IMPORTANT: Many of our subscribers have no idea what this subreddit is actually for

Many of you long-time WoahDude users have been complaining about the growing flood of users from r/all who have a complete misunderstanding of what sort of content belongs here. Your cries have been heard, and we will start being more strict with enforcement and finally set shit straight:

#THIS SUBREDDIT IS NOT FOR ANY OLD THING THAT MAKES YOU SAY "WOAH"

We are NOT interchangeable with r/pics, r/gifs, r/damnthatsinteresting or other "general" subreddits meant for sharing interesting or amazing content.

Instead, we're specifically made for trippy or mesmerising stuff that makes you go "woah dude!" in the way a stoned person says woah dude when confronted with something that tickles their mind or senses. In other words, we have a bit of a psychedelic slant. We're not about posting things that are merely neat or amazing, but instead, things that sort of mess with your mind, warp your reality. Things that might make a sober person feel like they're on drugs, or really disorient people who are already on them.

Mindfucks and self-inflicted gaslighting. Or the hypnotic or mesmerising. Vivid colors, intense patterns. Mind-blowing science and philosophy. Chill or trippy music. Surrealism, absurdism and strangeness.

Think of the bizarre, erratic and psychedelic nature of Adult Swim. Or the wondrous, mind-expanding, awe inspiring nature of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Or even the reality distorting, confusing, mind-fucking nature of Eternal Darkness for Gamecube. We're all of that.

Examples of material that is considered trippy or mesmerizing include but are not limited to:

• Intense use of color and patterns: Intricate designs, intense colors, complex geometry, hyperrealism, fractals, recursion, psychedelia, abstract art
• Extreme perspective: Macrophotography, electron micrographs, astrophotography
• Giving a new understanding: Mathematical visualizations, scientific visualizations, engineering visualizations, data visualizations, physics explanations, cross-sections, scientific art, reconsidering assumptions, reframing perspective
• Altered reality: Slow motion footage, stop motion footage, bullet time, compositing, long exposure, special effects, drug trip simulation
• Mesmerizing: Cinemagraphs, chill music, tranquil art, repetitive mechanical motion, interactive art
• Sensory confusion: Optical illusions, distortion, aural illusions, stereograms, etc.
• Cognitive confusion: Surrealism, absurdism, [fifth-world art](http://i.imgur.com/HmtdV.jpg, mystical art, hypnagogia, strangeness, the fantastic, disjointedness, random and erratic behavior, datamoshing, pareidolia, paradoxes, strange philosophy, strange science, cuil theory

Material that is NOT considered woahdude material:

• Rarity: Rare talents, dangerous stunts, extreme human abilities, 1-in-a-million shots, sports highlights, etc. This type of trippiness is not allowed in WoahDude. It would totally flood our subreddit with stuff that's better suited for larger general subreddits like r/videos, r/gifs, etc. where these things are already very common.

Please note that while the above descriptors on our list are good reductive examples of what belongs in this subreddit, they don't guarantee content that fits said descriptors also fits our holistic purpose for what belongs in this subreddit. For example, you'll notice that "slow motion" is on the list, however if you take any random gif and apply slow motion to it, that doesn't automatically guarantee that it has been turned into material suitable for the subreddit. Nor are random charts from your school textbook guaranteed to qualify under "data visualizations". All posts must still satisfy the overarching theme of the subreddit.

• More info in our rules wiki