Hey r/phallo. This subreddit has been back for a week now with a new mod team. We thought to consult with the userbase about what they think of the current rules, which can be viewed here.

The mod team has discussed this amongst themselves and has come up with some proposals we'd like feedback on.

New Rule Proposals

On who can participate

Some other trans surgery subs ban all cis people unless they are partners or carers of someone getting a trans surgery. This wouldn't apply 1:1 to r/phallo as phalloplasty is not a trans-specific surgery, but a similar rule on r/phallo may ban everyone who is neither a phalloplasty patient themselves (whether waiting for surgery or already post-op), a prospective phalloplasty patient (eg transmasc people questioning bottom surgery), or a partner/carer of a phalloplasty patient. Also with an exception for people who have had metoidioplasty as they may have relevant contributions on eg scrotoplasty, vaginectomy, and other procedures that are often a part of phallo.

Search the subreddit for your question before posting

This rule proposal would be to filter out low-quality or repetitive discussion of frequently asked questions and basic phalloplasty questions. An FAQ could also be added to the wiki, but this would of course require someone to take the time to write it, and should probably be fact-checked to make sure it does not contain any misinformation. Posts violating this rule would be removed, and the user directed to search their question on the subreddit, or to the FAQ if one gets written.

See also: the proposal to remove rule 12 below

Post titles should be descriptive

Ie don't just write "phalloplasty question" as your title; write out the question you have. Posts violating this rule would be removed and the user asked to repost with a more descriptive title.

See also: the proposal to remove rule 12 below

No sexual compliments

Fairly self-explanatory. This would mainly weed out chasers which should be fairly uncontroversial, but it would also rule that trans people also can't leave sexual compliments on people's dick pics, ie don't hit on other users here. A more conservative version of this rule could just ban cis chasers without ruling against sexual compliments from trans people.

Proposed Changes to Existing Rules

Collapse the first four rules into rule 1

Rule 1:

Be Polite & Practice Mutual Respect.

Absolutely no personal attacks, insults, or threats. No discrimination.

Rule 2:

Respect Individual Differences.

Among other things, this includes differences of personal identity, personal experiences, surgical needs/desires, choice of surgeon(s), and the presence of dysphoria or lack thereof in any and all aspects of one's body and transition.

This also prohibits comments which downplay one's needs/desires because they fall outside of what you may consider the "norm"/"average," i.e. desired penis length. You may address surgical & logistical limitations, but not personal criticisms.

Rule 3:

Avoid Unnecessary Gendered Language.

Participate under the assumption that anyone can pursue phalloplasty.

Posts that address users as "Guys," "Boys," "Men," etc. when it is not explicitly necessary/relevant and will be asked to resubmit with more gender-neutral language. Comments that unnecessarily/inaccurately generalize using the same/similar words, or use them toward a user without knowing their pronouns (e.g. from their flair), will be removed until edited to respectfully adhere.

Rule 4:

No Body Shaming.

This includes personal and general judgments about weight, surgeries, and appearance.

Criticism of a surgeon's work should remain personal ("How Dr. X performs glansplasty doesn't align with my needs.") or objective ("Dr. Y has a low success rate for fistula repairs."). Subjective criticism about a surgeon's work, especially in regards to someone else's body, are not allowed.

This proposal doesn't have to be all or nothing; if people feel that one or two of rules 2, 3, and 4 should be combined with rule 1, but not all of them, one or two of rules 2, 3, and 4 could still be kept separate.

Remove rule 12

Rule 12:

Follow submission guidelines when submitting posts.

When submitting posts, adhere to the following guidelines:

• Questions listed in the Monthly Beginner Thread should be asked there; dedicated posts to these questions will be removed.

• Posts must have descriptive titles. Posts removed for vague titles (e.g. "A question about phallo") can be reposted if revised.

"Follow submission gudelines when submitting posts" is redundant. The two bullet points could be made into their own rules, as proposed above. Alternatively this could be kept as one rule and re-titled to something less redundant, eg "No low-quality discussion".

We also don't have Monthly Beginner Threads anymore, but we could restart them if users want.

Anything else?

If you have any proposals for new rules, proposals for amendments to existing rules, or rules you think should be removed, we'd love to hear them!

Edit: Sorry, "rule 12" in this post is actually rule 14 - apologies for any confusion!