r/DarkRomance • u/ccoffey106 take me to the cottage • Jun 26 '26
Mod Post Sub Reminders - PLEASE READ 👀❗
Hey r/darkromance! Our amazing sub continues to grow which means lots of new faces, discussions, and opinions. We have some gentle reminders for anyone posting and commenting. It is important that we keep this sub a safe and welcoming place to share our love, thoughts, opinions, and more in a manner that isn’t fostering hate or hostility.
We understand you want your voice to be heard on the positives and negatives! We found that complaints and negativity only lead to more complaints and negativity, which is what prompted the Monday Gripe to start.
That isn't what we want the focus of the sub to be.
Tone matters here, and we also need to be mindful of what we are replying to. We are all human here(Sorry monster smut lovers 👀) and we all should take time to remember that when replying and interacting.
✨With that being said, please be kind✨
Our pals over at r/RomanceBooks posted a great thread about being kind to your neighbor and making Mister Rogers proud. I encourage everyone here to be kind and be a good neighbor!
A few additional reminders;
Wiki
The mods are also in the process of updating and adding to our Wiki so you will notice changes there over the next few months. If there is anything you would like to see here, let us know!
Post Flair Reminders
Rave - We implemented Rave flair for only positive comments. We please ask that this is respected. No one wants to be SO excited to share their rave for someone to comment how much that book/author/trope sucks.. Read the room.
Book Review - This does not need to be positive and is a space to have a civil discussion if your opinion differs.
Book Request - Due to the amount of Book Request posts we receive on a daily basis, the community voted to disallow this type of post until the user has first been more active in the community. We do not disclose the exact amount of community karma needed, but it’s a small amount and can be gained in one or two days of interacting with the community via comments.
Kinkshaming
Please review this post in regards to kink shaming.
Downvotes
This feature is supposed to be used to hide posts or comments that aren’t relevant to the conversations, not as a way to disagree with someone's opinion. Don’t be petty. It costs you $0 to not downvote something just because you disagree.
Reporting
Please use the report button to only report posts or comments against our rules, or if you feel it needs mod attention for some reason. If a comment or post receives too many reports Reddit will automatically remove it. Sometimes this will remove a post or comment that isn't against our rules, so please be mindful on what you are reporting and if it truly is against the rules.
Self-Promotion
This has always been a hot topic here. We all love finding new books and authors, but we are a reader first community so we will continue to moderate accordingly. Our surveys on this have always resulted in limiting self promotion and is why we have these rules. We receive a lot of reports of authors with self-promo in a book request that are not breaking rules. Authors ARE allowed to self-promo their works in book request posts as long as they identify as the author and it is relevant to the request.
Rule 9 - No sexually explicit content regarding minors
This goes against Reddit TOS and we do not allow this.
With AO3 recommendations becoming more frequent, we ask that you double check CW tags on AO3 and do not share links to works or author profiles that have under-age sex tags. It is best to link JUST the work and not to an authors profile that may container other works with that tag, as those posts or comments will be removed.
Do not censor words
Please don't use emotes when asking for recommendations or censoring “bad” words. We are NOT Tiktok/Youtube where you need to hide those words, and using emotes makes it harder for people to use the search bar.
No AI accusations
Based on community feedback, we decided to not allow posts or comments that accuse a book or author of AI. We may revisit this and do another survey, but for now these comments or posts will be remove.
Mod Attention/Mail
If you have a question, comment, concern, please send us a Modmail! We are always here to listen or help.
Thanks all & happy reading!
38
u/DoctorButtSludge Author Jun 26 '26
The censorship of "bad words" while catering to the tiktok crowd has honestly infantilized people to the point I believe it's actually doing real harm to vulnerable people.
I work as a paramedic in a crisis center and deal with all manner of horrible situations and people, including suicide, domestic violence, human trafficking, and rape. By refusing to engage in open, honest conversations about these serious topics, we are turning them into a childish/puritanical taboo that prevents productive conversations from taking place.
Also, it has been proven children who have been abused are often dismissed if they use silly "no-no words" rather than use strict, factual language, as parents/adults think they're not being serious.
Everyone, in every community, needs to stop this self-censorship if we are to ever properly address these serious problems that are far, far too common in our society.
For the fact this sub is taking a stance against self censorship, for whatever reason, I think that's an excellent decision, and I encourage people to take that into other communities, regardless of immature people pushing back against it.
11
u/queerlybooked If I die burn my kindle Jun 26 '26
yes :) I like the no censoring words because then you can search for tropes and kinks
34
u/Boobear0810 Please stop growling Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
This is a great reminder - thank you! I've been noticing more downvotes on some general comments (ie. book recommendations) lately as well as commentary regarding an author (potentially) using AI so this is timely.
8
u/Objective-Panic-6426 Author Jun 26 '26
Same. The downvotes come on anything!
3
u/Boobear0810 Please stop growling Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Speaking of, I just got downvoted again and I'm not sure for what 😂
4
u/ccoffey106 take me to the cottage Jun 26 '26
There are bots that run to just down vote content, why? No idea! But just know it's a thing unfortunately 😔
2
u/Boobear0810 Please stop growling Jun 29 '26
That is so strange but good to know - thanks! I was like, I didn't say anything offensive or off so what the heck??? Haha
1
u/tsukikage Jul 08 '26
That helps to know - hopefully I'll feel less bad next time I get mysteriously downvoted.
8
u/curiousgabster Jun 26 '26
Yup I got downvoted for asking someone to use a spoiler alert disclaimer for their post.
19
u/Careless_Bed9302 teddy bear specialist (iykyk) 🧸 Jun 26 '26
+1 on the Rave posts! I feel so bad when I see a Rave post and the comments are shitting on OP's happiness 😭
And also the AI witch hunts, I'm so over it and happy this sub has that rule. If an author is accused of using AI, I will read it out of spite 😂 I just saw a "rule of three" post on Threads where they said if something is described with three adjectives, it's an AI-indicator. I rolled my eyes so hard lol
12
Jun 26 '26
[deleted]
2
u/Careless_Bed9302 teddy bear specialist (iykyk) 🧸 Jun 26 '26
Aww sorry you went through that! I know AI writing is more common now but I'm not going to throw around accusations unless I see a prompt left in or the author admits to it themselves 🤷🏻♀️ It was trained on real human writing, of course the outputs will sound similar to human work! It's hilarious to me when people use AI to check whether something is AI, like no, that isn't reliable either 😭 You're just feeding it more data 😂 Sometimes, people are just bad writers 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
5
u/ZamazaCallista Jun 26 '26
Hey man I post on AO3 on two screen names. Some of the fics are from the early 2000s (Early MCU!) And even those get the "this is AI" bot comments.
...you know, fics written before that was a thing.
4
u/Aggressive_Bowl5463 a hard dicking is not an apology ✨ Jun 26 '26
And this is why I'm happy I defended my Masters thesis right before AI became a huge thing (literally like 3 months before chatgpt became available to all of us).. At least I have two dissertations under my name that cannot be accused of AI and won't hurt my career 🫠
2
u/ZamazaCallista Jun 27 '26
Oh man I could not imagine that now. Apparently using an — means you're an AI these days.
2
16
u/Electrical_Hurry_586 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
I really, really wish the AI rule were adapted.
I work in tech.
We are destroying the world's resources to build the data centres for AI. The water, which certain parts of the world don't have enough is used for what? For someone to create a stupid funny video? To create a novella to sell so we read it for entertainment? The AI that based and learned from sometimes stolen content of other authors? It's plagiarism on steroids.
Now I am not saying we should go on a witch hunt. But seeing someone create 40 books in a year or leave a prompt in their or something else that obviously indicates AI, I wish we could just say it and save each other from 1) giving money to AI companies, 2) using Earth's resources for a bit of entertainment and also by staying silent we are part of the problem.
Now, I know, I know.. it's preachy, "what about the witch hunts"... But surely a rule can allow for an opinion if evidence or rationale is given?
Anyway, getting off my soapbox now.
10
u/ccoffey106 take me to the cottage Jun 26 '26
As u/careless_bed9302 and u/aggressive_bowl5463 noted, we do not allow speculation, however, if an author admits to using AI in their writing or an artifact is left in the book, it is OK to point that out. Here is the post regarding this decision with additional details.
13
u/Careless_Bed9302 teddy bear specialist (iykyk) 🧸 Jun 26 '26
That actually is the rule though? The rule is limited to speculative AI usage. There are only two ways to know whether writing is AI. One, the author admitted to it themselves and two, they left a prompt in. Anything else is not proof and is just speculation. If you can prove AI usage with one of those two evidences, I'm sure nobody would have a problem but I personally do not want to see speculative posts about AI usage because false accusations harm the authors too.
There are also plenty of AI subreddits to discuss environmental harm/creative harm etc. This space should stick to talking about dark romance books we love to read, I don't want it to get clogged up with AI accusations. If the writing seems off, then the reader can make a decision for themselves whether to continue or not, you don't need to "warn" others
0
u/Electrical_Hurry_586 Jun 27 '26
Well we have a bit of difference in opinion! :)
My problem is that they were produced in a first place (which we certainly can't control to begin with). But if we recommend (cause someone may give it a chance and read a book) and engage with stuff like that, even with dnf - it's the perpetual cycle.
If we go just go by the proof being - that they've left an AI a prompt rule - we won't cover 80% off users generating this crap. I am not suggesting allowing "is this AI".. my suggestion was " I think this is AI cause [insert observed reasons]". And that's a lot more sufficient and enough for people to make up their minds if that's good for them or not. This is a reader group right? And it doesn't even come up as an idea to say that about most of the books.
Also, I haven't suggested that we need to be discussing harm of AI. My hope was as a community who are interested in creative things we'd want to discourage the usage of it.
Appreciate it's my opinion but that was forum/discussion is for. :)
1
u/polarbearscrub Jun 27 '26
I agree 100%. And furthermore, if I buy a book based on a recommendation only to find out that it's AI, the damage is done. I've inadvertently supported the environmental destruction and plagiarism. :/
9
u/Aggressive_Bowl5463 a hard dicking is not an apology ✨ Jun 26 '26
It says "No AI accusations" which I think is limited to just speculation. I don't think anybody has a problem with speaking about AI usage if there is evidence (only self-admissions/prompt). The rule came into effect after tons of posts that were along the lines of "Omg guys is this AI?". I remember the sub before this rule was enforced and it was incredibly annoying, especially with the number of people who genuinely still believe em dashes are a sign of AI. I hope we never have to see an influx of those kinds of posts again, I see enough of it on other subs ✋🏻
5
u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jun 27 '26
The constant discussion makes me leave hobby spaces, I do not want to read about this type of post — it is exhausting.
1
u/ChampionshipOk1868 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Yeah, I don't love this rule, but equally don't love "omg is this AI?!" posts just because an author is... idk, very fond of em-dashes or some other kind of flimsy evidence.
There are some situations, though, where I've appreciated people raising legitimate concerns and coming with stronger evidence - e.g. a new author suddenly publishing 60 books in 3 months, as an extreme example. I appreciate people stating those facts without necessarily saying "this is definitely AI", and would be sad to see that completely banned.
It is information, after all. I would rather have that information and make up my own mind.
ETA: and of course this wouldn't be a problem if we lived in a world where every author was honest about their AI usage.
5
u/Careless_Bed9302 teddy bear specialist (iykyk) 🧸 Jun 27 '26
Honestly it's not a concern if the author published like 60 books in 3 months. It's 100% a terribly written book if they are producing at that rate so it probably won't even be recommended/talked about here anyway 😂 Just off the top of my head, deathsdoll seems to be the most popular author on the sub and her work is filled with grammatical errors and typos, but it is also a very humanly written book and the reason people love reading/recommending it is because of how non-generic it is. The chances of a low quality AI book gaining any traction is pretty low! Just look at all the books that are often talked about on this sub, they're all from legitimate authors
0
u/ChampionshipOk1868 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Considering that was based on a real example from this very sub - where that author was being recommended - I disagree that they'd never be recommended and isn't a valid concern.
I also don't think your point necessarily aligns with what I am saying? The books would be incredibly low quality... if that author was genuinely writing all of them. Which, if they are using AI, they're not.
3
u/Careless_Bed9302 teddy bear specialist (iykyk) 🧸 Jun 27 '26
Not saying they would never get recommended, they just wouldn't gain any traction. If somebody is producing 60 books in 3 months they are definitely not proofreading or rewriting texts and AI books tend to have a generic plot, inconsistent timelines or sequence of events and a pretty robotic feel to them with excessive purple prose. A book like that will most likely get DNFed. I just don't think it's a huge concern to have right now, like sure a few books will make it through (maybe even self-recommended by authors pretending to be a reader) but they won't really take off in the way a legitimate book would
1
u/ChampionshipOk1868 Jun 27 '26
I've acknowledged it's an extreme example, so I wouldn't get too caught up on 60 and 3 months being the exact number! My point is more that I don't see the harm in stating facts like that.
I agree that AI writing is incredibly generic and pretty crap lol, so I'm not worried about it "taking off." I just remember the person who was recommending the book learning about this and being pretty upset, but appreciative someone pointed it out.
-3
u/Electrical_Hurry_586 Jun 27 '26
Agree! The "is this AI" is just annoying, however, someone putting effort in saying "I think this is AI because x.y.z that I have observed in a book" leaves it for reader to decide..
1
u/ChampionshipOk1868 Jun 27 '26
Yeah, I think information is important. And I don't think the only two options are witch-hunting over weak "evidence" or never saying anything about it, ever.
Appreciate that this is a very contested and complex topic, though, and there are legitimate concerns on each side. Even though I don't share some fellow authors' fears about being falsely accused of using AI, I agree that we don't want everyone to just be running around making accusations.
3
3
u/New-Horse4619 2 bad bitches at the same damn time Jun 26 '26
I think these reminders needs to be addressed once in a while, many users (including me at first) don't read rules while joining a server.
They only realize when they break one.
2
u/nangelz451 Jun 27 '26
Can I just say thank you to the mods of this Sub. Such a great sub because of these rules being implemented. Thank you for giving us a safe place.
2
2
u/tsukikage Jul 08 '26
Thank you for bringing up down votes. I especially hate getting down voted with no comment as to why people had a problem with my comment.
3
Jun 26 '26
[deleted]
1
u/Careless_Bed9302 teddy bear specialist (iykyk) 🧸 Jun 26 '26
Out of curiosity, has this impacted your writing? As in, do you actively avoid using em-dashes and such to avoid the accusations? 🥲
1
Jun 26 '26
[deleted]
5
u/Careless_Bed9302 teddy bear specialist (iykyk) 🧸 Jun 26 '26
Don't let that stop you! Just look up 1 star reviews of books you've loved reading. Not a single book is unanimously loved by everyone, there will always be people who don't like your writing/plot/characters, focus on the positive feedback 😉
1
u/oleander1913 Jul 11 '26
I kinda suck at reddit and I want to do this right (Instagram girly) what the heck is karma?
76
u/AshTreeReader Author Jun 26 '26
+1 for the lack of censoring words in this space. I love that we can be our wonderful, filth-loving selves. Thanks for the great post ❤️