If you post/comment any racist/hateful/discriminatory stuff you will get perma banned. This already a hard topic to monitor or even talk about, don’t need added bulshit. Only hate allowed is towards depression, not like we can do much about it anyway.

Hey all,

We are the new mod-team and requested to moderate this sub after this sub's previous mod team was deemed inactive by reddit. We have been active for a few months. We wanted to open a feedback megathread for you to chime in and discuss.

We will update this post as needed and post a summary of the edits made at the end of the post.

Important points to consider:

1. We believe the intent of this sub is to share memes that alleviate the pain of suffering from depression, poke fun at it, tell stories in a fun way about everyday life of living with it, of dealing with it, and so on.
2. We are noticing a few posts and comments that, while cathartic, in some sense, dance precariously on the line of what is venting vs what counts as encouragement of self-harm and suicide. Reddit's TOS does not allow that, and therefore, for the sub to exist, we have to remove content like that. We therefore have to remove posts and comments that have tones such as (but not limited to)
   • "I'm about to die"
   • "I'm going to attempt again"
   • "<x quantity> was insufficient for that"
   • "yeah I tried it before and I used <x quantity> and it did not work, so try more"
3. Please report such content. We cannot keep the sub safe without your help.
4. We understand there can be sarcasm, but we'd rather err on the side of caution, reach out, make sure op is okay, and then approve the post or comment.
5. For other issues such as a post not being a meme or if you think it breaks other rules, use the report option and select the best option. We'll take a look.

Some general comments about the current state of the sub

1. Content from new accounts is held for review. Posts from new accounts are removed as a measure against karma-farming bots, but those who reach out to us over modmail will have their posts approved.
2. While not strictly enforced, obvious reposts within the last few days are moved.
3. For posts that are often better on other subs (they get better conversation there), we usually leave the post up and leave a comment with which sub might be better suited.
4. Videos are always held for review, because of .... obvious reasons.
5. Some of the decisions we make may not line up with what the community considers a meme, but since it's a subjective decision, we have to either remove or approve posts and comments.
   • If you disagree, please let us know, politely. We are humans afterall :D.
   • If you would like to share feedback, please reach out over modmail, or drop a comment in this thread.
6. Due to the nature of some of the posts and comments, they will be held for review, meaning, the are sent to the mod queue where someone from the modteam has to approve or remove the post or comment.
   • Please wait for a few hours to a day. If it is still un-approved, please contact us over modmail.
   • We have received reports from users where posters often see "sorry, this post was removed by moderators of depression_memes", despite the post or comment STILL being in the modqueue. It is a reddit issue and we can't do much about it, sorry.
7. If you disagree with someone, please do so kindly. If someone disagrees with you or insults you, please try and not respond too aggressively. Report it to us instead. If it violates any rules (to the best of our ability), we will take action.
   • Engaging puts your account at risk too
   • commenting "kys" or equivalent is an immediate permanent ban, and then a discussion. We have debated over this a lot, and the conclusion for now is, DO NOT ENGAGE. If someone is being rude, just report and move on.
8. We haven't made a poll yet, but the current rule is that we do not allow AI-generated content. We will create a poll for it, if there is enough disagreement about it, but the current sentiment (from users) is that we do not allow such posts.
9. We remove some posts or comments,
   • unrelated comments from accounts filled with porn with links to OF on their profile.
     • While one can (rightfully) argue the person behind the account can be depressed too, we feel this can also fall under "taken advantage of" (especially since porn addiction is something many struggle with, and therefore, we saw a lot of such comments and posts before we started to crack down on bots), so we tend to remove them if the comments are not related to the post. We'd like to see these people use separate accounts.
   • "I'm about to die" or "I'm going to attempt again" style posts or comments
   • links to external websites, e.g., pictures of sticker packs from accounts that we can't judge the quality, because eventually, someone asks "nice stickers, where'd you get them" and the op then posts links to sites we can't validate.
   • "message-me" style comments. They're just spam.
   • surveys without an official org and a grant backing it up. If you receive a link to a survey, we recommend that you check its validity. When in doubt, report the post or comment to us and we will take a look.
10. When reddit admins or automated tools remove content, we are not notified, and therefore cannot leave a removal reason.

We want your opinions and feedback on,

1. We are working on a finding a good sub icon 😭
2. More flairs?
3. Wiki content.
4. We are not sure about self-promotion, because it can seem like being taken advantage of, but we generally have allowed posts while the comment is often removed.
5. Should posts from this sub be allowed on r/all? They don't currently, because we have disabled it. If there is enough interest, we'll create a poll.
6. Discussion about moderation policies and what changes you would like to see.

Please let us know what you think.
r/depression_memes mod team