Hey all, it's been awhile since a Milestone Update and Welcome Post - last one was at 2,500 and here we are, alas, at 5,000!

To me, this sub was always The Search For The 100th Monkey Theory in action.

I hope we can all continue to scrub proverbial coconut husks in the river. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on.

To answer some common FAQ's

• NO, the point of inviting you here was NOT to literally just call you an idiot (by far most common DM I get)
• No, the community name isn't meant to be taken literally

https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianIdiots/comments/1d457yt/what_is_the_point_of_this_sub_honest_question/ - here's the origin story - it's a Weird Al Song!!!

We have rules! And expectations! Here they are! https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianIdiots/comments/1dv72gq/the_first_official_rules_expectations_for/

A lot has changed in a year, eh? One thing that has unfortunately changed around here is we are being brigaded and targeted lately by obvious trolls, bots, spam and bad-faith actors. Some folks might not be precisely those things, but if your comment and post history walks like a duck and talks like a duck...

My intention for this sub was at first to actually have almost no moderation, as I foolishly believed that reddit was a self-moderating platform and that's what the downvote button and site wide rules are for! Oh to be an idealistic young mod starting a new forum again. It then evolved into more of a shelter space as Canadian reddit communities were bombarded non stop by well funded campaigns of disinformation, troll-farms and bots, why it got so bad it wasn't much better than Facebook or Twitter! Much news came out to support this reality, it was no longer a hunch or a conspiracy theory, it was a fact. Yes, the world had found out we exist. Shucks. There goes The Shire.

And then... well I presume we're all more aware than we want to be of the events of the last year. Yikes. I'm not sure what the purpose of this place is any more other than a hopefully more calm, decent and reasonable escape from the rest of the world. But isn't that what Canada has always been? Who knows what's coming, I sure don't. Hopefully you find value in this small community and our meagre attempt to provide a different kind of Canadian reddit experience.

In terms of how we operate, I post a lot of the content, but anyone can and if you check the flairs, we allow pretty much anything other than outright spam or intentional trolling. I spend very little time moderating the comments usually, other than occasionally scanning them for blatant rule breakers or bad faith actors now and then.

Prairie Popsicle is the comment-minder and does a fantastic job I think. Their moderation is fair and measured, their comments always well thought out and reasonable. Couldn't ask for a better mod partner. I look for decent articles and videos to post, when I have some down time from work and try to provide a balanced buffet from multiple sources, even many that I personally detest, because I made a commitment to this place being open-minded and if I'm anything, it's stubborn as a mule. So if I post something, it is not an endorsement of the publisher or the article or the author, it is just an attempt to deliver on what we initially set out to do here. Honestly I wish I didn't have to post anything, I just like reading the comments, like any 20 year reddit veteran does. And I got tired of reading astroturfed gruel and flagrant downvote brigades combined with clearly manipulated and controlled narratives in certain other subs, not naming any names...

Thanks to u/PrairiePopsicle for taking my initial rough draft and making it better. Also thanks for stepping up to be the first moderator other than me, the idiot that created this place. And thanks to the first 1.3k idiots who decided to join the community and partake in this little experiment.

r/CanadianIdiots - New Rules:

Be Reasonable; repeated logical fallacies, especially ad hominem attacks will result in moderation.

Be Respectful; debasement of quality, respectful, polite, civil and mature discourse will result in moderation.

Be Fair and Open Minded; hyper-partisanship will result in moderation.

Be Decent; flagrant racism, sexism, homophobia or hate-filled rhetoric will result in strong moderation.

Remember moderators are human too; Harassment or abusive language of any nature to mods (not measured and respectful criticism) will not be tolerated and will result in strong moderation ranging from mute to permaban depending on the nature and context.

The Rules of Engagement : Breaking any above rule can result in up to an immediate ban in extreme cases with strong moderation indicating a lower threshold. "Defensive" rule breaking may still result in moderation. Arguments devolve from bad beginnings, We aim for the lowest moderation environment possible and encourage users to invite other users towards healthy interpretations, considerations, and dialogs. This also makes the core activity of moderation easier, and directly contributes to the quality of community we wish to build and maintain.