A Flourishing Community of Potential Assholes

I am in constant awe at the civility presented by the Reddit Sub-Community entitled “r/AmITheAsshole”. With 1.2 million “Potential Assholes” as the community refers to its members, I have yet to see a squabble amongst members!

I am very aware of the postings going on but am not an active contributor in this community. I choose to lurk from the sidelines, reading but seldom judging. The popularity of this Sub-Reddit has propelled it to readily be redistributed around the internet, and provide quality content.

• “YTA or “You’re the Asshole” is for scenarios where the OP is at fault in their situation.
• NTA or Not the Asshole is for scenarios where the OP is NOT to blame and the other party described in their scenario is to blame.
• ESH or Everyone Sucks here is for scenarios where both parties are to blame- both people involved in the scenario should be held responsible.
• NAH or No Assholes Here is for scenarios where neither party is to blame. All parties actions are justified. Nobody needs to be held accountable. Shit happens.
• INFO or Not Enough Info is for situations where the OP never clarifies details that would determine the true judgment.”

The above information is found here.

The excellent organization I have mentioned is exemplified by the clear rating system that members must use to comment on posts. The format is as follows, a member posts a question that begins AITA (Am I the Asshole?) with the summary in the title.

The poster then expands and gives relevant information so that others may respond appropriately. As the post grows, commentators may pose questions to the OP (Original poster) in order to understand the situation and make an informed decision.

In addition to the simple rating system, persons replying are encouraged to defend their positions and offer the OP some insight and/or advice. Once the verdict becomes overwhelming, the OP typically updates with how they will proceed. At times the moderators may choose to close the post, leaving a reference as to why. I have seen a few times where the Original Poster was unsatisfied with the verdicts and began to retaliate to comments. Some Original Poster’s choose the disregard the verdict, which is common in the case of YTA’s. The majority of updates state they have made choices based on recommendations by the community.

This Sub-Reddit community has succeeded, not only for its controversial content but for its strict policies and organization. There is little room for the mess with r/AmITheAsshole. They have clear guidelines which are expressed in a “Full Rules and FAQ” that is prominently displayed on the front page of the community. The table of contents below shows how they have thoroughly covered all there bases. Furthermore, they have provided entire books worth that provide the answers for questions that may be incurred by members! It can be found here

The Community employs several ways to manage and respond to every inquiry. Each post is moderated by a robot, that sifts for keywords and patterns to block inappropriate posts before they can move forward. A team of actual moderators is readily available around the clock, to police the group. They also allow from input from members to judge what is appropriate for the group, you may call for a Moderator to evaluate a post by reporting it. They also have prompted a webform page entitled “Ask the Mods” which is also readily available to members and displayed on the front page.

It is truly not able to have such a large and functioning community such as R/AmITheAsshole. With over a million communities based on the platform offered by Reddit, it is rare for one to be so large and still functioning well! As AJ Agrawal opens his article in Entrepreneur which can be found here.“The breadth and influence of the website Reddit can’t be overstated. In February 2018, it was the sixth most visited site in the world and the fourth most visited site in the United States. In December 2017, it boasted 1.7 billion unique website visitors.” In this article Agrawal highlights key components that make a Reddit Community stand out “1. Know your field, 2.Find your niche, 3. Be sincere, 4. Don’t spam, 5. Be a leader, not a dictator, 6. Trust the voting process, 7. Avoid being toxic”. R/AmITheAsshole has undoubtedly followed these recommendations! I am excited to be a member of the community.