Yesterday, I did something I thought was harmless—left two comments on an open source project’s discussion thread. One comment was a reasonable OpenAPI proposal for supporting Server-Sent Events (SSE), the other offered a counter-proposal to my own suggestion. No malicious code, no spam links, nothing but honest feedback intended to improve the project.
Fast forward to today: I fire up GitHub, only to find myself mysteriously logged out. I shrug it off, click “Sign in,” and…
Account suspended
“Access to your account has been suspended due to a violation of our Terms of Service. Please contact support for more information.”
A wash of disbelief hit me. A violation? What violation? All I did was participate in a community discussion.
The Comments That Sparked It All
My OpenAPI SSE Proposal
I suggested extending the project’s API spec to support Server-Sent Events, aiming to improve real-time updates for clients.The Counter-Proposal
Realizing my first suggestion might introduce backward-compatibility issues, I proposed an alternate design that preserved existing behavior while enabling optional SSE support.
Both comments were civil, clear, and collaborative. I even linked to a short proof-of-concept—no spam, no ads.
The Suspension Notice
When I saw “Account suspended,” my heart sank. I clicked Contact Support, only to discover that you must be signed in to open a ticket. Irony alert: my account is suspended, so I can’t contact support with it.
Creating a New Account—Déjà Vu?
Left with no other choice, I created a brand-new GitHub account just to submit a support request. I explained:
- Who I am (same email, same contributions)
- What happened (logged out, suspended notice)
- What I’d done (two comments)
- My plea (please reinstate access)
I clicked Submit, and now I wait.
The Allegation: “Spamming”
In their terse email acknowledgement, GitHub claimed I was “spamming.” Here’s the kicker: I still have no clue when or how I spammed. No bulk messages, no unsolicited links—just two thoughtful comments.
What’s Next?
- Await Support Reply I’ve opened the ticket. Now it’s out of my hands (mostly).
- Document Everything Sadly, I couldn't even access the comments I left. Github has all the proof while I don't have any
- Share My Experience That’s why you’re reading this—so you know the potential pitfalls of open source participation and platform policies.
Lessons & Takeaways
- Always Keep Records: Screenshots and local copies of your work can be lifesavers.
- Be Prepared to Appeal: Even “harmless” community contributions can trigger automated moderation.
- Know Your Rights: Familiarize yourself with GitHub’s Terms of Service and Code of Conduct.
- Github as Oauth: Think again before using Github as oauth, they can easily remove your access
- Storing all repo data: If I have no backup, all my existing repo would be lost.
Stay tuned—once GitHub gets back to me, I’ll share the full story: how long it took, whether they reinstate me, and what (if anything) I could have done differently. In the meantime, remember: open source is a community built on mutual respect, but even well-meaning contributions can sometimes land you in hot water.
Have you ever been unexpectedly suspended or moderated on a platform? Drop a comment (while you still can 😉) and let’s talk about keeping our online communities fair and transparent.
Top comments (2)
wow! imagine if someone with more than 10 years of account work and collabs with random open source works... you lose your entire work life in github?
Yes ! You'll lose everything if github decided to ban you. All gone.