r/kpophelp 14h ago

Unsolved Monthly 'Who's this?' & Merch Auth. Post - September 2026

3 Upvotes

Welcome to the Monthly Artist Identification and Merch Authentication post!

Instructions

  • Search first! Please try other methods of identifying your image if possible. Google Lens/Reverse Image Search or Dupli Checker are available options. We know results can be unhelpful, but please make an attempt with these kinds of tools first!

  • You might also be able to find more specialized help in specific artist subreddits or those with a specific purpose. Make sure you check the rules of any subreddit before you post or comment asking for help!

  • Make comments with included images of artists you need identified or merchandise/signatures you would like authenticated in this post.

  • In the same comment, state your purpose or question clearly for the help you are seeking.

  • Please acknowledge or thank at least one helper who provides an answer in reply to you OR edit your original comment to state you have been helped to signal to others you do not need further assistance.

Rules

  • DO NOT troll or intentionally deceive fellow users
  • DO NOT derail or wander far off-topic. This is not a general discussion post. Stay focused on requesting or providing help! Mods may lock or remove threads that extend beyond the point of helpfulness.
  • If your question is not answered in a previous Monthly post, feel free to comment again in future posts until you are able to get help.

You may also provide feedback for ways we can test/improve handling this type of content in the subreddit here or through modmail. Thank you for your patience while we figure out what system will work best for us!


r/kpophelp Apr 02 '24

Meta Shadow Bans on Reddit: Everything you need to know! (Info, Links, & Tips)

32 Upvotes

We created the original post in response to seeing so many members of our community becoming Shadow Banned for no reason. We noticed these bans became especially extreme around 2020/2021, probably as Reddit ramped up the use of sitewide filters to manage the influx of bots, spammers, and purveyors of disinformation. Some improvements to the accuracy of the filters appear to have been made since then, but our info post has proved useful to our community as well as moderators and users across the site, so we'll try to keep versions of it refreshed and accessible. Version 2.0 is here!

Mods around Reddit are welcome to link your users here if you feel it will be helpful to them. r/ModGuide also has an excellent post from 2021 with suggestions specific to moderators.

- r/kpophelp Mod Team!


READ THIS FIRST!

For those who want the simplest info/advice, read the following:

  1. We did not Shadow Ban you and we cannot remove your Shadow Ban. Subreddit Moderators do not have the power to do anything about Shadow Bans.

  2. Your Shadow Ban is likely the result of Reddit's sitewide automated bot/spam filters.

  3. Only Reddit Admins can remove your Shadow Ban. We are not Reddit Admins.

  4. Go to https://www.reddit.com/appeals to check the status of your account. If there is a problem with your account, there is a way to directly message Admins at the same link to try to get your Shadow Ban or Suspension removed.

  5. It can take roughly 1 to 2 months for Admins to assess your Appeal. Do not expect any notifications or feedback from Admins until then.

  6. If you are looking for more detailed information about Shadow Bans to the best of our knowledge as moderators, continue reading below!


What is a Shadow Ban?

A Shadow Ban is a type of sitewide account ban across Reddit. When a user's account is Shadow Banned they are not notified. They can continue to browse Reddit, make posts and comments, and use Reddit like normal. However, their posts and comments are automatically removed as soon as they are made, making them invisible to anyone else. A Shadow Banned user's profile is also invisible to any other users or moderators. This means a Shadow Banned user often has no idea they have received this kind of ban.

Note that users who are Suspended are notified by Reddit and given more information about whether their suspension is temporary or permanent. Again, this is only something Admins have control of. Moderators do not.

Why are users Shadow Banned?

It can be helpful to know the difference between Moderators and Admins to understand what is happening.

  • Moderators (subreddit volunteers) can only ban you from the individual subreddits under their care based on the rules they have set for their own communities. If you have been banned from a subreddit, you can no longer post or comment in that subreddit only. This is not a Shadow Ban.

  • Admins (Reddit employees) can Shadow Ban or Suspend users across the whole site. They have set many automated filters to help catch spammers and bots, which will apply Shadow Bans or Suspensions to those suspected accounts to assist human Admins from needing to do this all manually.

As far as we can tell, the purpose of Shadow Bans is to quietly make spammers and bots disappear into a void without their awareness. Reddit is constantly inundated with malicious bot rings trying to spread bad links and other nefarious spammers. The site's filters are always running in the background to automatically catch and remove any posts or comments made by them. Shadow Bans are applied quickly and broadly to keep normal users as safe as possible from their garbage.

But this automation means Shadow Bans can also affect normal users with false positives. If you have received a Shadow Ban, but you know you aren't a bot or spammer, it can be very confusing. You are not alone. This happens to many normal users. No one is out to get you, you have just accidentally triggered Reddit's automated filters.

How do I know if I’m Shadow Banned?

This is something you can check on your own with any of the following methods:

A. While signed in to your account on Reddit, go to https://www.reddit.com/appeals.

B. In an incognito browser window, open a link to your profile (https://www.reddit.com/user/yourusername). If it says anything like, "user not found", "page does not exist", or "Sorry, nobody on Reddit goes by that name", then you are Shadow Banned or Suspended.

C. r/ShadowBan or r/ShadowBanned are subreddits specifically for checking your account.

D. Self-awareness. You can pay attention to certain signs that you might be Shadow Banned:

  • Your posts do not show in the subreddit 'new queue' within a few minutes of posting.
  • Your comments almost never show up in posts and might say [Removed].
  • When you look at your own profile/history, many of your recent comments/posts have only 1 karma.

ONLY if you have tried the methods above and still have confusion, you may message us directly. Remember, we are just the moderators of this subreddit. We did not cause your Shadow Ban. We cannot remove your Shadow Ban. We do not know why you received a Shadow Ban. Beyond the information in this post, we can only make an educated guess about your specific case if you provide information about the age of your account and activity. Otherwise, we are as clueless as you.

BUT, we can give you absolute confirmation that you are, or are not, Shadow Banned. We get a note in our Modmail interface in clear red letters telling us that a user is Shadow Banned when they contact us, which is the most direct indicator available other than the official Appeals link. Keep in mind we are the mods of r/kpop's ecosystem. If you're here from communities unrelated to K-Pop, let us know when you message if you’re comfortable with that! Message the Mods to get a yes/no confirmation of a Shadow Ban on your account.

I am Shadow Banned. What should I do?

https://www.reddit.com/appeals

This link above is the only way to remove your Shadow Ban. If your account is normal it will tell you so. If you have a Shadow Ban or Suspension, it will give you the option to message the Admins to make an appeal. We have seen many users successfully restore their accounts this way, sometimes within a day or two. It's basically your way of signaling to Admins that you are a real person, not a bot/spammer, and you have good intentions as a user on their site. We have also seen appeals take much longer to be granted. Most seem to take at least one month to hear back from Admins.

Some users don’t mind having a Shadow Ban because they only use their account to lurk, which is fine. You don’t have to do anything. Some users abandon their account and make a new one. Be careful doing that because Ban Evasion filters are also active and might trigger a Shadow Ban on any new accounts if you are using the same device or IP address.

We recommend that Shadow Banned users do not continue to post/comment once you know there is a problem with your account. This applies all across Reddit. You are likely wasting your efforts by doing so. Many subreddit moderators will not bother to check their spam queue and will not approve your posts/comments, so they will never be seen. In some subreddits like here in r/kpophelp, the mods are paying more attention. We will sometimes manually approve posts/comments of users who are seeking or offering genuine help and unknowingly have a Shadow Ban. We also try to let you know if you are Shadow Banned, but this creates a lot of extra work for us, which we can't always afford to do.

Please help us by being proactive, checking your own accounts if you suspect an issue, and not continuing to post/comment until you know you are no longer Shadow Banned.

If your appeal to the Admins is successful, your profile, comments, and posts will become visible again to other users and moderators. You can check your account status with the same methods listed in the section above. Sometimes if a user has been very active on Reddit for a long time before their Shadow Ban it will take longer for all their previous posts/comments to be approved again. This is also an automated process, but it can be slow, so you can expect it to take a week or two to get everything back to normal again.

Tips to avoid being Shadow Banned

Remember the automated Shadow Ban process is looking for bots/spammers and is triggered by that kind of suspicious behavior. Here are some things you can do so your account does not look like a bot.

  • When creating a Reddit account, don’t use the automatic username generator if possible. Those names usually look something like word-word-5678. These are common indicators of bots. Set your own name instead. If you’ve already made an account with an auto-generated name, take extra care to check if you are Shadow Banned!

  • Customize your profile: Snoovatar/banner, description, email verification (if you're comfortable with that).

  • Have patience! When you make a brand new account on Reddit, wait at least 24 hours to post/comment anywhere. Upvote comments/posts you like and maybe 'Join' some subreddits that interest you, but try not to do much else. The most common false positives we see are completely new users that make posts/comments quickly in subreddits that have new user filters to keep out trolls or bots. By waiting, you can prevent triggering these filters.

  • Before you start posting or commenting in a subreddit, READ THE RULES. Every subreddit has its own rules. If you break them by doing something wrong or having bad conduct, your posts/comments may be reported by other users and removed by the moderators. Doing this multiple times on a new account can trigger a Shadow Ban. Be considerate of where you are and what you are doing there!

  • Especially here in r/kpophelp, be careful of what links you include in your comments/posts. Try not to use shortened urls because they can disguise links to bad sites or affiliate links. Try to use the long form of links as often as possible and avoid using anything like these: youtu.be, pin.it, t.co, bit.ly, goo.gl, tinyurl.com.

  • A note for r/kpop: a huge Shadow Ban generator over there is when we have AMAs. They attract a ton of brand new users who then immediately comment dozens of times in the same AMA post. This triggers the filters like a bot would. If you want to participate in an AMA with a new account, make it early at the time of the AMA announcement post and follow the points listed above. Then try to limit the amount of comments you make in the actual AMA to only a few at most. We’ve even had big AMA guest accounts get Shadow Banned in the middle of an AMA, which is a nightmare. That goes to show it can happen to anyone and is equally frustrating for us moderators!

  • If you use a VPN, you might get Shadow Banned or Suspended by default. Check your account status!

How does this relate to r/kpophelp?

The nature of this subreddit is fairly simple. It was designed to take the burden off of r/kpop since lots of K-Pop fans had questions about the industry or were looking for music/artist recommendations and that subreddit was becoming overwhelmed with such posts. So this subreddit was built with a very focused mission as a space to get help and provide help with our fellow fans. That means we’re pretty small as a community and not a good target for bots/spammers.

And yet, us moderators noticed lots of users showing up as Shadow Banned here. They weren’t causing problems. They were providing help and recommendations in comments or were posting sincere and thoughtful questions. Some of their usernames were recognizable as regulars previously active in the larger K-Pop ecosystem on Reddit. Obviously, something was wrong. This is what sparked our initial interest to figure out how the Shadow Ban system worked and what to do about it.

After confirming with Admins that we could provide guidance to users, we tried to pay extra attention to what was happening, what kinds of accounts seemed to pick up these bans, what activities might be triggering filters, and what Shadow Banned users shared with us about their experience. Everything we’ve learned is now gathered here in hopes it will help others.

There are a couple primary reasons we think r/kpophelp users are affected in a higher proportion and are being seen by Reddit’s filters as bots or spammers. One is that it's common for users to make a brand new account just because they are trying to identify a K-Pop song they heard recently, post to ask for help immediately, and then comment rapidly when replying to other users as they search for the song. Another is that users here will frequently put tons of links in their comments or posts as they offer recommendations or educational references. And furthermore, some of those links might be shortened urls (from YouTube, Pinterest, etc) or domains which Reddit really doesn't like.

Thus, the most common uses of our subreddit, which are totally normal and expected from our perspective as moderators, can trigger Reddit's automated Shadow Bans designed to catch bots. But knowledge is power and we hope what we’ve learned will help you keep your accounts in good working order!


Thank you for taking the time to read through and inform yourself!

Happy Redditing!


Further Resources


r/kpophelp 4h ago

Advice Can I boo during award shows in Korea?

18 Upvotes

I recently got gifted tickets for an award show in Korea but one of the presenters is a p3d0. Do you think I can boo freely or is there a chance I’ll get escorted out? Especially as a foreigner lol


r/kpophelp 8h ago

Recommend Kpop songs that were created for a skit?

13 Upvotes

Which kpop songs can you think of were made for a skit like for a segment in one of the idol/group’s variety show content, which songs can you think of?

The ones I know:

Skibidi by Hyorisoo the very recent release

The trot version of God of Music (if it counts)

Pi Cheolin’s solo debut svt are actually experts in doing this lol

Anyways any other kpop songs you can think of that were actually made just for a skit?


r/kpophelp 16h ago

Recommend Kpop songs with “girls” in the title?

54 Upvotes

With the release of Tuide’s “GRLS”, I thought immediately of got7’s “girls girls girls” and had a funny idea of making a playlist of all the different kinds of kpop “girls” songs! What songs can you think of that have “girls” in the title? Bonus points if the title is only “girls”

Here’s what I got so far:
- GRLS - TUIDE
- Girls Girls Girls - GOT7
- Girls - aespa
- Lovesick Girls - BLACKPINK
- Dream Girls - IOI
- Girls Will Be Girls - ITZY
- Girls Never Die - TripleS
- Girls’ Capitalism - TripleS
- Girls’ Generation - Girls’ Generation
- Girls Like Us - TWICE

At a certain point, “girls” stopped looking like a real word 😵‍💫


r/kpophelp 15h ago

Recommend 5th gen groups that consist solely of members who grew up in Korea? (except for KiiiKiii)

20 Upvotes

I can't think of any others.


r/kpophelp 8h ago

Recommend High quality physical album scans

5 Upvotes

Hopefully this is under the right flair!!"

I've been looking around and noticed a very limited amount of websites/blogs/archives for scans of physical album covers and was wondering if anyone could help redirect me to some good sources?

It's preferred that the scans are high quality, and I don't mind if it's a resource for only one specific group/soloist rather than multiple – at this point I'm happy to take anything.😭

I just want to make sure it's clear that I'm not looking for digital album covers like the ones you see on kpop wiki or music streaming applications, I mean the covers of physical albums, the ones you buy and collect and can hold and store in your living space.


r/kpophelp 4h ago

Advice Around You By LOONA Hyunjin

2 Upvotes

Hii Im Tryna to play this song for one of my band concerts and im tryna to see if anyone has FLUTE notes for this song or if anyone is able to help me make it into a flute solo


r/kpophelp 6h ago

Advice ada accessibility at seated concerts

2 Upvotes

Hello!

I was hoping to get some answers from anyone who's done accessible seating before at concerts (specifically kpop) as I want to see TXT in May next year.

My questions are: Are the accessible tickets just the marked accessible seats that are listed on ticketmaster? Should I call ahead to the venue beforehand, and is that more beneficial? If the tickets are ticketed during the regular sale, how quickly do they sell out? Do they come with companion seats? Also, I want to know if I should choose "wheelchair accessible" since I would be bringing my rollator or would the "limited mobility" option be fine for this?

Thanks!


r/kpophelp 22h ago

Solved Songs that sound like they were made with an orchestra?

34 Upvotes

Does anyone know any ballads where strings (e.g. violins, cello, bass, etc.) are heavily utilized? Something that sounds like it was or could be played with an orchestra? Specifically looking for songs by groups, not soloists.

EDIT: Thank you for all the recs! I've made a playlist with all of them so looking forward to choosing new faves :)


r/kpophelp 11h ago

Merch Best K-POP stores in London (preferably that sell BIGBANG albums/ merch)

5 Upvotes

Hi, unsure if I am posting this to this right page so please feel free to redirect me!

I’m going down to London for BIGBANG at the end of the month and wanted to know the best Kpop stores in London? Also, do any sell BIGBANG Pcs?

On another note, anyone know where I can buy real genuine photocards online for BigBang? I’m so used to like 4th gen GG a million photocards and POBs so the fact that I’m struggling to find anything Bigbang is unfamiliar to me🤣🤣

Thanks in advance 🫶


r/kpophelp 11h ago

Recommend Actually study ballads (non-distracting, poor instrumental, low voices etc.)?

2 Upvotes

like the non-kpop Traitor by Olivia Rodrigo, Young and Beatiful by Lana Del Rey


r/kpophelp 5h ago

Advice Soundwave Customer Service?

1 Upvotes

Has anyone tried to reach out to Soundwave before? If you have, how long did it take for them to respond? I got an Aniteez order and one of my items was wrong. I wrote to them on Sunday through the 1:1 inquiry and I tried their email and I haven’t gotten any response. Just trying to gauge how long I should wait before getting worried.


r/kpophelp 5h ago

Concert Gyeryong Military Culture Festival

1 Upvotes

Hi

I’m debating whether I should go to the Gyeryong Military Culture Festival to see Woozi and Hoshi.

They just released the timetable, and it looks like there are no tickets required?

Has anyone been there before? How many Fans do you think will show up, and what are the chances of the organization being as bad as Hoshi’s last event?

I'd love to hear your insights or past experiences! Thanks! ✨


r/kpophelp 8h ago

Advice GOMs offering member guaranteed PCs

1 Upvotes

I see that usually GOMs (for lucky draws & pobs) need full member sets to be filled in order for the sets to go through.. but I saw a couple of GOMs who offer "member guaranteed" PCs.. so they have multiple joiners (like 10 joiners) claiming the same popular member... is there actually a way to source so many member guaranteed pcs? (For a relatively cheap price as well)


r/kpophelp 33m ago

Advice How likely am I to debut?

Upvotes

hello! I’m wanting to (at least) audition for a global girl group. and was wondering what my chances are! for reference I am white, speak (mostly) fluent German and am learning Japanese and will learn Korean. I am 5‘7 1/2 and sit at about 170 LB and trying to lose weight. I’m 15 and have no dance or singing experience but am taking steps to get more experience. I am relatively in shape, I fence for up to 4 hours, 4 days a week so my stamina is pretty good. if you’re wondering what I look like, please stalk my account to find out. all the help is appreciated!

edit:I would like to add that I am not planning on auditioning in this moment. At absolute least a year will have to pass for me to audition!


r/kpophelp 23h ago

Recommend songs that sound like they belong in a coming of age movie

16 Upvotes

looking for songs that have that nostalgic, bittersweet, warm feeling like youre watching a summer montage in a teen film. think of songs like dumb dumb by red velvet or spring day by bts. any group or soloist is fine, i listen to everything


r/kpophelp 13h ago

Recommend Is buying BIGBANG lightstick worth it?

2 Upvotes

Hello everyone!
It’s my third k-pop concert in Paris but I’ve never bought merch at the concert place ever before.

For those who are also going, do you think it’ll be worth it trying to get a lightstick in the merch line some hours before, or am I better off buying the old version online before the concert (which might be cheaper…)?
It seems like there won’t be any pop up store in France…


r/kpophelp 1d ago

Explain Why was iz*one allowed to continue and X1 had to disband when both lineups were rigged?

62 Upvotes

I was always fascinated by the story of how produce 101 was set up to fake fan voting but I am not sure I understand what followed.

Fans discovered the voting inconsistencies and it was revealed that the final line ups were rigged way before the final even happened. The trainees who were rigged out of the final line ups were made public. K-pop fans were enraged.

I get that a lot of people demanded the groups not to debut/continue to promote. That's honestly understandable.

But why did only X1, arguably the most successful boy group that had ever debuted up that point in time, had to disband after the first album and is*one could debut and fulfill their full contract without any consequences or backlash?


r/kpophelp 14h ago

Concert Survey Bigbang Concert in PH

2 Upvotes

Hi! I wanted to answer a survey in Manila but it says page not found. Is it already closed? Huhuhu


r/kpophelp 22h ago

Merch Have you ever been disappointed by official merchandise? What things do you want to see in merch?

8 Upvotes

Hi! I'm conducting a business class of mine and want to investigate what makes fans buy KPop merch.

If you have any examples of any pieces of official merchandise (tour merch, album inclusions, pop-up shops, etc.) that you have felt disappointed with for whatever reason, please discuss why! I would also like some insight on what type of merch you enjoy purchasing and what you would like to see a group try next. On a similar note, what about fanmade merch encourages you to purchase that over official merch?


r/kpophelp 5h ago

Advice Advice on Global Girl Group Plan for future

0 Upvotes

Hey guys,

I was hoping I could get any advice or insight from anyone who's more familiar with the K-Pop world. I'm considering auditioning for a global girl group in about two years which would make me 20 at the time. Right now I know I'm not ready, it's more of a long term goal. I want to work on my dancing, singing, fitness, and overall just appearance. I Know that these companies can be strict and I'm ready to put in the work to achieve this goal. I'm currently focusing on weight loss, getting braces soon, and my dancing.

Right now my main concern is about my stretch marks. I know that they're normal, and I'm trying to minimize them but realistically some might not go away completely without more intense treatment.
Could this impact my chances and what can I do?
I'm currently in college so doing this would be giving up my last year of university if I were to make to to the show or debut. Please share any thoughts and advice.


r/kpophelp 20h ago

Unsolved lost kpop channel, please help me find it :(

4 Upvotes

i've been looking for a channel that, iirc, used to focus on kpop opinions and reactions.

the only thing i 100% remember about it is the intro: it was the beginning of kiss later by loona (the part at 0:39): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thpTOAS1Vgg&list=RDthpTOAS1Vgg&start_radio=1) and in the background there were these kermit pictures https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/646196246527441517/ with a bunch of hearts.

i can't remember the name of the channel or the specific type of content they made, but it's been driving me insane. i used to watch it a lot like ~7-8 years ago if that helps.

i've posted this same question like 20 times in different subreddits and everyone seems to know what i'm talking about, but nobody remembers what the channel was called. any help is very appreciated!! <3


r/kpophelp 22h ago

Unsolved Please help me find this old EXO compilation channel !

5 Upvotes

Hi all at kpophelp,

I'm currently looking for this old YouTube channel from around 2017-2020 who used to be an exo-l and would post compilations like exo on crack, exo funniest moments etc with that classic 'unhinged' editing style that was popular back then.

I believe their pfp was Baekhyun from the shout in silence/headphones whisper challenge, a screen grab from the knowing bros video from 2019. Their layout was like a peppermint (banner was white and red and had the same pattern)

I could have sworn their name was kokobops or something like that but can find no evidence this channel existed, they definitely were quite known and had 10k+ or over subscribers.

It's highly likely they fell out of kpop and deleted or privated/changed their channel afterwards.

Even if their account no longer exists would anyone be able to confirm they watched them bc I'm going insane 😭


r/kpophelp 1d ago

Recommend Songs by other artists like Ex Machina by Yves?

8 Upvotes

Hi! does anyone know songs that sound like / are similar to Ex Machina by Yves (not including other yves songs), not sure how to describe it but I love the dreamy cinematic instrumental that builds up and feels almost haunting and tragic + the guitar especially is insane + muted vocals and the high pitched vocals toward the end (sorry I think I'm being too specific hopefully you get the picture) and everything about it - thank you!!