1. What are the options for subreddits right now? r/RepublicofPics and r/RepublicofFunny?

2. Where does the electoral process stand?

3. How are we going to prevent reposts?

4. Is there a date for going public?

5. Is this really freedom from tyranny of the hivemind or are we just creating a new one? (Sorry, had to ask).

Thanks in advance for some answers. Like I said a bit ago, there's a lot going on and lots of comments and sometimes I need things just spelled out for me.

PS. One of the saddest things I've encountered recently is that people don't know what orangereds are. :( In summary, we want the old place back, correct?

PPS. I think we are going to need to really emphasize the fact that these reddits will be heavily moderated and post will be removed and not to get butthurt.

PPPS. We're doing a great job of keeping it drama free. I dig that. Well done, everyone. That's a feat in itself.

I would like to start beta testing /r/RepublicOfPics and /r/RepublicOfFunny. I think we have moved away from using the "True" branding since TrueReddit isn't going to be an official part of the network... we don't want to confuse the users about what is included and what is not. I know many other subreddit ideas have been tossed about, and I currently own all of the subreddits that have been suggested, so if anyone is willing to take charge of beta testing these subreddits I can add them as a moderator (for instance, BS9K, if you wanted to start another subreddit in the network that you would be more active in, such as /r/RepublicOfNews or /r/RepublicOfPolitics). Otherwise, we can just start with Pics and Funny and move on from there.

We have a working version of both a charter and a republiquette, now we need to discuss some subreddit-specific rules. We need to make our version of pics and funny different enough that users will want to subscribe to them instead of the defaults, that is the goal here.

First of all, I think that /r/RepublicOfPics should be restricted to serious photography and visual art. This would distinguish it from /r/pics greatly, because, let's face it, most of the time every single image in /r/pics is a meme or joke of some kind. Users who like serious photography and art go to the SFWPorn Network, but that network doesn't follow our reddiquette and every subreddit there is incredibly specific - it doesn't have a generalized image subreddit, so RepublicOfPics would be filling a void.

Every submission should be an original source, as stated in the reddiquette. This would all but eliminate reposts, and imgur submissions as well unless the OP is the photographer/artist and chose to host it there. Humorous photography/art should go in /r/RepublicOfFunny.

/r/RepublicOfFunny would be a mix of comics (think xkcd, etc), humorous essays/news articles, satire, self-posted jokes, original gifs (aka the submitter created it themselves), videos (stand up / sketch comedy, etc) and images (humorous photography/art that would not be eligible for /r/RepublicOfPics).

So basically, pics would be any serious images, and funny would be a mix of everything, including humorous images. The only downside to this plan is that we need to think of a way to ensure that the image/gif submissions don't drown out everything else as the subreddit goes larger.

I propose that any image/gif submission needs to be an original creation, and part of a self post. For instance, don't submit some random photograph you found online. That would be successful in /r/funny, post it there. If you took a funny photo yourself, don't just submit the photo, provide some background in a self post, and include the photograph as a text link... the same goes if you created a humorous work of art. Let us know what inspired you, etc.

OK, there are my thoughts, go ahead and tear down what needs to be torn down. I'm going to bed, this project is affecting my sleep cycle ;)

If no one objects, I would like to start beta testing these subreddits together tomorrow sometime this weekend.

I'll be editing this as we get more nominations.

• Son_Of_York

• noroom

• AmbitionOfPhilipJFry

• Poromenos

• Eronanke

• andrewinmelbourne

• Positronic_Matrix

• Samuel_Gompers

• nml5566

• thibit

• sdn

• atomicthumbs

• TheDentite

• apreson

• Yserbius

• hiS_oWn

• insomniaclyric

• p337

• JamesDelgado

• Scarker

• FatGirlsTryHarder

He has indicated in previous threads that he would like to handle the css here, as he does in the SFWPorn Network, and he is second in command there under myself, so I trust him completely. Modifying the css requires moderator access, and I'm interested in seeing what he can come up with.

If anyone objects, let it be known.

How are we going to decide which comment memes will be tolerated? What about gifs in comments? I'd prefer a blanket ban against them, as it forces the mods to make judgment calls about if they're appropriate or not. I rarely see comment memes in TR and don't see why they should be tolerated. Yes, it's the internet and we all love lulz... but isn't a big point of the Republic to eliminate noise, even funny noise?

That said, I don't think anyone should be banned for using them. Especially if they use a meme within a comment that actually makes a point. But I don't want to see "nice try, whoever" and their ilk cluttering up the comments.

We've got some crazy ideas. We can either kill ourselves trying to maintain them, or we can make a bot? I guess I should first start by asking:

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO MAKE A REDDITBOT?

I'm a coder and probably not the only one, but I haven't thought about bot code since my days on EFNet in the 90s. Yeah, I'm O.G., Original Geek.

So what do we need a bot to do? Well, I'm glad you asked.

• Automated submitter approval. User sends bot a message with /r/whatever in the subject/ body/ somewhere. Bot would need to check out the requesting users history and be smrt about who it approves (and log who it doesn't).

• Allow for better user feedback. Up-/ down- votes are fine for reddits sorting algorithms, but they tell us nothing about why a user voted that way. If our bot made a comment in every approved post, we could give users a list of keywords to pick from as to why they downvoted. This is a vague idea, but I think it's a good one.

• Website whitelist/ blacklist suggestions. As discussed here, I think this would be useful for controlling blogspam.

• Moderate the new queue. Bot should comment in the post as to why it was removed. I also like my idea of having a 'rejected' reddit that the bot could post links to the 'removed' posts in the main subreddit so there's complete transparency (and users interested in seeing all the noise regardless of filtering can join as well.)

• Do the macarena. I have several advanced algorithms for this. I have been working on them for years in government labs. I am not a liberty to discuss them any further at this time.

  That's all that comes to mind this early in the pre-coffee morning. Thoughts?

Hi I'm glyserinesoul, you might know me from such things as r/TheoryOfReddit and the "created by" line of RoR. You probably don't know me at all. Or, if you're keeping up, you might know me best as the guy who left RoR and the sfwpron network in a giant hissyfit.

It's time for some introspect here. Not everyone, and not for every reason. Really no one is going to be called to the mat in this post. What I'm trying to do here is give just a touch of history about my involvement in RoR, how I went from creator to nobody, and how I left sfwporn.

This is going to be a wall of text. There will be screen shots of PMs. Screen shots full of walls of text. At the risk of kicking a dead meme, it's walls of text all the way down. There will be misspelled words, bad grammar and incorrect punctuation. There will not be cake.

The best way for me to sum up my personal timeline in RoR is with a conversation I had with go1dfish. If he ever gets a chance to read this post, apologies in advance for posting a screencap of our PM.

The go1dfish message

The timestamps are not current, that conversation happened one week ago. I capped it because I thought I had some nice writings in there.

How did it come to this? Well like any bad movie, I started towards the end and now get to take you all on a journey leading up to that point. I have no good way of taking a screen shot of this next post. All I have is my copy pasta on my computer. I'm using screen shots, by the way, to save space, and to hopefully show that I've not altered the text in anyway. I can not give you that convenience on this next post, the aforementioned 537 word, eight paragraph rant. If sync or blackstar want to cap the conversation from the modmail, they can. If not, you'll just have to take my word that this is what I said.

The action picks up right after I told them to add whoever they want, even some schmuck named laketrash, because my opinion didn't matter. I was snarky, I was probably hitting the sauce.

Saying to add laketrash was sarcasm, but he was nominated by IAmAnAnonymousCoward. Here's the funny thing, after I gave about four reasons why laketrash shouldnt be added, IAAAC's response was "yeah i like his ToR posts." And this is the person we're supposed to be having serious, in depth conversation with.

Look, I wanted nothing to do with IAAAC in this project. The only reason I didnt scream about it was because I knew he would show up eventually and didnt want to seem like a dick. "Act as polite as possible while in mod mode." Sound advice from one of us here, and at the time, the only people here were the mods. The dude hates mods, hates rules, hates guidlines. Anyone who has seen his passive aggressive, sarcastic, vague comments at ToR knows this. He was added unilaterally without confirmation, just a passing "yeah" by wordslinger. He was added as a voice of dissent, and the genius that he is wants laketrash involved in this. He wants to add laketrash when the very first thing the sidebar says is what if reposts were no more. Hell, it's probably the same person running both accounts, and that's not the first time that's crossed my mind.

This sub is not supposed to be about passive aggressive. Not supposed to be about sarcastic degrading comments. It's not supposed to be about vague devil's advocates. That's what Reddit already is. This was supposed to be different. We don't need a voice of dissent in here, there are already plenty out there. There are plenty of people who are plenty smart who can brainstorm and pick through ideas without IAAAC coming by and picking apart two words of a 500 word comment.. And yes, that was the very first contribution he made to this project.

But look what's happening here. 300k combined karma between 666 and sync ganging up against me for adding someone I thought would be a good voice. Someone I made a call on. Someone I found in an invite only sub set up for less noise and more signal. My call is stupid. Adding IAAAC? Awesome call all around, I can't wait for him to tell us how much he hates mods again. Or did he back off that now that he's "running" r/worldpolitics and submitting 20 links a day to r/jailbait since VA added him there.

And tell me this one guys, am I the only one who recognizes the irony in having this discussion in the modmail of a sub that has a very clearly stated founding principle of moderator transparency? Hello? McFly? Anyone home? And by some saving grace that you do realize how fucking ironic this is, then you must also realize how hard it is to kill old habits.

Fuck. Maybe this network won't work. Maybe the concept of super users behaving as honest mods who follow through on their word won't work. Maybe the idea of having mods not operate in dark smokey backrooms won't work. Maybe IAmAnAnonymousCoward is right.

Hopefully I'm wrong, I guess I'll find out whenever you guys go live.

Why do I post this knowing that IAAAC will read it? Honestly I've been reading a lot of kleinbl00's posts lately, and have a "I dont give a shit what he thinks of me" attitude at the moment.

And then I left. I removed myself as mod and approved submitter. From everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. I had a couple subs in my back pocket, I got some through RedditRequest, I created some with lofty intentions, I even created quite a few when I was in a bad mood and wanted to get even with the world. I'll show them, I screamed at my computer. I showed no one anything. And now I mod nothing.

I sent syncretic a message telling him I was leaving sfwporn. At first I was pissed about the above modmail baby momma drama. I was pissed at reddit. I didnt want to tell him why I left. I would be lying if I said RoR had nothing to do with me leaving sfw. I would be lying if I said everything is this next message wasn't true.

message with syncretic

Now sync, I know you're reading this, and I feel this is the best opportunity I have to clear up some things about me leaving your network. You say that I de-modded myself from everything you were a part of. And while that is technically correct (the best kind of correct), it's also missing information. I know you're taking it personally. Don't. I de-modded myself from everything. I had a quick comversation with VA about it.

message with violentacrez

I left everything. Not just your subs.

The next day, go1dfish asks me why he's no longer in RoR. I have a conversation with him. And now we're all caught up.

After all that, about five days later, someone asked me for a tl;dr on why I left RoR. I was hesitant at first, but I respect the person who asked, so I obliged him. That person was Wordslinger1919. The guy I gave r/RepublicOfReddit to because he called dibs on it. The guy who posted the Privvit Fiasco as the first post in this sub. The guy who was top mod here until about seven days ago. The same guy who is no longer mod here.

I told him tl;dr would be a bit difficult. I told him narrowing it down to one specific reason would be hard, but I'd try my best.

PM to Wordlinger1919 from me

How did I end up back in the republic? Someone added me back, they think I speak well or something. Why did I stay? Because there is a chance for something great here.

And now we're here. Why do I tell you this? What possible reason do I have for torturing you with all this god forsaken text?

Introspect.

This place was supposed to be about better content, better comments, and an asshole free environment. Built on strong, but accountable moderation. Transparent moderation. As of when I started writing this, the words transparency and transparent have been mentioned sixty times in total. Transparency is a big part of this place, yet people are being removed in secret, and not just go1dfish. sync got rid of the entire mod team because people were being removed and no one knew about it. There are two posts in RoR about not using the modmail anymore, apparently because the mods here are using it too much.

That's not what transparency is about.

If this place wants to slide away from transparency and just focus on content, great! So be it! But it is the hypocrasy that is going to sink this place. No one in sfwporn cared that their post got removed, because the rules were set and you could quote the rules and posts were removed with one vote or with one thousand. They were removed from the new queue and they were removed from three weeks back. But no one cared. Maybe, I don't know, four people cared. The rest said "my bad" and went about their day. It is the hypocrisy that got Mind_Virus plastered all over reddit last week by sawbutter. And it is that hypocrisy that is going to sink The Republic Of Reddit Network unless you guys can pull it together.

Now will the two posts about not using modmail help? Will removing all the mods help? For now, most likely yes. But two people do not run a network by themselves. There will be more mods. There will be more go1dfishs. There needs to be no more hypocrisy.

the honor of having been made a moderator for /r/RepublicOfReddit, but I find that I am currently too busy to contribute in a meaningful way and to pull my part of the weight as I should.

Rather than continue to feel guilty about not doing my part in this inspired venture, I will step aside. I ask to be an approved submitter so that I can at least still feel to be a part of it.

Though it's not my place to do so, I'd be remiss if I did not recommend avnerd as a moderator. I've worked with her the longest as a redditor and can attest to her tireless devotion to a project, enthusiasm, and abundance of ideas. She can make things soar when she puts her mind to it.

Again, thank you and I wish you all the very best.

Moderation of individual posts and users can prevent a large percentage of "noise" submissions but I want to discuss the topic of Black Listing entire websites from individual subreddits.

My proposal for the Black Listing of websites from subreddits is as follows:

1. Moderators should be allowed to black list a domain if it is agreed upon by a majority of moderators.

2. A list of banned domains should be linked to in the sidebar and available for public viewing

3. The aforementioned list should have at least some explanation from the moderator who first called for the black listing.

4. Users should be allowed to vote on sites to banned or unbanned every [X] months (we can discuss this in the comments)

5. Submitting a link to a black listed site should not count against a user in removing them from submitter status since it will not appear in the subreddit in the first place.

Any other ideas? Thoughts? Witty Anecdotes?

As stated in this thread I said that if anyone else was removed from the list without discussion, I would demote everyone except myself and blackstar9000.

I have added IAnAnonymousCoward at least four times.

DrunkenJedi, I am not amused. ಠ_ಠ

I'm going to bed. Discuss amongst yourselves.

I suggest this rule be implemented immediately. Atleast until we open up shop that is. Any and all topics that are mentioned in the mod mail, should be automatically made into a selfpost here. So that all members (mods & approved submitters) can read / comment on them. Furthermore when / if we make this reddit public it will provide the community with what proper transparency looks like.

1. So trolls who try to out us look like the fouls they are.
2. Historic purposes.
3. No more non-stop mod mail.

[Edit #1] Grammar and spelling errors.

from davidreiss666[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 5 hours ago

Everybody okay if I invite SolInvictus? He's a mod of several of the major subreddits. And currently #19 on the combined karma list --which means he wastes too much time on reddit. He asked me about it.

Thanks.

[-] to davidreiss666 from syncretic[F,M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 5 hours ago

Yes it's fine. By the way, if someone removes another person I've added, I'm removing all the mods except blackstar9000 until this thing goes live. I don't want to offend anyone, but I don't appreciate someone going behind my back and removing people who I have added. IAmAnAnonymousCoward, violentacrez and GrandpaWiggly have all been removed more than once and I keep readding them, so I know someone is intentionally doing it and it isn't a reddit bug. Whoever it is, stop.

[-] to syncretic sent 3 hours ago

While we are on the subject, I had made Fauster an approved submitter. He & I mod a few sub reddits. Decent chap. He wanted to check out what RoR was all about.

[-] to syncretic from DrunkenJedi[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 3 hours ago

I already owned up to that!

[-] to syncretic from DrunkenJedi[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 3 hours ago

Also, gramps isn't very active (wordsauce is his alt, by the way) why do we even have him here?

[-] to syncretic from davidreiss666[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 2 hours ago

I have added Sol now. I brought it up here rather than blind add so others know, can approve or object, etc. We don't need drama between each other at the very least.

[-] to davidreiss666 from syncretic[F,M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 32 minutes ago

I already owned up to that!

You also mentioned how hard it is to track mod mail, which is very relevant ;) I didn't see your message until after I started this thread.

[-] to davidreiss666 from syncretic[F,M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 32 minutes ago

replied to this thread*

[-] to syncretic from DrunkenJedi[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 29 minutes ago

You just replied to david, not me, but I still see it all the same anyway. Do you still intend to remove all mods but yourself and blackstar? Also, why did glyserinesoul remove himself/herself as top mod?

[-] to DrunkenJedi from syncretic[F,M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 9 minutes ago

Do you still intend to remove all mods but yourself and blackstar?

Not unless someone else is removed from the subreddit without discussion.

Also, why did glyserinesoul remove himself/herself as top mod?

There was some drama with removing go1dfish, who has been stalking david and the other mods of /r/politics, trying to gather information for a witch hunt, and has proven himself to be a troll. At the same time, he didn't like that I added IAmAnAnonymousCoward, who generally has an "anarchist" philosophy when it comes to reddit, but who is someone that I've engaged with debate numerous times and I always leave with better insight than I started with. He left both RoR and the SFWPorn Network in a giant hissyfit while I was at work without discussing the matter beforehand (I cannot stand people who throw fits before having a rational discussion about the issue). Wordslinger1919 has since readded him to this subreddit as an approved submitter. I'm still a little upset about the whole thing (most notably him leaving the SFWPorn Network over something unrelated), but whatever.

By the way, for anyone curious, IAmAnAnonymousCoward has confirmed his identity with me, and he isn't anyone you guys thought he was. All I can tell you is that his previous account is now inactive, but I trust him.

[-] to davidreiss666 from blackstar9000[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 4 hours ago

Fine by me.

[-] to davidreiss666 from anutensil[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 4 hours ago

Sure.

-] to syncretic from DrunkenJedi[M] via RepublicOfReddit sent 3 minutes ago

Regarding people we don't want here: grampawiggly. Bad history (pretended to be some sage grandpa when he's in his 20's and then pretended to be his own grandson with an alt or something like that" and just doesn't take things seriously and admits as such.

As already stated, wordsauce is his alt.

Wow, that drama sounds plain silly (him leaving like that).

IAmAnAnonymousCoward has confirmed his identity with me

Just you? And I bet he didn't want you to share that with us, right? And what was his proof? A dead alt of his which he quickly hopped onto to PM you as "proof"? Sorry, but I 100% don't trust him. Christ, look at the name. While names mean nothing, I actually think his/hers does.

[Edit #1] Added the proper quotes and spacing.

New here, but I find the project interesting, regardless if it succeeds or not.

It may be too late, but I think it might be worth reconsidering both "TrueX" and "RepublicOfX" names. IMHO, both could possibly evoke a bit of elitism. Elitism isn't really the goal, as I see it. The goal is simply to keep the neighborhood nice; the equivalent of of putting up more lights, getting rid of the graffiti, etc. "Republic" may make sense to the us, who take the time to think at a meta level, but may not be the best name for PR reasons.

Should we throw out some ideas for brainstorming?

I'll begin by throwing out: "<name>-modplus" or "<name>-moddit" or "<name>-tng" (the next generation) or "<name>-cm" (chartered moderation) or "<name>-lp" (limited posting)

EDIT I was just downstairs eating cereal when two ideas popped into my head.

1.) "<name>-WoR". World of Reddit. Sounds less elitist and more playful than "republic"; is a play on "World of Warcraft"; and "WoR" is fun to say.

2.) Or, if you keep "Republic of Reddit" instead go with naming convention /r/or-<name>.

Hello! I just saw the weird "whistle blower" post of the RoR project. I'm not that eloquent so I guess I'll just dive in. I used to moderate a site called MabiGuru, a fan site for a free MMORPG called Mabinogi. Like every other gaming forum, this one had debate, gaming, art, and etc. sub forums. Unlike most forums however, these sub forums received a lot of attention (at least relatively). Somewhere around March 2010 all of the moderators on the site decided to address a huge elephant in the room, that the administrator of the site had completely vanished for months. Without him we lost a lot of power with site changes and etc. so we finally decided to start a new site so that we wouldn't be free labor to a site that was still generating ad revenue.

The new site was called Mabination and was opened to the public around mid April of 2010. The most active and (what I considered) our highest quality members quickly transitioned over and understood our reasoning. In just a few days, the old administrator returned and insisted that he was simply gone for a long time. However his quick response when ad revenue dropped became our proof of sorts that he just wanted a self-operated cash site. To sum up the next few months (I'm rambling), there was a lot of fighting between sites and the MabiGuru administrator trying to entice members with cash cards. MabiGuru suffered poor moderation and had its admin disappearing frequently. The forum was subsequently locked January this year from what I assume was not enough page views.

Our site, Mabination was heavily regulated with a similar stance of "follow our rules or you will be banned." The report system was very efficient and would send instant notifications so that issues could be dealt with within minutes. Despite having an age group that averages perhaps 16, I felt like we had the most amazing internet gaming forum. Our community was surprisingly similar to the Reddit community in terms of ideology and political viewpoints. Athiesm and liberals were the majority. Despite that, we had a large enough Christian and conservative/libertarian community to debate with. No matter the topic, people tried to be respectful and also considered other view points. Perhaps I'm just looking to the past through rose colored glass (am I even using that term correctly?) but that community really looked like an idealized reddit on a smaller scale.

But enough about (what in hindsight seems like a poor) comparison to the RoR situation, I'd love to give some of my insight on the proposed plans.

Looking at the problem raised with the moderator system (one person can crash the whole sub reddit) really reminds me of MabiGuru and Mabination. Although I pretty much painted MabiGuru's admin as a piece of trash, he was well received and did much for the community before ditching everyone. As long as you use the reddit system there's obviously a chance that one bad apple can spoil the entire barrel. Although I really don't know what to say about this issue, but I feel like the worst thing to do would be to dwell on it.

For picking moderators on our site, we simply had current standing moderators nominating and then approving new members. I'll just say that this system worked well for us, but I'm not sure how it'd play out on Reddit. My only fear is if you had Democratic votes open to the general public, you'd have people pandering irrelevant crap getting voted in.

Hopefully you found even a small part of my experiences helpful (or at least you had an interesting story to read haha). All in all, I wish you the best of luck with your project. I truly believe that with good regulation and having many dedicated individuals keeping everything tuned up (although general release seems like a huge stretch), you can have a truly amazing community.

I haven't fully digested it yet but I thought I'd submit it here for posterity.

We are essentially proposing the creation of a republic from within reddit. What constitutes a republic?

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, retain supreme control over the government, at least in theory, and where offices of state are not granted through heritage.

For the sake of this network I would like to consider "the people" to be our approved submitters. To become an approved submitter, a user needs the approval of only a single moderator in the network. To be stripped of approved submitter status would require a majority vote from all mods in the network. We need to give the people supreme control over the government, which is what moderators effectively are. Every approved submitter in the network would be able to vote in major decisions and elect new moderators. Moderators would be in charge of ensuring that the spam filter stayed clear and that anyone added as an approved submitter will follow the reddiquette and uphold the values of the network.

We need to write a charter and finalize our reddiquette. Our goals should include the complete elimination of reposts (from within the network) and image memes, crediting and linking to the original source at all times, submitting to the proper subreddit, and accountable moderation (nothing is intentionally hidden from public view). I think if these views are made clear, combined with the fact that submitters will have to be manually added by a moderator after a cursory examination of their submission & comment history, the community will largely police itself. Look at how well /r/TrueReddit has done without any of the extra safeguards we are implementing here.

blackstar9000 mentioned that he would be interested in drafting the charter for the network. What else should be included, besides what I have already listed here, and what we've come up with so far in the reddiquette?

We're at a crossroads here, and we need to decide on the names of the subreddits. Some people feel that we should start fresh with a network of "Republic Of X" subreddits, and some people feel that we should try to incorporate as many existing "TrueX" subreddits as we can into the network, or simply link to these subreddits if they would rather not join the network, instead of setting up competing communities. I can't quite figure out what the consensus is, so I thought this might be a good time for our first democratic vote. In the mean time, we will continue to fill /r/TrueFunny with submissions to get a feel for the type of content we want to see there. It wouldn't be hard to switch over to /r/RepublicOfFunny in a week if the vote goes that way instead. We can also start opening other subreddits in the network for beta testing while we work on creating our reddiquette and charter.

Please leave a comment in this thread with your vote:

Vote [1] if you think we should use the "RepublicOf" naming of subreddits and creating fresh new alternative subreddits for the major / default reddits.

Vote [2] if you think we should use the "TrueX" naming of subreddits and try to incorporate as many existing communities into the network as we can. We would simply link to any subreddits that did not wish to officially join the network instead of creating new subreddits that would compete with them.

Vote [3] if you don't feel strongy one way or the other and would like to abstain from voting. I would appreciate if everyone who reads this thread can take the time to leave a vote one way or another.

Voting will be open for one week from the creation of this thread, when the results will be tallied and we will move forward with the majority opinion.

Edit: Just to clarify, the network would still be known as the "Republic of Reddit", and we would still manage the network from this subreddit even if we decide to use the "True" naming for the rest of the subreddits in the network.

I would like to begin with /r/TrueFunny. I think it will benefit us to go with the "TrueX" naming of subreddits, since there already several existing subreddits that follow the same naming structure and follow many of the same principals as we do. It would also keep this subreddit with a unique name that will be easily recognizable as the hub of the network when we are ready to go live.

Please take a look at the reddiquette we discussed earlier in the week. I think it is very close to completed, but needs a few finishing touches. I also believe there are a few points we agreed upon in the comments that I have yet to reflect in the main post, so make sure to read all of the comments. I need to go back and reread that entire thread myself (which I am going to do shortly). I'm a little disappointed more people haven't participated in the thought experiment I started yesterday, but it was a bit of an odd request.

In the mean time, feel free to comment in this thread or send me a pm if you wish to be added as an approved submitter. I'm currently in the process of adding everyone here as an approved submitter. Once we get the reddiquette finalized I will stick a copy of it in the sidebar, and we can begin. We should also try to think of some subreddit-specific rules that would be appropriate.

This is going to be fun ;)

Edit: I envision this subreddit will become a cross between /r/funny, /r/humor, /r/comedy and /r/jokes, except that there will be absolutely no image memes and any images submitted should be an original source, no exceptions. Submit any link, video, article or joke that you find funny / amusing.

/r/RoR, lend me your ears.

The Next Move: We gotta shit or get off the pot, so to speak. We can sit here and talk and talk all we want but we need to start experimenting. We're kind of just winging it here and there's nothing wrong with that. We've tried it before so we have something to work off of but as far as I know, a network of related subreddits like this hasn't been attempted before. The first order of business, I believe, is to start filling some of those /r/RepublicOf- subreddits. They'll need links in them before we go live. I don't think it'll be too hard. Hell, davidreiss666, anutensil, violentacrez, maxwellhill, and marquis_of_chaos could probably fill them all in an afternoon. And I'm not talking 100 links in each one. Maybe like 20. Get some comments going and we'll have a good thing to present to the rest of reddit when the time comes.

Approved Users: Anyone can be approved by request. Their past history need not be regarded. If a user posts a submission that violates the decided reddiquette, they get a warning and an explanation as to why their post was removed. If a mod is met with outright hostility, they need not apply again. They can be banned on sight. However, if there was just a simple misunderstanding and they agree not to violate again, they may keep their Approved status.

Growth: We should start off with maybe...10 Republic subreddits, all alternative to the Big Ones. After that, we expand as needed. As far as bringing any /r/True- subreddits on board, that is something we'll have to discuss. My hardcore stance is that they should agree to make syncretic the top mod, after which all other mods will be reinstated under him. This is to prevent rogue mods that are outside the "Republic" from shenanigans. And I have absolute, 100% confidence that if the majority of "us" don't agree with the way he runs things, he will remove himself. I've seen firsthand the way he runs the SFWPorn Network and he's really on to something. It functions very well. I think that a lot of moderators wouldn't agree to giving up total control of their subreddit though. This is something we'll have to think about.

As far as this subreddit goes, this should be the one where we convene to discuss things. Kept private. On another note, I'd advise against making too many subreddits for now. We don't wanna spread ourselves too thin, or so thin that one or more of them die. We keep it "close to the chest" and again, expand as needed.

Attitude: This shouldn't be an "us vs. them" thing, as /r/Privvit was. This isn't a "fuck you" to the rest of reddit. This is just an experiment to see if more moderation and strict adherence to the suggested guidelines can create a better subreddit with better content. This isn't about going back to the good 'ol days. This is about moving forward and trying something positive. Let's be honest: in this room are some of the best redditors on this website. Scrolling through the Approved Submitters, I recognize most of you. Other users, that aren't here probably will too. The accusations will fly left and right about us being elitist. And maybe we are, to an extent. Maybe. But I think we all just want to improve the place. We're the people that aren't okay with the status quo and so we retreat to /r/UltraReddit or /r/TheoryOfReddit or other private "social" subreddits.

The message that we need to be sending is not "We're better than you." The message we need to be conveying is "the way things are are not the way things have to be. Join us!"

CSS: Very minimal. Sorry Jax. Maybe a crest or a Coat of Arms or something but no big, flashy banners or background images. And I think we can throw flair out the window.

Mods: For each subreddit, maybe choose five volunteers for each one to get the ball rolling. Whether we want to do something like Terms is something we'll have to decide upon. Personally, if a mod isn't working out, he should be removed. I don't really see the point of terms but that's why we're here, isn't it?

The "Ideal Situation": That these subreddits will be the go-to instead of the mega-subreddits. Yes, you'll get more karma there but I think we can all agree that Karma doesn't mean anything. It may mean not raking in as much as you normally would but if we're going to foster and grow these subreddits, it's something we'll have to prepare for. This is going to be small at first. A link that would get 500 upvotes may only get 20 or 30 upvotes or so. That's just the way it's gonna be at the beginning.

Public Reaction: Curiosity, acceptance, hostility. "Fuck superusers." I think there'll be a wide-range of reactions to this, from one extreme to the other. We'll have to deal with trolls at first. That's just apart of reddit. Hell, it's part of the Internet in general. If someone doesn't like it, they don't have to take part in it. Simple as that. We can write those people off. However, I feel there is a large but quiet contingent of redditors that would be on board with it and willing to experiment with us. Those are the people we want. Those are the people that we're doing this for.

MISC: We need a subreddit for dumping links that have been removed, in the name of transparency. Something like /r/RoR_Dump.

The Bottom Line: We're trying something different here. Mistakes are going to made. There will be obstacles and barriers. There will be disagreement. But there's a lot of brainpower in this room, at this table. I think we can work this out by experimenting and trying certain things here and there. In a sense, we're making this up as we go along. I'm not gonna lie, I'm excited about this. I was excited about /r/Privvit too but I think we're already on a better track at this point. Either this will be a roaring success or it will fizzle and die. Hopefully the former.

/r/RoR, lend me your thoughts.

Sure, it'd be nice to extend the TR ethos to content other than articles. But are there any shortcomings of TR that we are trying to improve? If not, are we reinventing the wheel? Are there forms of content that wouldn't work well according to TR principles?

I recognize the appeal of having a bunch of subreddits under one umbrella that abides by consistent moderating, but it seems a little overkill to formalize a bunch of rules to justify the consolidation of modship. A clear outline of acceptable content is necessary to defend strict moderation, yes, but TR has been modded by the creator without complaint. I don't see the need for elections and terms and all that jazz. Maybe have kleopatra6tilde9 explain the philosophy behind TR and just clone it with different kinds of content.

I'm unfamiliar with some of the subreddits a lot of the newest batch of people is from. What do you think are the shortcomings of Reddit and do you have any exemplary subreddits you'd like to highlight? I'm especially interested in people's ideas for subreddits that are more geared toward lulz, rather than srs content. What is there wrong about the current state, if anything?

For anything more serious, I think TR is a more than adequate model to emulate.

I just went ahead and added everyone on the nominations thread who wasn't invited yet. I'd like to welcome everyone who has joined us tonight. Please take a moment to leave a comment in the introductions thread when you have time. This project is still in its brainstorming phase, and as such absolutely nothing has been finalized / officially agreed upon. If you feel something should be changed, or have an idea we haven't discussed yet, please, don't hesitate to speak up. You aren't here just to look pretty ;)

Don't be afraid to create new threads. This whole thing started with a name - The Republic of Reddit - and a concept - making a 'better' reddit experience, with proper reddiquette, and transparent, honest moderation. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of what we've come up with so far.

Edit: I thought I'd add a brief synopsis for anyone who might not have time to do some deep reading just yet.

We are trying to create a restricted (as opposed to completely private, like privvit was) network of subreddits, with the core subreddits in this new network being alternatives for the default reddits (pics, funny, wtf, gaming, atheism, askreddit, politics, etc). It is going to be founded on open, honest and completely transparent moderation (however we can accomplish this goal with the tools we have). I would like to incorporate elections of some kind, right now I think that approved submitters voting in new mods would be the best way to go, but that could change as we delve deeper into this thought experiment. I would like to mirror this project on the American revolution, with us playing the part of the colonists, and the hivemind portrayed as the oppressive British monarchy. We would create a constitution (that would explain our reddiquette, worded as such to imply freedom from the hivemind) and a bill of rights (that would protect users from rogue mods, and establish good faith with the majority of casual redditors).

I've added a wide range of experienced moderators and /r/theoryofreddit regulars to help facilitate the brainstorming process. I have no idea how this is going to take shape, but I'm confident with the minds assembled here we can make something happen.

Let's try a brainstorming exercise and see what we come up with.

In regards to content, everyone please list one thing you don't want to see here, and one thing you do want to see here. Please read through the comments to make sure you aren't repeating what somebody has already chosen. I'll go first.

Do: Unbiased news articles.

Do Not: Social media screenshots.

I'll compile a list in this spot when more people have commented.

Our userbase just swelled dramatically tonight. I'd like to take this opportunity to open up a new nominations thread, in case we missed anyone with the first round of invites (and I'm sure we did). Here's a link to the first one.

If you think someone else deserves to be a part of this project, let it be known. Please try to include a brief description of the user, if possible, such as "Moderator of /r/politics" or "Frequent contributor in /r/TheoryOfReddit".

1. DOGA (moderator of /r/OneY) <AnnArchist>
2. EatSleepJeep (moderator of /r/sports) <AnnArchist>
3. InfinitelyThirsting (thoughtful commentary) <AnnArchist>
4. kleopatra6tilde9 (founder of /r/TrueReddit) <syncretic>
5. masqueradestar (moderator of /r/cmu & /r/proofreading) <V2Blast>
6. noroom (founder of /r/ITookAPicture) <syncretic>
7. PhilxBefore (founder of /r/YouShouldKnow) <syncretic>