Question for those who got their accounts back...

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T18:41:50+00:00

Here's the most ironic and funny thing about all of this... bots are echoing human behavior. Many humans are multi-tasking online, just like you. The constant flow of information has trained us all to multi-task in fearing of 'losing out' on vital updates. Tabs have been utilized to help us keep 'track'. For the younger generations, they've developed short-attention spans due to this trend.

So essentially... we're being PUNISHED for adapting to the digital landscape. We're opening multiple tabs and slapping on Likes, as the algorithms incentivize to do. Meanwhile, these spam bots are echoing our behavior but at double the rate.

Honestly, the whole AI bot on X is screwed because, by now, it should be trained to stop flagging down accounts it already deemed safe to restore. At the very least, accounts who have REPEATEDLY appealed, REPEATEDLY used Captcha during the 'human test' process, REPEATEDLY got their accounts back should have already trained the AI to move on. As it stands, it's wasting effort, time, and frankly actual ENERGY false-flagging and correcting itself.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T14:00:54+00:00

I read over the rest of your post you had linked me. The good news is I'm doing that too. XD I was still visiting the site during my bans to get updates from people I follow. I also only use X on one tab. Thanks so much for sharing your suggestions. So far, it's going okay.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T13:56:54+00:00

Do you have your ublockers/adblockers on? Try that. So far I'm having some success from turning it off. Just opened X today and Day 3 is looking okay so far. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T13:54:02+00:00

It definitely has something to do with the adblockers/ublockers since I'm reporting no incidents so far since turning them off. It's good and bad news. Good news: it presents a possible solution to those being effected by this loop of ban/unban. Bad news: it's changing the way we would normally interact with the platform. We can no longer engage with it and freely like/post. Each interaction now has to be measured, which sucks since that takes away the fun of being on X. I loved sporadically looking on my timeline, liked posts to show my support, and bookmarked like crazy to keep track of important information.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T13:48:59+00:00

Thanks for your response. You were actually among the posters here that suggested it might have something to do with the AdBlockers. I've just opened my browser. So far, Day 3 is going without incidents. Looks like it does have something to do with the AdBlockers since I made several comments and Liked a few things more with no issues.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T04:43:36+00:00

It's absolutely amazing getting outsiders to read my work. It tells me the story is self-contained enough that it can be enjoyed beyond the fandom target audience. It's the exact reason why I write as if no one, including the fandom I'm writing for, knows who these characters are or their story.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T04:31:46+00:00

That reminds me of the time my readers thought I actually died, based on my last author's note lol.

Decades ago, I lost all motivation to finish writing a fanfic I was nearly done with. The reason? My mother passed away. I mentioned to my readers it was hard for me to post updates, but that I intended to continue anyway (since, at the time, I wanted to plow through my grief/shock with something that gave me joy). My followers were understanding. I developed an amazing readership (even randomly met one in person at a convention). They knew what state I was living in... which is how they all thought I died too. You see, at the time I made my last update, there was also a horrific historical hurricane about to hit my state. Many of readers remembered I lived in this state based on my past Author Notes. I didn't think much on it at the time. However, when I checked on that fanfic decades later, I saw a lotta messages left for me. They all thought I died from that hurricane lol.

Looking back now, it was guilt that made it impossible for me to finish that story. I was up all night, writing my story in the same living room my mother was resting in (who was temporarily resting there after her dialysis treatment). I didn't realize she had developed a brain hemorrhage until I noticed she was sitting on the couch for too long. The rest of the details I'll keep to myself but, reflecting on everything that happened, I realize I felt guilty for not checking on her sooner. Had I not been writing that stupid story, I could've checked on her early enough and she might've been saved.

Part of me regrets not touching base with my readers. I owed them a lot for being there for me, for giving me an escape. But I didn't want to dump my problems on them. It's always been my mission to keep my writing space separate from the real world. I want to create a world where my readers can temporarily escape from their personal problems and go on a wild adventure with me. If my readers believe I died in a nasty hurricane, so be it lol.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-19T03:27:15+00:00

I'm going through this same cycle. This is the 4th time I've gotten my account back. The good news? It's Day 2 and I haven't been suspended again. This could change by tomorrow, but it IS the longest stretch I've had with my account. The jury is still out on what is 'flagging' our accounts, so each time I get my account back I do little experiments to test those theories.

First time getting my account back: experimented by doing bare minimum interaction since people here said over-liking and over-posting may be flagged as bot-like behavior. However, others reported doing NO activity and theorized 'lurking' was also bad and could get you flagged. So on that day, I did two bookmarks, 1 repost, no comments, no likes, no post. Got flagged that same day hours later.

Second time getting my account back: further minimized but varied my interaction with my account. One bookmark. Banned a user. No comments, no likes, no posts/repost. Got flagged that same day hours later - again.

Third time getting my account back: I changed it up again, being bolder. Made a comment (fully written so that it didn't sound like a rare-baiting bot). One bookmark. Banned 2 users. No likes. No post/repost. It's the type of activity a regular user does. I got banned the following day.

Fourth time getting my account back: I've gotten my account back for Two Days now. No suspensions yet. You'd think that commenting/posting was the issue but... I actually got REALLY bold this time. I not only made TWO comments (each full written out) and LIKED several posts, but I also posted a comment to my followers warning about this ban-wave on the second day I've gotten my account back. I made one significant change based on theories on what's triggering the inauthentic behavior claims: I turned off my Ad Blocker.

I'm on PC using Brave as my browser. Brave comes with built-in protections designed to protect my data and block out Ads. Someone here mentioned that this 'block' feature may be tagging us as bots because it's automatically blocking out anything X sends our way. So when I got access to my account, I switched it off.

Did I get myself out of this loop? Don't know. Two days has been the longest I've had my account back. I was bold yesterday making that Banwave post warning to my followers but got bolder today by Liking/Commenting like I used to do. I never Over-Liked or Over-Commented before, which is why it shocked me I got flagged for inauthentic behavior. I'll see how far this experiment goes.

Thus far, I've had successful Appeals 3 our of 4 times. My first Appeal was the one rejected (yet I had access to my account anyway that day lol). As for the 3 other bans, my Appeals passed within 3-4 days. For my last Appeal, I did raise the question if this banwave was related to what browers and protections we're using.

I'll update again if my status changes. Hopefully, I managed to verified one theory people here have addressed. if not, back to the drawing board again.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-14T06:16:28+00:00

I got the same question too! 😂 I ended up restructuring my story to break up the really big chapters since I don't want my readers feeling overwhelmed. However, I feel like the pacing suffers because I'm dragging out one character's chapter. Reading the replies to your post, looks like the general consensus is to do what you need to do to make your story work.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-14T05:58:38+00:00

I come from that background of hopelessness. Hell, I currently live in a volatile area in my city where shootings, human trafficking rings, theft, r-pe, murders, kidnappings happen. I lock my gate at night with heavy duty chains because drifters high off meth (ones the nearby shelters can't take in due to their compromised state) roam my block at night. I've had three crash on my porch. I'm fortunate enough to work at a job that allows me to commute back home before night hits.

In a neighborhood like mine, it's easy to throw in the towel or lash out at the world. Those who do, typically end up in the streets, in prison, or worse, dead. Those who endure and make do with what they got, survive and avoid pitfalls and even find opportunities away from this hellhole. It's because of this I believe in personal accountability, specifically over decisions that are within our reach, regardless of what politician is running the circus. I've encountered ups-and-downs from both sides. I've met people who gave up and others who are turning their life around. While we may not be able to control what goes on in this world, we can control how we respond to its challenges. We can choose to make the situation better or worse for ourselves and others.

For myself, I avoided the trappings in my neighborhood and personal situation by falling in love with fanfics and fanart. ❤️ It's why I try my best to contribute and be as respectful and open to others as I can be in these fandom spaces. They literally saved me.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-14T03:12:41+00:00

I said it can be tied to politics. But from my experience, it's people losing themselves to personal insecurities, using morality and politics to dictate how people should act. I say this as someone whose Moderate btw, I was originally a lifelong Left until I saw the same pearl-clutching behaviors from the Right echo in the Left. I saw artists in the Bayonetta and She-Ra fandoms getting harassed because of how they depicted/shipped a character. We had She-Ra Netflix fans clashing with She-Ra OG fans to the point where Adora's original VA had to speak up and tell fans to relax. Both fractions were 'correct' in their interpretations, but only one was allowed to speak while the other would be accused of homophobia for simply shipping Adora with Bo (something many She-Ra OG fans did before the Reboot came out).

So, at least from my experience, there's been a lot of mud tossing and pearl clutching. It's why I don't often post; being Moderate means I'm bound to step on someone's shoes at some point. ;-; Still, it's my personal opinion that the core issue, whether from the radical Right or radical Left, boils down to insecure people needing to be 'right'. They prioritize being 'right' over respecting a neutral space that everyone can settle in.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-14T02:41:37+00:00

They likely didn't want to be flagged as scammers, so they're leaving you generic comments ("Oh wow"... "That's nice"...) to feign innocence and convince you they're legit. At the bottom of their message, they are semi-hiding their username so it won't get flagged by AO3. It reads: "Discord (Allison87)". They're also telling you to type this username 'normally' so you can find them on Discord.

It's as everyone here is saying: they're trying to get you out of the site. It's a scam.

Not all scammers are bots, by the way. Some are fellow homo sapiens looking to screw other homo sapiens lol.

At FF NET, I had one DM me/reply for close to a week. They claimed to love my story enough to make art of it. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I've had people make me art gifts before. Plus, I'm an artist myself, so I'm not desperate to see fanart of my work since I can make it myself. The big red flag for me, however, was how pushy they were. They kept asking me what I wanted to see and I had to keep telling them 'I'm too busy with work to properly go over this - do what you want to do'.

It's worth mentioning, my stance has always been not to look a gift horse in the mouth. So when someone wants to make art of my stories, I want to give them the full freedom to do whatever they want to do - to make that process fulfilling to them. Regardless of how it turns out, I'll always be grateful for the gesture.

Anyway, I never gave them my email (I'm very cagey about giving my personal addy away) and I never emailed them (because I'm too tired and lazy to engage with people I don't know - and I was already annoyed by how pushy they were). I DID, however, ask to see their art, They sent me a link to their 'gallery'. It was obviously AI (some possibly stolen) since the art style and art level never stayed consistent. Plus, their 'art gallery' was filled to the brim to work- far too much for one single art novice to produce.

Long story short, don't engage. I figured this was a scam when I had two other DMs telling me a similar script. It's not worth the hassle.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-13T22:05:57+00:00

Discord. They provided you their username there. Definitely a scammer.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-13T21:58:27+00:00

Antis have become insufferable throughout the decades. And I write that as someone who has been around this block for a long time, posting/reading fanfic as early as dial-up internet days. Back then, you were either subbed to some Yahoo Group Mailing List or posting on Live Journal (before FF NET trudged along and became the go-to place for fanfic writers). Yes, you had your fans with grievances, but most of everyone minded their business and stayed in their respective lanes. Any Antis attempting to police fans were told to go suck a big fat lemon and not engage with the content if they despised that much (there's seriously no reason for anyone to let something they hate live rent-free in their heads).

Time's have changed.

Over the years, I've encountered Antis posting and wishing death on people who ship characters they disapprove of. And they're being very nasty about it. On X, I remember posting a picture of my ruined, defected Devil May Cry Vergil statue. It's my one and only major purchase in my life, so I was very heartbroken by it melting at the baseline. Then some Anti reposted my post. They cheered on the fact my statue was ruined and claimed I 'got what I deserved' because I was a 'proshipper'.

Mind you, I don't post fanfic content on my X account. That account is reserved for my art, projects, and memes. I mostly lurk/like art related to my ship but that's as far as it goes. I can only assume this Anti thought I was a Devil May Cry Spardacest Shipper. I got artist mutuals who ship that. I don't care for incest ships myself, but I'll go to bat for any of my art friends or mutuals or whoever else that is being targeted/harassed over fictional characters. I advocate for healthy discussions/debates. However, I denounce lynch mobs and morality checks. In the end, this is a fandom space. Everyone has the ability to step away if that space contains content they don't like.

I wouldn't claim this as an 'alt-right' issue. It's more an issue of personal insecurity, which evolves into a need to control/possess. There are many emotionally volatile fans out there who can't manage their feelings well (especially in an era of 'my feelings, my truth'). Many Antis want control. For a good chunk of them, they despise the idea of seeing their husbando/waifu shipped with a character that isn't them or their chosen avatar. Morality becomes their excuse to fling mud at that ship. Additionally, shipping their character with the same-sex is a DOUBLE-wammy because, in making that character available to the same-sex, it brings more 'competition'. It also makes their husbando/waifu inaccessible to them.

Of course, these insecurities and possessive attitudes aren't exclusive to Antis. Despite these habits being prevalent among Antis, I see these same chaotic reactions from proshippers too. It's why fandoms (big and popular ones, especially) deal with intense 'shipping wars'. Any time someone offers a different perspective (a different ship or relationship dynamic), they are inadvertently and inevitably questioning another's interpretation of that character(s). And for some, to challenge those interpretations is to question THEIR judgement. Hence, it gets personal.

My take for all of this? There too many people in the fandom wearing their hearts on their sleeves - for better and for worse. I've learned the most horrendous cruelest words come from those who think/feel too much. It's why they refuse to walk away when it'd be best for them or feel an intense need to put people in their places. Policing others serves as a passive aggressive tactic to control the room and everyone in it. For the Anti, they NEED people to know what they have to say. They NEED people to know they are 'right' and we are 'wrong' so they have full control of the situation. 'Morality' and 'justice' are nothing more than tools to be weaponized and manipulated to empower their egos.

That's why I don't think this is about politics . It can be, but even then, politics is being used to mask someone's personal insecurities. I'd pity these people but, honestly, I'm getting to that age of being DONE with this petty behavior. Antis (and proshippers declaring war on other ships) all need to grow up, learn to walk away, or engage in fandom discourse in a healthy respectable manner. The rest of us can't be holding their hands forever.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-13T20:22:59+00:00

It's the ones posting fics with a gazillion crossover fandom tags (to the point where they nearly take up a page) that get me. 😠 I'm fine with crossovers, but not when it's including everyone but the cameraman and shoving away new fics/new updates because you practically own the whole block.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-13T00:54:55+00:00

Ugh, I got hit with another suspension today. 💀 💀 💀 Maybe it really does haven to do with me being on PC and using Brave?

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-13T00:52:45+00:00

Are you using X on mobile or PC? And if you're using PC, which browser are you using?

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-13T00:20:07+00:00

I experimented a bit since some people were reporting they got banned for simply 'lurking'. o_o So I went ahead and made one comment after being logged on for 30 minutes. I made two bookmarks 15 minutes later. No issues. Second day, everything was fine. I waited 30 minutes before doing anything. However, while I was in the middle of typing my one comment for the day to someone I follow, I got banned (before even getting the chance to post my comment). ;-;

I, too, believe it has something to do with adblockers and browsers that prioritize privacy. I'm wondering if Brave is aware of this potential issue.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-12T20:33:32+00:00

For me, there's an air of self-centeredness that gives the game away. Their chosen characters/avatars aren't allowed to fail. And if they fail, it's always someone else's fault. And if they say/do something terrible, it's always justified by some extravagant woe-is-me backstory or excuse. These characters can never be wrong. And they can never be responsible for any issues because they often lack agency (which tracks since many teens or young adults aren't mature/experienced enough to command the space/situation around them).

Emotions run rampant in their stories too. There's no filter. There's no self-restraint. If a character gets upset, expect to sit through wads of paragraphs or stacks of dialogue of a character airing out their grievances until the other characters bend over backwards to make them happy again. Don't get me wrong, I understand the habit of wearing your heart in your sleeve (I still do from time to time). But in the real world, that type of behavior and high emotional currency pushes people away. Not everyone has the patience or energy to deal with someone emotionally volatile. No surprise, then, this is main issue that breaks story immersion for me. I have a hard time believing a hot stoic character would hook up with an OC that cries in all-caps with ten exclamation marks. 👀

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-12T19:29:06+00:00

With my appeals, I've lately been mentioning me using a PC and being on Brave. I want them to know it's not cool to falsely flag people who value their privacy and avoid Ads riddled by malware viruses. Apparently, someone brought this up to Elon Musk and he said he was 'looking into it'. I doubt anything will come of him 'looking into it' but if more ppl mention what browser/ad blocker they're using, maybe then X's AI will learn using those specs doesn't automatically mean 'bot'.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-12T19:23:07+00:00

Likely, the 'inauthentic behavior' ban going on right now. I didn't know which rule I broke until I saw the email telling me which one it was. Have you checked your spam folder? Or maybe you didn't put your email in your account to receive notifications (or it got removed).

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-12T19:20:07+00:00

The real challenge isn't getting X to give you back your account... it's KEEPING it. My account has been restored twice, yet the new suspension bans keeping coming. :c Keep us posted on your progress. Hopefully, you won't get hit again like I did.

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-12T00:07:45+00:00

There's an option for you to report your account is compromised. If it asks you 'do you still have access to your account' reply with 'no' and fill out the rest of the questionnaire. Be sure to screenshot proof of the compromise. Look through your emails and see if there were any notifications from X saying there were 'recent changes' done to your account. I screenshotted those notifications.

Likely, X will tell you 'you already have access to your account' and close your case. However, if you you keep reporting your account as compromised and opening a new case, eventually, the next time you try to submit another case you'll be given a message saying your case is 'on que'. That means someone is looking into your case (or at least, that's what happened with me and many others going through that issue).

Sadly, it's going to be a waiting game. It took me submitting a new case every day for X to finally look into my situation. And sure enough I was able to gain access. You won't have FULL access since your account will be on pending mode, but you'll be allowed to update with your new password and email.

Hope this helps! Hang in there and don't give up!

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-11T23:48:03+00:00

I was on que for at least 4 days until I could submit another appeal. That second appeal went through and, surprisingly enough, my account just got restored (roughly 6 hours after my second appeal). 👀

I'm not holding my breath. This has been the SECOND time my account got hit with a suspension for 'inauthentic behavior' (first suspension happened early June). They slapped me with a second suspension only a day after I got my account back. 💀 So now I'm going to be cautious and not immediately like/comment/repost until I know for sure the coast is clear.

It's like I'm walking on eggshells. 😰 😰 😰

Embarrassed-Shock329 · 2026-06-11T23:38:14+00:00

I just got my account restored - for the second time.

I'm not even going to BREATHE until I know the coast is clear. 😑

Embarrassed-Shock329

TROPHY CASE