site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 2026

This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.

Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.

We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:

  • Shaming.

  • Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.

  • Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.

  • Recruiting for a cause.

  • Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.

In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:

  • Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.

  • Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.

  • Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.

  • Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.

On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.

6
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Bub.

This is getting obnoxious. And yes, this is a mod warning, even though you will add it to your ledger of "The mods are persecuting me because I'm just too clever and edgy for them."

There is a certain category of user who continually wants to push boundaries, talk about things in a smarmy, antagonistic way, bring up topics in an edgy, circumlocutory fashion with plausible deniability, and then screech like a chimp kicked in the balls (not sure if being kicked in the balls actually affects chimps the same way, but I like the image so I'm going with it) when called on it and told to give it a rest, or at least tone it down. And they proceed to bring it up over and over, "calling out" the mods (or a mod) in every thread where they can possibly wedge it in because maybe if they keep grinding their axe often enough, everyone will take their side and throw rotten fruit at the mods and tell us to let them post as they please or something?

You are here.

There is also a category of user who is too autistic to realize that talking about their weird gooner fetishes isn't funny or fun and doesn't understand why we'd say "Not here."

It is not because the mods are prudes, or humorless (well, I am, but not all the mods are), or trying to BAN MY VIEWS THE MODS CAN'T HANDLE.

It's because we want people to be reasonable and civilized and not shit up the place, particularly by trying to see exactly where the line is between "I can get away with this" and "Too much."

You are here.

Now, FWIW, I kind of disagree with@netstack's original formulation: I would not say categorically that all "sex and sexuality" topics are inherently CW. I can imagine sexuality-related content that would be funny and light-hearted enough to be Friday Fun Thread material. The problem is that what was posted in that thread was not. (And this is not an invitation to test what you can get away with.)

As myself, @netstack, and @naraburns have explained to you and others repeatedly, a lot of modding comes down to "I know it when I see it," along with community sentiment, when it comes to deciding what does and doesn't fly. This means that yes, it's subjective, sometimes what passes one mod will not pass another, and we are not going to give you a long TOS contract spelling out what you can and cannot get away with and then gnash our teeth and say "Curses, foiled by your brilliant legalism!" when you figure out a way to post something that we did not explicitly prohibit.

So no, "boner jokes" are not prohibited in the Friday Fun Thread, but it is context-dependent (a boner joke that winds up being CW-bait or "joking about boners with minors," for example, would definitely not be appropriate material).

I'm not going to ban you, even though you have multiple "Ban this guy next time" warnings, because banning people for complaining about the moderation is a bad look and people without familiarity with your oeuvre (and past history under other alts) might think we're just being sensitive to criticism. But I am telling you that open and reasonable discussions about moderation are 100% allowed, even if accompanied by harsh criticism. You can take it up with us in public or private when offered in good faith. We do our best to clarify our thinking and our moderation decisions, and if you really want to know if a given post will be okay or not, you can ask us. But every CW thread is not an opportunity for you to complain about that one time a mod did something you're still chafing about.

You can take it up with us in public or private when offered in good faith

This is good faith.

But every CW thread

It fit the occasion. I am not doing it in anywhere near every CW thread.

one time a mod did something you're still chafing about.

It was recent, basically the last mod decision that I remember. It's not like I necro'd it.

give you a long TOS contract spelling out what you can and cannot get away with and then gnash our teeth and say "Curses, foiled by your brilliant legalism!"

I have said in multiple places when arguing against rules lawyer people that the actual rules are what mods do and not what is written on the sidebar.

This is getting obnoxious. And yes, this is a mod warning, even though you will add it to your ledger of "The mods are persecuting me because I'm just too clever and edgy for them."

Honestly I was just trying to be funny. The mods said the bulge jokes can go into the CW thread because they're definitely not fully censored, so I saw an opportunity to make one.