9 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Rule Enforcement Change - Top-level comments must answer the question
Can we have a new rule 9 that effectively encapsulates "Stop bitching about fucking Americanisms"?
This is a sub with the stated intent of:
The #1 subreddit for Brits **and non-Brits** to ask questions about the United Kingdoms life and culture
And yet in every damn thread where someone dares to use an Americanism in their post you can guarantee that out of the woodwork comes people being needlessly rude either pretending they don't know what the word means or rudely (and completely needlessly) "correcting" the poster.
Now you may say that this is covered by the "don't be a dick" rule and perhaps you would be correct but there are three issues with that.
1. The "don't be a dick rule" is arbitrarily applied to such comments. I report every damn one of these I see and maybe 30% of them have action taken against them. And not only are they seldom dealt with but even when they are dealt with the same people are doing it over and over again.
2. It is clear that a large number of people in this community not only don't think such needlessly rude behaviour is being a dick but actively support and champion it so the number of reports for breaking rule one will be lower than with a specific rule.
3. Not only are the people doing this very much being dicks (violating rule 1) but they are not making any attempt at all to answer the posed question (previously rule 9, now rule 6). They are purely posting to be an unwelcoming dick.
Going back to the stated intent of the sub this behaviour is completely against that intent, it makes for an unwelcoming environment for those from America or indeed anyone using Americanisms or American spellings which is a big chunk of the world including many people in the UK.
Comment by Leonichol at 18/01/2025 at 18:58 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It's pretty bad. We've even got items sent to Question Submitters to remove mentions that they're American out if they can, as it just attracts abuse which will deflect from getting an answer. Such is the state of online discourse.
But yes. As it stands highlighting Americanisms in isolation is not a rulebreak on its own unless it ventures into something more like r1 or 6.
The question would be in establishing such a rule, would it be worth the effort? Is the problem so widespread that it actively discourages the use of the sub? As adding it would, like you say, be a fight in every thread. If the problem is so widespread so as to be considered Online Culture, we're not going to have much success in fighting it sadly.
Though. There is a lot of Americans in this sub which detract from response quality. But that is likely a different issue.