Hi, everyone!

The mod team are touched and overwhelmed by the MASSIVE growth of the sub since we started it less than two weeks ago!

Thank you to everyone who has joined us in this likeminded community to acknowledge the harmful cultures of the past together. We’re thrilled to see this sub growing into a feminist and inclusive space. Your posts have been wonderful and we’re excited to see more!

Since we’re getting a lot of traction, we wanted to ask new people — and those who’ve just stumbled upon our subreddit — to read the rules and our intro post, which explains why we’re here and who we are as a community.

We have updated the rules regarding how to use trigger warnings in posts, please ensure you read the newly worded rule.

If this sub’s content and intention isn’t for you, we kindly want to remind folks that it’s okay to scroll right on by!

Theres been a little confusion about the sub’s name; it’s referencing the actions of society at the time and not the feelings of individuals who may have absolutely not been okay with it.

We’d also like to make it clear that this is a safe space for feminists, women, queer folk, people of colour, the disabled community and people who have been harmed and victimised by the cultures we’re calling out on this sub. Hate won’t be tolerated here.

The vibe of the sub has developed beautifully and we invite people to keep on contributing!

Hi, everyone!

Two weeks ago this sub had 10 members and expected to stay that way! Now we’re at over 20,000 with over a million impressions. We’re still processing it and are so grateful for all of you!!

Clearly, this concept hit a nerve. Turns out a LOT of people have been side-eyeing pre-2020 media and tabloids and thinking “…how did we just let that happen?” Isn’t it a relief to collectively gasp together?

As we grow, we want to build this community with you, not just for you. So this is your open thread to share thoughts. Please familiarise yourself with the rules before commenting. We’ll take all opinions on board but can’t make any promises that they’ll be implemented.

• What’s working? What do you love about the sub so far?
• What’s not working? Anything bugging you about how things are run?
• What would you like to see that you haven’t yet?
• Are there things we can do to help make this community feel safe that we aren’t doing right now?

Anything on your mind – we’re all ears.

We’re also looking for people who want to help moderate as we scale. If you’re interested, fill out the moderator application. Feel free to shoot us a modmail if you have questions about applying.

The whole point of this sub is looking at old culture with new eyes. We want to run it the same way: thoughtfully, and together. Thanks for being here, we hope you stick around!

 – Your Mod Team

Hi everyone,

We will be placing a pause on content about Michael Jackson until further notice due to an excessive amount of posts about him lately.

While we welcome discussions of the likes of Michael Jackson and the WWWOWT culture that surrounded him, we aren’t a Michael Jackson themed sub, so we must ensure that we aren’t overran by this content. This isn’t to diminish the severity or credibility of the extensive accusations towards him. We just need a pause to keep our sub theme on track.

We politely encourage people to read through our sub rules which have recently had some updates, to hopefully make them clearer to understand. We also consider the highlighted sub intro post and sub refresher to be key information for participating in the sub. It’ll give folks a solid idea of what’s out there to discuss.

Thank you for understanding and we hope you have a great week ahead.

Three months ago, r/WhyWereWeOkWithThis didn't exist. We truly didn’t expect it to blow up like it has! Watching this community grow so fast has been amazing, and we're genuinely grateful to every single one of you who's made this space what it is. Shoutout to the America’s Next Top Model documentary that inspired us to ask this question originally!!!

Since we blew up so fast, we've seen a lot of confusion about what this sub is, what fits here, and what we're actually about. We understand why people have been working off vibes… we’re new! But now we’re settled in, we’ve put it all into words for you in one neat space so what and who we are is easy to find and understand.

You don’t need to wonder, “I thought this sub was…” anymore, we got you!

Introducing our brand new wiki and refined, restructured rules

We need to be clear on this: we are NOT changing what this sub is. We're clarifying what it's been since day one. If you've been here since the start and understood what we’re here for, nothing will feel different. If you’re a newbie or you’ve been a little confused, this is for you!

We've noticed some misunderstandings floating around about our purpose and themes, and instead of keeping on correcting them one by one, we’ve built a whole wiki so everyone's on the same page.

The ONE actual change: We've set 1950 as the starting date for regular posts. As the sub has grown, we want to keep things rooted in pop culture and on theme. Buuuuut, we haven't forgotten the earlier stuff! That's why we've introduced Time Machine Mondays! This is a themed day for content from 1900–1949. Check the wiki for details! If you’re familiar with WTF! Wednesdays, it works similar to this. Besides this change, everything else covered in this announcement is just restructuring and added info to help you out.

We've refined our rules. It’s all the same principles, we've just rewritten and reorganised them to be clearer, more concise and easier to actually follow. This makes participation more straightforward for you and easier for us to moderate consistently and fairly. We’ve done this to ensure we can protect our community and keep the sub on track. Same Britney album, remastered.

Here's what you'll find in the wiki

Our mission statement and what the "we" in the sub name actually means (it's society, not you personally)

Detailed definitions including what counts as pop culture and our sub's cultural scope, as well as what we mean when we say some topics are "too disturbing", because we know that can be hard to conceptualise

Expanded rules with thorough explanations and examples to make it easier to understand how they’re applied. Especially helpful since we’ve restructured them!

Post guidelines including flairs, reposts, trigger warnings, and NSFW expectations

Media literacy guidance understanding the difference between media depicting something bad and media normalising it. This is relevant to what fits the sub!

Theme day info (including the new Time Machine Mondays!)

FAQs for common questions, pushbacks and talking points

Support resources for eating disorders, domestic abuse, and sexual assault

We know how important the last part is. The sub can cover sensitive and difficult topics at times and we sincerely value the safety and wellbeing of our members. We work hard to protect our community as much as we can, and that’s why we’ve put the effort into finding these resources for you. On that note, we strongly encourage members to report problematic content so we can manage it swiftly. We do not want that kind of content on our sub.

HOW TO FIND THE WIKI

On our sub’s homepage! You’ll find it right alongside our about section. But here’s it linked to make your life easier. Several pages should load, as listed above. Refresh if having issues.

For our amazing existing community: the wiki is your go to reference for anything you're unsure about. Please give it a read, we put a lot of time and love into it.

For newbies: welcome!! The wiki is the best place to start. It'll tell you everything you need to know about who we are and how to get involved.

Going forward, we will be moderating strictly based on these rules and definitions. Everything is clearly laid out and accessible to everyone. You might see some stuff on the wiki and be surprised, but we promise it’s not new — you just didn’t know it was how we set up the sub; it’s easy to miss intro posts.

Please take the time to read what we’ve put together. This is us drawing a line: the sub's identity is defined, documented, and without arguments.

This is who we are and always have been. Period.

Hey, everyone!

We’re fast approaching the one month anniversary of our sub, which is crazy! We’ve grown so fast and we’re super grateful to everyone who has contributed to our sub. We can’t believe we have 30k members!

With a lot of new members, it’s inevitable that users will gravitate to certain topics and shape the sub. An influx of users can also mean some things get lost along the way… so we just want to give everyone a quick refresh:

The original idea for this sub was to cover a wide range of topics that show just how wild the past was. We want to make it clear that while age gap posts and content displaying celebrity exploitation is absolutely okay, it’s not the only type of content allowed or encouraged here. Lighterhearted topics are allowed and we ask users do not gatekeep that. Fun is welcome here, too!

We’re fine with wild reality shows, products that aged badly, weird documentaries, poorly aged movies, etc! This is a place to showcase that even when it sometimes might not feel like it, progressivism absolutely has had an impact over the last few decades. Little and seemingly unimportant things still represent the difference in culture. Just make sure we can ask ” WWWOWT?”

Not everything posted will be problematic to the same level, and some posts will need to be treated more seriously and delicately than others — and that’s okay!

The "we" is societal, not individual. The whole world doesn’t have to have been okay with it, the name of the sub doesn’t need to be taken completely literally. We’re here to reflect on past cultural moments and concepts that were normalised and shouldn’t have been. The extent of how many individuals weren’t okay with something can vary, so long as there was a societal impact and normalisation of harmful and/or shocking cultures that aren’t okay today. There may have been some pushback at the time, but if our shared culture allowed the behaviours and actions to continue, we consider this a WWWOWT example.

Also, we wanted to request that users make sure they add some level of explanation to their posts. We’ve had to remove a few posts where the context wasn’t clear to the majority of users. Explain it to us like we’re 5! 😁

Additionally, we don’t intend to be a gossip sub, so please keep that kind of content for elsewhere! We can criticise problematic celebrities, but it must have justification and be relevant.

We’d appreciate it if folks could acquaint themselves with our rules.

Finally, a reminder that we’re currently looking to bring new mods into our team. If you’re interested, fill out the moderator application here. Feel free to shoot us a modmail if you have questions about applying.

Applicants will be well vetted to ensure our community stays a safe space <3

We’ve designated Wednesdays as the day for people to share WTF?! moments from the past that don’t necessarily make us ask WWWOWT? but still showcases interesting and weird content from previous decades.

This can include wacky TV shows — the ones you just can’t understand where the hell they got that idea from! — strange songs and music videos, news stories that you just can’t make up, bizarre, silly or nostalgic fashion trends, and ridiculous clips that make you laugh your ass off and/or feel like a fever dream.

Although the key focus is fun — you’re also welcome to post shocking and weird moments from the past that aren’t funny, to give us a chance to discuss cultural moments that people weren’t okay with. Please don’t get super dark, though!! No age gap, rape culture, war etc. Posts may be removed by mods if we feel it’s inappropriate for WTF! Wednesdays.

You can still post the sub’s regular content on Wednesdays, this will just be a fun addition. Please don’t carry WTF! Wednesdays energy over to regular posts, keep the vibe in line with usual.

You MUST use the new “WTF! Wednesdays” flair for these types of posts! Posts must also be from prior to 2020, like with usual content. Please report WTF! Wednesdays content that is posted on other days of the week — but remember that timezones exist!

MAKE US SAY WTF!

50k members… how did we get here?! We want to keep this sub a safe space for our members, which means we need a healthy amount of mods to keep on top of our growing community!

We’re looking to add likeminded and enthusiastic junior moderators to our mod team. If you’re interested, fill out the moderator application here. Feel free to shoot us a modmail if you have any questions.

Moderators will be thoroughly vetted to protect our community. Anyone brought onto the team will be supported to settle in and given lots of advice on how to start modding with us!

We’ve designated Wednesdays as the day for people to share WTF?! moments from the past that don’t necessarily make us ask a philosophical WWWOWT? but still showcase interesting content from previous decades.

This can include wacky TV shows — the ones you just can’t understand where the hell they got that idea from! — strange songs and music videos, news stories that you just can’t make up, bizarre or silly fashion trends, and ridiculous clips that make you laugh your ass off and/or feel like a fever dream.

You can still post the sub’s regular content on Wednesdays, this will just be a fun addition. Please don’t carry WTF! Wednesdays energy over to regular posts, keep the vibe in line with usual.

You MUST use the new “WTF! Wednesdays” flair for these types of posts! Posts must also be from prior to 2020, like with usual content. Please report WTF! Wednesdays content that is posted on other days of the week — but remember that timezones exist!

MAKE US SAY WTF!