First and foremost, Happy New Year! I sincerely hope you have a fantastic (and safe) new year.

Now then, on to business.

Yes, 2017 was rough in spots, but overall, it's been good. The subreddit now has 30,742 subscribers (at the time of writing). That is a massive increase from back in June of 2016 when I became the top moderator, and we had just shy of 9,000 subscribers.

True, there are those who say we're "ruining the subreddit," but let the numbers speak for themselves, and let the trolls go back under their bridges.

We have worked hard to build up this subreddit from the continual spam-laden troll farm it was to a place where people can have intelligent, healthy discussions about everyone's favorite adult beverage. And while it's not perfect, we're well on the way to making it better every day.

The moderation team and I have been fine tuning the subreddit rules and policies (the new version will be posted shortly after midnight), and clarifying things based on what has happened over the last year. Some will not agree with our choices (they'd prefer the pure chaos and constant barrage of spam that existed before*), but overall, the effects are positive.

Overall, we want the users to have a good experience here, while at the same time staying safe. As it says in the sidebar (and has said for a year and a half now), this subreddit supports the HEALTHY enjoyment of alcohol by people LEGALLY old enough to drink (and NOT drive)!

Let's break that statement down a bit. The first part says "the HEALTHY enjoyment of alcohol," but what do we mean by that?

Simply put, everyone here enjoys alcohol. That's a given. BUT, do we enjoy it in a way that's conducive to good health? The key to that is to not over-indulge. So if you're here to "get wasted" or want to find out "the quickest way to get totally drunk" then you probably aren't going to be happy here. Quite a few people come here and post those very things. And they rarely receive an answer. Why? Because that isn't what this sub is about.

Others come asking about the results of their over-indulgence, and what can be done about it. Well, the short answer is, if you actually took responsibility for your actions and didn't drink so much so fast, you wouldn't be experiencing these symptoms. Hence why we have a rule for that. Yes, hangovers (and throwing up) happen. But if you cut back just a bit on chugging "half a liter of Vodka," then you won't get sick. If you do it anyway, then this isn't the subreddit to ask about it.

Continuing, the second part says "by people LEGALLY old enough to drink," and that's as plain as the nose on your face. If you're under the legal drinking age for your area, then you aren't old enough to be posting about your exploits here. Yes we know what the legal age for your area is. We check your post history if we suspect you're underage, so we know where you are, even if you try to lie your way out of it and say "but I'm in Sweden" when you're really in Buffalo, New York. Some people call that stalking. We call it doing our jobs as moderators.

And the last part of the statement says "and NOT drive." Yes, we want you to not drive (or do other illegal activities) while drinking. Because you stand such a high risk of killing yourself (and others) while doing so that we wouldn't have you around any more, and that would just be sad. Call us killjoys if you want, but we want what's best for you. Thus we have a rule in place about "illegal activity." And no, we steadfastly refuse to even consider "how to get around breathalyzers" and the infamous ethyl glucuronide test (ETG). If you are required to take the test, and you drink the night before, that's on you. Take some responsibility for yourself.

Overall, it's been a good year. People have posted several good threads, both questions about alcohol, and reviews (and drinks) they've enjoyed. We have tried to encourage this, and will continue doing so through the new year.

With all that said, I am very happy to announce that we are starting the new year with a clean slate. Over this last year, we had a total of 166 permanent bans. Effective noon tomorrow, those bans are erased, the counter is going to be reset to zero.

HOWEVER, this amnesty comes at a cost: anyone who was banned before, for whatever reason, who comes back to this subreddit and breaks ANY of the rules, will be banned again, with no chance of EVER having their ban lifted. We want to be fair and give everyone an equal chance, but we aren't stupid. So you shouldn't be either.

This post has run on long enough. Most of you didn't even read it, but that's okay, the sentiment still stands. We love you all (even the trolls, to an extent) and hope you have a happy and safe new year!

As always, drink what you enjoy, and enjoy what you drink!