After the "Merbo" drama and my subsequent mod post, and after disscussing the options and community wishes with the other mods we have reached a new proposition about "sob stories".

They will not be banned.... yet.

As of now, they, if they must be posted, will be restricted to Self posts only, and no begging for items or gifts, or any trade or transaction whatsoever will be allowed to be posted.

If the aim of the person is comfort from this community and this community alone, comfort and support of a 114 778 strong community will be enough, without the need of consolation prizes.

However, if another incident like this occurs (Merbo was the first one), we will be saddly forced to ban them and re-direct the user to /r/MMFB.

I'm hoping you guys understand that we did not ignore the pleas to remove them completely, but it seemed like a cruel thing to do based on just one incident (hopefully it will be the last). We have your complaints and thoughts noted, but for the time being, this is a compromise. A slightly less cruel compromise.

We are always open to suggestions, provided they're polite. So if you have any hang-ups with this compromise, let us know.

Thank you.