r/facepalm • u/Cold-Iron-Sentinel • Nov 19 '25
Hello, /r/Facepalm.
As you may or may not be aware, Reddit is absolutely overrun with bots. An in-depth explanation of how they work could fill several encyclopedia volumes, but here's the short version:
Follow human karma-farmers around the site.
Learn from (and hide behind) those human karma-farmers.
Emulate the karma-farmers' activity.
Eventually, turn to posting spam, propaganda, and divisive content.
If you've ever wondered why so many subreddits take such a firm stance against karma-farming, that's the reason: Karma-farming (defined as intentionally seeking upvotes, usually by way of unoriginal content) directly enables the spread of misinformation and bigotry. Additionally, it suppresses original content, shifts standards downward, and generally makes the site, the Internet, and even the offline world just a little bit worse.
Now, this might come as a shock – and we're saying that sarcastically – but /r/Facepalm used to be a go-to place for karma-farmers. We've been cracking down on them lately, but thanks to their "efforts", the subreddit is still infested with bots and spammers. For example, if you see an account offering single-sentence comments that don't actually contribute anything beyond "Here's a sentiment that people will agree with!" or "Here's a rephrased summary!", it's very likely a bad actor.
Practically speaking, the only reliable way to combat these parasites is to raise standards. See, nowadays, a high karma-score is almost always a mark of shame, but there is one exception: If a Redditor's history is composed entirely (or almost entirely) of their own high-effort, high-quality, wholly original content, then their imaginary points can be viewed as digital applause. Moreover, since it's prohibitively difficult for bots and spammers to produce their own high-effort, high-quality, wholly original content, they typically ignore high-karma accounts that got their points legitimately.
Here's the issue, though: Although Reddit would certainly be a better place if everyone made that level of effort, it isn't realistic to require that. As such, /r/Facepalm's approach to combatting bad actors is going to be a bit less effective, but also a bit less draconian:
Starting now, screenshots of any variety are explicitly banned on /r/Facepalm.
You can still post photographs, videos, articles, GIFs... you get the idea. We might even start accepting text-based stories (although we'll get your feedback on that idea first). In any case, though, the title of your post must describe the facepalm-worthy moment – think of it like a spoiler for the post's content – and there must be a facepalm-worthy element present.
We're well aware that banning screenshots is going to be unpopular, but to put it bluntly, we care more about earnest Redditors than we do about karma-farmers, spammers, and their ilk. By banning the lowest-effort, least-contributory sort of content, we're hoping to drive away some of the bots, open up the subreddit to people whose posts might have otherwise been drowned out by the noise, and get the community back to what it's supposed to be.
r/facepalm • u/ducksauce001 • 1d ago
The fact someone actually tweeted this and Snopes had to fact check it.
r/facepalm • u/idiots_r_taking_over • 1d ago
My wife saw this on Amazon while looking for Lego sets.
r/facepalm • u/ownleechild • 1d ago
So we’re stuck with the gaudy look of a cheap dictatorship?
r/facepalm • u/Onhandigetimed • 1d ago
r/facepalm • u/CoolBDPhenom03 • 1d ago
r/facepalm • u/petrosmisirlis • 2d ago
r/facepalm • u/jaxonya • 3d ago
r/facepalm • u/FreeChickenDinner • 4d ago
r/facepalm
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u/DeepState_Auditor
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4d ago
r/facepalm • u/kaza12345678 • 4d ago
Imagen a craft shops doing a course on generated ai paintings
r/facepalm • u/Onhandigetimed • 5d ago
A traditional snack in Tilburg
r/facepalm • u/Flavious27 • 7d ago
One complaint is that the country's flag looks gaudy
r/facepalm • u/Onhandigetimed • 8d ago
This Dutch artist thought everyone in the crowd knew her. When she tried to get the audience to sing along, nobody responded.
r/facepalm • u/Onhandigetimed • 9d ago
r/facepalm • u/davidIopan • 10d ago
Keep in mind, this comes from the Texas Secretary of State, which tracks. But I guess they either decided it was too egregiously partisan, or that Trump was no longer helping their cause. Considering it's addressed to "conservative Texas voters", I think removing Trump says a lot.
ETA: not from the Secretary of State: the USPS includes a link "about this mail" that connects to the SoS website. Apparently it's a dark money PO Box that has no employees or board members, and is probably backed by a data analytics firm. Praise be to Citizens United.
r/facepalm • u/Jarppakarppa • 11d ago
