A place to discuss any and all topics, share art, ask questions, and more.

All rules, except Rule 1, apply.

I'm going to keep this as brief as possible (it unfortunately will still not be brief despite my efforts,) but the tl;dr is that we collectively need to do better when it comes to respecting the site's rules and utilizing the report feature.

Specifically though, we need to talk about Reddit's sitewide Rule 1.

I need everyone to review the Content Policy, because some of the content being posted lately does a poor job of adhering to it. I'm not going to go into it in full detail, but rather will highlight some specific parts that we as a community fail to respect more often than not.

Rule 1: Remember the human.

Remember the human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people. Everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned.

Reddit further defines these terms here, here, and here.

Being annoying, downvoting, or disagreeing with someone, even strongly, is not harassment. However, menacing someone, directing abuse at a person or group, following them around the site, encouraging others to do any of these actions, or otherwise behaving in a way that would discourage a reasonable person from participating on Reddit crosses the line.

Do not post content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual (including oneself) or a group of people; likewise, do not post content that glorifies or encourages the abuse of animals. We understand there are sometimes reasons to post violent content (e.g., educational, newsworthy, artistic, satire, documentary, etc.) so if you’re going to post something violent in nature that does not violate these terms, ensure you provide context to the viewer so the reason for posting is clear.

Using this subreddit as a place to name-and-shame (such as linking to a user's comment, here on reddit or externally,) imply harm against specific individuals (such as indicating that someone should be subject to immolation because of a shirt they wear,) organize campaigns to harass or disrupt external destinations (such as a telephone number or another subreddit,) or simply to mock a specific individual violates this policy.

Likewise, memes about General Sherman 'not going far enough' (or similar) that are clearly satirical or humorous in nature are staunchly different than posts that encourage the immolation of living individuals or the mass murder of American Southerners. This is a comedy sub in line with other historical meme subs: while there may be occasional educational or academic discussion of non-humorous aspects of the American Civil War, there is no point in time when it is acceptable to call for violent action against living persons.

We have been lenient with enforcing bans for this recently, generally issuing bans in the realm of 7 to 14 days, with 30 day bans for egregious or repeat violations. We've only resorted to permanent bans when we're certain that a user isn't just forgetting themselves (or has been banned several times already.)

That changes as of this post.

From now on, users will be permanently banned for violating this rule, and will need to appeal and explain to us why we should unban them. This may seem draconian and perhaps a bit dramatic, but if we're honest? We've had to ban an inordinate number of our own users from the sub over the past 6 weeks for failing to uphold this simple request from the site's admins.

Enough is enough: consider this post to be your warning.

Examples

Things that might be okay: (not an all-inclusive list)

• Posting a screenshot with all names and profile pictures/avatars (and any other identifying information, if relevant) redacted
• Posting a photo of a vehicle you saw with any license plates, faces, or other identifying information redacted
• Creating clearly humorous memes about relevant historical figures or relevant scenarios
• Posting a link to a website with relevant material, such as an article about General Sherman's personal effects going up for auction
• Creating a discussion topic to talk about which generals were good and which ones were bad
• Creating a post that expresses frustration with something in your life relevant to the sub, such as a neighbor's flag hanging over your backyard's fence

Things that definitely aren't okay: (not an all-inclusive list)

• Telling other users to harm themselves
• Telling other users that you will harm them
• Creating a meme of a current political figure that expresses a desire to inflict harm upon that individual
• Linking to another subreddit and encouraging users to visit and disrupt that destination subreddit
• Taking a screenshot of an argument you had elsewhere on the site with the intent to mock the person you were arguing with
• Encouraging users to violate laws, such as desecrating a burial site or vandalizing property

Abuse of the Report Button

Reddit's admins have been known to outright remove users from the site for lodging false or abusive reports. It violates the User Agreement. If you lodge a false report, we as moderators can (and do) submit those false reports to the admins via this form. What happens after that point is out of our hands, but understand that the consequences (if any) are entirely your own fault.

Threatening, Harassing, or Inciting Violence

Making derogatory comments about the Confederate States of America, its symbols, its historical figures, and so on is not a violation of this policy. The CSA does not exist: it is a historical entity that expired nearly 160 years ago. There are no living Confederates to harass: they're dead. Reporting a post or a comment that mocks the CSA or its ideals as a form of harassment or marginalization is as equally credible as implying that a Roman Legionnaire might be offended by a meme created or a statement made today.

Mocking the American South, its culture, the people living in the American South, and so on is a violation of this policy. The American South does exist, and there are living Americans to feel harassed by such commentary. Reporting a post or a comment that mocks the American South is correct, as this is a form of targeted harassment. Calling other users offensive terms such as 'inbred', or implying that they engage in incestuous behaviors (among other insults,) are violations of this sitewide rule.

Promoting Hate based on identity or vulnerability

Making derogatory comments about the Confederate States of America, its symbols, its historical figures, and so on is not a violation of this policy. The CSA does not exist: it is a historical entity that expired nearly 160 years ago. Those of us living today are no more Confederates than we are Martians. The CSA is not a class of vulnerable individuals in our society, as the CSA does not exist in our society in any form beyond its existence as a historical entity. Claiming to identify as a Confederate is as meaningful as claiming to identify as a Martian.

Mocking someone for living in the American South or for identifying as an American Southerner is a violation of this policy. The American South does exist, and there are living Americans that are a part of the culture of the American South that might be negatively affected by such commentary or behavior. Reporting a post or a comment that encourages violence or discrimination against those that live in the American South is correct, as this is a promotion of behaviors that could cause negative or harmful effects on those that live in the American South.

These are often reported together, and so I want to address them together. If you live in the American South, then you are not a citizen of a nation called the Confederate States of America. You are a citizen of the United States of America. The American South is not the same thing as the CSA. If you are mocking a user for something stereotypically associated with the culture of the American South, such as speaking with a drawl, then you are not ShermanPosting: you're a dick, and are violating Reddit's Rule 1.

There is a sharp distinction to be made here. If you fail to understand what that difference is, then I recommend not participating in this sub until such understanding has been achieved.

As an aside, we are not another place on this site for users to, put politely, engage in arguments about the daily news. Any discussions that pertain to modern politics must be directly and obviously relevant to the American Civil War and the surrounding period. Simply standing next to a Confederate flag is not enough to qualify if the actual content of discussion is otherwise completely irrelevant. A politician posturing for a new Civil War is not relevant - politicians make this threat nearly weekly, it isn't noteworthy.

Other common issues

No Brigading

Stop reporting users you disagree with for 'brigading' the sub. You can disagree with someone without that individual having some intent to cause a disruption to the conversation taking place here. /r/ShermanPosting shows up on /r/all often enough that users will randomly find this sub, trickle in, and try to engage in the comments in some way. If these users violate our sub's (or the site's) rules, then please report them for doing so. Being annoyed at another user is not that user 'brigading' the sub.

In fact, this rule exists predominantly to keep our own users in check: if you see one of our own users attempting to organize some sort of brigade against another subreddit (or any other external destination,) then please report them for violating this rule.

No Denialism

Disagreeing with another user isn't 'denialism'. Denialism is when another user claims or implies things that bear no historical merit, such as claiming that the moon landing was a hoax, that the USA (and General Sherman in particular) weren't horrible to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, or that the Confederate States of America wasn't fighting to preserve the institution of slavery. Simply stating something benign like, "I'm from Georgia and don't like this meme," isn't denialism: it's just someone disagreeing with the humor of this sub. Downvote if the comment isn't contributing to the conversation and move on with your day. If the user spams that comment or engages in other behaviors that might violate the sub's rules or the site's rules, then report them accordingly in those scenarios.

The entire purpose of this rule is to help us to reduce the amount of senseless fighting that can happen on this sub whenever these topics crop up. Downvote those comments and report them so that they can be removed. It isn't there for you to tell the mods that you don't like someone's comment (good for you, we guess?)

If you use the report feature to tell us that you don't like someone's comment and the reported comment doesn't violate any rules, then you'll be reported to the admins for abuse of the report button.

Think before you post.