Ask HN: Is Reddit now a hostile place to new users?

I have an account I made in 2023, but I don't really use it and I don't really like the user name I previously picked, so I made a new account and posted the project to r/NixOS, but my post was immediately removed and my account shadow banned. I created a bunch more accounts and they were all shadow banned after posting.

I later learned that most subreddits require you to have a certain karma before they consider you trustworthy, which makes sense, but the practice of not showing the karma requirement and simply deleting the post with shadow banning is just so hostile.

I tried appealing with the new account, 2 months after, no response and the ban is still not lifted.

I later started to reuse my 2023 account, and this time paid attention to the karma. I mostly just commented and made one or two posts to subreddits that don't require a high karma. One post got a lot of upvotes and replies, and gave me 24 post karma, I thought that was enough to prove I'm not a spammer. So I made a post in r/macapps, releasing a Mac app I recently built. It immediately got removed too, but didn't get my account shadow banned. Later, I was surprised to find out the post was restored, and I started to get replies from redditors. One redditor messaged me saying she is a student and has found my app useful and asked if I have a discount code. I replied since she is the first one who asked I will just give her a free copy. But right after I sent the redeem code, my account was shadow banned again. My final message saying I'd appreciate it if she could leave a review couldn't be sent to her.

It was such a terrible moment for me.

I tried appealing immediately yesterday, and today I found out I can't even log in the account, saying my username and password are invalid. Resetting password doesn't work.

Is reddit a living hell for new users now? I wonder if others share the experience?