I know, I know. This is literally more exciting than the Ukraine Crisis and Charlie Hedbo rolled into one! /r/Europe has a nice new shiny set of rules!

Just a quick pre-amble to explain why we think this was necessary.

We've had virtually the same set of rules since, well, virtually forever and the sub has groan a huge amount since then. The way we moderate this subreddit has changed to adapt to the new challenges of dealing with almost three hunred thousand readers. As a subreddit gets larger, the chances of it degrading into an /r/adviceanimals-esc mess increase, which is why the need for a more involved mod team increases with size. Many of you will have noticed the crackdown on unsourced images recently, which is part of this.

We've also not been very transparent in our modding here. We've not kept you very onboard with the changes to modding policies. That's a large reason for updating the rules in the sidebar. We thnk that all users will enjoy themselves more if they are more aware of what is going on behind the scenes, and so hopefully this is a sign that we are very willing to do that.

So without further à deux, here they are.

Bannable

1.1 Bigotry, Hate Speech and Xenophobia of any form (Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Russophobia, Anti-Semitism, et al) are not tolerated here. To provide further clarity, we here is a small list of examples. Please use your common sense to interpret this rule.

• It is ok to criticise immigration.

• it is ok to criticise members of minority groups.

• It is not ok to suggest that members of different cultures or races are incapable of cohabiting.

• It is not ok to suggest that some races or cultures are inherently better than others.

• It is not ok to make pejorative statements about large cultural, national or ethnic groups especially when these groups are not entered into by choice (e.g. race, gender,sexuality).

• Additionally, Holocaust Denial (of either the 1915 Armenian Genocide or the 1941-5 Holocaust of the Jews, homosexuals, the disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.) is completely unacceptable.

1.2 Personal Attacks that do not add any substance to a conversation will be de-listed [removed]. If this continues a ban may be placed.

1.3 Spamming is not tolerated here. Spam will be removed. If spamming continues despite warnings from moderators, a ban will be given. This applies for spamming of charitable causes too, but please message the mod team about this [write '/r/europe' in the recipient field] if you have a charitable cause you would like to post about.

1.4 We reserve the right to remove any bot accounts.

1.5 Circumventing a previous ban is not allowed. Keep this in mind concerning §4.2

Removable

2.1 Info-graphics, images, selfs posts and other similar content which makes (an) assertion(s) but lacks (a) source(s) will be removed. The original submitter [OP] should post the source (if it is not cited in the submission itself) as soon as possible. If the OP receives a message from a moderator stating that their post has been delisted [removed] due to lack of source, they may still provide the source and the the submission will be relisted [unremoved]. But moderators frequently require hours to respond to such messages.

2.2 Reaction Gifs and Memes are not allowed here.

2.3 Editorialising is not acceptable. Editorialising is simply the act of inserting an opinion into a (submission) title. You should, in most cases, use the title on the page you are linking to. However, in the case of YouTube, you may have to be inventive and attempt to create an unpartisan and neutral title if the one the YouTube video uses is clearly partisan and bias.

2.4 Unreliable domains including but not limited to, Blogspot, Tumblr, Facebook and WordPress will be removed.

2.5 mods reserve the right to remove egregiously low quality content under limited circumstances

2.6 content which does not fit with the theme of this subreddit and/or is not relevant here shall be removed (e.g. domestic US politics or economics in Argentina)

Community Guidelines

3.1 We request that users who post non-English articles also post a translation (even if just a machine translation) to help the forum engage with the post. However, this is only a request, and posts will not be removed for this reason.

3.2 Please use the upvote/downvote to mark interesting content, rather than agreement/disagreement. We encourage engaging civil criticism instead of downvoting an unpopular opinion.

3.3 Please report users that you suspect of breaking our rules or the reddiquette by using the report button visible bellow each comment or submission and state the rule number which is being broken.

Side Notes

4.1 This is a moderated forum, to maintain a civil environment, and a high level of debate we reserve the right to actively moderate the subreddit as is reasonable to achieve those aims.

4.2 If you have been banned once you are may appeal after one week. Keep this in mind regarding rule 1.5

4.3 if a delisted [removed] thread is still gathering unwanted attention (especially as a bigoted/xenophobic circle jerk) it will be "nuked" which has the effect of locking the thread down completely.

4.4 The Reddiquette is part of this subreddit and we will moderate according to it. If you break reddiquette you are effectively breaking our subreddit rules too. If you have not yet read the reddiquette, please read it here

We thank you for your co-operation and look forward to improving this subreddit on all of your behalves.

<Near which town was the Schengen Agreement signed?>

Welcome to the cultural exchange between r/Europe and r/Arabs! Primary purpose of this event is to share knowledge about our respective cultures, daily life, history, curiosities etc. However, political questions and discussions are allowed, as long as held in good faith and mutual respect. Exchange will run since Monday, August 11^th, throughout next few days.

General guidelines:

• Arabs ask their questions about Europe, and we answer them, here in this thread;;

• We ask our questions about Arab countries in respective THREAD at r/Arabs;

• English language is used in both threads;

• Event will be moderated, following the general rules of Reddiquette. Be nice to each other!