinks you deserved that mod action.
BPR - Bait-Provoked Reaction: That mod probably overreacted in charged situation, or due to being baited.
CLM - Clueless mod: The mod probably just doesn't understand how their software works.

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Self report: AITPTB for banning someone for report abuse? (ponder.cat)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So, I saw a report from one of my users. They reported:

https://ponder.cat/post/1594852/1813842

For the reason:

Unreasonable fighting with everyone in every simple post

I think that's ridiculous, so I talked with them about it. Posting private communications is frowned upon I guess, but long story short, they weren't receptive. I've decided to ban the account.

IMO the general culture on Lemmy is that users are entitled to their free account and everyone needs to be careful and circumspect about limiting that entitlement in any way, but I don't see it that way. I don't think it's a requirement for me to provide hosting space for anyone who wants to use my stuff as a jumping-off point for abuse of Lemmy's systems, and isn't apologetic or receptive when I talk with them about not doing that. The fact that it's in service of harassing FlyingSquid in particular is just icing on the cake, since my perception is that people like to harass him apparently for no legitimate reason at all (with this as an example).

AITA?

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[–] UniversalMonk 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

PTB in my opinion. It seems banning someone for one post is a bit extreme.

Totally your call, but that's how I see it when other mods do actions similar as to yours.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

History has shown that your opinions are as pointless as the dozens of accounts you create.

[–] UniversalMonk 0 points 1 week ago

No argument there. My opinion is pointless. But it's Lemmy, so aren't all the opinions of all of us sorta pointless when ya think about it?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Finally got banned from lemm.ee, did you?

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] This dude is evading my attempts to block him, via an endless series of new accounts he makes on new instances. Please consider this a report for block evasion and harassment, as applied to his UniversalMonk account on your instance (all of those being instances on which he's previously made some new account and then had an interaction which caused me to block that account and ask him to stop contacting me.)

(Not that you losing an account on any given instance is really that big an obstacle of course. Like I said, it's a flaw in how Lemmy is set up, from the perspective of moderation, and actually exactly why I don't give a ton of leeway to new accounts that show strong signs of being up to some kind of malicious behavior.)

Edit: Since it kind of got lost in the forest of replies below: Yes, I have proof of them deliberately evading blocks, by trying to talk to me on blocked accounts, then switching accounts to non-blocked accounts and then posting "random" comments as the first actions from the non-blocked accounts: https://ponder.cat/post/1596872/1838056

They've also participated via voting in communities they were banned from. It was only a few times, so it could have been an accident. But also, they've making dozens of new alts because the old ones keep getting banned and they want to keep doing the same stuff that got them banned, so it's a little disingenuous to claim there's no possible way they could keep up with all the blocks and bans that have been applied to them, because it's so complicated at this point, so it doesn't count.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

As that user said, they're not deliberately attempting to block evade. Just a side effect of making a new account

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's actually not true. People overuse the word "gaslighting," but this is actually a perfect example of the original meaning of the term.

This is the second time recently he's "accidentally" posted on something I wrote, and both times, he switched away from one of his commonly-used alts, to a different one that I didn't have blocked, right before posting. I can, if you want me to, send you the output of this from my system:

Huge SQL query

WITH target_people AS (
  SELECT id, actor_id
  FROM person
  WHERE name LIKE '%UniversalMonk%'
)
SELECT 
  action_time as timestamp,
  actor_id,
  item_id,
  score,
  creator_actor_id,
  CASE 
    WHEN score IS NULL AND content IS NOT NULL THEN 
      CASE 
        WHEN length(content) > 20 THEN substr(content, 1, 20) || '...'
        ELSE content
      END
    ELSE NULL
  END as content
FROM (
  -- Comments
  SELECT 
    c.published as action_time,
    p.actor_id,
    c.id as item_id,
    NULL::smallint as score,
    creator.actor_id as creator_actor_id,
    c.content
  FROM comment c
  JOIN target_people p ON c.creator_id = p.id
  LEFT JOIN person creator ON c.creator_id = creator.id
  WHERE NOT c.deleted AND NOT c.removed

  UNION ALL

  -- Posts
  SELECT 
    p.published as action_time,
    person.actor_id,
    p.id as item_id,
    NULL::smallint as score,
    NULL as creator_actor_id,
    NULL as content
  FROM post p
  JOIN target_people person ON p.creator_id = person.id
  WHERE NOT p.deleted AND NOT p.removed

  UNION ALL

  -- Comment votes
  SELECT 
    cl.published as action_time,
    p.actor_id,
    cl.comment_id as item_id,
    cl.score,
    creator.actor_id as creator_actor_id,
    c.content
  FROM comment_like cl
  JOIN target_people p ON cl.person_id = p.id
  LEFT JOIN comment c ON cl.comment_id = c.id
  LEFT JOIN person creator ON c.creator_id = creator.id
  WHERE NOT c.deleted AND NOT c.removed
) combined_actions
ORDER BY action_time DESC;

So what it shows this time, is UniversalMonk using his sh.itjust.works account and lemmy.dbzer0.com account and nothing else for a few days, including most recently at Feb 12 at 23:27, and then at 23:36, switching to his r.nf account, which I haven't blocked and which he doesn't use much, and the first thing he did with it was comment on a post of mine.

The previous time was actually even a little more egregious. He was using his other accounts (including his lemm.ee one, before that one was banned), then at Feb 4 at 21:04 I made a comment in some thread mentioning the existence of a new alt of his, and he switched from other actions on his mainly-used accounts (most recently at 21:38) and then at 21:39 from his vegantheoryclub.org account, his first action on that account was to post this:

https://vegantheoryclub.org/comment/1670126

Then, when I semi-politely told him that he was evading the block (since it was pretty obvious to me that something along the lines of the above had happened, although I didn't verify it at the time) and asked him not to, he played the exact same game of pretending he had just innocently stumbled across a post of mine and wanted to say something about it, and it was totally unreasonable for me to ask him not to.

There's a reason he switches to an account I haven't blocked right before leaving these comments. And yes, I know it sounds semi-psychotic that I went digging around in the database to verify that he is gaslighting you when he feigns total shock and surprise that he had left a comment under a post by me, pretending it was total coincidence. This is why he keeps getting banned on different instances: His behavior is really very strange, dishonest, and malicious in a kind of unique way.

Anyway, yes he was block evading on purpose to minorly irritate me. I'm happy to DM you proof excerpts or similar. I know it sounds kind of petty for me to go to this extent, but the other way to look at it is, this is the extent that someone has to go to if they want to not be communicated at by UnviersalMonk. He has a history of targeted harassment of users in the past (which is what got him banned from lemmy.world), and for me he seems to have chosen this kind of "gaslighting and hoping I'll complain about it, so he can feign innocence and write a big italicized innocent message" approach.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Nice details

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I've seen them posting in communities and instances they have previously been banned from. If they made an attempt to avoid it that would be one thing but they don't.

I'm almost certain they are ban evading with their alts.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

I posted some timestamps of them switching to an alt I don't have blocked, specifically so they can comment on my posts and I will see it. Happy to send the logs in question if anyone wants to see without digging through their own database.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If you have, then DM admins directly about that. They probably mod those communities as well, so reports never reach the admins

[–] UniversalMonk -1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

So Blaze, I'm a little disappointed in you. We have never agreed on anything, but you have always been a straight shooter.

I actually sent you a DM a day to two before this thread was even started, mentioning that I was noticing fake accounts with my name.

That was BEFORE this thread started. Not that I'm asking you to speak up for me or anything, but it's curious how you just sorta let this "ban evasion" conversation going on, while knowing that you had been alerted to the fake UniMonks by me.

And you seem fine to let the conversation carry about people's disbelief in fake accounts under my name. I have seen Universal Monk, Multiversal Monk, and RealUniversal Monk names.

I told you before this conversation ever started that there were fake accounts with my name. Can I ask why you stayed silent on that?

We're not friends. I get it. But you are usually impartial in your conversations.

And I just found another fake UniversalMonk posting to lemm.ee, which I have been banned from. And I just reported to the mod of c/conservative and the admin @[email protected] to report. :)

Hmmm, and the user created that name just recently. Around the time this thread was started. Wow, what a strange coincidence. A heated debate of my ban evading.

So I post proof that I don’t post in communities that I have been banned from. Then magically there are accounts with my name suddenly posting in communities I have been banned from. Even tho that wasn’t happening before this thread.

I messaged the mod, Ella and alerted her to the user and the post:

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[–] UniversalMonk -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I’ve seen them posting in communities and instances they have previously been banned from.

Name one. Provide examples. Lots of admins talk to each other. So let's see some proof of what you have seen.

The vast, vast majority of my posting is to my own communities. But I'm totally fine with you showing some screen shots of where you have seen me posting to places I am banned from with--time stamps to show that they were posted AFTER any ban. PhiliptheBucket seems to have every timestamp of everything I am posting and even he is not accusing me of what you just have.

So give me an example of where you have seen me posting to a banned instance and/or community AFTER I was banned.

I’m almost certain they are ban evading with their alts.

But you just said you've seen me posting in communities and on instances I've been banned from. Now you are saying "almost certain."

So which is it? Did you see me like you said above or are you "almost certain?"

And if you are so sure of it it, did you report those to the admin? And do you have examples? Let's have a look.

I keep the same fucking username. So it would be pretty hard for me to post in communities that I'm banned from. Seems like the mods could spot it right away.

If wanted to ban evade, wouldn't it be easier to just come up with a random name and then post wherever I wanted?

And again, guys. I am NOT the subject of OP's original post. This is all off-topic. This thread is not about me. Let it go!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You are notorious for ban evasion. The fact that you’re here casting aspersions on others for doing what you do clearly indicates the fact that you’re a troll.

[–] UniversalMonk -5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I haven't evaded any bans. Please provide proof that I post in communities that I've been banned from. People keep saying that about me, but show show no proof of it.

And when I see people masquerading as me trying to post in banned communities in order to get you all riled up, I report them to admin and to mods. As I had to do just yesterday with "multiversal_[email protected]." and multiple accounts of someone calling themselves "RealUniversalMonk."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Aaahhh… the old “it’s not me” trick.

[–] UniversalMonk -3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I alerted admins to him. I know who he is. He's done it before. He'll do it again. He's mad because in the early days I made fun of people with ai girlfriends. He got offended because he had one. Then he got more mad because I refused to vote for Harris in the election.

He also makes parodies of his OWN accounts, so that he can blame it on me. He's been stalking me since that first day I was on Lemmy and made fun of ai girlfriends. Which is hilarious to me! :)

His work can be seen in this very thread. He can be pretty maggoty sometimes. :)

Unless you're an admin for an instance that I'm on, I don't care if you believe me.

Notice that I'm still on Lemmy in spite of you all wanting me off. My main instances (which I won't name so you guys don't send them hateful DM's) know the truth and stand behind me. :)

Thanks, friend!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

While that is some top-notch trollsmanship, you do know I don’t believe any of that bullshit, right? I’d imagine very few do. And, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but- most people generally don’t go where they’re not wanted. And as you have acknowledged, no one wants you here.

Lastly, if you’re accusing @[email protected] of impersonating you, you should own the accusation and not beat around the bush.

[–] UniversalMonk -1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Actually just found another fake UniversalMonk posting to lemm.ee, which I have been banned from. And I just reported to the mod of c/conservative and the admin @[email protected] to report. :)

Hmmm, and the user created that name just recently. Around the time this thread was started. Wow, what a strange coincidence. A heated debate of my ban evading. So I post proof that I don't post in communities that I have been banned from.

Then magically there are accounts with my name suddenly posting in communities I have been banned from. Even tho that wasn't happening before this conversation.

Wow! What a coincidence! Imagine that. Right? Hmmm.. I wonder who could have done that. Hmmm...let me think. Who has had it out for me since before the election..and was really really mad that I didn't vote for harris? And would actually post stats of how many posts I made and my downvote count? Hmmm..oh and even made parody accounts of himself to accuse me of doing that...Who ever could that be? Hmmm...

You all need to pull up some admin logs so that truth can be known! lol

She may ignore messages from me since I have been banned from there, but feel free to message her yourself for verification. And I'd invite admins do that as well.

My message to the admin:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Nice try.

[–] UniversalMonk -2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You know I'm right.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, the person that has been banned by countless communities and instances across lemmy- and currently can’t stop getting themselves banned should totally be trusted to tell the truth.

And would you just look at that? You were banned as recently as less than an hour ago. Looks like even the conservatives can’t stand you.

[–] UniversalMonk -2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

And yet, I'm still here. Of course conservatives can't stand me--I'm not conservative. I don't believe in the duopoly. Which is why I proudly voted Socialist party and will continue to do. Can't wait for the next election, so I can vote for a socialist party again.

And half of those Universal Monks being banned aren't even me. LMAO They're trolls who are silly enough to use my name to try to get me banned. But they get banned with that name. So waste of their time.

But thanks for being so obsessed with me that you keep stats on my name. For some who can't stand me, you sure to seem to study me a lot.

Thanks, friend! :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Sure, troll! :)

[–] UniversalMonk -1 points 4 days ago

You're the one mad because you couldn't talk the fediverse into getting rid of me. Sounds like you are doing a lot fo trolling behavior over there. Feel free to block me. I'm not leaving Lemmy. Thanks, friend!

[–] UniversalMonk -2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

While that is some top-notch trollsmanship, you do know I don’t believe any of that bullshit, right?

I don't care if you believe me or not.

Besides it's lame trolling anyway. Because using my name and posting in a place I'm banned from, gets that name banned right away anyway.

So they are legit wasting their time. I've been banned from c/politics on .world. In the last 3 days, three different fake accounts with my name have posted there. And the comments get removed and the user gets banned right away. Like what's the fucking point of them doing that?! lolol

I've actually talked to one of the mods there about it. Feel free to ask Jordan about it. I alerted him and let him know there would be even more attempts and to keep a look out for this name and variations of my name.

My name is poison already. Using it and impersonating me doesn't do anything but just make more people think I'm everywhere--which would just be an example of "feeding the troll." It legit makes me laugh that that dude is so obsessed with me that he impersonates me.

The whole reason I am still on my main instances is because I don't ban evade. The whole reason I use the same user name on my different instances is so that it's recognizable right away. If I were to post in a banned community or on a banned instance under this user name, it'd be instantly recognizable and banned. That's the whole reason I use this name on other instances. To prove you all wrong.

The ONLY reason there are imposters of me is because they want you all to get riled up and have the entire fediverse ban me. But my main instance admins already know this. And that's why I'm still here.

If I wanted to ban evade, I'd just use a different name. I sure as fuck wouldn't use "Universal Monk," "REAL Universal Monk," or "Multiversal Monk." lololol

And if my name ever does get banned from entire fediverse, then I'll just use a different username.

I'm not fucking leaving Lemmy. No matter how much you all get mad about it. This name or another, I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm retired. I have all the fucking time in the world to post on Lemmy. One way or another, I'll keep posting. I also have my own instances.

Save yourselves the grief and just block me. Because banning won't do anything.

Thanks, amiko!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, didn’t read past the part where you said you didn’t care if I believed you- then created a wall of text.

You clearly don’t care.

[–] UniversalMonk -2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Of course you're gonna say that you didn't read it. Because I proved you wrong. And you don't wanna hear that.

And actually, yes, you did read it. :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Well, I can’t prove a negative, so I guess that’ll just have to be as irrelevant as your presence here.

But what I can do, is I can promise that whatever it says, I don’t give a shit. And Rhys is a proven positive.

Oh, and lastly- remember that day you got originally banned? I’d like you to know that I was the one that reported your vulgar and harassing PMs you kept sending me after I told you several times to leave me alone. Remember that? Well, within a an hour or so after my report- you were banned from .world. I’d like you to always remember- I did that.

You’re a troll. You don’t belong here.

[–] UniversalMonk -1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

so I guess that’ll just have to be as irrelevant as your presence here

If I'm so irrelevant, then there shouldn't be any reason for calls to ban me, right? :)

I don’t give a shit.

We agree! It's a fun flame war, but it's fucking Lemmy. It ain't real life! LMAO

I’d like you to know that I was the one that reported your vulgar and harassing PMs you kept sending me after I told you several times to leave me alone.

lololol Remember when you thought I was a russian spy, then you thought I was a GROUP of russian spies getting paid in rubles, and that I'd disappear from Lemmy after the election? Remember how mad you were that I wasn't voting for Harris? Remember how you all thought that I was capable of throwing the election?! On fucking Lemmy?!

.world was a toxic shithole. Still is. Which is why it's such a popular instance for complaints in this very community.

You banning me from .world didn't stop me at all and allowed me to spread out and find better instances.

So I guess your little plan of banning me from Lemmy didn't work. Because I'm still here.

And people creating fake Universal Monk accounts just shows how much people are obsessed with me.

I'm still here.

So actually you did me a favor!! My name is everywhere now.

Just think, if you wouldn't have got me banned on Lemmy, I'd still be there, and you'd have just one name to block, and you'd never even see me. Isn't that funny? But I'm not leaving Lemmy. Ever. Even if I have to create a thousand usernames on a thousand instances.

Thank you for creating me, friend! :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, didn’t read that either.

Cry harder, troll.

[–] UniversalMonk 0 points 4 days ago

Yeah, you read it. :)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You were caught here in the act posting to communities on an instance you were banned from.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Also caught cloning other users...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Woah glad you caught that, just gave a ping to sopuli.xyz's admins on the page hopefully they'll respond soon and deal with that.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (9 children)

He has a few other alts as well, but it's not exactly my day job to keep detailed notes. However, I am sick of his shit and that dude is a fucking cockroach.

TBH, I don't think it's really against any rules to dup a username across instances as SMCF is actually on .world. However, this is being done with malice and should be addressed. UM must have been holding a grudge from when he was banned from .world.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Honestly, I think the issue is that it really is a job, and there isn't anyone who's really well-positioned to take charge of it.

Any system which allows easy, anonymous account creation is going to be subject to some level of abuse. Any system which does that, and also is distributed among multiple instances with admins who don't always see eye-to-eye on things, is going to be absolutely helpless in the face of even a very rudimentary attempt at abuse, and anyone who wants to will be able to run rings around the admins and just kind of run around doing whatever they want. Telling people "just block the obnoxious people on whatever new accounts they make when they get banned" obviously isn't the answer, but it's what people fall back on because it is the only thing that can be relied upon to work.

I think Bluesky's idea of federating out block lists (basically, as I understand it) is probably the most straightforward non-awful way. You don't want to make every new user encounter every obnoxious person and learn, one by one, who they are and that they need to block them. That way lies madness.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Shared block lists could be implemented into the clients as well, but it would take a bit to keep those from getting abused and wouldn't scale over time too well.

But yeah, this is a major issue with Lemmy and is probably the major reason I don't think this platform can scale up to Reddit size. Once trolls take over, everyone will leave.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

TBH, I don’t think it’s really against any rules to dup a username across instances as SMCF is actually on .world. However, this is being done with malice and should be addressed. UM must have been holding a grudge from when he was banned from .world.

Yeah I agree, having multiple accounts with the same username is okay when your intention isn't to cause malice. When one is doing it to impersonate/namesquat or just to troll and ban evade then it's a problem. It's part of why I have as many as I do. It makes it extremely difficult for people to impersonate me, except on the handful of excommunicated instances I never signed up to but those will be very clearly recognized as impersonation.

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[–] UniversalMonk -2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Also caught cloning other users

Wasn't "caught" doing anything. I haven't cloned other users. Do you have proof of this?

I use my own name across several instances. I haven't cloned or copied anyone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (8 children)

What in the actual fuck are you talking about? The user is deliberately block evading. Its so bad, I am going to start publishing a daily UM blocklist for people.

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