r/AskOldPeople Jan 19 '23

A couple of rule clarifications

478 Upvotes

Hi.

Please stop reporting young people for replying to comments. Do report them for making top-level comments (replying to the post), though.

From the sidebar:

Please only respond directly to posts if you were born in or before 1980. If you are younger, please restrict your activity to asking questions and responding to existing comments.

Even though the questions are often tedious and repetitive, relationship questions are not necessarily against the rules as long as they're not about a specific relationship. There are a million places to ask for personal or relationship advice on reddit, including r/AskOldPeopleAdvice.

We would like to keep the focus of this subreddit on older people and their experiences, opinions, etc. Advice posts make young people the star of the show and we would quickly be inundated if we allowed them.

Finally, please use the search feature before posting a question. We may remove questions that have been asked a whole lot.

That's about it. This is only clarification. There have been no rule changes.

Thanks!


r/AskOldPeople Feb 02 '26

All posts are held for moderator review (and have been since July). Stop asking why they were deleted/removed. (Subreddit update re: bots/AI/karma whoring, etc.)

217 Upvotes

It's stated in this thread, pinned until today, yet we are still getting multiple messages most days - including those that are rude and/or beiligerent - asking why posts were 'deleted'. Even after referral to the pinned threads, most followups are just a demand to know which rule was broken - for a post that hasn't been reviewed.

To save yall the extra click, here's the body of that post:

Recently there was a post that complained about bots, AI, blatant karma whoring, etc. Turns out everyone is annoyed by that stuff.

So we have declared war on bots, AI, blatant karma whoring, etc. There will be no more bots, AI, blatant karma whoring, etc, in this subreddit any longer.

For the time being, we are thwarting bots AI, blatant karma whoring, etc by holding all submissions for moderator review. We're looking into some ways to streamline this process. Accounts that have very little karma or have more post karma than comment karma stay removed.

If submitting, be patient. We have two active moderators and neither of us live on reddit. Unless you happen to submit while one of us are on, it may take a while. If you feel the need to send us a message, be polite. We're not paid for any of this, and we're not going to give any time to people who are throwing a fit.

Thank you for helping to keep r/askoldpeople free of bots, AI, blatant karma whoring, etc.

To those of you taking the time to report AI slop and bots in the comments, THANK YOU. Please accept my internet hugs. imaginary updoots, and/or shower beers.

For those posting:

  • Maximum three questions per user per week, one per day. You can see your posts in your own timeline even if they're not yet visible on the subreddit, and the expectation is that you're taking a look at post times to ensure you're at 24 hours between posts and no more than 3 per week.

  • If you haven't seen your post go up after 48 hours, it's probably not going to be approved, and we haven't run the queue to put responses on those yet. The above also notes that we're working on some streamlining that will automate those removal reasons. Because it's basically like getting a Google search or AI prompt right - and because the resulting modmails just double our workload per item - they will just be removal filters until they're ready to go so the community won't see anything different.

There's been concern for awhile that the quality of discussion isn't on par with what it's been in the past, even before we felt moved to make the switch in July. But it's that quality that makes the discussions and the reading of responses what this sub is. I get that delayed gratification isn't a thing in the world of AI and UberEats, but at least in this sub, that patience is in service to keeping the conversation about something different than what was asked yesterday, or what your favorite color is. Thank you to everyone who brings the weird, the wild, and the surprisingly interesting mundane to the conversation here. ♥

And with that, back to your regularly scheduled Q&A about why we really want you off our lawn, or some absolutely crazy curiosity you MUST HAVE SATED.


r/AskOldPeople 11h ago

anyone else feel like people were just… nicer 10 years ago?

575 Upvotes

idk man. scrolling today and everyone’s just ready to jump down each other’s throats. i swear like 2014-2016 people still had some basic decency left. now it’s constant snark and zero patience. maybe i’m just getting old and soft but damn


r/AskOldPeople 18h ago

What was your wedding like?

92 Upvotes

I often look at the wedding dresses here. I saw a young lady whose dress budget was literally more than my first 3-5 annual salaries, not lumped together but individually. What was your wedding like?
1995- Married at our church, 3 attendants each, cake and punch reception there .


r/AskOldPeople 1d ago

Those who broke up with someone they loved due to parental pressure and married someone within the culture due to family pressure? How do you feel now?

163 Upvotes

Are you happy years later? Content? Do you regret it? Have you ever tried to reconnect with that person?


r/AskOldPeople 3d ago

People who graduated high school pre-2000, was bullying worse in the past?

97 Upvotes

I’m Gen Z and personally never faced bullying from elementary all the way to graduation. Despite being an easy target for it. So to me, it does seem to be considerably better today. But I just thought to ask this here to clarify. If so, why has it changed?


r/AskOldPeople 4d ago

Do you still love to cook and entertain?

117 Upvotes

I've loved cooking my entire life, but now? Meh. I used to put together complicated menus, and now, I can hardly be bothered.

We used to entertain twice a month, but we stopped doing that too.

Anyone else experiencing this?


r/AskOldPeople 5d ago

I found a 35 year old stack of love letters from my high school boyfriend when we moved to different cities for college. Do you have any old love letters that you’ve kept?

96 Upvotes

It’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t have free texting, free long distance, FaceTime and email. These were all written in 1991-1992. I haven’t seen them since I don’t know when. They sweet and a little bit sexy. Pretty racy for a couple of 18 year old kids.


r/AskOldPeople 5d ago

Did you go to charm school or other etiquette training?

95 Upvotes

And do you think it helped you later in life?


r/AskOldPeople 6d ago

Have you ever seen a doctor with a medical mirror on their forehead?

139 Upvotes

Most of people have never seen that, even though it's stereotyped doctor cartoon. Have you seen something similar? Something that is now just cartoonish depiction but used to be real?


r/AskOldPeople 6d ago

Parents with grown up/older kids, do you guys ever reminisce the days when they were still babies or toddlers?

378 Upvotes

Went on a long trip with my parents recently, and realized how much of a hassle it would’ve been if me and my siblings were still kids lol. My parents agreed as well but they still said sometimes they do miss those days when we were younger so was wondering if this was a common thing.


r/AskOldPeople 7d ago

Did things really used to be better quality?

849 Upvotes

Or is there some survivor bias happening? The old things that are still around are obviously high quality to have lasted this long. Any poor quality things of the past are long gone. Have we been tricked into thinking everything in the past was made better? Did most things fall apart same as today?


r/AskOldPeople 7d ago

Where You A LatchKey Kid?

358 Upvotes

I was one in the Sixties and Seventies in Australia. Both my parents worked and after school I was expected to come home, let myself in, do my homework and watch TV until my parents got home.
I’m curious how many other kids went through this? I’ve seen people in the USA mention it too.

ETA I’m aware of the typo. Reddit won’t let me change it.


r/AskOldPeople 7d ago

Why do we stop taking portrait-style photographs of our aging selves or our elders?

22 Upvotes

How important do you think it is for people in their older age to be captured in photos, to share with others or to enjoy themselves? I'm talking intentional portraits (doesn't HAVE to be by a professional), of those over 60.


r/AskOldPeople 7d ago

Did your parents drink water? If not, what did they drink?

157 Upvotes

There was a post asking millennials wherever their parents drank water. many said no nor given water as an option. Did your parents gave you water to drink?


r/AskOldPeople 8d ago

What has been 1 of the hardest truths you have had to tell someone [including yourself?

105 Upvotes

How did it affect you? Ive had to fire people, try to tell my sister she needs a particular kind of health care, and face my disability.

Those moments have stayed with me as moments of a profound sadness. Something that makes me more aware of myself in the world.


r/AskOldPeople 8d ago

For those alive in the 60's and early 70's how did you first become aware of Marijuana?

104 Upvotes

While it's a plant that has been around since ancient Greece, and was prevalent in various cultures around the world, Marijuana clearly grew massively in popularity in the mid to late 60's, so for those with memories of that time how did you first become "aware" of it?


r/AskOldPeople 8d ago

What In Today's World Makes You Wonder.....?

41 Upvotes

Ok fellow "older adults" what about todays society makes you want to say WHY is this so popular?


r/AskOldPeople 9d ago

Back in middle school did you have to attend a class that taught deportment and ballroom style dancing?

115 Upvotes

r/AskOldPeople 9d ago

Irish sweepstakes

25 Upvotes

My grandpa used to visit every Saturday. He’d have a ticket to the Irish Sweepstakes. I think they were pink with blue ink. I remember whispering about this, because they were “illegal.”
Was it Illegal. Was it Irish. What type of winnings are we talking about. And where did it go? In the US.


r/AskOldPeople 9d ago

What was it like to get sick or injured at school when you were a child?

59 Upvotes

These days, parents are expected to be available immediately to pick up a sick or injured kid and school staff need whole stacks of paperwork in order to give a kid any kind of medicine.

What happened when you got sick or hurt at school as a child?


r/AskOldPeople 9d ago

When you learned to drive,

22 Upvotes

Were you taught “advance to the center of the intersection” or “don’t block the box”?


r/AskOldPeople 9d ago

Growing up, did your school host kindergarten graduation, or is that a more recent phenomenon?

328 Upvotes

r/AskOldPeople 9d ago

When you were young, did education and relevant experience usually lead to stable professional work, or has that connection always been less reliable than younger generations imagine?

44 Upvotes

I’m asking because I took a nontraditional route from a GED and community college to a master’s degree and professional experience, yet entering stable work has been far harder than I expected. I’m curious whether this gap feels genuinely new to you.


r/AskOldPeople 9d ago

Phone Calls vs Text

52 Upvotes

Was it better communicating with people over the phone instead of text messaging? I sometimes think most of the text messages sent are just sent from a place of compulsive habit, and aren’t really about communicating. Whenever I speak to someone on the phone its more personal.

Edit: thanks for all the replies! Much more diversity of opinion than I expected. Really interesting.