I got banned from Lobsters for writing like an LLM

Andros Fenollosa recounts being banned from Lobsters after years as a participant who had contributed comments, links, and an Emacs client for the site. His website domain was blocked for self-promotion, despite his claim that he had not previously submitted its content, and moderators did not answer his request for clarification. Nearly a year later, he found a way around the block and shared a detailed account of building a modern bulletin board system. The submission gained attention and constructive discussion, but users then accused him of using AI to write his replies. One cited an AI-detection service that labeled a comment entirely AI-generated. As accusations and spam flags accumulated, the thread was hidden; a moderator removed it as self-promotion, citing Lobsters’ rule that such submissions should be a small share of a user’s activity.

Fenollosa says he accepted the advice to contribute more comments and fewer links, but was banned two hours later for “Only self-promo, slop.” His appeal received no response. The experience leads him to question how communities distinguish sharing expertise from promotion, and how reliable AI detectors are when judging polished writing. He worries that suspicion of AI may reward terse, casual prose over careful explanations. While acknowledging that moderators must enforce community rules and that outsiders may not know all the circumstances, he criticizes the silence surrounding the decisions. He says he would return if reinstated, but only to comment, and accepts that his own work may suit other forums better.