Some subreddit business to go over, this may get a bit long so bear with it please.
Let's start with some easy stuff.
- The Reading Club has been running for around 6 months now and has had a somewhat steady trickle of participation. I'd just like to cast a spotlight on that again and ask that people give it a shot if they can squeeze in a weekly read. Comments don't need to be a formal essay or anything like that, just share some thoughts whatever they may be. Coincidentally I have Colour Out of Space scheduled for Jan 20th so I expect that at least to get a burst of attention which brings us to the next point.
http://https//www.reddit.com/r/Lovecraft/wiki/readingclub
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The Color Out of Space film releases on Jan 24th. On the 23rd a sticky will go up to collect discussion on the film much in the same manner of /r/movies. Hopefully that'll focus things, cut down on a flood of submissions, and limit spoiler exposure. New submissions during that period about the film are likely to be removed and pushed to the sticky but we'll see how things look then. In any case, this is arguably one of the first mainstream direct adaptations in a very long time so go vote with your wallet and see it in theaters if you're able. -
The new suggestions sticky has been posted for a few days, go fill that back up. I imagine a lot of people have been getting into new (or old) stories over the holiday so share with people what you've been enjoying in the realm of cosmic/weird horror.
- Flair editing is open for two weeks starting now for the duration this post is pinned. That can be found in the top right of the subreddit next to your username by clicking 'edit flair'. Please keep them appropriate but otherwise get creative with them, many of you need to graduate from Deranged Cultists.
For those of you who are attentive you've probably already noticed but we have some new mods on the team. Both of them have been regulars on the subreddit and might be familiar to you.
/u/Zeuvembie
/u/Carcosian_Symposium
I would like to note that more mods will not mean more removals or mod actions. The goal is to break up the workload into more manageable chunks and allow for some redundancy.
The Rules
So we're looking at rule 2 a bit here. If you've been paying attention the last week, this has already gone into effect.
Book photos, tattoos, generally 'lighter' stuff is no longer content that is expressly disallowed and rule 2 now reads: No low effort content.
This is largely discretionary but here are a few examples of what might be considered low effort:
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posts consisting of nothing but 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!' or other such copy/pastes. -
social media links/screenshots that consist of misinformation or hot takes. -
direct submissions to Amazon or various other stores.
Memes, jokey material, and apparel are still not allowed. Memes are really bottom of the barrel content, if you have something you truly think is decent then it can go on /r/Cthulhu. Apparel is not allowed for the simple reason that like nothing else, it's a significant spam vector.
Bear in mind that rule 3 is still fully in effect, if there is not some clear connection to Lovecraft, cosmic horror, or weird fiction then it's getting removed. If you're ever in doubt about relevance or how it might be received, go to the effort of explaining the connection as you see it.
Now we fully expect there to be some discontent over this change and we understand completely. A lot of regular users place a high value on the discussions that pop up and you might feel that this change will cause those posts to go overshadowed. Discussion posts require some new readers in order to keep them coming and when your first post on the sub is greeted with 'removed, rule 2' you're not as likely to stick around.
So it's our hope that lightening up a little here will increase user retention. Apart from that it's our (wishful) expectation that you guys get bored with the novelty after a while and stop shooting these posts up to the top of the subreddit. When it's boiled down, you guys need to be the ones to enable the content you wish to see. Submit a discussion topic, comment on others, upvote (and actually click and read) the blogs/articles, etc.
In any case we're going to try this out for the month of January and see how things look. If the image posts prove to be pushing off discussions or annoying a great number of people then we can talk about other options. Some ideas may be opting out of /r/all, disabling link submissions, a dedicated sticky for book photos/similar, or potentially a new rule along the line of disallowing merchandise or 'I just got this' posts.
On a lesser point, rule 5 regarding suggestions has been treated pretty casually lately. Only when/if these posts start piling up do removals start happening. The ideal still remains that people find their way to the suggestions megathread but it's usually not worth removing these types of posts if they're only popping up once or twice in a 24 hour period.
The big takeaway here is that we'd like to be removing fewer submissions and letting users dictate things more but that's going to require a greater effort from everyone. If you want better quality content then be an active part of that.
As a final note on the topic, this isn't coming out of nowhere. There are a number of factors at work here but chief among them is the simple fact that previously when a book photo or similar wasn't removed right away it would very rarely ever get a single report. Combine that with the upvotes they receive and it's somewhat evident that a) people don't mind them and b) people like seeing them.
If you need a refresher on the full list of rules you can look through them here:
http://https//www.reddit.co…ndex#wiki_rules
Transparency
Philosophy on bans and how they're handed out:
It's our policy that bans should not be handed out for mistakes, but rather for behaviour. That's more or less it. Temporary bans are generally 3-7 days and only escalate to permanent in extreme cases. This does not apply to spammers and bots.
Don't be a dick and you shouldn't have anything to worry about, the worst that might happen is a removal.
On the subject of post/comment removals:
This is something I've been quietly acting on for the better part of the year but posts that have little to no substance apart from bringing up Lovecraft's views will be removed. This is not a taboo topic but you're expected to be knowledgeable, reasonable, and trying to actually have a fair discussion about it without being demeaning towards others.
We're all perfectly aware that this aspect of his person and writing are distasteful and it's completely unnecessary to bring it up almost as if it were punctuation.
If posts like these slip through, please report them. The goal is to create at least one corner of the internet where Lovecraft fans don't have to wade through that noise.
Please feel free to offer up some feedback, suggestions, or ask questions. submitted by /u/LG03
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Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lovecraft/co…_and_some_news/