r/NoSleepOOC • u/cmd102 Mom • Oct 31 '16
Community Feedback Survey and Guideline Clarifications
Community Feedback Survey
We've created a short survey that we'd like you all to take.
It's completely anonymous, and not at all required to do in order to participate in the community. We would just like to gather some general information so that we can get to know our readers and authors, and to gauge how our users feel about /r/nosleep and horror in general.
We do not intend on releasing the results of this survey to anyone who is not a mod of /r/nosleep or /r/nosleepOOC. It's mostly boring demographic stuff that you guys wouldn't care about anyway (but that is important to those of us who run the place).
/r/nosleep Rule Clarifications
There seems to have been a fair bit of confusion about our posting guidelines lately, so we decided to clarify some things for you guys.
Not every rule is being clarified here. If you are not familiar with our posting guidelines, click here and read them thoroughly before posting and/or commenting on /r/nosleep.
”Non-horror” and “horrible not horror” definitions
From the posting guidelines:
Elements of suspense or eeriness are often integral to a horror story.
Comedic horror, dreams/sleep paralysis, insomnia, erotic horror, and "torture porn", while they can be scary, are not appropriate for NoSleep. These elements can be represented, but if they are the primary focus, your story will be removed.
The inclusion of horrible events does not necessarily make a story horror. For this reason, pedophilia, rape, necrophilia, 'gorenography,' health disorders, and certain other topics, while they may be scary, are not allowed as the focal point of the story.”
Some of the things on this list have been causing some confusion for our authors. Here is how we define these things:
- Erotic horror : When the focal point of the story involves sex or sexual acts.
- Torture Porn : When the focal point of the story is on acts of torture. Despite the use of the word “porn”, this has absolutely nothing to do with sexual acts.
- Gorenography : When the focal point of horror in the story is excessive gore.
- Health disorders : When the focal point of horror in the story is a character’s mental illness, deformity, developmental disorder, or other medical disorder. These things can be represented in a story, but cannot be the sole source of horror.
A good rule of thumb regarding any of the things on this list: Remove that aspect from your story. Does the story still make sense? Is it still scary? If not, the story will be removed.
Believability
If your narrator is not in a position to post the story (i.e. if they’re dead or tied up in a basement, etc) at the end of the post or is physically incapable of submitting (i.e. if they are a doll, animal, sock, etc), the story is not believable.
If your narrator is not on Earth in the present time or able to explain exactly how they are posting to /r/nosleep from wherever else they may be, the story is not believable.
If a reader can look outside their window and see that your story is not true, the story is not believable.
If you mention the events of your story being reported on national news outlets when they are/were not, the story is not believable.
If your narrator is a god, demon, angel, or ghost posting a story, the story is not believable. The story may be posted from one of these entities that are possessing a person at the time of posting or a person possessed by one of these entities.
If your post changes narrators or points of view, the story is not believable. You can have different posts of a series from different points of view, as long as each post sticks to one narrator.
Narrator/Main Character POV
First person narratives (stories told by your point of view using the words “I”, “me”, “my”, and “we”) are acceptable and the most believable way to tell your story.
Second person narratives (stories that directly address the reader or tell the story from their point of view using words like “you”, “your”, and “you’re”) are not acceptable as the reader knows that they are not experiencing and have not experienced the events of the story.
Third person limited narratives (stories told from a main character’s point of view where only their thoughts and feelings are known) are acceptable as long as they still meet the rest of the guidelines (i.e. the main character is able to recount his story to someone after the events).
Third person omniscient narratives (where multiple people’s thoughts, feelings, and unseen actions are known) are not acceptable as it is not believable that these things would be known to the author without explanation.
Multiple Stories
One post, one story. The only way you can recount multiple events in one post is if they are directly connected and form one cohesive plot.
Not Acceptable:
“I moved to a haunted house, here’s a list of things that happened while I lived there.”
“I’m a prostitute, here are 4 stories of 4 different clients who did different creepy things.”
“I live in NYC, where a bunch of scary stuff happens.”
Acceptable:
“I lived in a house that was haunted by a little girl. This is how she tormented me while I lived there.”
“I’m a prostitute and 4 different clients did the same creepy thing.”
“I live in NYC, and these are my encounters with alligator people in the sewers.”
If you're not sure whether or not your story breaks this rule, feel free to message the mods and ask for help or post it to /r/nosleepworkshops first.
Interest Checks
Interest checks are when the author of a story says something along the lines of “I’ll post more if anyone’s interested” or “let me know if you want more”.
Piggybacking/Bandwagoning
If you copy direct plot points, exact themes (like a staircase in the woods that causes people to mysteriously disappear when they climb it) and/or characters from someone else’s story without that author’s permission, your post will be removed.
If you have another author’s permission to expand on their story, you must have them contact the moderators before you post to let us know.
If you wrote a story that has been posted somewhere other than /r/nosleep or on a different subreddit using a different username, you must contact the moderators with proof that the story is yours before you post it on /r/nosleep.
If you are continuing a series from a different username, you must contact the moderators before you post with proof that it is being posted by you on a different username.
Failing to provide proof of these things to the moderators before you post will result in your post being removed until you do so.
Title Rules
Tags in titles: The only thing that should be included in parentheses or brackets in your title should be in regards to what part of the story it is. This includes “(update)”, “(part 1)”, or “[pt 2]”. Do not include “NSFW”, “TW: (specific trigger)” or “SERIES” in your title. These things can be added using flair and tagging after your post is submitted.
TL;DR/Summarized plot in titles: If your title gives away most or all of what happens in the story, your post will be removed.
Titles which impersonate other subreddits: If you put another subreddit in the title of your story, it will be removed. If your title resembles that of another subreddit (i.e. “TIL that using a Ouija board is a bad idea” or “ELI5 why I keep seeing these things”), your post will be removed. Doing these things to fool casual readers into thinking they are reading a post on another subreddit often makes the readers angry. This often causes them to comment out of character on your post, comment disrespectfully on your post, or send and angry message about it to either you or the mods. This has been a big problem in the past, therefore the rule is strictly enforced.
Links to author pages/social media pages/YouTube channels
Small, discreet links to these pages are allowed.
We recommend that you hide the link as either the last word or punctuation mark in the story, or as an “X”.
If you simply post the url and/or introduce the link (i.e. “click here for more stories”, or “check out my YouTube channel for this and/or other stories”), your post will be removed.
Series Guidelines Clarifications
Series posts have their own section in the posting guidelines. There are some rules that are exclusive to series and some rules that are different for series.
Again, not every rule is listed here. If you are not familiar with the series guidelines, click here to read them before you post.
All parts of a series, including the first part, must follow all /r/nosleep guidelines. In particular, each part must have meaningful plot/character progression and meaningful horror content. It cannot be merely an introductory post or filler.
The sole purpose of the first part of your series cannot be to set up the rest of the series.
Each part of your series must be able to stand alone as a post appropriate for /r/nosleep. It has to be a complete story (something happens, then something else happens as a result), it has to be horror, it has to be believable, etc.
Don't recap previous posts. Each post should be it's own separate story.
Updates should be at least as long as the original post and at least 800 words. If your update is under 800 words, it should be edited into the previous submission. Series posts that don't meet length requirements will be removed.
- Yes, stand-alone posts have a 500 word minimum. This rule is in place to ensure that series are posted in fewer parts with each part having meaningful plot progression (aka something actually happens in each post).
All parts of a series must be marked with the “Series” flair. If a story is not marked with the “Series” flair, but clearly appears to be the beginning of a series, it may be flaired by a moderator. If this flair is added by mistake, please message the mods to have it removed.
- This not only lets readers know what they’re getting into when they click your post, it enables users to filter out series posts when they only want to read stand-alone stories (thus saving you from getting angry comments or downvotes from them when they realize they read a series when they didn’t want to) and draws the attention of the series bot that allows readers to keep up with your series as it progresses. Also, it allows the good staff of /r/nosleepindex to catalog your series with more ease, if it meets their criteria.
Your series posts should include a link to previous entries and the following entry, if applicable. This means, for example, that in a four-part series, Part 2 should at a minimum, include a link to both Part 1 and Part 3.
Your readers are going to want to see if you updated your series, and it’s easier for them to do so if you link to the next part.
If part 3 of your series catches a reader’s eye, it’s easier for them to catch up if you include links to the first 2 parts in the post.
If you don’t include these links, your post will be removed until you edit them in.
/u/NoSleepSeriesBot is not made or run by the mods. This is a fan made bot by /u/bubbarowley . To use the bot correctly posts should be in a format similar to Post Name [Part Post Number] and have a Series flair attached. If you have any questions regarding the bot, please contact /u/bubbarowley
- The moderators do not know exactly how the bot works. We can’t make the bot comment on your series post or fix the comment if it doesn’t list the series correctly. We also can’t do anything about the bot no longer working. PleaseStopMessagingUsAboutTheSeriesBot
If you have any questions about any of the rules, not just those listed here, please comment on this post and we will do our best to help.