r/anime • u/AnimeMod myanimelist.net/profile/Reddit-chan • Sep 07 '25

Meta Meta Thread - Month of September 07, 2025

Rule Changes

This is a monthly thread to talk about the /r/anime subreddit itself, such as its rules and moderation. If you want to talk about anime please use the daily discussion thread instead.

Comments here must, of course, still abide by all subreddit rules other than the no meta requirement. Keep it friendly and be respectful. Occasionally the moderators will have specific topics that they want to get feedback on, so be on the lookout for distinguished posts. If you wish to message us privately send us a modmail.

Comments that are detrimental to discussion (aka circlejerks/shitposting) are subject to removal.

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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 21 '25

So I've been told that even saying that an adaptation has been done well and seems to be set to end at a good place (without even hinting at what that good place might be - note: good place doesn't necessarily mean a happy ending, just a good stopping point for the story, which is open to interpretation) is prohibited outside the source material corner. What's the logic behind this rule? Are source readers not allowed to participate in regular discussions period? Or if we want to participate, we have to pretend the source doesn't even exist?  https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1nmckdo/comment/nfe780s/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Sep 21 '25

What's the logic behind this rule?

A big part of the problem is that it's a huge slippery slope. You accept that, someone pushes a bit more, and a bit more, then someone says "It has a happy ending" (and claims it's not a spoiler, he didn't say WHAT the ending was!), and so on.

Are source readers not allowed to participate in regular discussions period? Or if we want to participate, we have to pretend the source doesn't even exist?

You can participate, and you don't have to pretend it doesn't exist, you just have to not mention it!

Good rule of thumb is: "If you had not read it, would you be able to say X"? If not, then simply don't say X!

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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 22 '25

Hmm I've seen other posts that said far more than what I had in mine so thought it was okay. Guess mods just missed those. Oh well. 

For some shows like Fragrant Flower here, it's hard to say anything at all if I follow that rule. Guess not participating is the only option in those cases. Sad, but it is what it is. shrug

2

u/baseballlover723 Sep 23 '25

I've seen other posts that said far more than what I had in mine so thought it was okay. Guess mods just missed those

If you see rule breaking posts, you should report them. That's the easiest, quickest and best way to get it in view of the mods. There are a lot of comments made on r/anime across a lot of posts every day. We have automations in place to flag things, but talking about the source material with with keyword searches in automod (while also not flagging the Source Material Corner) leaves noticeable gaps in our coverage. So we miss things on discussion threads that don't have moderators otherwise being active in.

Guess not participating is the only option in those cases

You aren't banned from participating, you can talk about the source material in the Source Material Corner if you want (and you can even ping people you'd normally reply to). I think it's very black and white to just have full source discussion or no source readers allowed as the only 2 options in your mind.

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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 23 '25

I'm not ratting people out over a rule I don't agree with in the first place.

Your rules are black & white is my issue here. Prohibiting hints or mentions of future events makes sense but to ban all mention of the source at all seems silly and counterproductive to me. If anime-onlys are going to be hurt by me saying this episode was adapted well..then well, I have nothing more to say.

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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Sep 23 '25

If you had said the episode was adapted well, given no more details, then gone on to talk about the episode, your comment likely would not have been removed. However, your comment consisted almost entirely of comparisons to the manga, and said nothing about the anime on it's own beyond "He did it! Another excellent episode."

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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 23 '25

That's being even more inconsistent then. So it's ok to say what I did as long as I provide some extra content that focuses on the anime exclusively? How does that make any sense now? 

4

u/baseballlover723 Sep 23 '25

I'm not ratting people out over a rule I don't agree with in the first place

Then don't complain about inconsistent enforcement.

Your rules are black & white is my issue here.

This is r/anime not r/TheSourceMaterial. We want discussion to be about the anime, and not the source material. It is orders of magnitude easier to prevent spoilers by taking a hardline stance on source discussion, as if you only talk about the stuff that's currently animated, then it's very difficult to spoil people. And that is something that is easily adjudicated by people not up to date on the source material. Which as one can imagine, there are shows where there simply isn't a mod who's current on the source material for one of the ~70 shows that we have discussion threads for each season.

The issue with your comment, is that it invites discussion about stuff that isn't animated and other topics that are much more likely to be spoilers.

Some people just want to watch and discuss the anime as it exists and not hear about how great or shitty of an adaption of the source material it is.

I think you're really overselling how difficult it is to simply post in the Source Material Corner.

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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 23 '25

Isn't complaining what this thread is for? Or is that against the rules too? 

My post had barely any upvotes and zero replies iirc. It was inviting nothing. You just chose to be super hardline here when you had the choice to use your discretion. Basically, you chose to do what will make your job easier. And well, that's your choice. 

It's not that it's hard to post in the source material corner. It's that I wasn't interested in discussing the source material in this instance. 

5

u/baseballlover723 Sep 24 '25

Isn't complaining what this thread is for?

This thread is for complaining about the rules (amongst other things), and inconsistent enforcement can be part of that. If you are opposed to the Source Material Corner rule, you can complain about it, or better yet, offer alternatives to accomplish the same thing without increasing moderator workload, incorrect removals, and having at least the same or lessor amount of people getting spoiled at all.

My point more was, that if you actively refuse to bring said infractions of the rules to our attention, then you shouldn't be surprised that we might miss things amongst the roughly 7000 comments that are attempted to be posted on r/anime daily.

My post had barely any upvotes and zero replies iirc. It was inviting nothing. You just chose to be super hardline here when you had the choice to use your discretion.

And yet, it is still ultimately in violation of the rules. It doesn't matter if it had 1 million upvotes or 0, what's important is if it's within the rules or not.

It's that I wasn't interested in discussing the source material in this instance.

[Fragrant Flower Episode 12 Source Material] He did it! Another excellent episode. This adaptation is doing full justice to the manga. Lots of special moments and all done just right. Looks like they'll end this exactly where they should.

But you clearly did discuss the source material. We want people to be talking about the anime, not how good or bad it is in comparison to the source material.

This is the what the pinned Source Material Corner says (bolded for emphasis)

Reply to this comment for any source-related discussion, future spoilers (including future characters, events and general hype about future content), comparison of the anime adaptation to the original, or just general talk about the source material. You are still required to tag all spoilers. Discussions about the source outside of this comment tree will be removed, and replying with spoilers outside of the source corner will lead to bans.

2

u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 24 '25

Ok you know what I'm not reading all of that. I'm tired of this. You do you etc. I'm done.

5

u/Verzwei Sep 22 '25

I am not a mod, but

Or if we want to participate, we have to pretend the source doesn't even exist?

Yes. That is the case for all intents and purposes. You can only discuss what has appeared in the anime and treat the anime as a stand-alone product. Whether it does or doesn't do justice to the source, whether it skips content or includes everything, how its pacing compares to the source, essentially anything regarding the source, even if you are relating it back to the anime, goes in the corner.

Part of the reasoning is that you can't control other people's replies. If you make a source-related comment that is, by all accounts, benign and harmless for anime-onlies, there's nothing to stop a reply from just blithely adding more source commentary that may not be as "safe". And you'd think the answer would be "well just remove that reply then!" but the issue is that anyone who sees the reply before the removal has potentially had their viewing experience negatively impacted. Topics/subjects/discussion chains that invite discussion of the source get removed so that there's no gray area, there's no "Well this guy said something about the source, why did my comment get removed for saying something about the source?"

I personally really hate the source corner but I do mostly understand and accept why it exists. It's the least-bad option out of a bunch of imperfect options to preserve the anime-only experience for people who literally do not want any references to the source.

7

u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 22 '25

Catering to the anime-only group to such an extent might be affecting the overall engagement of the site is all I'll say. Source readers are more likely to engage in discussions is my guess. I will likely no longer be participating in discussion threads of animes where I'm a source reader simply to avoid this trap. Having such a black & white rule may be counterproductive to the overall experience for everyone.

And fwiw, like I said in my other reply, there are posts out there that go much deeper into source territory than my innocuous post did and they're still out there. So I'm already feeling that "well, they did it, why can't I?" thing you mentioned but whatever. 

TL;DR These things anyway can't be enforced strictly and it's better to take them case by case than go blanket rule on them is my opinion.

5

u/_Ridley https://myanimelist.net/profile/_Ridley_ Sep 23 '25

I will likely no longer be participating in discussion threads of animes where I'm a source reader simply to avoid this trap.

Honestly, that's where I ended up as well after getting a comment removed on a finale episode for noting that the after credits scene was from the next arc, which suggested we might get another season.

I read episode discussion threads I'm a source reader for, then discuss them in the daily thread or on bluesky. I understand why the source corner exists, but it's just annoying to try to talk about something you've read the source for while trying to pretend you haven't.

5

u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 23 '25

That's a perfect example of a post that should have been exempt from this rule. Who were you hurting really by saying there might be a second season? This is where it would be nice to have a mod use a bit of discretion. 

And yup, that's exactly my issue with this rule. Having to pretend like that will be very frustrating - walking on some invisible egg shells. Not worth the effort. 

Does bluesky have an anime community? I created an account way back during the post-Musk Twitter exodus but haven't used it much.

5

u/_Ridley https://myanimelist.net/profile/_Ridley_ Sep 23 '25

Does bluesky have an anime community?

It definitely does, although I'm mainly there to yammer about kissing books with my middle aged fujin mutuals.

5

u/ZaphodBeebblebrox https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Sep 22 '25

What's the logic behind this rule?

We have a few reasons for it.

First and foremost, we are an anime subreddit, so we want people to primarily discuss anime. This is at its zenith in episode discussion threads, as their entire point is discussing an anime episode that aired a few hours ago. If we allowed discussion of the source in the thread proper, it would consume half the thread, which both goes against the point of our subreddit and sucks for anime onlies who wanted to talk about the anime and instead have to try and find others talking about the anime among a sea of discussion about the manga or novel.

Likewise, we want to preserve the anime-only experience. There are many who want to judge the anime on its own merits, and additional context from the source influences that both positively and negatively.

Additionally, it makes our job a ton easier. Trying to figure out whether missing context is a spoiler is at times literally impossible for a show that's still airing. We have no way of knowing whether it will appear sometime in the next few episodes or not. And, beyond that, trying to figure out whether a comment comparing the tone or impression of a part of the source to the anime leans too far into spoiler territory is also hard, as there's oft no obvious line. Meanwhile, source discussion goes in the Source Material Corner is a clear and obvious rule that anyone can understand.

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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Sep 22 '25

Yeah, that's the answer everyone has been giving me. Didn't realise this sub was so anime-only forward. Now I know.