I agree spam is a problem if it's actually spam. I would think the Reddit hivemind would push back articles down and good articles up. Articles like this is kinda broad; there's really no particular sub I can think of that would fit into.
> I would think the Reddit hivemind would push back articles down and good articles up.
Let me start by saying I don't think your article was spam or an issue but I do want to refute this point.
I understand how that statement seems correct and that the "invisible hand of the hivemind' will solve all things. Unfortunately this is far from reality. Upvotes != Good content/On-topic content. A very extreme example would be something like porn. You might get quite a few upvotes for pornographic content that is semi-related (or not at all) to the subreddit in question, that doesn't mean it fits with what the subreddit moderators are trying to create/maintain.
People want to think that subreddits are democracies or the sum of the people who submit/vote on content, they are not, in a lot of ways they simply can't be. You have to have moderation if you want a good community (Nowhere is this seen better than here on HN, thanks dang), moderation takes time, energy, and skill. Because of this it's really up to the moderators what they want the subreddit to be.
Reddit is better thought of as a loose collective of fiefdoms where the moderator's word is law. You are at the whim of the moderators and different moderators/subs do a better or worse job at this. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a better system available to us (again, simple up/down votes and reports on their own cannot substitute for a moderator).
On that background, mods of a subreddit that agree with those rules banning you is not terribly surprising: If we ignore 2 posts from 4 years ago all you've done is post and comment on content from your own site.
