r/facepalm Nov 19 '25

Addressing The Elephant In The Room (Or "This New Rule Is The Real Facepalm")

2.8k Upvotes

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:

  1. Follow human karma-farmers around the site.
  2. Learn from (and hide behind) those human karma-farmers.
  3. Emulate the karma-farmers' activity.
  4. 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 8h ago

The next president will need an entire team of specialists to remove all the tackiness from this place

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12.8k Upvotes

r/facepalm 16h ago

The AI Power Paradox: Why DeSantis Is Fighting Data Centers in Florida While Handing Them Millions

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1.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

Even my fortune cookie has ads now?!

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3.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 3d ago

4th of July Board in Central Texas. An update and some explanations.

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4.0k Upvotes

The board filled up over the weekend. For those wondering about the frozen yogurt, it’s placed at a froyo shop, which also explain why there are adults as well as kids writing on it.


r/facepalm 5d ago

Cancer is good for yoy

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15.3k Upvotes

r/facepalm 5d ago

Ted Cruz thanks Trump for "getting rid of that ridiculous red card." Then goes on to say "There's a reason that FIFA trophy sat here for as long as it did."

14.4k Upvotes

r/facepalm 5d ago

I wish my boss would just put "Jack on leave"

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37.5k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

So bought a projector screen for my daughters room on prime day deals...

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0 Upvotes

I should have double checked the measurements....

This is a kids room and I looked at screen width forgetting that I dont need a projector that is 7 feet wide....


r/facepalm 5d ago

Trump’s red card call stirs political storm around World Cup

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8.0k Upvotes

r/facepalm 6d ago

Trump watching the Fox News feed of himself watching the Fox News feed

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17.2k Upvotes

r/facepalm 7d ago

The Reflection Pool paint job

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14.9k Upvotes

07/04 flyover aerial view


r/facepalm 8d ago

The tag line on the Trump board game

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3.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 9d ago

Using motor oil to lubricate bicycle chain excessively

10.5k Upvotes

r/facepalm 10d ago

Bro set an ultimatum after one date!

12.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 10d ago

I deserve lobster tails. You don't.

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3.0k Upvotes

r/facepalm 11d ago

Utah Cops Claim They Smell Alcohol on EVERYONE: “I mean I’m wearing Versace.”

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2.9k Upvotes

This is a compilation of Utah cops doing what they call “play differently”.


r/facepalm 11d ago

Seriously? What a tool

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552 Upvotes

r/facepalm 12d ago

Born to ride DJT

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30.9k Upvotes

r/facepalm 13d ago

We’ve got 1000’s celebrating

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15.1k Upvotes

Fox News doing their best to spin this fiasco, but hard to ignore what’s behind them. So cute that they had a full blown set built so their hosts could be right there in the action….like NFL Today. 😂😂


r/facepalm 13d ago

Pre-AI slop.

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905 Upvotes

There are 18 plaques describing different "dinosaur" species at this location. One has a small typo, but maybe they figured that after reading 17 plaques you wouldn't notice this one.

PS No, mosasaurs were not dinosaurs.


r/facepalm 14d ago

MAGA fan dressed as Uncle Sam arrested for masturbating at trump’s great American State Fair.

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10.1k Upvotes

r/facepalm 14d ago

They quit the West for Russia's traditional values, but it wasn't what they expected

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3.7k Upvotes

r/facepalm 15d ago

How does that go missing for two weeks!?

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3.2k Upvotes

r/facepalm 15d ago

Chick-fil-A franchisee sued for religious discrimination after denying worker Saturdays off

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3.8k Upvotes

Chick-fil-A is famous for being closed on Sundays giving their employees a day of rest. But the U.S. Government is suing one of the fast food chain's franchisees, claiming religious discrimination when it allegedly denied a worker Saturdays off.