FWP Policy on Link Posts

Good morning fellow aristocrats,

We've been monitoring the results of allowing link posts for the last several weeks here on FWP. We originally enabled this because of the emo photo/FWP text overlays that were popping up in other reddits that were quite funny. We didn't establish any rules for submissions because my co-moderator AMV and I prefer to take a hands-off approach to managing this place. Unless it's spam, contains personal information, or is unbelievably offensive, we let the community decide with upvotes and downvotes. This has worked out pretty well for us in the past.

Lately, though, we've been receiving a few complaints through the modmail, and I've noted similar sentiments being expressed by users both here and throughout reddit, that the enabling of link posts has resulted in a significant amount of imgur karma whoring, with a deleterious impact on the overall quality of both the FWP front page and what makes it to the main reddit front page from there.

I don't want to overreact by disabling the ability to post links entirely. But I do think it would be helpful to establish some guidelines on link posts, in order to keep link posts in the spirit of FWP. So, without further ado:

###Guidelines on Submitting Links:

1. You must put the problem in the title. No posts called vague stuff like "every damn time," or "that's what SHE said," etc. You can still link to a related picture if the picture adds value.
2. If you link to a blog or an article, that blog must not be just an aggregator of First World Problems. I've seen quite a bit of repost recursion, where the @FirstWorldPains Twitter account rips off content from here, strips all attribution, and then someone lifts it from that Twitter account and posts it here again.
3. If it's a repost and you know it, don't submit! If it's a repost and you know it, don't submit! If it's a repost and you know it and you really want to show it, it's a repost and we've seen it - don't submit!

I hope these guidelines are simple and fair enough that we can trust the users to follow them and the community to enforce them with voting patterns. Since these are new, please gently but firmly remind people who are still booked at the Karma Inn in Whoresville that we have some new policies about link posting here. If it's over the top, use that report button to bring it to the attention of the moderators.

This is, ultimately, a community of its users of which AMV and I are the stewards. We do listen to your feedback and suggestions. As the zeitgeist of reddit and the FWP community changes, so will our stewardship methodologies.

Thank you for your understanding and compliance, citizen. Now pick up that can.