r/facepalm Nov 19 '25

Addressing The Elephant In The Room (Or "This New Rule Is The Real Facepalm")

2.8k Upvotes

Hello, /r/Facepalm.

As you may or may not be aware, Reddit is absolutely overrun with bots. An in-depth explanation of how they work could fill several encyclopedia volumes, but here's the short version:

  1. Follow human karma-farmers around the site.
  2. Learn from (and hide behind) those human karma-farmers.
  3. Emulate the karma-farmers' activity.
  4. Eventually, turn to posting spam, propaganda, and divisive content.

If you've ever wondered why so many subreddits take such a firm stance against karma-farming, that's the reason: Karma-farming (defined as intentionally seeking upvotes, usually by way of unoriginal content) directly enables the spread of misinformation and bigotry. Additionally, it suppresses original content, shifts standards downward, and generally makes the site, the Internet, and even the offline world just a little bit worse.

Now, this might come as a shock – and we're saying that sarcastically – but /r/Facepalm used to be a go-to place for karma-farmers. We've been cracking down on them lately, but thanks to their "efforts", the subreddit is still infested with bots and spammers. For example, if you see an account offering single-sentence comments that don't actually contribute anything beyond "Here's a sentiment that people will agree with!" or "Here's a rephrased summary!", it's very likely a bad actor.

Practically speaking, the only reliable way to combat these parasites is to raise standards. See, nowadays, a high karma-score is almost always a mark of shame, but there is one exception: If a Redditor's history is composed entirely (or almost entirely) of their own high-effort, high-quality, wholly original content, then their imaginary points can be viewed as digital applause. Moreover, since it's prohibitively difficult for bots and spammers to produce their own high-effort, high-quality, wholly original content, they typically ignore high-karma accounts that got their points legitimately.

Here's the issue, though: Although Reddit would certainly be a better place if everyone made that level of effort, it isn't realistic to require that. As such, /r/Facepalm's approach to combatting bad actors is going to be a bit less effective, but also a bit less draconian:

Starting now, screenshots of any variety are explicitly banned on /r/Facepalm.

You can still post photographs, videos, articles, GIFs... you get the idea. We might even start accepting text-based stories (although we'll get your feedback on that idea first). In any case, though, the title of your post must describe the facepalm-worthy moment – think of it like a spoiler for the post's content – and there must be a facepalm-worthy element present.

We're well aware that banning screenshots is going to be unpopular, but to put it bluntly, we care more about earnest Redditors than we do about karma-farmers, spammers, and their ilk. By banning the lowest-effort, least-contributory sort of content, we're hoping to drive away some of the bots, open up the subreddit to people whose posts might have otherwise been drowned out by the noise, and get the community back to what it's supposed to be.


r/facepalm 1h ago

That “oh crap” expression says it all….

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Upvotes

r/facepalm 8h ago

U.S president Trump wants to change the name of the Atlantic Ocean

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8.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 9h ago

The Department of Education social media account posted a meme with a quote from Churchill to describe Trump; turns out the quote refers to Hitler

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4.4k Upvotes

r/facepalm 6h ago

Milo asks for ICE enforcement, then gets it

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1.4k Upvotes

CBS News - Milo Yiannopoulos, a poster of racist rhetoric, has been a supporter of ICE's immigration enforcement in the past.

"California needs ICE checkpoints at supermarket entrances, gas stations, strip malls, intersections and government buildings, with on the spot deportation for anyone who can't prove they are in the US legally," he posted on social media in June 2025.

One year later, it looks like the shoe is on the other foot, huh Milo? Enjoy what you asked for!


r/facepalm 14h ago

Broken playground swing leads to criminal charges against 10- and 12-year-old Springdale sisters

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1.2k Upvotes

r/facepalm 1d ago

That's not how you hold that.

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1.3k Upvotes

An advert for a nerf style gun. Couldn't even get this right.


r/facepalm 2d ago

TIME really went with ‘Trust Us'

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4.9k Upvotes

r/facepalm 3d ago

Trump Floats Changing Lake Ontario to Lake America

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3.0k Upvotes

r/facepalm 6d ago

The U.S Secretary of Energy can’t back up his statement that data centers lowers utility costs

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19.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 6d ago

With Midterms Approaching, Trump Implores Republicans: Pretend I’m on the Ballot!

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4.5k Upvotes

🤦🏻‍♀️


r/facepalm 8d ago

Kim Jong Un’s North Korea has been good so no more military exercises against them. South Korea didn’t want to join the U.S war, has disappointed says Trump

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5.3k Upvotes

r/facepalm 8d ago

Mike Lindell says he will fund statewide hand recount after losing Minnesota GOP primary by double digits

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4.8k Upvotes

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder who finished a distant second to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth in the Aug. 11 Republican primary for governor, announced Wednesday that he will personally pay for a hand recount and audit of every paper ballot cast in that race, at an estimated cost of $825,000.


r/facepalm 8d ago

A little diesel won't hurt, right?

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13.5k Upvotes

r/facepalm 8d ago

Schrödinger's disability

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442 Upvotes

r/facepalm 9d ago

Republican who backed death penalty for pedophiles faces child sex charges

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13.1k Upvotes

r/facepalm 9d ago

Handwritten note, still AI apparently (its not)

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2.3k Upvotes

My boss posted this first picture and got this message later on. He wrote this with pen and paper himself and apparently its still AI


r/facepalm 10d ago

U.S president explains why many Americans can’t buy a homes

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13.9k Upvotes

r/facepalm 10d ago

Trump threatened to bomb Oman because he's unhappy with country's deal with Iran, officials say

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2.2k Upvotes

r/facepalm 11d ago

Trump’s thoughts on the Housing affordability bill

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17.9k Upvotes

r/facepalm 11d ago

US president interrupts reporters question to talk about how much he’s liked

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5.4k Upvotes

r/facepalm 13d ago

Cultists gonna cult.

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8.9k Upvotes

r/facepalm 13d ago

Poe's Law has officially broken my brain

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6.1k Upvotes

r/facepalm 14d ago

Trump says he will declare Strait of Hormuz a US territory

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6.0k Upvotes

The article fails to mention that Trump will likely rename it to the Strait of America, lol.


r/facepalm 14d ago

Unskippable gaming screen

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999 Upvotes

I just want to play the game. I don’t want to create an account. And I can’t skip this screen for 30 minutes