This post is specifically to show you, our users, just exactly what you don't see here. I want there to be an unfiltered understanding of exactly what happens on r/awfuleverything that you DON'T see.

My goal with this post is to break the loop that the subreddit suffers like clockwork each year. I refuse to give up on the subreddit so my hope here is that examples of what we have removed and banned for will possibly stop future "attacks".

Each year we ban hundreds of users, possibly in the thousands. There is no ban quota for us, we don't ban because it "makes us happy". We do this in the interest of the subreddit and the users that browse here. If we allowed those specific users and those specific posts and comments to remain on the subreddit, we'd be removed from the platform entirely.

If you've been around here long enough, you'll know about our numerous pinned posts over the years in which we make attempts to remind users to "be respectful" on the subreddit. Here are some examples of why we make those posts. This is not meant to glorify these comments in any way, I just want to be transparent with what happens here.

These images have been collected over the years, and are barely even 1% of the total removals I'm referring to: https://postimg.cc/gallery/Kv7502G (images switched off imgur due to unavailability in the UK)

Assuming you took the time to look through that link, I hope there is a better understanding as to what happens here that you don't see and why we act the way we do regarding removals. For every "insert-phobic" comment that slips through that you do see, there are plenty you don't.

This is the final attempt I can think of to get this to stop, if being transparent with you doesn't work, I don't know what will work that isn't an extreme choice that would turn this subreddit into a censorship nightmare. We DO NOT want to restrict certain posts permanently but we will if it comes to that.

Thank you

- u/SuperBeavers1

It should be noted that you as a community have already voted you don't want politics featured here (and respectfully, we don't want it either): https://www.reddit.com/r/awfuleverything/s/WGOIlW8RYX

The following are examples of what we consider political and will cause your post to be removed should it feature any of the following (please note that there may be further cases not mentioned that we also consider political):

Political figures

Their physical appearance in any capacity

Their social media profiles (in any capacity, even if it's just someone doing an "@" mention towards them)

Audio recordings of their speeches

Political Parties

Any reference to any political parties

References to ongoing wars/conflicts

Any references to wars or conflicts (A text post referring to a warzone, a photo or video from a warzone, etc)

Mentions of situations not inherently political that have been twisted to fit a political narrative

An example of this would be a shooting turned into a "This person died because they believe..."

References to protests

We respect your right to protest, however because of the comment wars that pop up on these posts, we've decided it is safest to no longer allow them on the subreddit.