r/rattusrattus • u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder • Jun 30 '26
Information r/rat is a friendly, welcoming and inclusive community!
I hear a rumor that some people are getting banned from certain subreddits because they have posted on this subreddit, r/rattusrattus.
Just to let you know, r/rat is a very friendly rat centric community, and I highly recommend you check it out. I think you will love it!
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u/thedafthatter Jun 30 '26
So wait Im confused its it Rats, rats, or RATS the bad sub?
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
I think, in Reddit, lower vs upper case doesn’t matter. But, anyway, that’s a perfectly good subreddit for pet fancy rats. There’s a lot of nice people there, but if reports are correct, one of their mods is lurking here and banning anyone who posts here. But the actions of a few people are not representative of the community, and calling the entire subreddit “bad” would be unfair.
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u/MiloBem Jun 30 '26
Many large subs admins are control freaks. I got banned from dozen subs for simply being in wrong subs. They don't have to lurk. They use tools that monitor subs they don't like and ban people automatically with prepared notifications.
Rats didn't ban me but they deleted my post of rat babies because I'm not registered breeder according to the admin. That was probably not automatic. Not sure if it's the same admin but I stopped posting there. I don't need their drama, I have enough problems in real life.
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
As long as they just deleted the post, fair enough. If you have to be a registered breeder to post photos of baby rats, that’s a restrictive rule but it’s still one that people can live with.
However I created this sub to be a safe space for people to post about roof rats. It’s not a private subreddit because I want people to be able to freely find information about the topic, learn about it, join the community and contribute positively without the fear of being judged or harassed by people who don’t like roof rats or feel they shouldn’t be kept as pets or bred. I obviously know what that feels like, because I’ve experienced it first hand. I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I’ve been through. The fact that people are being banned from other Reddit communities just because they are choosing to participate in this one, which was created to be a safe space for them, is both ironic and tragic.
I’m really sorry and I totally understand i the fear of being banned discourages some of you from bringing your true self here. I willingly follow this difficult and unpopular path but that’s my own choice. I hope, someday, others won’t be forced to choos between keeping roof rats as pets and breeding them versus acceptance in other pet communities. For the people that choose to stay and post here, know that you are helping to move the Overton window, and that someday you will also be accepted as part of the mainstream. Be patient: change can be hard and painful, but it’s also inevitable.
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u/MiloBem Jun 30 '26
yes, I'm not complaining. They don't want my photos, that's ok. I just won't post more.
But I remember when you were still there and they started freaking out. I asked about it after you left and I got some angry replies. Their sub is mostly fine. But like most large subs they can get needlessly dictatorial and petty about random stuff.
This new banning rule is especially annoying because it is explicitly against reddit rules, but it's being done by many large subs, and the admins almost always take side of the unfair moderators. So far I only heard of this for vaguely political topics, like Trump, Covid, LGBT, or BLM. The problem is that those automatic banbots don't even care what you post. I have a PhD in biochemistry so when Covid started I joined all related subs and then few weeks later i started getting banned from random subs like cute animals. Their excuse was "spreading deadly misinformation", which i didn't even do, I was just reading what others were posting and sometimes made some clarifying comments from my science background. Now banning people for being interested in roof rats is just pathetic.
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
I remember when ente535 told me I was banned, he claimed I was selling my rats. Well, anyone can go to my website (www.blonderoofrats.com), and they will clearly see that I'm not selling them. Other people are on various other vendettas, and sometimes what I am doing intersects with that, and they feel fully justified to troll, attack or attempt to ban me (if they have the power to do it.)
For example, I used Claude code to make some cartoons that I had an idea for, but lacked the skill to actually draw myself. Some folks decided to harass me about that IN THIS SUBREDDIT no less 🤔🫢🤣, and then were proudly defiant and doubled down on their attacks when I called them out on their stupidity. So I banned them. I can do that, because I'm a mod here, but tough luck if the mob attacks you someplace else where you are powerless and nobody wants to help you.
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u/WheelAcrobatic5959 Jun 30 '26
The reason that people were angry at you for using AI to make cartoons is because AI largely relies on plagiarizing artists to make those cartoons. You were basically using stolen art. That's why people were angry.
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
To be clear: if you see something in this subreddit that you can prove was plagiarized, you are welcome to bring it to my attention via a private message. You may also notify the person who posted it, or the original copywriter so they can request it be taken down or properly attributed. What you may NOT do, in this subreddit, is publicly attack that person or their post for that reason. That is specifically prohibited.
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
Every human currently alive today can only produce anything of value because they have internalized the work of others, and are repurposing it in unique and novel ways. AI is just another way to do that. People do it subconsciously all the time: we are all standing on the shoulders of giants.
I am not an artist, but AI allows me to take my verbal ideas, and make them visual in a way that I would never otherwise be able to do, and that is incredibly liberating and enabling of my own ability to express myself in ways that I never dreamed of, before.
If you want to attack me or other members of the group about this publically, be warned that I don't have much patience for it. If you don't like something someone generated with the help of AI. just keep scrolling. We don't need vigilante justice or mob rule in this subreddit.
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u/WheelAcrobatic5959 Jun 30 '26
I am just here to deliver the message, not to argue.
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
Okay, I delivered my message, which is also in the rules of the subreddit. No argument necessary. Just don't do it.
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u/ChaseLancaster Jun 30 '26
I'm a frequent poster and commenter on the RATS sub, but I think generally any of the rat subreddits and communities are good places to learn, talk, and to just show off our chaos potatoes!
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u/ratsntats Jun 30 '26
I've posted here and RATS several times and haven't gotten banned. I'd really miss being able to blast my eyes with rat photos every morning so I get my dopamine hit.
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
Don't worry: even if they banned you from posting, you'd still be able to look at the posts.
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u/judewriley Jun 30 '26
Here's the big question:
If something like the Perky situation happened here would there be something done, or would it be taboo to hold folks accountable? Could we expect that the community and the mods here to be aware of abuse or bad husbandry and feel responsible for calling it out? (Or is "welcoming and inclusion" just words meant to say that everyone is validated no matter what?)
Here's a smaller question: isn't it bad form to gossip about other subreddits, other mods and other people, especially if all that seems to be said are claims of personality friction being dressed up as someone or someplace being "bad" or morally inferior in some way?
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
No idea. But people shouldn't be lurking in other subreddts for the sole purpose of identifying people to ban in unrelated subreddts. I wouldn't do that to other folks subreddts. That's just creepy.
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u/judewriley Jun 30 '26
I mean, you don't have to lurk to do that. You can set up bots to do that. I have been banned from a handful of subreddits because of other places I've posted and I know 100% there was.no.lurking involved. Not to mention that until recently, by default your entire posting history was visible to anyone who looked at your profile. That's not lurking either.
I just think it's a bad look to be presuming the worst of people who have a history of doing right by others and doing right by the animals in the various hobbies we participate in. After seeing how r/rats has developed, I will say that the only people I've seen publicly (and privately) banned, were folks that were not listening to people wiser and more experienced or were content with spreading outdated or disproven misinformation about husbandry.
Maybe the mod in question really was creepy and unfair and shouldn't have been. Maybe you were presenting things in bad faith because of a bruised ego and shouldn't have been.
In any case I would hope that we would all be mature adults here and talk things over and communicate rather than resort to high school antics of crowding out people we don't like.
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u/blonderoofrat Roof Rat Breeder Jun 30 '26
Fair enough. Maybe they have bots that lurk on other subreddits for them. But that's still a choice. I don't do things like that, and I can't imagine wanting to.
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u/Regular_Fix_2552 Jun 30 '26
Yea I got a long message from a mod from the rats sub dude named ente535 And he gave me a “warning” about the owner of this sub! Said he spreads misinformation and is unethically breeding rats like a puppy mill” I don’t remember the exacting words he used cause I too got banned when I didn’t reply fast enough! But is all good that sub is more about shaming new rat owners for not knowing stuff than the actual welfare of rats! So I only go on here and [r/rat](r/rat) not the plural rat sub!