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submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by neidu3@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

As I'm sure you've already memorized the community rules as if it was your moms birthday, I probably need not post it, but here is rule 6 anyway:

  1. No US Politics.

Please don’t post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

I am writing this post in an effort to gather feedback on how the community feels about this rule. In short, keep it as it is, or revise it.

It is my personal belief that the main purpose it serves is to avoid the community from mainly revolving around whatever daft thing the orange lardsack last said or did. And while it serves that purpose well, I think it also inhibits some potentially interesting discussions.

For example, one possible revision could be to allow for questions regarding US politics, but with a requirement that the topic has to be regarding issues 25 years ago (that may or may not be relevant today).

Alternatively, would it be useful/entertaining to occasionally have a "Contemporary US politics question megathread" as a contained outlet?

Please let me hear your thunks. This post will stay stickied for "a while".

UPDATE: There seems to be overwhelming majority in keeping r6 as is, at minimum. Thank you for your input, and stay classy.

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[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 69 points 5 days ago

100% keen on keeping it. Expanding it to keep all political discussions out would be nice but I know that won't happen.

[-] pohart@programming.dev 8 points 5 days ago

Expanding it to keep all political discussions out would be nice

Not even possible. Every post would devolve into a discussion of what's political.

[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago

The rule is currently US politics, where I would like to expand it to other countries because /r/Europe turns into US politics because "it effects Europe"

[-] draco_aeneus@mander.xyz 2 points 5 days ago

It seems that the rule seems to work well enough here as is. In addition to the rule, how you enforce it is equally (if not more) important too.

[-] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 days ago

Just narrow the definition of politics to party politics plus named subjects.

[-] remon@ani.social 60 points 5 days ago

For the love of god, keep it as it is!

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 43 points 5 days ago

!AskUSA@discuss.online exists so I say this rule should stay. I feel bad enough about the deluge of US news our non-yank co users deal with as it is.

[-] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 8 points 5 days ago

but that also doesn't exactly like "overt politics"... whatever that means

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago

Ah yeah my mistake. Whatever politics comms they link to in the sidebar is what I meant. I want to say askpolitics? Yup.

!askpolitics@lemmy.world

[-] dylanmorgan@sh.itjust.works 36 points 5 days ago

As a US citizen, keep the rule. As laid out in the text of the rule, there are already communities where questions of that nature can be asked.

[-] BeardededSquidward 3 points 5 days ago

Agreed here. People should wonder what normal life like can be in the USA than our politics. Not saying it's great, but I think it gives better insight than who people voted for.

[-] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 23 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I’d like to add this:

If you are a chronic political poster, please think of yourself as someone who crates ads. We currently live in a world where ad creators think they have a god given right to shove ads into every square inch of our existence. And naturally, this is universally hated and people go to great lengths to block as many ads as they can because the ad makers won’t stop and think they have to do this.

That’s you. You’re the ad maker. And that’s how you’re perceived.

I know where I stand politically. I’ve known my entire adult life and I won’t be changing. I also know where to go to update myself on what’s going on politically, both locally and globally. I like having the option of going to it voluntarily and not having it imposed on me involuntarily. I like having the option of turning it off when I want/need to. I have never in my entire existence had a positive or productive or enlightening political discussion with anyone on the internet, ever. I just end up wrestling pigs and I’d rather channel my energy elsewhere. I’d imagine a lot of people agree with that sentiment.

That all being said, keep the rule. There are people who will still post political shit here because they can’t help themselves, regardless of what gets said in this thread.

[-] Glytch@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

Keep the rule as is. US politics already gets brought up enough already.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 20 points 5 days ago

It's possible to imagine people having good questions about US politics, e.g. something like "I'm considering running for this public office in this state, what do I need to know about x?" but good luck crafting a rule that allows that and not the worthless noise.

[-] Tywele@piefed.social 17 points 5 days ago

Please keep it and I would even say to enforce it more strictly because I see so many question that I would categorize as US politics that are still allowed.

[-] MuttMutt@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago

I'll put it this way. I would prefer zero politics. If you allow them I'm gone.

People who want to talk politics can easily create their own place to do so and nothing is preventing them from joining other places that are political discussion havens.

[-] Sephtis@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago

I think it should be expanded into a rule of no politics in general. While the us politcs have the most effect(are most know worldwide) EU poltics and so on should also not be discussed here imo

[-] draco_aeneus@mander.xyz 2 points 5 days ago

I don't see a problem with a bunch of European-specific questions being asked, so I question the need for an expanded rule.

If you broaden the rule, you run at risk of banning or discouraging desirable questions. Stuff about economics or lifestyle. Those are "political" too, after all.

[-] Sephtis@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I mean yo run the risk of banning some stuff regardless of if you only ban us politcs or eu politcs. What would be a reason why questions about european politcs would be any different than us politcs. best would be to just ban polutics in general, while keeping lifestyle/economical stuff etc, this would however require some nuance

Edit: to specify i don't mean to ban European specific questions, just eu-poltics.

[-] draco_aeneus@mander.xyz 1 points 5 days ago

Fair, but nuanced rules are difficult to enforce, and somewhat open to interpretation. This leads to people trying to skirt the rules and also good faith posts which break the rules which leads to conflict also.

I think it's better to keep things as simple as possible, as long as the rule is good enough.

[-] Sephtis@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Totally agree. But let's for example say someone asks a question about something related to economics. I think it would be unfair if Europeans could answer a lot of stuff about politics, while Americans are pretty limited.

Imo It already requires nuance at the moment, the only thing that would change is that all users would be treated the same

[-] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 15 points 5 days ago

There are other communities to discuss politics, usa or any country. I say keep politics out.

[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 14 points 5 days ago

I think it’s a great rule!

To me, the links to alternate communities are essential. They allow you to set restrictions while still maintaining a helpful atmosphere. Sometimes, people have legitimate, good-faith questions, and don’t know where to ask them. Those links help demonstrate a real concern for the users. Well done!

[-] disregardable@lemmy.zip 14 points 5 days ago

It already gets political ?s even though it's not supposed to. Taking out the rule just encourages even MORE of them.

[-] SomeDudeFromSpace@lemmy.ml 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Please please pleeeease keep it.

Edit: If possible, disallow politics in general.

[-] Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 days ago

Yeah keep it. The pedo dictatorship can be discuss in other communities.

[-] bibbasa@piefed.social 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

eyyyyy, shameless self-promo, but i made a community a couple days ago called !politicaloptimism@piefed.social

i'm a little nervous about bringing this up since i'm the one of the only people active there right now, but we have a "Seeking Optimism" flair for people who are concerned about things and want assurance for the most sensational narratives over what's happening.

[-] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago
[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 2 points 5 days ago

Well, I just subbed! I think it’ll be good for my mental health.

[-] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 7 points 5 days ago

Keep it. There's more than enough places to discuss politics.

[-] Carrolade@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

25 years is pretty extreme, it's not like we need to wait decades for whole fields of research to occur before we have our own opinions--we're not academics with a responsibility to not spout random bullshit. Being randos on the internet, spouting bullshit is actually one of our primary activities.

4 years is probably sufficient to keep the volume reasonably balanced.

[-] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 days ago

I think 25 may be too much but it's fine.

4 isn't nearly enough. At least a decade.

I'd say 8 would be better, just because they can have a second term. Usually those are consecutive, but still

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[-] QuadratureSurfer@piefed.social 8 points 5 days ago

PieFed has already implemented a feature which allows mods to move posts from one community to another. Lemmy and NodeBB are also working on this feature.

Ideally we choose a community where these posts are moved to, that way any great discussions aren't lost and they can carry on in the proper community.

https://piefed.social/comment/9641830

[-] DeepThought42@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago

Keep the rule and LOL @ "orange lardsack"

[-] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 8 points 5 days ago

Maybe you could have one day a week where it's allowed? The constant barrage of US politics can be exhausting, but there can definitely be some interesting questions about it.

[-] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I like the principle, but I think posts from that day would crowd the front page or the top section for too long after the day is over.

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[-] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 days ago

I really like how this rule turned out on UK subreddits like r/casualUK. It makes for a much more relaxing community.

[-] Okokimup@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago
[-] starlinguk@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

Everything is politics and anyone who thinks it isn't needs to check their privilege.

"But I don't want to question my own beliefs and test my moral fiber, I just wanna have fun online!!!" - average netizen

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 5 days ago

it make sense on a niche community, but an ask anything community it will just devolve into politics eventually anyways.

[-] klymilark@herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

So. In my experience, places with a generic "No politics" rule tend to become Nazi bars very quickly. That's not the case here, partly (I think) because it specifies US politics. Makes it more clear that this isn't a place where the only genders are "Male" and "Political," even if that kind of is the case in the US.

I think something akin to "Nothing about any current or former politician, or government entity" could be a way to allow discussions about certain parts of politics without others. In the communities (non-lemmy) I've run that's the usual rule I have alongside some others that aren't relevant here.

I would mention that word filters exist, but this post is a great example of why those don't work very well in a lot of cases. "The daft orange lardsack" is a case where self-censorship ends up leading to word filters being less effective. It's also a great way to showcase that you think body shaming is fine in certain circumstances. I, personally, disagree, and think that we can talk about his actions without mentioning his weight, but y'know. What do I know

[-] Chippys_mittens@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

Big time keep as is

[-] hector@lemmy.today 2 points 5 days ago

Where do you draw the line between world news and politics? I mean the president launching airstrikes on Iran for Israel's forever war, is that politics? The US annexing Greenland? The US bullying the EU into letting tech run roughshod over their users?

What about the EU imposing age checks and chatcontrol as a trojan horse to get inside liberal democracy to id every account and every ip and connect it to id cards and likeness, and run everything a person does or says through AI threat detection, run by Palantir type organizations, to make secret social scores to be used in secret in myriad ways against people in ways they can never know and not challenge? Is that politics?

It's impossible to extract world news from politics completely is it not? I personally have been ignoring whatever dumbass shit the president has been saying, and political news myself, just trying to follow events, but you can't separate them completely.

[-] uKale@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Keep the rule as it is, and take those kinds of discussions in communities meant for political discussion. There's already enough of US politics everywhere else.

[-] AmidFuror@fedia.io 4 points 5 days ago

What do you mean "orange lardsack?" Sounds like body shaming. Let's debate about that here in the comments.

[-] AmidFuror@fedia.io 3 points 5 days ago

No one took the bait.

For those wondering, the OP made this meta-post political, and I wanted to make a point of how unwelcome a political debate would be here.

As long as "no ethics" doesn't become a new rule, I'm okay with this.

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this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
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Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


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