I hate how reddit lies to you about if your post was actually posted on a subreddit

i posted a fairly obscure support request on an obscure sub and instead of just saying the post isn't live, etc etc, it'll fake-show me the post as #1 on the hot page of the sub, #1 on the new, but then if I open the sub in a private window it isn't there -- so it either wasn't approved at all, or hasn't been approved yet. why...