State of the Sub: February 2026
Trust is earned, not demanded.
Happy 2026, everyone! We’re hoping to start the year on a high note, so let’s jump right into some of the continuous improvement efforts the Mod Team has been working on behind the scenes:
Subreddit Demographics Survey
It’s been 2 years since our last demographics survey for the community, so it’s time we start planning for the next one. As in previous years, the survey will gather some basic user demographics while also digging into some current events to see how this community leans. We will, of course, touch on the 2024 election. But we’re also on the lookout for a handful of topics we can take a deeper dive into (foreign policy, education, abortion, immigration, etc). We welcome your input and feedback below.
Call for Mods
If you have ever wanted to give back to this community or have felt like you could do a better job than the current Mod Team, you’re in luck! It’s that time of the year where we bring on a handful of new Mods to best handle the growing community.
Q: What requirements are there?
A: Be in relatively good standing with the community, and be available in Discord for occasional Mod discussions/escalations. No prior mod experience is required.
Q: What is the time commitment?
A: This isn’t a job. Work/family come first. If you can jump into the Mod Queue or Mod Mail for 5 minutes a day, you will be helping us out.
Q: Where can I apply?
A: Please fill out the Moderator Application HERE
Q: That sounds like too much work. Is there any other way I can give back to the community?
A: Submit quality articles for discussion, report comments when they break the rules, and engage your fellow commenters in good faith.
Law 5 Clarification
We’ve received a lot of feedback for the community asking for clarification on Law 5, especially as its usage has evolved over the past year. In response, we have renamed Law 5 to: Banned Posts and Content. We will be updating the wiki and ModPolBot responses to reflect this and clarify the types of Law 5 removals the community may see. Going forward, Law 5 removals will fall under one of several categories:
Banned Content - Posts and comments dealing with explicitly banned topics, as defined in the wiki.
Nonpolitical Posts - Posts that are not sufficiently related to a politician, party, court case, or piece of major government policy/legislation/regulation.
Uncivil Posts - Posts that consistently violate Law 1, or are framed in a way that baits Law 1 violations.
Duplicate Posts - Posts that are significantly similar to recent posts.
Please note that we are also clarifying what “sufficiently related” means. A politician’s words are not inherently political, just because they were said by a politician. The topic of their statement must be political in nature as well.
Regardless, users who face a Law 5 removal will generally not face any kind of ban.
Law 2 Updates
Under Law 2, posters are currently not required to engage with their post outside of a sufficient starter comment. Going forward, posters will be required to respond to at least one user comment to demonstrate a good faith attempt at engaging with the community.
This is a community. That implicitly comes with an expectation that users engage …
Trust is earned, not demanded.
Happy 2026, everyone! We’re hoping to start the year on a high note, so let’s jump right into some of the continuous improvement efforts the Mod Team has been working on behind the scenes:
Subreddit Demographics Survey
It’s been 2 years since our last demographics survey for the community, so it’s time we start planning for the next one. As in previous years, the survey will gather some basic user demographics while also digging into some current events to see how this community leans. We will, of course, touch on the 2024 election. But we’re also on the lookout for a handful of topics we can take a deeper dive into (foreign policy, education, abortion, immigration, etc). We welcome your input and feedback below.
Call for Mods
If you have ever wanted to give back to this community or have felt like you could do a better job than the current Mod Team, you’re in luck! It’s that time of the year where we bring on a handful of new Mods to best handle the growing community.
Q: What requirements are there?
A: Be in relatively good standing with the community, and be available in Discord for occasional Mod discussions/escalations. No prior mod experience is required.
Q: What is the time commitment?
A: This isn’t a job. Work/family come first. If you can jump into the Mod Queue or Mod Mail for 5 minutes a day, you will be helping us out.
Q: Where can I apply?
A: Please fill out the Moderator Application HERE
Q: That sounds like too much work. Is there any other way I can give back to the community?
A: Submit quality articles for discussion, report comments when they break the rules, and engage your fellow commenters in good faith.
Law 5 Clarification
We’ve received a lot of feedback for the community asking for clarification on Law 5, especially as its usage has evolved over the past year. In response, we have renamed Law 5 to: Banned Posts and Content. We will be updating the wiki and ModPolBot responses to reflect this and clarify the types of Law 5 removals the community may see. Going forward, Law 5 removals will fall under one of several categories:
Banned Content - Posts and comments dealing with explicitly banned topics, as defined in the wiki.
Nonpolitical Posts - Posts that are not sufficiently related to a politician, party, court case, or piece of major government policy/legislation/regulation.
Uncivil Posts - Posts that consistently violate Law 1, or are framed in a way that baits Law 1 violations.
Duplicate Posts - Posts that are significantly similar to recent posts.
Please note that we are also clarifying what “sufficiently related” means. A politician’s words are not inherently political, just because they were said by a politician. The topic of their statement must be political in nature as well.
Regardless, users who face a Law 5 removal will generally not face any kind of ban.
Law 2 Updates
Under Law 2, posters are currently not required to engage with their post outside of a sufficient starter comment. Going forward, posters will be required to respond to at least one user comment to demonstrate a good faith attempt at engaging with the community.
This is a community. That implicitly comes with an expectation that users engage …
State of the Sub: February 2026
Trust is earned, not demanded.
Happy 2026, everyone! We’re hoping to start the year on a high note, so let’s jump right into some of the continuous improvement efforts the Mod Team has been working on behind the scenes:
Subreddit Demographics Survey
It’s been 2 years since our last demographics survey for the community, so it’s time we start planning for the next one. As in previous years, the survey will gather some basic user demographics while also digging into some current events to see how this community leans. We will, of course, touch on the 2024 election. But we’re also on the lookout for a handful of topics we can take a deeper dive into (foreign policy, education, abortion, immigration, etc). We welcome your input and feedback below.
Call for Mods
If you have ever wanted to give back to this community or have felt like you could do a better job than the current Mod Team, you’re in luck! It’s that time of the year where we bring on a handful of new Mods to best handle the growing community.
Q: What requirements are there?
A: Be in relatively good standing with the community, and be available in Discord for occasional Mod discussions/escalations. No prior mod experience is required.
Q: What is the time commitment?
A: This isn’t a job. Work/family come first. If you can jump into the Mod Queue or Mod Mail for 5 minutes a day, you will be helping us out.
Q: Where can I apply?
A: Please fill out the Moderator Application HERE
Q: That sounds like too much work. Is there any other way I can give back to the community?
A: Submit quality articles for discussion, report comments when they break the rules, and engage your fellow commenters in good faith.
Law 5 Clarification
We’ve received a lot of feedback for the community asking for clarification on Law 5, especially as its usage has evolved over the past year. In response, we have renamed Law 5 to: Banned Posts and Content. We will be updating the wiki and ModPolBot responses to reflect this and clarify the types of Law 5 removals the community may see. Going forward, Law 5 removals will fall under one of several categories:
Banned Content - Posts and comments dealing with explicitly banned topics, as defined in the wiki.
Nonpolitical Posts - Posts that are not sufficiently related to a politician, party, court case, or piece of major government policy/legislation/regulation.
Uncivil Posts - Posts that consistently violate Law 1, or are framed in a way that baits Law 1 violations.
Duplicate Posts - Posts that are significantly similar to recent posts.
Please note that we are also clarifying what “sufficiently related” means. A politician’s words are not inherently political, just because they were said by a politician. The topic of their statement must be political in nature as well.
Regardless, users who face a Law 5 removal will generally not face any kind of ban.
Law 2 Updates
Under Law 2, posters are currently not required to engage with their post outside of a sufficient starter comment. Going forward, posters will be required to respond to at least one user comment to demonstrate a good faith attempt at engaging with the community.
This is a community. That implicitly comes with an expectation that users engage …
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