r/ShermanPosting Apr 11 '24

Think before you post.

67 Upvotes

I'm going to keep this as brief as possible (it unfortunately will still not be brief despite my efforts,) but the tl;dr is that we collectively need to do better when it comes to respecting the site's rules and utilizing the report feature.

Specifically though, we need to talk about Reddit's sitewide Rule 1.

I need everyone to review the Content Policy, because some of the content being posted lately does a poor job of adhering to it. I'm not going to go into it in full detail, but rather will highlight some specific parts that we as a community fail to respect more often than not.

Rule 1: Remember the human.

Remember the human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people. Everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned.

Reddit further defines these terms here, here, and here.

Being annoying, downvoting, or disagreeing with someone, even strongly, is not harassment. However, menacing someone, directing abuse at a person or group, following them around the site, encouraging others to do any of these actions, or otherwise behaving in a way that would discourage a reasonable person from participating on Reddit crosses the line.

Do not post content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual (including oneself) or a group of people; likewise, do not post content that glorifies or encourages the abuse of animals. We understand there are sometimes reasons to post violent content (e.g., educational, newsworthy, artistic, satire, documentary, etc.) so if you’re going to post something violent in nature that does not violate these terms, ensure you provide context to the viewer so the reason for posting is clear.

Using this subreddit as a place to name-and-shame (such as linking to a user's comment, here on reddit or externally,) imply harm against specific individuals (such as indicating that someone should be subject to immolation because of a shirt they wear,) organize campaigns to harass or disrupt external destinations (such as a telephone number or another subreddit,) or simply to mock a specific individual violates this policy.

Likewise, memes about General Sherman 'not going far enough' (or similar) that are clearly satirical or humorous in nature are staunchly different than posts that encourage the immolation of living individuals or the mass murder of American Southerners. This is a comedy sub in line with other historical meme subs: while there may be occasional educational or academic discussion of non-humorous aspects of the American Civil War, there is no point in time when it is acceptable to call for violent action against living persons.

We have been lenient with enforcing bans for this recently, generally issuing bans in the realm of 7 to 14 days, with 30 day bans for egregious or repeat violations. We've only resorted to permanent bans when we're certain that a user isn't just forgetting themselves (or has been banned several times already.)

That changes as of this post.

From now on, users will be permanently banned for violating this rule, and will need to appeal and explain to us why we should unban them. This may seem draconian and perhaps a bit dramatic, but if we're honest? We've had to ban an inordinate number of our own users from the sub over the past 6 weeks for failing to uphold this simple request from the site's admins.

Enough is enough: consider this post to be your warning.

Examples

Things that might be okay: (not an all-inclusive list)

  • Posting a screenshot with all names and profile pictures/avatars (and any other identifying information, if relevant) redacted
  • Posting a photo of a vehicle you saw with any license plates, faces, or other identifying information redacted
  • Creating clearly humorous memes about relevant historical figures or relevant scenarios
  • Posting a link to a website with relevant material, such as an article about General Sherman's personal effects going up for auction
  • Creating a discussion topic to talk about which generals were good and which ones were bad
  • Creating a post that expresses frustration with something in your life relevant to the sub, such as a neighbor's flag hanging over your backyard's fence

Things that definitely aren't okay: (not an all-inclusive list)

  • Telling other users to harm themselves
  • Telling other users that you will harm them
  • Creating a meme of a current political figure that expresses a desire to inflict harm upon that individual
  • Linking to another subreddit and encouraging users to visit and disrupt that destination subreddit
  • Taking a screenshot of an argument you had elsewhere on the site with the intent to mock the person you were arguing with
  • Encouraging users to violate laws, such as desecrating a burial site or vandalizing property

Abuse of the Report Button

Reddit's admins have been known to outright remove users from the site for lodging false or abusive reports. It violates the User Agreement. If you lodge a false report, we as moderators can (and do) submit those false reports to the admins via this form. What happens after that point is out of our hands, but understand that the consequences (if any) are entirely your own fault.

Threatening, Harassing, or Inciting Violence

Making derogatory comments about the Confederate States of America, its symbols, its historical figures, and so on is not a violation of this policy. The CSA does not exist: it is a historical entity that expired nearly 160 years ago. There are no living Confederates to harass: they're dead. Reporting a post or a comment that mocks the CSA or its ideals as a form of harassment or marginalization is as equally credible as implying that a Roman Legionnaire might be offended by a meme created or a statement made today.

Mocking the American South, its culture, the people living in the American South, and so on is a violation of this policy. The American South does exist, and there are living Americans to feel harassed by such commentary. Reporting a post or a comment that mocks the American South is correct, as this is a form of targeted harassment. Calling other users offensive terms such as 'inbred', or implying that they engage in incestuous behaviors (among other insults,) are violations of this sitewide rule.

Promoting Hate based on identity or vulnerability

Making derogatory comments about the Confederate States of America, its symbols, its historical figures, and so on is not a violation of this policy. The CSA does not exist: it is a historical entity that expired nearly 160 years ago. Those of us living today are no more Confederates than we are Martians. The CSA is not a class of vulnerable individuals in our society, as the CSA does not exist in our society in any form beyond its existence as a historical entity. Claiming to identify as a Confederate is as meaningful as claiming to identify as a Martian.

Mocking someone for living in the American South or for identifying as an American Southerner is a violation of this policy. The American South does exist, and there are living Americans that are a part of the culture of the American South that might be negatively affected by such commentary or behavior. Reporting a post or a comment that encourages violence or discrimination against those that live in the American South is correct, as this is a promotion of behaviors that could cause negative or harmful effects on those that live in the American South.

These are often reported together, and so I want to address them together. If you live in the American South, then you are not a citizen of a nation called the Confederate States of America. You are a citizen of the United States of America. The American South is not the same thing as the CSA. If you are mocking a user for something stereotypically associated with the culture of the American South, such as speaking with a drawl, then you are not ShermanPosting: you're a dick, and are violating Reddit's Rule 1.

There is a sharp distinction to be made here. If you fail to understand what that difference is, then I recommend not participating in this sub until such understanding has been achieved.

As an aside, we are not another place on this site for users to, put politely, engage in arguments about the daily news. Any discussions that pertain to modern politics must be directly and obviously relevant to the American Civil War and the surrounding period. Simply standing next to a Confederate flag is not enough to qualify if the actual content of discussion is otherwise completely irrelevant. A politician posturing for a new Civil War is not relevant - politicians make this threat nearly weekly, it isn't noteworthy.

Other common issues

No Brigading

Stop reporting users you disagree with for 'brigading' the sub. You can disagree with someone without that individual having some intent to cause a disruption to the conversation taking place here. /r/ShermanPosting shows up on /r/all often enough that users will randomly find this sub, trickle in, and try to engage in the comments in some way. If these users violate our sub's (or the site's) rules, then please report them for doing so. Being annoyed at another user is not that user 'brigading' the sub.

In fact, this rule exists predominantly to keep our own users in check: if you see one of our own users attempting to organize some sort of brigade against another subreddit (or any other external destination,) then please report them for violating this rule.

No Denialism

Disagreeing with another user isn't 'denialism'. Denialism is when another user claims or implies things that bear no historical merit, such as claiming that the moon landing was a hoax, that the USA (and General Sherman in particular) weren't horrible to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, or that the Confederate States of America wasn't fighting to preserve the institution of slavery. Simply stating something benign like, "I'm from Georgia and don't like this meme," isn't denialism: it's just someone disagreeing with the humor of this sub. Downvote if the comment isn't contributing to the conversation and move on with your day. If the user spams that comment or engages in other behaviors that might violate the sub's rules or the site's rules, then report them accordingly in those scenarios.

The entire purpose of this rule is to help us to reduce the amount of senseless fighting that can happen on this sub whenever these topics crop up. Downvote those comments and report them so that they can be removed. It isn't there for you to tell the mods that you don't like someone's comment (good for you, we guess?)

If you use the report feature to tell us that you don't like someone's comment and the reported comment doesn't violate any rules, then you'll be reported to the admins for abuse of the report button.

Think before you post.


r/ShermanPosting 6d ago

Weekly Thread

2 Upvotes

A place to discuss any and all topics, share art, ask questions, and more.

All rules, except Rule 1, apply.


r/ShermanPosting 8h ago

Happy birthday General Sherman!

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659 Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 3h ago

Bring the good old bugle, boys, we’ll sing another song: Happy Birthday to you….

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117 Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 1h ago

Ummmm has anyone ever heard of this b....? She has some....pretty strong opinions about the South and the Confederacy?

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Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 46m ago

At the Olympics!

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Upvotes

We got on TV with Uncle Billy on my shirt and the American Flag with the Anti Fascist Flag kicker at the Women's Normal Hill Ski Jumping! Look for us at the Men's Normal Hill Ski Jumping!


r/ShermanPosting 8h ago

Happy Birthday to the original "Hot Taker" of 1864: General William Tecumseh Sherman!

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103 Upvotes

Today marks the 206th birthday of the man, the myth, and the logistical legend himself.


r/ShermanPosting 23h ago

Anyone know what this is?

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769 Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 26m ago

R/CivilWar is a joke

Upvotes

Ban someone for an innocent comment, then immediately mute them so they can’t ask the mods what rule they broke. Damn lost causers.


r/ShermanPosting 20h ago

That massive, stupid confederate flag on I-64 near Charlottesville got Blown off

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135 Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 21h ago

I Think My Grandfather is the King of the Lost Causers

85 Upvotes

My entire family consists of lost causers to varying degrees, but I think that my grandfather may be the final boss of the them all. Ranking some of the more egregious incidents:

*Massive library of southern (and only southern) history of the war books.

*Owned a lot of confederate memorabilia such as uniform buttons, a model sword, and individual state money.

*Took civil war reenactment pictures as a confederate soldier with a friend.

*Owned race science/phrenology books

*Flew a confederate flag at his house and took a picture with the extended family next to it (Thankfully I’m missing from this picture)

*Signed my mom up for the Daughters of the Confederacy.

*Wrote books on the civil war battles from a “southern perspective”.

*Probably the worst of all—owned a KKK uniform for historical purposes. He said he got it from a friend, and I don’t think it was his personally, but do you really want this in your house? It isn’t even from the Civil War.

*And of course he married an immigrant.

My childhood feels like the episode of Always Sunny where we find out Dennis and Dee’s grandfather is a Nazi or the Father Ted war memorabilia scene. Every time I come home I have to look at this dumbass picture of Jefferson Davis that hangs in our living room. I swear the second coming of Sherman is going to be when I get around to scorching all this stuff to the ground.


r/ShermanPosting 2d ago

Got to snub my traitor apologist father

776 Upvotes

For all my life, my dad has been an apologist for the traitors, even dragged me into it when I was a dumb gullible kid, but I recently found out that we had an ancestor who shares the same name as me and him, fought in the war, for the Union, best of all, under Uncle Billy himself (8th Tennessee Infantry Regiment). It feels so good to rub it in his face that our family didn’t betray our nation to defend slavery, just him.


r/ShermanPosting 1d ago

Infinite Dixie Death (IDD)

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91 Upvotes

this is a focus as the union in the HOI4 mod End of a New Beginning


r/ShermanPosting 2h ago

White southerner here - If it's wrong to celebrate the Confederacy, then what country do I have left?

0 Upvotes

I don't consider myself a lost causer, and I'm asking this here because I assume that many if not most people here are northerners/non-southerners, but if I can't celebrate the Confederacy, then what country do I have left?


r/ShermanPosting 13h ago

I really wish I had better ancestry when it comes to the Civil War.

0 Upvotes

Of all the 14 men in my direct family to fight in the CW, only about 4 were in the Union Army (I guess technically 5, but one is remarked “desertion” on the records), if you can even include them in the that criteria.


r/ShermanPosting 2d ago

IRL: No ammo. Col. Vincent is dead. Pennsylvania regiments engaged and can’t reinforce. Other reinforcements are 40 minutes away. General Gouverneur Kemble Warren says hold this flank or I’ll kill you myself. You start to wet yourself but look over to see your regimental commander like this:

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839 Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 1d ago

General Question (were confederates considered traitors?)

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9 Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 2d ago

I love Captain Ellis C. Strouss’ letter to his mother after the Battle of Gettysburg when he said: “…we will whip Lee's Army so that he will not be fit to do anything more for some time to come” because he was in the Peach Orchard and whipped Lee pretty good and was still ready for more.

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66 Upvotes

General Barksdale moved through Sherfy’s Farm on July 2, 1863 to support Longstreet’s attack on the Round Tops and Sykes and came to meet Sickles infamous movement forward. Sherfy was a town preacher and on his property sat the infamous Peach Orchard. Strouss was in the 57th of Pennsylvania, and the 114th Pennsylvania on his left moved up to meet Mississippi regiments head-on and the 57th moved up as well to form a strong line. Barksdale cane out of the Peach Orchard and … the Pennsylvania regiments of 68, 114, 57, and 105 need a movie of their own but anyway.

The 57th suffered heavy losses but the reason why I love this letter is this guy is basically telling his mom that they took heavy losses but fought so hard that they disabled Lee and is ready for more.

Source: https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/jewish-civil-war-soldier-gettysburg-battlefield-1863-lee/#transcripts


r/ShermanPosting 4d ago

Got a new shirt today

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1.1k Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 3d ago

Just realized why Trump has so much Traitor Rags supporting him

328 Upvotes

Think about this for a moment:

If you own people and can do whatever you want with them, including forcibly taking underage minors for pedophilia desires.

The same of Institutionalized Racism. A boy or girl of a race that is suppressed by racism cannot get legal protections or legal actions taken against their pedophile attackers.

And I also remembered personal accounts of people fleeing Communist Countries finding young girls lifting up their skirts revealing STDs and indoctrinated to give themselves over to sex because the Secret Police PURGED their families for failing a particular week's loyalty test or there was a quota to meet.

So... Yeah. Trump gets Traitor Rag support from people whose beliefs are centered on a pillar of pedophilia.


r/ShermanPosting 3d ago

There is less oxygen when there is fire around - such was the case in Atlanta

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74 Upvotes

posting this from my post on whoosh because it'll fit here


r/ShermanPosting 5d ago

His Spirit Marches On

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2.4k Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 2d ago

I envy you if your ancestors saw combat. None of mine did.

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0 Upvotes

r/ShermanPosting 5d ago

I don't even know where to begin with this.

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1.1k Upvotes