Today we are going live with some changes to the /r/philosophy posting rules. Given internal discussion and feedback from the community, we have decided to move towards having ten separate rules that capture the content of the previous ruleset. The reason for the change is that many posters were confused when their posts were removed (especially for Rule 1, which contained many different points) and did not know which rule they were violating. Splitting our four previous rules into eight separate rules will help make it clear why each post was removed, and thus improve the subreddit.

We are adding only one new rule: a rule requiring that all audio and video links have a short abstract posted by the OP in the comments. There are three reasons for this addition. First, it will help give users an idea of what the linked material is about before they commit time to watching it. Second, it will keep comments in the thread on track (in line with our first commenting rule). Third, it will help the moderators in determining whether a post meets our other posting rules, which is increasingly difficult as the number of audio/video links rises.

We do not intend this new rule to be an onerous requirement. For example, consider this Wi-Phi video. A suitable abstract for this video would be the following:

In this video, Marc Lange (UNC-Chapel Hill) introduces the paradox of confirmation, one that arises from instance confirmation, the equivalence condition, and common inference rules of logic.

This is pulled directly from their channel, and many such content providers provide suitable blurbs along these lines. When they do not, we do not believe it will take much work for submitters to provide one.

In addition to Rule 5, we are officially codifying Rule 9, which limits users to one submission per day. This was already our standard operating procedure, but we have decided to add it to the ruleset explicitly.

You will also notice that we have taken full use of reddit's "structured rules", which can be used to report rule-breaking posts and comments. Unfortunately reddit only allows the use of 10 structured rules, so some of the rules were not able to fit onto the structured ruleset; if you would like to report a post which breaks one of the omitted rules (PR 6, PR 8, PR 9) you may just note that in the "Other" field.

Finally, we note that none of our commenting rules have changed.

With those explanations, the new /r/philosophy rules are as follows:

POSTING RULES

1. All posts must be about philosophy.

   To learn more about what is and is not considered philosophy for the purposes of this subreddit, see our FAQ. Posts must be about philosophy proper, rather than only tangentially connected to philosophy. Exceptions are made only for posts about philosophers with substantive content, e.g. news about the profession or interviews with philosophers.

2. All posts must develop and defend a substantive philosophical thesis.

   Posts must not only have a philosophical subject matter, but must also present this subject matter in a developed manner. At a minimum, this includes: stating the problem being addressed; stating the thesis; stating how the thesis contributes to the problem; outlining some alternative answers to the same problem; saying something about why the stated thesis is preferable to the alternatives; anticipating some objections to the stated thesis and giving responses to them. These are just the minimum requirements. Posts about well-trod issues (e.g. free will) require more development.

3. Questions belong in /r/askphilosophy.

   /r/philosophy is intended for philosophical material and discussion, not for homework help or easily answerable questions. Please direct all questions to /r/askphilosophy.

4. Post titles cannot be questions and must describe the philosophical content of the posted material.

   Post titles cannot consist only in questions, even if the title of the linked material is a question. This helps keep discussion in the comments on topic and relevant to the linked material. Post titles must describe the philosophical content of the posted material, cannot be unduly provocative or click-baity and cannot be in all caps.

5. Audio/video links require abstracts.

   All links to either audio or video content require abstracts of the posted material, posted as a comment in the thread. Abstracts should make clear what the linked material is about and what its thesis is. Users are also strongly encouraged to post abstracts for other linked material. See here for an example of a suitable abstract.

6. All posts must be in English.

   All posts must be in English. Links to Google Translated versions of posts are not allowed.

7. Links behind paywalls or registration walls are not allowed.

   Posts must not be behind any sort of paywall or registration wall. If the linked material requires signing up to view, even if the account is free, it is not allowed.

8. Meta-posts, products, services, surveys, AMAs and links to other areas of reddit require moderator pre-approval.

   The following (not exhaustive) list of items require moderator pre-approval: meta-posts, posts to products, services or surveys, links to other areas of reddit, AMAs. Please contact the moderators for pre-approval.

9. Users may submit only one post per day.

   Users must follow all reddit-wide spam guidelines, and in addition must not submit more than one post per day on /r/philosophy.

10. Discussion of suicide is only allowed in the abstract here. If you or a friend is feeling suicidal please visit /r/suicidewatch.

    If you are feeling suicidal, please get help by visiting /r/suicidewatch or using other resources. See also our discussion of philosophy and mental health issues here. Encouraging other users to commit suicide, even in the abstract, is strictly forbidden.