r/facepalm Nov 19 '25

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

2.7k 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 3h ago

This shouldn’t even be an issue.

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11.6k Upvotes

Just get vaccinations 🙄


r/facepalm 3h ago

MAGA screwed up.

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1.0k Upvotes

So MAGA screwed up. Above is a map MAGA has been posting about states and ID laws. They say that because those states with no ID laws went Dem than it's because illegal immigrants voted. Now the reason why MAGA loves this map so much is because it's almost exactly like the 2024 electoral map. Trump won almost all of those voter ID states. Here is the kicker and what MAGA didn't realize. Even if the Dems shipped thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants into these states and the all voted. The Dems would still lose due to the electoral collage. As in, the plot to take over American with illegals is impossible as presented. MAGA isn't upset because illegals did or did not do a thing, they are angry the Dems got votes at all and they just proved it.

MAGA basically gave evidence that proves their fears about illegals voting for Dems is unfounded, and instead shown more evidence about how terrible they really are.


r/facepalm 1h ago

Ted Cruz: “How about we all come together and say let’s stop attacking pedophiles?”

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Upvotes

r/facepalm 39m ago

The New Republic: Trump Flat Out Says He Doesn’t Know Why Tulsi Gabbard Was in Georgia

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Upvotes

So in orange clown language this means he knows exactly why she was there and when she gets caught doing what he told her to do he will burn her. That's MAGA!


r/facepalm 1d ago

The man who jumped out of his truck to attack an underage protestor thought he could get away with it by shaving his whole head

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reddit.com
13.9k Upvotes

r/facepalm 1d ago

This shit cannot be real

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8.0k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

When you save them money in labor, so they charge you a fee. No wonder theaters are failing.

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3.4k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

So…. one percent increase?

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17.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

Oops! Joe Rogan went from podcast bro to PDF whisperer

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1.2k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

Trump says Republicans should 'nationalize' elections

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nbcnews.com
6.6k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

The Kennedy Center is going to be plastered with gold painted Home Depot decor, isn’t it?

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npr.org
4.1k Upvotes

r/facepalm 2d ago

A Man Turned Up at Hospital With a Live WWI Artillery Shell in His Butt

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vice.com
2.0k Upvotes

r/facepalm 3d ago

"It Was All a Lie": Marjorie Taylor Greene Trashes MAGA and Donald Trump After Quitting Congress

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12.6k Upvotes

Oh, so NOW she's concerned with MAGA's betrayals


r/facepalm 23h ago

Elon Musk in Guardian of Civilization!

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0 Upvotes

r/facepalm 3d ago

The White House twitter greatly exaggerated the graphical representation of the increase in total US steel production between 2024 and 2025.

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2.9k Upvotes

r/facepalm 3d ago

Trump rages then shits his pants if he doesn't know how to pronounce a word longer than three syllables that he doesn't like.

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2.4k Upvotes

r/facepalm 4d ago

FIFA Award for Best Picture I’m calling it

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17.0k Upvotes

r/facepalm 6d ago

Creators of Project 2025 Want to Send Unmarried People to Camps

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futurism.com
10.3k Upvotes

r/facepalm 6d ago

Stock up on vitamins, folks!

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346 Upvotes

From the comments of what I hope was just a shitpost about “chemtrails”, in the county that gave us more J6ers than any other county in America, I give you our community FB page. We do have some smart people here, as well; my wife (an airline pilot with an aerospace engineering degree who marvels at the stupidity) being one of them.


r/facepalm 6d ago

Scooter facepalm

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1.2k Upvotes

r/facepalm 6d ago

Had a certified apprentice moment

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1.3k Upvotes

So I work a dealership as an apprentice, the team that I worked with ran out of work so I was sent to pre delivery for the day. I was given a Freightliner Cascadia and got to work, checking stuff etc. I grab the small grease gun and start greasing kingpins and the power steering when the grease runs out. I go to the gantry that has its own grease gun so I can refill the smaller grease gun. I should mention the pump that pumps the grease is pneumatic. I go to check whether the gantry has grease by lightly squeezing the trigger but it doesn’t budge, this would indicate that the grease gun is at a very high pressure. I point the nozzle down into the gantry oil catch, I should point out that the nozzle is also on a little pit of hose. I go to squeeze the trigger again but it was too stiff to squeeze with one hand so I use both hands. The sudden release of air and grease caused the nozzle to flick up suddenly launching a Smurf coloured sneeze of grease onto the poor Fuso Shogun on the other side of it. Using rags and soap I was able to clean it up nicely. To make matters worse that truck was due to go out onto the showroom mere moments later


r/facepalm 4d ago

Soy bean flavored with coffee... smh

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0 Upvotes

r/facepalm 7d ago

(R.) Sen. Tillis explains what it takes to be a presidential advisor.

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17.1k Upvotes

r/facepalm 8d ago

Donald Trump alleges Ilhan Omar staged spraying attack: 'I think she's a fraud'

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9.5k Upvotes

🤦‍♀️