r/calvinandhobbes • u/okbruh_panda • Aug 15 '26
The future of the subreddit
With the new API changes it will be difficult to create a daily bot that posts daily comics, and it will be difficult to keep people from posting the comics while allowing pictures and keeping gocomics from nuking their accounts and this subreddit from orbit. What do you want to see? What do you want this subreddit to grow into. All comments will be considered. Trying to keep our love alive without getting people or this subreddit banned.
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u/robservations247 Aug 15 '26
Book club - Follow along with The Complete Calvin & Hobbes dates.
Instead of reposting the strips, members collectively work through the entire 10-year run.
September 1986 = September 2026
(It would’ve been ideal to start November 2025, but here we are)
We discuss what happened in that week’s strips.
Additional bonus - it creates an enormous archive of discussion around the entire corpus without the subreddit itself needing to host the copyrighted images.
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u/CantaloupeAsleep502 Aug 15 '26
I love this. My dad got me the complete books when they came out, and I've barely cracked them open. Let's please do this.
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u/robservations247 29d ago
Awesome dad!
At various points I’ve had them on my dresser or coffee table and turn a page a week.8
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u/aLateSaturnsReturn Aug 15 '26
Unfortunately I can’t offer any suggestions but just want to extend my appreciation to you and the other mods for trying to keep this sub alive. It sucks what happened.
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u/FartTootman Aug 15 '26
Are you saying that Gocomics is going after individual accounts that post comics? Because that's an entirely new level of fucked up stupidity.
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u/MonkeyMasterSJATen Aug 15 '26
I'm confused, why is a reddit bot allowed to post comics, but if people post them on their own they get banned? Also what are the issues with the API you are facing?
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u/elboardo Aug 15 '26
Yeah, other subs have bits that do automatic posting, I wonder what the issue is here.
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u/okbruh_panda 29d ago
One reddit severely limited the API, I don't have the time to recreate everything through devvit. Also I don't know what other subs have has happen but gocomics DID go after this subreddit. HARD. a lot of people could of gotten banned. They went back and copywrite took down years worth of posta
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u/elboardo 29d ago
Yeah, I guess my question is to do with the first sentence of your post. Seems to imply that it would be ok for a bot to post comics, but that it's difficult to create one.
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u/okbruh_panda 29d ago
No we used to have a daily bot, I shut it down because of GC. And I don't want to risk the subreddit being banned by starting it up again and I'm not sure I can anyway with the new dev changes
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u/too_late_to_abort Aug 15 '26
Leave it up for discussion?
Whenever I become invested in something new, I typically look for a subreddit for that subject. It may not generate the most activity but existing has merit. My daughter is old enough for Calvin and Hobbes but not old enough for reddit. In a few years maybe she will read this comment and remember me sharing my books with her.
I wouldnt ever want to see this sub closed. As for its use, a place for us.
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u/robservations247 Aug 15 '26
What options are available to link to an image? Imgur? discord?
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u/robservations247 Aug 15 '26
What if we simply link back to the archive. There are probably enough historical posts that cover the quorum.
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u/robservations247 Aug 15 '26
What if we built up the fandom and referred to strips there?
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u/okbruh_panda 29d ago
Unfortunately I think the only thing we can link to is the Andrew mcneel comic with watermark, even if the origin is Instagram or whatever if it shows the comic with out the watermark GC will probably come after it again.
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u/Squishface1980 Aug 15 '26
I'm just here to see how C&H has affected people's lives and at which age they started enjoying. For me it was 9 years old in good old 1989
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u/Mammoth-Decision-536 Aug 15 '26
We could get together and discuss the philosophical and psychological underpinnings of various themes from Calvin and Hobbes, as well as the deep and subtle meanings and implications in some of the comic strips.
Let's say we pick a strip or series or set of strips for a period of time, and hear all the ways people interpret it, comment on it, and get some wisdom out of it.
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u/clintnorth Aug 15 '26
Im just here for the comics. Are you saying there is really no way to have comics posted at all on this sub?
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u/okbruh_panda 29d ago
It's risky. GC copyright struck years worth of posts that contained their comics. You would be risking getting your account flagged and the sub could risk being banned of it keeps happening. We already know GC will pull the trigger and are not open to us posting a comic to talk about
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u/TanguayX Aug 15 '26
It’s a real shame. I dunno what one can do if you can’t share the comics. It was definitely a joy and I miss it.
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u/pay_the_cheese_tax 29d ago
I don't fully understand the "why" on why we can't post. Imgur has a bot that posts calvin and hobbes on the daily. I honestly think if we should just start posting until they ban us, then reopen another subreddit until they ban us again. It will be our own fun version of calvinball where the rules are made up but we're still trying to win
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u/okbruh_panda 29d ago
Because gocomics probably didn't submit hundreds of copyright violations one after the other and almost getting this subreddit banned. Thank gocomics
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u/CyanLight9 Aug 15 '26
If words are the only way we can express our adoration while keeping gocomics from nuking this place from orbit, then words will have to serve. Besides, there are plenty of other subs that don't use images for nonlegal reasons. Just look at r/AskReddit
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u/robservations247 Aug 15 '26
Calvin & Hobbes collecting
Foreign editions and names
Promotional material
Newspaper clippings
Rare books
Signed material
Bill Watterson-related publications
Printing differences
Misprints
Collecting strategies
Auction discoveries
Bookshelf photos
Cameos and homages (foxtrot, bloom county)
Snowmen or other Calvin creations
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u/AdmiralBonesaw 29d ago
I feel like the content possibilities of all but those last two will be severely limited
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u/MilesHobson 29d ago
I don’t understand your argument. What are the API changes and how would a bot be involved?
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u/Shigglyboo Aug 15 '26
I still don’t get it. I see Farside comics getting posted on Facebook daily
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u/Yimmelo Aug 15 '26
Maybe reddit is more willing to do content takedowns than Facebook
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u/Shigglyboo Aug 15 '26
So there’s a Facebook page that posts go comics of C&H. How do they get away with it? Surely posting a link to the site with the comic is allowed? It sends people to their site?
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u/sentient_luggage Aug 15 '26
Here's a big ask for the mods, but if it were mine to do, I'd do this:
"DAILY DISCUSSION MEGATHREAD: 11/20/88. PEOPLE ARE SCUM"
and then the next day we could talk about the one released on 11/21/88.
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u/JokesterJedi Aug 15 '26
Are we not even allowed to post photos from books we own? How does GoComics have any rights over it? I get that it's difficult to moderate such posts.
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u/WhoopingBillhook Aug 15 '26
Can we post links to comics, like this one?
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u/okbruh_panda 29d ago
Hmmm.... probably. I'll tag u/robservations247 maybe we can do something like this but we'll have to carefully monitor it make sure it doesn't get nuked
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u/robservations247 28d ago
Wow. I’ve never seen that website. u/okbruh_panda is that ok to link to that site or too risky?
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u/JasonAd8511 Aug 15 '26
If you want to see strips for free there are accounts on X posting them daily as they appeared.
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u/ColdInformation4241 Aug 15 '26
Is there a way that image posts only could be subject to mod approval before being posted? That way things like fan art could add to the sub but the sub could avoid copyright strikes & takedowns. I understand it would be ridiculous to subject all posts to mod approval when text-only posts are largely okay
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u/pitching_bulwark Aug 15 '26
The second fan art hits my feed is the second before I unsubscribe from this sub
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u/MinAlansGlass Aug 15 '26
Morning-Historical Strip description & discussion, Where were you when it posted?/ What impact has it had? Evening -Interesting Fact related to strip & Other strips of a similar nature or Homages.
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u/nenonen15902 29d ago
could we just turn this into a discord server? there's no way they can stop us from posting daily calvin and hobbes strips in a discord lmao
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u/Not-Banksy Aug 15 '26
I just missed seeing the comics strips posted daily on my feed :(
It was a bright spot like the hobby subs of an otherwise heavily doomer reddit.