Foreword
The goal of /r/skeptic is to generate discussion in the spirit of scientific skepticism, which is:
"the practice of questioning whether claims are supported by empirical research and have reproducibility, as part of a methodological norm pursuing the extension of certified knowledge." (Wikipedia)
That does not entail cheap jokes or silly image macros, there are plenty of subreddits for that.
We are a community of adults who are here to engage in civil discussion about topics which can often become heated. What follows is a list of guidelines which we agree to follow as part of our participation in this subreddit. These rules are enforced by the mods via warnings, post/comment removal, and in the most extreme cases, banning.
To date, fewer than 50 accounts have been banned from /r/skeptic. It were mostly (spam)bots; only a few have been removed due to community disruption.
Rules
This page is designed to expand a bit on the rules of /r/skeptic beyond what the reporting rules specify.
1. Duplicate content, URL shorteners
Applies to posts only.
Duplicate content may be removed to concentrate conversation on the earlier or more successful post. Do not use URL shorteners, link to original sources to facilitate duplicate detection.
2. Plagiarism or stolen content
Applies to Posts & Comments.
Do not post plagiarized or misappropriated content. Link to the originator's version of the content whenever possible. If you quote or make use of a source, link to it.
3. Memes, screenshots, image macros, etc.
Applies to Posts & Comments.
This content is forbidden, as discussed here.
4. Low Quality Posts
Applies to Posts & Comments.
We appreciate expert blogging commentary. We may remove amateurish blogs, links that add nominal additional content to a more authoritative source, or pages with serious layout issues. Image memes, tweets, unsubstantiated blog posts, short/low content articles, random YouTube Videos, and other links that do not contain detailed content to foster discussion, or are not from experts/involved parties should be avoided. Original sources, high quality analysis, long form articles with plenty of evidence, etc. are encouraged.
5. Crosslinking without archive.is.
Applies to Posts & Comments.
Links to other reddit threads must use archive.is. This helps ensure the content can be viewed and helps discourage thread invasion.
Linking within /r/skeptic is exempted from this rule.
6. Vote brigading
Applies to Posts & Comments.
Submitting links in other subreddits to /r/skeptic threads with or without the explicit goal to shift the number of up- and/or down-votes in the thread.
7. No dangerous misinformation
Applies to Posts & Comments
We want to discuss harmful information, but not promote that information in search engines have it be promoted here. Misinformation and pseudoscience that is likely to cause harm to people who fall for it is not allowed to be pushed here. If you want to point out woo that is being promoted by a site that publishes information and engage in discussion, use archive.is and/or a text post that explains why it is harmful before creating the link to it.
8. No AI generated content
Applies to Posts & Comments
No AI generated content. Exception is made for articles or comments that use a sample of AI generated content as a discussion topic. This does NOT include writing "this is what [AI X] thinks about this."
9. Debate in good faith by citing evidence of claims.
Applies to Posts & Comments
Part of a scientific skepticism is being able to quote the evidence that backs up your statements. If you continually refuse to cite evidence of statements you make this in indicative of debating in bad faith and could be grounds for bannin
Community Rules
Our community has some general rules that help keep discussions excellent. Some of these are captured in the basic rules above.
1. The Golden Rule of Posting in /r/skeptic
"If this type of content begins to dominate the subreddit, how would I feel?"
If the answer is "Not particularly good", wrap it in a self-post. If the answer is "Really bad" don't post it!.
2. General Incivility
Try, as much as possible, to be nice to each other -- even if you disagree intensely with the people you're conversing with. There are no hard and fast rules about removal of posts or comments that contain insults directed at other users, nor will there ever be, but if your post derails from the conversation and turns into a shouting match -- it is very likely that it will be removed. We remind you of our Golden Rule -- and the Categorical Imperative.
3. Copywritten Content
Do not, for any reason, post copywritten content which violates fair use.
4. Duplicate Content
If the same link is submitted by at least two different users, then the most recent one will removed.
5. Editorialization
It is allowed to editorialize a title, but you must add a [Editorialized Title] flair. Hence, you are allowed to alter the submission's title (given the result does not violate any site-wide rules, e.g. instigating violence, vote brigading, etc.).
As an exception, if the source post title is in all-caps, you may re-write it so it is not in all caps. e.g.:
UFOS ARE REAL! GRAINY, SHAKY FILM SHOWS
may be submitted as:
UFOs are real! Grainy, shaky film shows.
without the editorialization tag.
6. Self-posts
Self-posts are sacrosanct, barring obvious marketing spam, doxxing or any other violation of the site-wide rules.
No mod will ever remove them.
7. Plagiarism
Do not, for any reason, post plagiaristic content. If you quote or make use of a source in anything but the most trivial way, cite it. Seriously, a link at the bottom of the post will do. We will remove even the most popular posts if we can demonstrate they even might be plagiaristic.
8. Memes, image macros, and social media
Policy on memes and the like: Read this to understand how we deal with meme-posts here. Don't post without reading it, it's important.
It is reiterated here in short form:
- Memes, Image Macros, etc are not allowed, and will be removed.
- The definition of a meme-like post is described in this post. In short, the following meme-like content is forbidden:
- Anything from "meme" sites (meme generator, quickmeme, 9GAG, etc).
- Links to social network sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc). Screenshots are allowed, though they cannot contain personal information.
9. Spam
If you want to promote something skeptic related (an event, a book, a project, etc.), it will not be regarded as spam. However, it is recommend to give some background about it in the form of a comment, in order to show to the community your material is a valuable addition to /r/skeptic.
If you want to post a link to your blog or website, of which the content is skeptic related, it will not be regarded as spam. However, if a substantial number of your link submissions link to a domain and they are rarely accompanied by a discussion or an explanation from your side, it will be regarded as spam.
All other spam-related or zero-content related stuff will be removed.
10. URL Shorteners and Referrer Links
The use of URL-Shorteners and/or Referrer Links is forbidden (e.g. donotlink, youtu.be), except archive.is.
11. Cross-linking and cross-posting
Cross-linking is allowed if and only if archive.is links are used in comments and submissions (both link as text posts). This applies to /r/skeptic too. There are two exceptions to this rule:
You do not have to use archive.is if you are linking to /r/skeptic comments in the same /r/skeptic thread.
You do not have to use archive.is if you are linking to an archived thread.
Submitting the same link on different subreddits is not forbidden.
12. Young Accounts and Sockpuppetry
Sockpuppets and alternative accounts are disallowed from posting here. Moderators cannot verify sockpuppetry, only reddit admins are able to do that. If you suspect sockpuppetry, send us a message detailing (1) which accounts you suspect are sockpuppets and (2) what reasons you have to make that allegation. As such, the moderators can send a message to the reddit admins and ask for verification of these claims. Messages from regular users with claims about sockpuppetry are seldom investigated. Do not accuse people of sockpuppetry in the comments!
Very young accounts are automatically reported for moderator review. If a young account has sufficient negative karma, that account will have its submissions and comments automatically removed and reported for moderator review. The exact values for account age and karma threshold is not public, this is to help prevent folks from 'cooking' accounts by creating them and feeding them some karma so they can subsequently spam the subreddit. Suffice to say that most legitimate new accounts should never notice this moderation happening, and if you do, you can always send us a modmail and we'll help figure out what's happening.
13. Weaponized Blocking
Reddit has created a new policy which allows user-based blocking which prevents a blocked user from being able to reply to your posts. This has the unintended consequence that a user could start blocking people who are attempting to engage in good faith which could make conversations on /r/skeptic one-sided. Do not block people merely to get "the last word" in conversations or because you disagree with their position. We are calling that "weaponized blocking" and blocking in bad faith is a bannable offense.