this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2025
190 points (98.0% liked)

196

4606 readers
1847 users here now

Community Rules

You must post before you leave

Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).

Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.

Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.

Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".

Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.

Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.

Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.

Avoid AI generated content.

Avoid misinformation.

Avoid incomprehensible posts.

No threats or personal attacks.

No spam.

Moderator Guidelines

Moderator Guidelines

  • Don’t be mean to users. Be gentle or neutral.
  • Most moderator actions which have a modlog message should include your username.
  • When in doubt about whether or not a user is problematic, send them a DM.
  • Don’t waste time debating/arguing with problematic users.
  • Assume the best, but don’t tolerate sealioning/just asking questions/concern trolling.
  • Ask another mod to take over cases you struggle with, if you get tired, or when things get personal.
  • Ask the other mods for advice when things get complicated.
  • Share everything you do in the mod matrix, both so several mods aren't unknowingly handling the same issues, but also so you can receive feedback on what you intend to do.
  • Don't rush mod actions. If a case doesn't need to be handled right away, consider taking a short break before getting to it. This is to say, cool down and make room for feedback.
  • Don’t perform too much moderation in the comments, except if you want a verdict to be public or to ask people to dial a convo down/stop. Single comment warnings are okay.
  • Send users concise DMs about verdicts about them, such as bans etc, except in cases where it is clear we don’t want them at all, such as obvious transphobes. No need to notify someone they haven’t been banned of course.
  • Explain to a user why their behavior is problematic and how it is distressing others rather than engage with whatever they are saying. Ask them to avoid this in the future and send them packing if they do not comply.
  • First warn users, then temp ban them, then finally perma ban them when they break the rules or act inappropriately. Skip steps if necessary.
  • Use neutral statements like “this statement can be considered transphobic” rather than “you are being transphobic”.
  • No large decisions or actions without community input (polls or meta posts f.ex.).
  • Large internal decisions (such as ousting a mod) might require a vote, needing more than 50% of the votes to pass. Also consider asking the community for feedback.
  • Remember you are a voluntary moderator. You don’t get paid. Take a break when you need one. Perhaps ask another moderator to step in if necessary.

founded 8 months ago
MODERATORS
 

But really, why?

top 20 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] jojo@beehaw.org 91 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  1. There was an old subreddit called 195, apparently it was the street number of a home of a bunch of friends who all knew eachother and moderated/populated a subreddit together. This subreddit eventually ended after it grew a lot, had a bunch of good vibes, and was a good time.
  2. Someone made 196, the successor to 195, with mostly the same vibes, but was a subreddit in the meandering kind of way, as most subreddits are
  3. With the move off of reddit, people made 196 as a stand-in for "queer friendly good quality shitposting community", and a few of them exists/existed, and this is one of them
[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 1 month ago (1 children)

and this is one of them

This particular one exists after the mods of 196 caused drama by moving instances without discussing it with the community.

to a comm that a lot of blahaj ppl don't feel comfortable on no less

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)
  1. It was a dorm room number. So whenever people would visit them in the dorm, they had to post something before they left. Then when they moved out of the dorms, the sub went unmoderated. Nazis quickly took over and ran off all of the other posters.
  2. 196 was the successor, made by the people who were tired of the blatant Nazi-posting. They moderated it heavily due to the Nazi bar problem, so it quickly became a haven for left-leaning people, and especially trans people.
  3. With the move off of Reddit, they chose blahaj largely because of the admins; Ada is controversial for being heavy-handed in their moderation, but it’s due to the same aforementioned Nazi bar problem. In a world that is increasingly hostile towards trans people, allowing even the slightest bit of leeway in moderation allows transphobes to take root. So the admin style meshed really well with the way Reddit’s 196 was already moderated.
  4. The moderators for 196@blahaj eventually took a “this sub belongs to us, not the users” stance, and tried to move to lemmy.world instead. Mods said it was to try and consolidate the user bases, but many users suspected it was a power move to give more mod power to .world’s moderators. This was deeply unpopular with a lot of the users, and ended with !onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone being created in protest.
[–] jojo@beehaw.org 2 points 1 month ago

Thanks, I didn't know the exact events between 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 is very interesting

[–] Thorman@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why does every post have rule in the title?

[–] jojo@beehaw.org 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The original rule of the subreddit was that you don't leave without posting a (random) image in your phone's photo gallery

Since you can't really make a post with no title, the lazy-ish attitude made people just post the picture with just "rule" as the title, as if they're saying "I'm posting this because of the (sub) rule"

[–] jojo@beehaw.org 5 points 1 month ago

Imo this (the "post from your photo gallery" thing) created an unusually diverse atmosphere, where (more or less) everything went, and unexpected amounts of vibes were created

Since most people looking at the sub would probably already be looking at other shitposting places (on or off reddit), and so they'd have the latest freshest memes in their collection, sometimes ones that wouldn't ordinarily be posted on main meme subreddits

Of course, after a while, people started converging their posts more and more, turning it into more of an actual themed subreddit, and they started diverging from saying just "rule", to "XYZ rule", or incorporating "rule" into a sentence they'd accompany the image with

Also, a sorta pseudo-conversation, question, or announcement/soapbox atmosphere got created with some of the images, where someone would say or ask something with a meme that you could also ask in the more general minded subreddits (unpopularopinion or askreddit, for example), or just comment on the meta of the sub

[–] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

posting a (random) image in your phone’s photo gallery

I always pick my image deliberately, could I be banned for breaking this rule?

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

Good, because I'd definitely get banned for truly random picks

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Speculater@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

TL;DR: An inside joke from stoners that shared an apartment made 195, named after their apartment building. Shutdown after 420 weeks on Reddit. 196 is a continuation of their legacy.

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 36 points 1 month ago

Tradition from old chat group, turned subreddit, turned lemmy community

[–] nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Follow up question... Why do we all put "rule" in the title?

[–] perishthethought@piefed.social 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In the sidebar for this community, the first rule is:

You must post before you leave

That's why.

[–] perishthethought@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

Speaking of which, we look forward to your post.

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] festnt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

ate 7... 87... IS THAT A REFERENCE TOTHEBIYE OF 87?!?

[–] Captainautism@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

Thank for asking this! I wanted to know also. ❤️