Ignorance of the rules is not a defense. Most sites do not like their content being manipulated, which is clearly the intent of paying users to post.
I don't think the OP was ignorant to the rules, I think he thought he would not get caught trying to buy upvotes. IMO the intention of this was to try to increase the value of his domain (he has it listed for sale in the digital goods section)
I wasn't paying anyone to upvote or manipulate a reddit community. I CREATED the subreddit.
The last four commenters don't understand the story.
Imagine you had a study group inside a starbucks and you paid someone on the street a quarter to go in and participate.
Then you get banned for life from starbucks
That's how this is. Completely unreasonable. No warning, over-use of force. Very bad to their reputation for a site that is community and (free) speech driven.
There is a scene in the matrix in which Morpheus cautions Neo that some have become so dependent upon the matrix that they will defend it to their deaths.
And reddit, in my experience, has an element of this. There are people who will absolutely not listen to any point that you make, unless that point is pro-reddit.
What this is, IMO, is a fundamental belief that change comes through majority rule. If I am truly open-minded, and I consider your perspective, your view, and come to understand it, I may find myself of split mind where I am able to understand EVERY other perspective ... and this, to many, is dangerous. How can I condemn you if I understand you? And how can I defend myself without attacking and obliterating my enemy through my condemnation? Why would I nail someone to a tree (the death penalty) if I didn't believe condemnation was GOOD?
The biggest obstacle to peace is the belief in war. That peace comes FROM war. That's not just reddit, that's humanity. But on reddit, the manifestation is that you can't be liberal, because it becomes an infection of sorts, resulting in disease: spam and trolls. What's a troll? An attempt to dehumanize so that whatever you do will be excusable, so long as you aren't doing it to a human being.
When reddit starts realizing that trolls are people, just like them, I may consider going back. But I left after four years and am much happier now because of it.
This is my last post on the subject by the way. I just wanted to say to BanksWorstFear that you're not alone, no matter how alone you feel, or reddit, or bitcointalk makes you feel.