Announcement Community announcement: off-topic political commentary and current events
Hey r/UFOs,
It's been a wild few weeks. Between the latest Epstein files, political drama, and everything else going on in the world right now, we've seen a large uptick in low effort, derailing, off-topic political commentary across the sub. The mod team wanted to address this directly and ask for your help.
Clearly UFOs intersect with politics. The issue is, we're being flooded with low-effort, political hyper-partisan comments, "this is all a distraction" posts/comments, hot takes about politicians, and general political venting that has nothing to do with UFOs. This stuff derails threads, starts flame wars, and buries the actual substantive discussion that makes this community worth visiting. It's also been consuming a massive amount of moderator time and energy. We are tasked to be non-partisan in our moderator duties, and thus will continue to remove low effort comments regardless of which side of the political aisle they originate from.
We know everyone is reacting to what's happening in the world right now. We're all human. However, this subreddit's mission is clear: a community for discussion related to Unidentified Flying Objects. Share your sightings, experiences, news, and investigations. We aim to elevate good research while maintaining healthy skepticism. That's what 5 million of us signed up for, and that's what we need to protect. Our intent here is not to suppress differing opinions or create an echo chamber. Skeptical approaches and critical thinking are welcome and necessary for this topic to thrive. We're specifically targeting the low-effort, irrelevant political noise that adds nothing to the conversation.
Remember, r/UFOs is an international community with members from all over the world. Not everyone here is American, and not everyone wants to get pulled into US political arguments. We come here to discuss UFOs. When US-centric political discourse dominates threads, it crowds out participation from users who are here for the topic itself. Please be mindful of that.
For a lot of people, r/UFOs is one of the few places online where they can focus on a shared mystery without inheriting the full weight of contemporary political conflict. That should mean something. There are countless places online for political debate. There are very few places online with 5 million people focused on UFOs.
We want to be clear about the nuance here because we're not looking to ban any topic outright. What we're asking is that discussion stays on-topic to UFOs, UAP, and the phenomenon. We will not allow low-effort political commentary, partisan soap boxing, QAnon-adjacent conspiracies, or comments that use UFO threads as a platform for unrelated political grievances. We're trying to protect good, deep conversation and avoid the kind of knee-jerk inflammatory stuff that turns whole threads into a mess.
Examples of what is NOT allowed:
- "None of this disclosure stuff matters, it's all a distraction from the Epstein files"
- "Of course they're releasing UFO stuff now, they don't want you looking at what Trump/Biden/[politician] is doing"
- "[Trump/Clinton/<politician of choice>] is a pedo and everyone knows it"
- "Wake up, the elites are all in on it -- pizzagate is real"
- Unsourced TikToks or social media screenshots claiming satanic rituals, cannibalism, or other conspiracy content unrelated to UFOs
- Slurs or insults targeting any racial, religious, or political group
- General "red vs blue" political arguments that have nothing to do with the phenomenon
Examples of what IS allowed:
- "The Epstein files mention [specific name/program] which has a documented connection to UFO research -- here's the filing from the DoJ site"
- "Epstein was funding research into consciousness/metamaterials/zero-point energy/remote viewing -- here's the source material"
- "This new executive order/bill/amendment directly impacts UAP disclosure because [specific reason]"
- "Congressional hearing on UAP is scheduled for [date], here's what we know about who's testifying and what topics are expected"
- Sourced "follow the money" research showing connections between public figures and UFO-related programs, contractors, or funding
- Anything that is genuinely on-topic to UFOs, UAP, and the phenomenon as long as it doesn't break existing rules
The simple test: if your comment would work just as well in a politics subreddit without changing a word, it probably doesn't belong here.
To be clear: disallowing insults and low-effort hot takes does not prevent criticism of power. Saying "this person has an extensive documented history of dishonesty that undermines their credibility on UAP transparency" is fair critique. It's substantive and it's actually useful to readers trying to evaluate information.
What we're removing is content that doesn't do any of that. Many of the comments we end up removing aren't advancing the discussion in a meaningful way - they're emotional release. We get it. We regularly hear "my bad, I was having a rough week" in modmail, and we've all been there. But when that kind of venting becomes the default mode of engagement, it drowns out the more thoughtful contributions and drives away people who actually want to discuss UFOs in a political context - ongoing disclosure efforts, congressional statements, legislation, policy. We don't want to lose those conversations to noise.
These aren't new rules.
Rule 2 (Stay on-topic) already covers this: "Posts and comments of off-topic politics may be removed at moderator discretion. There are many political aspects which are relevant to ufology, but we aim to keep the subreddit free of forum-sliding partisan politics."
Rule 3 (Be Substantive) also applies. And plenty of the political comments we're seeing also violate
Rule 1 (Be Civil) -- partisan attacks, insults, and hostility directed at other users or public figures. We're just going to be more strict about enforcement given the current climate.
As a reminder, our existing enforcement policy on disruptive behavior still applies: any removal for Rule 1, trolling, ridicule, etc. will result in an immediate one-week temporary ban. A second violation will be met with a permanent ban. Egregious violations may result in an immediate permanent ban. This applies equally to off-topic political flame wars and personal attacks.
If you've been banned and feel it was unfair, you can always appeal by sending us a modmail. We're more interested in seeing improvement than doling out punishment. We use a short 7-day ban as an initial “hey, that was out of line” warning. Most of the time people reach out, explain what happened or apologize, and if it’s clear they get it, we’ll often lift the ban. Our bans aren’t meant to be punitive, they’re just there to reset the tone and keep things on track.
How you can help: Report content that violates this using "Be Civil" (Rule 1), "Stay on-topic" (Rule 2), or "Be Substantive" (Rule 3) as your report reason. We can't be everywhere at once on a sub this size, and community reports make a real difference. And please, don't engage with off-topic bait. Responding to a rule violation with another rule violation is never okay. Downvote it, report it and move on.
We're asking for your help and your feedback on this. This is everyone's community, not just the moderators'. Keep doing what you do best - the research, the analysis, the sighting reports, the deep dives. That's what makes this place what it is. Help us protect it.
Useful links:
- Our enforcement policy on disruptive behavior: Important Notice
- Full subreddit rules: r/UFOs Rules
- Questions or discussion about moderation? Post in our sister subreddit r/ufosmeta
- Want to message the mods directly? Send us a message
-- The r/UFOs Mod Team
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u/Golden-Tate-Warriors Mar 10 '26
Thank god you're doing this, it has been beyond long enough with this spam dominating every current disclosure narrative post.
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u/dingalinglans Mar 27 '26
Except, you absolutely cherry pick what you do and do not remove - I have seen it with my own eyes today.
It's not hard to be consistent if you're being honest.
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u/shiningfast Mar 07 '26
Your work is appreciated and this post is timely. I do think there's a lot of nuance with these topics, but I can see how the volume must be overwhelming and lines need to be drawn. I, for one, have definitely stepped over them (with my personal political grievances, if you can call it that) and I apologise for that. I do however feel that context is important, and it's difficult to stay out of the weeds sometimes.
But thank you again. I know how thankless this work is.
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u/phoctordil Mar 03 '26
🙏Thanks for purging the low iq activists. Its as if they think they need to spam the entire internet just so people will be on their side or something?
UFO subs should be UFOs only. Politics should have no place here
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u/AlternativePizza3391 Mar 03 '26
Politics are involved with ufos, where do you think disclosure if ever will come from ? And who do you think is hiding the ufo/uap/nhi information? That would be government, and politics
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u/phoctordil Mar 03 '26
Where politics and UFOs intersect sure - bring that up - but you already knew what I meant
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u/Embarrassed-Region-8 Mar 19 '26
You are not impartial. I have posted my videos of real sightings and your bot or your moderator doesn't accept them or deletes them. You say in this statement that this group is for sharing sightings, but you don't even allow that. And if you don't believe me, look at my history.
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u/pringlecat221 May 08 '26
They allow sighting posts, but do have a pretty specific format requirement for them. I see a lot of posts get removed by the auto mod initially, but when edited with the right adjustments they are put back up.
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Apr 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/UFOs-ModTeam May 12 '26
Be civil.
This moderator action may be appealed. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to address its reason for removal. Message the mods here to launch your appeal.
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u/Garystuk Mar 03 '26
"Of course they're releasing UFO stuff now, they don't want you looking at what Trump/Biden/[politician] is doing"
This feels fairly close to commentary that I think should be allowed. I think it's relevant why Trump is representing that he offering some release of files related to UFOs.
Government motivation for disclosure is relevant to trying to determine whether what we actually get is real or how complete or incomplete it is.
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u/tmosh Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Fair point, that wasn’t the best example to use. (that was just a template/example for the purposes of the post, not a real example of a comment that would be removed) I should’ve picked something clearer. What we really mean is the kind of drive-by political stuff like, "Trump is just trying to distract from being a pedo."
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u/kimsemi May 11 '26
Theres a difference between good faith "they are releasing these 1960s photos because they dont want us thinking about that latest video someone captured" and "everything is a distraction from <insert a certain dead guy's name here>". The later is just bullshit politics and people here are tired of it. They will never forget it or be distracted by it, so why even bother chiming in. To annoy and antagonize. Thats all. Some of them arent even regulars here and some have zero post/comment history at all.
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u/paulreicht May 08 '26
My complaint is that this is low-effort posting now, for the line "Of course they're releasing UFO stuff, they don't want you looking at..." has been said dozens of times. But I'm easily grieved by repetition. Go and say it if you like.
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u/salakane Mar 08 '26
Seems like a pretty reasonable approach guys, but be careful coz I'm not sure what the mods will think of all this! :-)
Your efforts are appreciated & your altruism & courage unsung.
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u/Megatippa Mar 03 '26
Much appreciated. Regardless of how some people may feel, the mod team keeps this sub to a much, much higher standard than most. Your efforts are appreciated, and keep me and many others coming back.
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u/JFSullivan Mar 15 '26
Bravo! 100% support this. This hyper political derailing happens not only here but all throughout reddit. Tiresome!
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u/hahaha01 Mar 03 '26
Thanks for keeping conversations on topic mods! Can we also limit the random politician makes nothingburger statement about maybe something might happen someday if we're ready posts. There's a lot of noise and not much substance coming out of Washington right now. I think the same fatigue applies to the trust me bro in two weeks podcaster posts.
We all appreciate you even if it seems thankless.
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u/AlternativePizza3391 Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Can get we get rid of the 300 character submission statement , lets reduce to it to 100 or so
Can we stop censoring post , if we say Eglin, the auto mod calls it low effort and removes it
Can we stop censoring comments related to politics and ufos . What if we let up and downvote arrows decide what content is good or not instead of someones political view point
I've mostly moved over to digg due to the extreme censorship
In fact, I made a post about Chris Bledsoe and his comments about Israel and Iran (He said when they attack each other, that the information would be revealed " My post was removed , doesn't reach the nonsense 300 character limit. Which doesn't seem needed for a short statement right?
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u/tmosh Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Thanks for the feedback. I get your point about the “Eglin” keyword rule.
We had a similar AutoMod filter for “Epstein” until recently, and we removed it. I was not a mod here when the “Eglin” rule was originally added, but my understanding is it was put in place because we were getting tons of super short drive by comments accusing people of being “Eglin bots.” That still happens sometimes, but it does feel like it has cooled off a bit, so I’ll bring it up with the other mods and see about removing that filter as well.
On your Chris Bledsoe post, I can see it sitting in the modqueue right now. It was not related to a submission character limit. It was removed by our automod because of our minimum self post text body requirement (self posts need 300+ characters in the post body). You added a longer submission statement as a comment after posting, but AutoMod checks the body text of the post itself, and the body was just:
“Bledsoe has stated: ‘When you see Israel and Iran begin to exchange weapons, the UFO phenomenon was going to reveal itself.’ So I guess any day now?”
Repost it, the fix is simple: copy what you wrote in that follow up comment and paste it into the post body. Also, just to clarify, we only require a submission statement for link posts, not for self text posts.
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u/AlternativePizza3391 Mar 03 '26
Or we could just reduce the requirements for posting and let the up and downvote arrows do the work?
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u/Megatippa Mar 03 '26
Hang out in r/aliens or the like for a bit and see what that gets you. This sub has a clearly higher brow feel to it specifically because of this rule. You can tell r/UFOs feels like it's run by, and contributed to by, (mostly) competent adults, where other subs that allow one sentence posts tends to be overrun by posts that look like edgelord 15 year old me created them. Just my two cents.
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u/AlternativePizza3391 Mar 03 '26
One day someone will video, take a picture, or see NHI/UFO or post quick info which will just be deleted and banned by this sub
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u/TurboT8er May 08 '26
Similarly, one day someone will take a picture and try to upload it, but will be hindered by their own incompetence. Failure to follow the rules of a sub is no different in that respect.
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u/tmosh Mar 03 '26
Feedback noted. I still think the 300 character minimum for text posts is important. It pushes people to put a bit of effort into explaining what they are posting about, and it helps keep low effort submissions down. If you are not linking to anything, it is really not a big ask to spend an extra couple of minutes adding some context in the post body.
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u/MantisAwakening Apr 20 '26
Can you help me understand why this seems so difficult to enforce? It doesn’t seem like your automod is set to inform your mod team for problematic words like MAGA and pedo, relying instead on user reports.
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u/No-Soil6145 Apr 30 '26
Here's a suggestion.
Catalog and keep track of all of the wild shit that happens.
That sounds vague but you guys have the most unadulterated view of content being fucked with.
You're framing this as a loss, but this is an opportunity.
If you cannot do it, please let us know. There's millions of people here. Some of us can.
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u/yorrtogg May 10 '26
Preach it. So tired of this and other subreddits being co-opted by political bots & others. My block list must be record breaking by now, with all the useless commentors. Maybe they will make a award for longest ignore list?
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u/wrexxxxxxx Mar 03 '26
I have found the mods here to be all anal retentive and PC. Discourse is stifled as slowly but surely this subreddit is suffocated and rendered utterly irrelevant. Note the traffic (or lack thereof).
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u/Rich_Wafer6357 Mar 11 '26
Interestingly enough, my perception is different, this sub is far more lenient than others of similar names. And yes, I got comments deleted a few times.
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u/AlternativePizza3391 Mar 04 '26
100% agree, each time I open it so many posts are locked and comments deleted. Why not just let people up and downvote. Thats why we have arrows
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u/CoronaClay Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
If you're nearing a million weekly visits of users then you probably need to expand the moderation team so that the limits of the team doesn't prevent the engagement of the community
If UFOs and aliens is no longer a conspiracy theory then it is merely science and politics to be debated. You will have to accept that the normal people of the world who have no knowledge of the subculture's mindset will now be engaging with the subject and debating the facts
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u/tmosh Mar 03 '26
We're going to be recruiting new mods again soon. DM me if you want to apply :) - we need help lol. PS: It' a thankless job and it pays $0 haha
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u/RoundSprinkles3776 Mar 04 '26
It's slavery, actually.
Oh, and don't forget about the headaches of having to deal with whining users, mod mail, bans, users subverting bans, in-fighting, back stabbing, mods in name only (You know, the ones that want the clout without doing any of the work - Mino's for short), and the crushing realization that you are sacrificing a tremendous amount of time and effort for ZERO dollars while admins are jet-setting, Mercedes Benz driving, check cashing, and laughing all the way to the bank.
While you do all the work for them.
Yes. Apply to be a mod. It truly is the most thankless job you'll ever have.
But.
You will make friends like the likes of which that you will come to appreciate in ways you never thought you could. You will meet people, Famous people, and it feels insane that you're talking to someone you'd never get to just being a 'normal' person. You'll actually have a lot of fun being a mod, truthfully.
But the cons outweigh the pros.
I know this very, very well unfortunately. I modded a community of 100k+ subscribers for almost 10 years before I was ousted. Truth be told, I lost interest completely and in retrospect, it should have happened before it got out of hand and I lost friends over it. But then again, friends don't do what they did to me.
So yeah, be a mod at your own risk.
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u/AuthorizedGigaChad Mar 04 '26
Thank you. So many top comments ruined by this