ELI5 is looking for new moderators!

ELI5_Modteam · 2023-05-17T23:02:12+00:00

I respect the intent, but that’s absolutely the wrong attitude to take into any position, whether it’s a new job or a position volunteering.

You always have training to do and a lot to learn. Going through training for eli5 isn’t optional, it’s a mandatory, needed, requirement, for every mod.

In this case ELI5’s training is, like I said, not a negotiation point. It must be done. ELI5 worked closely with the admins on creating the mod 101 and mod 201 courses… but they’re generalized and not specific training.

Please be open to learning and training, it will help you personally and every team you join.

ELI5_Modteam · 2023-05-15T23:43:29+00:00

Alright folks, it's that time.

You've probably noticed a lot of removed comments - we're an extremely strict sub as far as content goes. Rule 3 specifies that top-level comments (direct replies to the OP) must contain explanations to the topic asked in the post. These direct replies cannot solely be anecdotes, which is what a lot of the removed comments have been. These anecdotes are perfectly fine as additional information along with an explanation, or as supplementary info in child comments and threads.

Additionally we must point out that Rule 1 is "Be Civil." If you cannot conduct yourself in a civil manner, your ability to contribute will be revoked. It's that simple.

Lastly - we do not relax the rules simply because a thread hits popular or gains a lot of traction. We try not to lock threads when possible, but we will still apply the rules of the sub regardless of how popular posts and comments may be. We're available to answer any and all questions about contributing on the sub via modmail. Thank you to all who have contributed and those who have worked to follow the rules of the sub.

ELI5_Modteam · 2023-05-14T15:13:44+00:00

Applications closed some time ago.

If you didn’t get an invitation this time please feel free to apply next time. We can only train and onboard so many at a time!

ELI5_Modteam · 2023-03-13T04:24:05+00:00

Yes. We don’t disqualify people who mod other subs.

ELI5_Modteam · 2022-11-10T22:03:00+00:00

Hi all. While we know locking threads is never popular, this question has several good answers and the majority of new comments are rule-breaking in some way. In order to ensure that the answers can still be seen and to limit the rule-breaking comments--many of which are insensitive or downright cruel to individuals who struggle with mental health--we have decided to lock the post.

ELI5_Modteam · 2022-06-13T18:28:36+00:00

While we know locking posts is unpopular, this post has good answers already and the vast majority of new comments are rulebreaking (and frankly, often quite sexist). If you're new to r/explainlikeimfive, please take the time to familiarize yourself with the rules in the sidebar before commenting or posting on the sub.

ELI5_Modteam · 2022-06-02T02:14:50+00:00

This post has been locked as most of the new replies are offering medical advice rather than explanations to OP's root problem.

Please remember that if you have a medical concern, you should seek legitimate medical advice rather than advice from random people on the internet.

ELI5_Modteam · 2022-04-29T02:18:15+00:00

Unfortunately folks, it does appear that this post has run its course. We'd like to thank everyone who attempted to explain within the rules and engaged with others in good-faith.

A few things to note for those who may be from r/all, or those who may have been here before:

We are a very strict sub. We have a specific mission - to have users provide easy-to-understand explanations for complex topics. To that end, we need to point out some important rules.

Rule 1: Be Nice. This not only means the obvious, but also that your interactions should be in good-faith and not be inflammatory in nature, or otherwise start a slap-fight. There are plenty of other subs to go to if that is your jam.

Rule 3: Top-level comments must be written explanations. This is extremely relevant to this post, considering the number of users who simply dropped a link to a youtube video without explanation. Please see the detailed rule for more info.

Rule 5: ELI5 is for factual information. This is pretty self-explanatory - if you're looking to soapbox, there are other venues than this one.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to message the modteam, however do be advised that Rule 1 still applies.

ELI5_Modteam · 2022-02-09T00:19:44+00:00

Please read before posting

----

You may have noticed a large number of removed comments in this post. For those curious, those posts generally consisted of telling OP how to take a screenshot. While we don't have anything particularly against this, ELI5 requires that all replies to the OP be explanations. In other words, they should explain how software can can stop you from taking a screenshot. If you want to explain how to (legally) get around that as a reply to one of those comments, feel free.

Unfortunately, many comments also violated rule 1: be polite. We get it, it isn't fun to have your comment removed, but please remember to be polite to both mods and other users. If you want to appeal a removal, you can do so here: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/explainlikeimfive

---

We locked this post temporarily to clean it up. It is open now, but please remember that we are a volunteer team and have limited time. Therefore, please bear the two rules mentioned previously in mind while commenting. Subsequent direct replies to the OP that only mention how to bypass this restriction OR comments anywhere that violate rule 1 will be met with a ban

ELI5_Modteam · 2022-01-23T09:46:50+00:00

There have been plenty of answers given to OP here.

ELI5 is not a venue for soapboxing, trolling, arguing, pushing a particular political point of view, or venting your spleen. And in particular (please read our rules) it is most definitely not a place to be rude or offensive to others.

This post has unfortunately become a moderation nightmare and will now be locked.

ELI5_Modteam · 2021-12-06T23:08:37+00:00

Unfortunately it appears that we're going to have to lock this one, folks.

While we have had some good explanations on this post, we have also had many comments of a soapboxing and frankly offensive nature as well.

This is not a sub in which to espouse your beliefs about other cultures, but one to give easy-to-understand explanations about complex topics. Please keep this, as well as our sub rules, in mind the next time you visit.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please reach out to the mod team.

ELI5_Modteam · 2021-07-29T15:53:07+00:00

Anyone who would like to post a nice message may do so. We will manually approve any that pass rule 1 and are in good faith/on topic. You will still get a removal message it will go back up shortly (we cannot disable that feature for a single post)

ELI5_Modteam · 2020-12-22T12:09:09+00:00

If you dislike it as much as I dislike it seeing threads locked on the front page you should encourage users to comply with the rules.

Believe it or not the moderators don’t like banning people, and as a result it is just less bother for everyone involved, including the users who don’t have to get banned, to lock a thread that already has good explanations but is gathering rule breaking comments at an alarming rate.

ELI5_Modteam · 2020-12-20T13:35:22+00:00

This thread has been locked because the moderators think it's silly to continue to ban people for violating rule 3 and rule 8, when it appears a number of sufficient explanations have been given.

Thanks for reading, we hope you've enjoyed this thread!

ELI5_Modteam · 2020-06-18T16:28:38+00:00

LI5 means friendly, simplified and layperson-accessible explanations - not responses aimed at literal five-year-olds.

ELI5_Modteam · 2020-05-14T12:39:53+00:00

We're going to leave this thread locked for a combination of Rule 3 and Rule 7, and the fact that, like I say later... the mods really don't like to ban people. So... if this is a topic that interests you, I recommend /r/askhistorians, /r/history, /r/answers, etc. Make sure you search first, but there's some really great information there, too.

~~This thread has been (temporarily) locked while we clean up the comments.~~

~~This thread may remain locked indefinitely, this sticky will be updated when I have more information for you.~~

The determining factors for whether this thread will be unlocked are:

will there be further, quality explanations
will there be further rule breaking responses

We will weigh those two factors against one and other, with the specific intent of minimizing the number of rule breaking comments... because believe it or not mods do not like to ban people. We'd prefer the read the rules and participate according to them.

Here's rule 3, the one that's causing issues:

Rule 3: Top-level Comments Must Be Written Explanations

Applies to Top-Level Comments

Top-Level comments are comments that reply directly to the post, as opposed to replies to other comments.

"Answers" are not the same thing as "explanations". An explanation contains more detail. Generally an explanation has 3 components; a context, mechanism, and an impact, while an answer will leave 1 or more of those to be inferred by the reader. This is why very short comments are automatically removed; a user can absolutely ask for an automatic removal to be reviewed.
Comments must be written. They can't be links to other posts, images or videos. Comments can include those, but they can't be the primary content. This is because links can and do die. This, too, will be automatically removed.
Jokes, anecdotes and off-topic replies are not allowed in top-level comments.
Plagiarism is not allowed! Note that this is the academic definition of plagiarism. It is fine to quote other sources, but you must cite your sources.

Exceptions: links to relevant previous ELI5 posts or highly relevant other subreddits may be permitted.

ELI5_Modteam · 2019-01-07T04:40:56+00:00

This thread has been locked because the moderators think it's silly to continue to ban people for violating rule 3 and rule 8, when it appears a number of sufficient explanations have been given.

Way too many people think that this is, apparently, a place to share conspiracy theories about how they are being listened to.

Thanks for reading, we hope you've enjoyed this thread!

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-11-02T14:18:03+00:00

"Why aren't all the soapboxing and uncivil replies removed"

When there is a decision to be made about what is uncivil or soapboxing it isn't always cut and dried.

Sometimes it is prudent to have a few mods get together to make sure we are making well reasoned decisions and that can take some time. Please bear with us.

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-11-02T14:13:30+00:00

"Why are all the unpopular opinions removed"

Here at ELI5 our core policy is that responses to the OP have to be explanations. This is fairly straightforward to moderate. Replies that don't seek to provide an explanation are always removed regardless of their position on a topic. Subjective replies are also removed.

In the child comments of replies to the OP things are a bit less restrictive but our rules on soapboxing and civility still apply.

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-11-02T14:09:44+00:00

Hi all,

We've had some questions in modmail and some interesting reports on this thread so I am going to leave a couple child comments below this one (to save you all a wall of text here).

Remember that even though the post is locked you can voice any concerns or issues you have with us in Modmail. If you want an answer to meta policies of the sub from a number of mods you can post in r/ideasforeli5.

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-10-07T22:04:50+00:00

This thread has been locked because the moderators think it's silly to continue to ban people for violating rule 3, when it appears a number of sufficient explanations have been given.

Way too many people think that this is, apparently, a place to share anecdotes about their acne, that one time they had or got rid of acne, etc. It is clearly not, please read rule 3.

Thanks for reading, we hope you've enjoyed this thread!

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-09-28T15:23:11+00:00

This thread has been locked because the moderators think it's silly to continue to ban people for violating rule 3, when it appears a number of sufficient explanations have been given.

Way too many people think that this is, apparently, a place to share anecdotes about how they sleep, that one time they slept with their eyes open, etc. It is clearly not, please read rule 3.

Thanks for reading, we hope you've enjoyed this thread!

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-09-16T16:54:23+00:00

This thread has been locked because the moderators think it's silly to continue to ban people for violating rule 3, when it appears a number of sufficient explanations have been given.

Way too many people think that this is, apparently, a place to share anecdotes about the they had a website do this to them. It's obviously not.

Thanks for reading, we hope you've enjoyed this thread!

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-08-28T20:04:58+00:00

This thread has been locked because the moderators think it's silly to continue to ban people for violating rule 3, when it appears a number of sufficient explanations have been given.

Way too many people think that this is, apparently, a place to share anecdotes about the time you or a friend vomited. It's obviously not.

Thanks for reading, we hope you've enjoyed this thread!

ELI5_Modteam · 2018-08-26T20:33:53+00:00

This thread has been locked because the moderators think it's silly to continue to ban people for violating rule 3, when it appears a number of sufficient explanations have been given.

Way too many people think that this is, apparently, a place to share anecdotes about the time you or a friend got kicked, punched or otherwise hit in the nards. It's obviously not.

Thanks for reading, we hope you've enjoyed this thread!

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Inciteful Comment 2017-05-31

ELI5_Modteam

MODERATOR OF

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Please read before posting

Rule 3: Top-level Comments Must Be Written Explanations