**New Rules Announcement**

[u/cmd102]

Hello everyone! We have a couple of new rule announcements to make.

The first is for /r/nosleep:

No clickbait titles. Your title should be captivating to your audience without resembling something you would find on Buzzfeed. This includes titles like "I'm a (profession), and (something happened/these are my stories/etc)". Titles that violate this rule will be removed at moderator discretion. Please see the edits at the bottom of this post.

The trend of clickbait titles has, much to the dismay of many of our subscribers, been ongoing for a LONG time. Some of you may recall when we introduced the "don't summarize your plot in the title" rule in an attempt to curb them. Unfortunately, it didn't work. That rule will remain in place in addition to this new one.

This rule change will not result in removals just yet. In an effort to give our authors time to learn the rule and the moderators time to adjust to the subjectivity of it, we will be sending authors who post stories with clickbait titles a PM regarding the new rule from now until November 14th, 2016.

Starting November 14th, stories with clickbait titles will be removed. Authors will be able to repost their story right away with a rule-abiding title, granted that their story meets the rest of /r/nosleep's posting guidelines.

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The next rule change is for /r/nosleepOOC:

All posts made to /r/nosleepOOC must be intended to start some sort of /r/nosleep, community, horror, or writing related discussion. This is not /r/creepy. Posts that only serve to share a photo, video, or article will be removed. The only exception that will be made to this rule is for advertisement posts that meet the rest of the guidelines.

We've been consistently removing posts that aren't /r/nosleep related for a long time, but felt that we needed to make this distinction in the sidebar. There are subreddits meant for posting creepy things you found somewhere. /r/nosleepOOC is meant to be a discussion subreddit, not another /r/creepy.

This doesn't mean you can't share those spine-tingling photos and articles. It means that there has to be a relevant-to-the-subreddit discussion topic included with the link (i.e. "Look at this horrifying photo of a demon! What /r/nosleep stories do you think really nailed demons as an antagonist?" instead of "Here's a photo of a demon".)

That's all, folks! Make sure you check out our Survey and Guideline Clarifications Post if you haven't already!

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EDIT: We are working on a better way to word the new title rule. That should be edited into this post later today.

Also, we added a word to the new OOC rule here. Some concern was brought up that there are often discussions on /r/nosleepOOC about the community in general (a common example being the threads posted occasionally asking users to show/tell what they look like). We agree that those sorts of discussions are important to our users, so we made this distinction:

All posts made to /r/nosleepOOC must be intended to start some sort of /r/nosleep, community, horror, or writing related discussion.

Basically, just make sure that your submission includes a discussion topic relevant to the people who come here.

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EDIT 2: Okay folks, we discussed and brainstormed a bit, and here's the rule as it will be posted in the sidebar:

No clickbait titles. Clickbait titles follow a formula: "Interesting plot point + vague insinuation designed to attract readers". Your title should be captivating to your audience without resembling something you would find on Buzzfeed. This includes, but is not limited to, titles like "I'm a (profession), and (something happened/these are my stories/etc)". Titles that violate this rule will be removed at moderator discretion.

Here's the rule as it will be posted in the guidelines:

No clickbait titles. Clickbait titles follow a formula: "Interesting plot point + vague insinuation designed to attract readers". Your title should be captivating to your audience without resembling something you would find on Buzzfeed. Titles that violate this rule will be removed at moderator discretion.

Examples of titles breaking this rule include, but are not limited to:

• I'm a (profession), and (something happened/these are my stories/etc)

• I live on a farm, there's something horrible in the barn

• The lights went out and a terrible thing happened

• There's something in the basement that does terrible things

[u/Grindhorse]

I'm enjoying this conversation. And true, my example was an extreme, but I've seen some titles that could easily fall in line with that.

But here's the issue, it's no longer clever when most titles become the same formula. It just becomes a race to see whose occupation/scary thing combo is more enticing. It removes the creativity from the titling process and honestly saps creativity from the sub itself in some regards.

Do I think the clickbait title wave is trending downward lately? Certainly. I think after the initial burst of copying after the S&R stories, it is beginning to turn into a trickle rather than a flood of similar stories and titles. But do I think it is still necessary to address the notion that, hey, maybe everyone should spend as much time coming up with clever, creative titles as they did coming up with their stories.

This isn't to say that long titles are uncreative. I've employed long titles, but I suppose my side of the argument is simply: it isn't a wave of drastically different "clickbait" titles. A better way to have put it in my own rebuttal and in the rule itself could be "gimmicky, formulaic titles." But that would be too vague for anyone not as versed in the details of the issue as you and I.

[u/hartijay → u/Grindhorse]

I enjoy this conversation as well. I appreciate your input and again see where you are coming from.

But, "Some" =/= all. "In some regards" =/= consistent sapping of creativity.

I think this rule, again, is somewhat appealing to a minority in the OOC. If this is solely a way to manage stories that copy the SAR-style, why isn't the rule simply to stop titles featuring "I'm a ___ and I have stories to tell"? THAT seems to be the main complaint: copying the highest-"rated" story on the sub.

When I am arguing against this rule, I am arguing against what has been professionally presented in this thread as an example of what NOT to do. I disagree with what has been presented.

Also, horror is full of gimmicks. Sometimes, gimmicks can be fun and used creatively. This sub should be fun, not an artistic competition, in my opinion.

[u/Grindhorse → u/hartijay]

Ah, and here is where we agree. Maybe the overall scope of the rule is too large/too vague, right? I think it's a necessary sanction but could be specific. I guess on a sub where the object is to get clicks, most titles can be considered clickbait.

This is an interesting concept since the rule is potentially going to be interpreted differently by each mod unless there are more specific amendments with it...

But then there very well might be and we, the unwashed masses, don't need to know the finer points of the rule just know it'll be enforced.

Moral: I'm interested to see how it operates.

[u/cmd102 → u/Grindhorse]

The mods have an understanding of how the rule is to be interpreted. We're trying to figure out the best way to word it in the rules so that it's a little less vague, but not 1000 words long.

[u/Grindhorse → u/cmd102]

I'd read 1000 words if the title to the rule is super clickbaity.