happy

We're long overdue for a community announcement and there's some things to bring up that have been regularly voiced in submissions which I'd like to clarify.

As you all know /r/happy is a place where we share stories and special moments that make us happy, that makes this an area where anyone is free to post as long as they follow the guidelines of this community.

In the "spirit of happiness" the guidelines have always been very relaxed, the only hard requirement was to make your post about something personal/special. We've stuck with these guidelines for years but with our explosion in growth/attention this year it's become necessary to clarify things and set some rules which I'll try to explain here.

• Always get consent - All too often we get submissions that's a picture of a person sleeping or one that was likely meant to be private. There's no easy way to enforce this so consider this item more of a guideline to think about what you're posting, if you don't think the person would be happy about their picture being shared then make it a text post.

• We'll now start referring users to post in theme/event related subreddits - Everyone is welcome to post here but take a moment consider posting to one of the subreddits dedicated to what you're posting about. This can be pet, wedding, engagement, or birth pictures (there's a lot). The submission page has been updated to cover different subreddits a person may wish to be posting to instead, if there's others you feel should be included please leave a comment.

• We will start enforcing the vague post rule - We've been pretty lax about this one, submissions that are a one liner such as "She makes me happy" or "I love my kids/dogs/tree/foot" will removed. The intent is to share stories, we don't expect an essay but a description of why this picture is special to you. Text posts are even better if you feel the need to elaborate.

• Trolls and harassing comments get a ban - I'll keep it pretty simple: Trolls (intentionally harassing users) get a permanent ban. Users who post shaming/negative comments get a short ban (less than 7 days) that can be appealed very easily by responding to the ban message. Repeat offenders will be subject to longer bans that eventually become permanent.

• Report, report, report and message the mods when that fails - We've got personal lives and family outside reddit so we're not always around to remove comments/submissions. You help keep the community a happy place by reporting things you feel violate the rules or need attention. Above all else please feel free to message the mods about anything that concerns you.

• Our CSS sucks and we're not good at it - reddit theme changes broke our CSS a long time ago and we've gotten complaints, unfortunately we don't have the time to fix it but there will be some changes coming soon that will help us throw that all out. In the meantime if you feel you can help us fix it just reach out.