The USL

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Getting Started with The Universal Scammer List

If you represent a community on Reddit that primarily deals with Buy/Sell/Trade transactions and are interested in increasing security and removing scammers, read on!

The Universal Scammer List (USL) is the system supporting a collection of subreddits who agree to work together to limit the impact that those who have scammed or have shown the intention to scam can have on community members. By participating in the USL, you can both benefit from and contribute back to the system.

Getting Bans from the USL

The most important type of access for all communities is "Read" access. This will enable your community to read bans from the system and have them be automatically applied to your community. For example, if someone is banned from r/FunkoSwap for being a scammer, that user will also be banned on your community as well. This prevents them from jumping ship and scamming in your community, protecting your community members along the way.

Getting read permissions is simple. Because your community does not contribute back to the USL in Read mode, there are no qualifications to join. The sections below will describe the steps you must take to join.

Writing Bans to the USL

In order to contribute back to the USL, you'll need to have "write" permissions within the system. Because labeling users as scammers is serious business, there are tighter requirements to join the USL with write permissions. The sections below will cover how to get write access.

If you are accepted to the USL with write permissions, please review the About page for more information on how to use the USL.

Getting Access to the USL

If you wish to have read only access to the USL, please verify your sub meets the minimum requirements:

Then click this link to send a message to the USL admins indicating as such.

If you would like to be considered for read AND write access, please verify your sub meets the minimum requirements:

Then click this link to send a message to the USL admins and answer the following questions:

After we process your response, a reply will be sent indicating your status with the USL.

After You Get USL Access

If you are granted read and/or write access to the USL, a new USL bot account will be created specifically for your subreddit. Please add that account as a moderator to your subreddit with the following permissions:

Of course, you're welcome to give more permissions to the bot, but these are the minimum it needs to operate correctly. Once you've added the bot with the proper permissions, it will start working on your sub, applying bans as they come in.

Subscribing to Tags

The default setting is for any community to be subscribed to the #scammer tag. If you wish to subscribe to more tags, please read the "Subscribing to New Tags" section of the About page for more information.