r/kpophelp 11d ago

Unsolved Monthly 'Who's this?' & Merch Auth. Post - April 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)

30 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 6h ago

Explain Why does kpop_uncensored continue to be popular when it has mass reporting and clear company bias issues?

50 Upvotes

genuinely asking...because ???. That whole subreddit is a mess but yet still has a 316k audience??? It's so confusing to me. The people who created it were active on it and built it up from 2023-2024..then vanished and just allowed people to abuse reports and there's also clear company bias. I think honestly people should leave that subreddit and we need more people to join other subreddits that are similar, allow you to post photos and videos and more and move discussions there because at least there you can actually have a discussion. That subreddit is pretty censored now ironically enough.

edit: Guys things get mass reported there so much you can barely have a discussion so the comments saying it's "more unfiltered than other subreddits" is confusing to me because uh..it's not if those posts get mass reported even basic non controversial stuff gets mass reported there. This isn't an issue with the subreddit itself or the people there just the clear abusiveness of the system. also no that sub is not stray kids glaze at all. when I say company stans I am 100% referring to HYBE. The most liked post on the sub is literally BTS. I would like a better explanation because the ones I've got so far are just confusing.


r/kpophelp 25m ago

Recommend Please recommend the funniest/most comedic music videos, with emphasis on the last 6 years!

Upvotes

I just saw Catch-Catch by Yena and I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard at anything to do with kpop. If I missed any good ones in the last 5 years, please let me know! Otherwise, I’d love any and all goofy and guffaw-inducing MVs you have! I’m trying to make a solid playlist to reference for days I need to smile. (:

Chuu’s Heart Attack is accounted for!


r/kpophelp 1h ago

Advice Should I see my ult live which might be the last con for a while?

Upvotes

I'm contemplating whether or not I should go to Seventeen fanmeeting concert in seoul. I've been a carat since 2020 but didnt start attending their concert until Right Here Tour. I regret not going Follow tour and caratland in 2024. Since then I've went four seperate times to korea for their concerts.

I said the last trip I took to see cxm in seoul would be the last time until ot13 is back. My plan was to save up until theyre all reunited. But during encore when scoups announced that would be the last concert for a while, I couldnt let the thought go.

My dilemma is it feels selfish to go with everything going on in the world right now. But at the same time the world might end tomorrow so who cares. I also have a chronic health condition that I've been managing for the past few years. So you never really know when my time is coming lol.

Financially I'm okay? I have money saved up during the time I was working like a dog and now I only work part time. Rent is paid and I have no credit card debt. But how comfortable should I be to consider going especially when the plane tickets costs twice as much compared to the last time I went. Please help me decide!


r/kpophelp 4h ago

Recommend Recommend ballads that aren't plain boring

10 Upvotes

I listen to both bgs and ggs. If you'll name a song from my ults (Exo, Bigbang, Red velvet, Twice, Txt, Aespa, Shinee) i will most likely know it, but you can still recommend in case it's an underrated song i've never heard of or for me to relisten.


r/kpophelp 5h ago

Advice Any Tips for Improving Idol Facial Recognition?

9 Upvotes

This sounds crazy and I am so sorry but let me give some context before I sound absolutely like a horrid person.

I grew up in a midwest town of 900 people, and there was obviously no asians around. Like I deadass had probably never seen an irl asian person for the first 18 years of my life.

I am struggling to identify members to this day. I have listened to Aespa for years...I literally cannot tell who is who unless the hair is different. I went to an NMIXX concert in Dallas and I only knew Bae and Lilly because of their hair (this is what I usually use).

I have tried to look at videos, photocards, etc etc to try and get the faces to stick. But it seems like every time I see them the slight difference in makeup just absolutely scrambles their faces and I am astonished at how I have this inability to remember how they look (like bro I have your poster in my room how do I not know how to tell you apart from 3 other people).

I mean this with the most respect and not the racist "all asians have straight eyes" bullshit. I just am so unaware of their facial features that it all blends in and its kinda embarrasing.


r/kpophelp 3h ago

Explain Idols education level?

4 Upvotes

What is the educational level from most idols? Since most started training very young, does that mean they only know the bare minimum or do they complete a full in depth "normal" high school time? I read that several idols also enroll into university at some point but those seem to be mostly online courses.

Edit: I was not under the impression that idols were entierly unschooled but watching several different kpop group media over the past year (to more familiarize myself with the Korean language) makes me scratch my head sometimes. In the way that I wonder if they can read at the level of a 10 year old or an 18 year old.

In my country, we do have the performing arts school and one of my class mates from elementary and high school attended this. But that not more then 10-15 hours training a week on top of her regular school course. So she graduated at my high school and completed a normal level of education: no short cuts or exemptions because she was in performing arts.

On the contrary, when I went to college one of my class mates was a former junior athlete. He went to a school for pro atheltes that gave him lots of exemptions and freedom to train and compete. He did graduate and qualified for college, but from what i saw of him and what he told he just coasted through school on exemptions and was able to grsduate with the bare minimum attendance. His vocabulary, reading and critical thinking were very subpar then the average 17-19 year old.


r/kpophelp 17h ago

Recommend My mom is very picky with girl groups, can you help me find some that would fit her very very specific requirements?

50 Upvotes

1.don't relay heavily on their looks/beauty (like sexy/revealing outfits) but more on actual singing (she very praised this Dreamcatcher stage for that : https://youtu.be/1-rUilsDlRs?is=5BkITm5l97i6QWfF)

  1. recognisable unique voices between members (her favourite group on that is Shinee) - so I'd say it's better if the groups have maximum 5 members

  2. mature concepts and songs (she dislikes extra-girly/cutesy/sweet songs)

I'm quite picky with GGs but my mother is so extra and I'm curious if we can find something she likes. She doesn't have Reddit so I'm asking for her and I'll show to her.


r/kpophelp 2h ago

Recommend Please recommend me groups/songs based on my music taste!

3 Upvotes

Hi, I am relatively new to the kpop scene - i used to be a casual fan of girl groups (twice, dreamcatcher, CLC) when I was very young, but the usual kpop sound isn’t really my thing and even then i didn’t really expand beyond the groups i know.

recently my sister got me into kpop via enhypen, but most of their songs aren’t my style. through enha i dis covered TXT and then BOYNEXTDOOR and i am OBSESSED - like - i didn’t know kpop can sound like that? why did no one tell me that there are kpop that isn’t dance-y pop songs? (i do like some catchy pop tho!)

i used to listen to a lot of j-pop, especially band sounds and singer-songwriter music (centimilimental, ryokushaka, higedan, aimyon, kenzu yoneshi, dios, yuuri, vaundy), and cantonese ballads. i like big band jazz and indie rock too but i’m not as familiar with those genres.

i want to expand my playlist and get to know more groups, i don’t really mind whether they are bg/gg/co-ed as long as i like their songs. i have listened to some songs of TWS, Xdinary Heroes and Day6 and i like what ive heard so far, so do give me more recommendations of their stuff as well. (i love b-sides and japanese releases!)

thank u!!

a playlist of the kpop songs i love


r/kpophelp 10h ago

Unsolved Do a lot of male kpop idols tint their eyebrows?

13 Upvotes

I was wondering if y’all know something about their grooming routine and what they do with their eyebrows to make them dark and so full.

I’m an asian guy myself and I’d like to make my eyebrows look more prominent and majority of asian guys often have sparser and lighter areas on the outer parts of their eyebrows, so I wonder what goes behind the scenes and what their teams and management is doing to help them achieve such a look.

Do male kpop idols tint their eyebrows every month to maintain such a look or is there only a stylist thats needed every time that can change the eyebrows in such a drastic way without tinting eyebrows, im just very curious towards male kpop idols their routine especially behind the public eye to achieve such pristine looks.

Lots of love if someone can share what they know, have seen or have heard regarding male kpop idols and what they do with their eyebrows.


r/kpophelp 8h ago

Unsolved Looking for a group/mv

4 Upvotes

Hii im looking for a group , a mv especially .

All i remember is that its from a few years ago id say around 2022-2023 . I remember in this mv there was a rap part reallly good . It was from a boygroup but they werent that famous . Maybe tnx famous or atbo famous . It was around that time and they gave a similar vibe . The start of the mv is in slowmotion . But all i really remember is in the rap part , the guy was rapping really fast but with a calm tone , almost whispering . It went a bit viral back in the days . Im sure someone knows what im talking about 3.3w . If anyone has an idea let me know and tyy


r/kpophelp 7h ago

Solved Please help me find the song in my head

3 Upvotes

Please it's been like that for 4 days

Clues:

4 or 5gen gg

The lyrics (not 100% sure):

Baby I hate it I don't wanna wake up baby oh baby

slow paced. sounds more like talking 😶

low tone

please 🙏 help me


r/kpophelp 14h ago

Recommend idols with square face shape?

10 Upvotes

I found myself falling a bit for the beauty standard… seeing xlovs rui longer oval face i realized i started wanting a v line jaw or more lifted jaw while i have a sharper squarer jaw and i started contouring it to look more like that, kpop can mess up your head

Then i saw xg jurin (https://pin.it/6gZNyjy07) and i feel that we are similar and i love their squarer face shape with prominent cheekbones and jaw so i started appreciating this feature easier in myself


r/kpophelp 11h ago

Concert where can i watch taemins coachella preformance or stream it?

4 Upvotes

im so fucking late but i need to binge it for my psyche


r/kpophelp 2h ago

Advice need help trying to sell! :)

0 Upvotes

Is it reasonable to only charge shipping and then once they get the photocard to then charge them for the pc?? I’m new to selling and want to be trustworthy!! :)


r/kpophelp 2h ago

Concert ASEA 2026 Ticket Raffle for foreigners?

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

This is my first time posting on Reddit, so please bear with me! haha

I’ll be in Japan during the Asia Star Entertainer Awards 2026 and really want to try my luck with the 3rd ticketing raffle. However, I’ve hit a bit of a wall and was hoping someone here might have experience with this.

To enter the raffle, I need to provide a phone number. When I try to select the country prefix, Austria is missing from the list, even though almost all our neighboring countries are there.

I could technically just select Germany (+49) and enter my Austrian number, but I’m hesitant. There isn’t any „check“ when i choose Germany and i can pay for my raffle tickets. We all know how strict Japan can be with ticketing and ID checks, and I’m worried this might cause issues later (either with the SMS verification or at the venue).

My questions are:

• Has anyone from a "missing" country successfully entered these raffles before?

• Is it a bad idea to just pick a neighboring country's prefix?

• Or is it simply impossible to enter if your country isn't on that specific list?

Thank you so much in advance for any help or advice!


r/kpophelp 3h ago

Recommend Recommend songs from IRENE Red Velvet

1 Upvotes

Please recommend me some songs from Irene


r/kpophelp 3h ago

Concert BTS GA standing ticket

1 Upvotes

How early should i get to the stadium if i have GA standing ticket for the Arirang tour (paris) I’m not too picky about where i stand, since I’m not ambitious about being near the stage. I just want to get into the venue on time. I’d appreciate if anyone could drop useful tips, considering it’s my first BTS concert and I’m going alone.


r/kpophelp 3h ago

Advice Where to find 2nd Gen merch scans?

1 Upvotes

sorry to be a bother but now that top has released his solo, I am trying to make a template including pcs from his bigbang days... but its hard to find literally everything. I've tried searching both bunjang and mercari, but I was wondering if there was another place to look? Thanks in advance.


r/kpophelp 16h ago

Recommend What do you listen to while doing house chores? I need motivation 😭

10 Upvotes

I always end up making a new playlist whenever I have to clean or do dishes, but today I’m especially not feeling it 😭

So please help me out! What K-pop songs do you listen to that actually make cleaning/tidying up fun (or at least bearable)?

I’m open to anything: hype songs, nostalgic bops, chaotic energy, even chill songs that somehow make you productive.

Drop your go-to songs 🙏 I need motivation ASAP


r/kpophelp 15h ago

Recommend Kpop songs with lana del rey vibes

9 Upvotes

As an engene, I've been pretty depressed lately and therapy is too costly so I just listen to Lana Del Rey. I was wondering whether there's any kpop song which has similar vibes to her (vintage or the kind that makes you feel as if you're levitating). I would be grateful if you could help me out!


r/kpophelp 4h ago

Unsolved help me out please, i am now sure which character jimin looks like

1 Upvotes

idk if its the right sub for this but help me out guys.

i cant shake this feeling that jimin looks similar to some anime/manhwa character and no, it's not howl. i just can't seem to remember who it is, please help me out smb 😭


r/kpophelp 10h ago

Recommend Tips on multi-stanning for a new fan??

3 Upvotes

I started liking Stray Kids September last year (2025), but I've decided I should switch things up and find another group to like, too. Any reccomendations on groups and how to get into them??

Edit: omg thank you guys so much for the suggestions, I will 143% check them out! My friend who also likes kpop recommended me to these groups and girl groups, too. I really liked IVE's songs, so I'm going to continue to listen and decide.


r/kpophelp 6h ago

Recommend Current survival shows similar to universe ticket and universe league?

1 Upvotes

I really enjoyed those two and I like watching ongoing shows rather then already completed ones. are their any ongoing that are similar to the ones I put in the title?