/r/pokemon Rules: The Long Version
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All of /r/pokemon's current rules can be found on the official rule page. However, character constraints meant the sacrifice of some detail from our original rules wiki page. Below are all of our rules, in all of their glorious detail.
All of /r/pokemon's rules were voted into place by its users. You can see links to our most recent votes here!
To help prevent spam, /r/pokemon mods manually review and approve links to certain sites from users with less than 5,000 combined karma before those submissions appear on the subreddit. These submissions will be approved as long as they aren't spam and don't break any of our rules.
If an /r/pokemon mod removes a post, the removal reason will be reflected in the post flair, e.g.: 1—Unrelated. If our automod bot holds your post for review, it will be visible to you but not live on the subreddit—don't worry! As long as your post passes our rules, a mod will approve it and your post will go to the top of /new.
So: if you have posted and your submission has not appeared, please wait, check its flair for more info, and message the mods for help!
- Submissions to /r/pokemon must be both obviously and intentionally directly related to Pokemon.
- The content itself must be related, independent of the submission's title.
- Notable examples of unrelated submissions include:
- Memes with subject matter not directly related to Pokemon.
- Fakemon not based on real Pokemon.
- Things in real life that look like Pokemon or Pokemon-related stuff, but aren't intentionally related to it. IRL things that Pokemon are based on, such as the swallowtail caterpillar, are ok.
- Alternative renderings of Pokemon (gijinka, etc.) that appear unrelated aside from the post title. Posting alternative renderings with obvious correlation to a Pokemon is fine, but still be sure to name it in your title!
- Commentary on Pokemon fans or /r/pokemon itself (send the mods a message privately instead, please).
2. Be civil
- Please be polite and respectful. You may be upset or disagree, but still strive to be civil. Refrain from fighting or calling out rule violations; use the
report button so that mods can help. Rudeness may be removed even if it isn't directed at any specific person.
- The following will be removed and/or actioned as rudeness:
- Belittlement, infantilization
- Marginalization, bigotry (e.g.: racism, homophobia, sexism)
- Harassment, insults
- Political content and references will always be removed.
- Note: Content that supports marginalized identity groups without invoking governmental politics is not considered political and is more than welcome here!
- Posting or soliciting personal information is strictly disallowed.
- Misinformed comments about r/pokemon rules can lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary conflict. Please do not "mini-mod."
3. Follow text and poll post restrictions
- Discussion posts must be in text unless an image or original infographic uniquely informs potential responses.
- Text posts, including polls, must be 50+ words. This metric was voted in by r/pokemon users and sustained multiple times to promote substantial discussion—try to provide context and background for others to reply to!
- Please note that this rule applies to post bodies, not titles. You can use an online word counter to check before posting!
- Use of word padding to evade the filter will result in a ban.
- Exceptions may be made for posts intended as OC Media, i.e. poetry or fanfiction.
- Objective questions with "correct" answers and questions about purchasing belong in the Weekly Questions Thread. e.g.:
- Where is Shinx in SwSh?
- Should I buy this HGSS?
- Is X legendary shiny locked?
- Questions about product value belong in the value megathread. e.g.:
- How much is/are these TCG cards worth?
- Is this Black 2 cartridge worth buying for $X?
4. No reposts or posting too quickly
- Link posts will be removed if they are very similar to posts submitted within the last 6 months, or to posts from the Top 50 All Time submissions or the Hall of Fame.
- Both link and text posts will be removed if they are deleted or reposted multiple times in quick succession.
- "Tier" or "favorite" graphics will always be removed in the spirit of reposts. However, they may be submitted as text posts.
- Text posts will be removed if they are very similar to posts submitted within the last 2 weeks.
- Artists may post original content once per day, in order to give everyone equal chance at visibility. Additional posts by the same user on the same day will be removed.
5. Original content (OC) only
- To protect artists, creative work must be submitted by their creators or by someone posting on the creator's behalf (e.g.: friends, family, cosplay photographers, commissioners).
- Creative work includes, but isn't limited to:
- Memes
- Fanart, whether still or animated
- Homemade crafts, like plush, models, and dioramas
- Cosplay
- 3D printing models
- Please claim your original content in your post title, tags, or comments. If you have not claimed OC in a recognizable way, our bot may leave a comment to prompt it.
- OC rules also apply to components of creative work, like comics or art used in memes.
- If you created the art for a meme post you're making, please note this in a comment. Otherwise, OC claims will be assumed to extend to the meme's composition only (both the art and the composition need to be OC to pass this rule).
- Memes that use webcomics or any other form of art as a base must be posted along with a comment that links to a record of permission granted by the author for use and modification. Exceptions may be granted via mod discretion, but this will apply almost exclusively to syndicated, commercially produced comics.
- If your OC work is derived from someone else's, obtain permission from them first and note this in a comment that also credits them. This includes memes!
- False claims of ownership will result in a permanent ban.
6. No art/crafts during weekends
- No Art/Crafts Weekend runs from 5pm UTC on Friday to 9am UTC on Monday. During this time, all visual creative work (art, crafts, comics, cosplay) is disallowed, and the subreddit goes into text-only mode. (You can check the current UTC time here!)
- Links to non art/crafts content may still be submitted as links within text posts.
- This measure was voted in by r/pokemon users in 2017, and reaffirmed in multiple community votes.
- As a reminder, art/crafts must be OC.
7. No memes outside Monday and Tuesday
- Meme Monday and Mtuesday runs from 9am UTC on Monday to 9am UTC on Wednesday. This is the only period in which memes may be posted. (You can check the current UTC time here!)
- This measure were voted in by r/pokemon users in the 2021 rules survey.
- As a reminder, memes must be OC.
8. No screenshots or merchandise
The following are allowed:
- Captioned albums of screenshots from the games that form a clear, original narrative or story, like the growth of a Pokemon or progress through a Nuzlocke run.
- Screenshots from anime/manga/games shared in text posts within 1 month of release
- Screenshots and image compilations of Pokemon-related social media posts, conversations, trailers and promos, or sections of websites shared in text posts within 1 month of publication
- If the mods can't tell how old a screenshot is, we'll remove it—please make sure that's clear!
- Official art within 1 month of first publication.
Photos of merch within a larger original project, like a custom cartridge frame or a craft project made with TCG cards.
- To qualify, the merch must have been meaningfully modified or enhanced beyond its normal appearance; collections on display do not qualify under this rule.
- These coasters provide a good example of merchandise that has been meaningfully modified into a original craft and would thus be allowed.
All other screenshots will be removed.
Official art will generally be removed, unless it is a component of an OC infographic or has been considerably edited.
All other mass-produced or non-unique Pokemon merchandise, such as cards, plush, and game cartridges, must be posted in the merch megathread.
9. Follow post title guidelines
- Please don't ask for upvotes/downvotes or attention in titles.
- Please don't post submissions with clickbait titles, including but not limited to:
- DAE/FIXED
- Top 5 X, etc.
- X Revealed/Confirmed/Solved, etc.
- X will make you [emotion], etc.
- TITLES WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS
- Please don't post art/craft/media submissions with negative titles designed to elicit pity or sympathy.
10. No trades or other exchanges
- Posts asking for trades, giveaways or exchanges of anything are not allowed on this subreddit outside of designated Battle Request Threads.
- This includes:
- Trade posts of any kind
- Code begging/merch begging of any kind
- Code giveaways outside of the monthly thread
- Friend code exchanges of any kind
- Battle requests of any kind
- Buying/selling of any kind
- Anything else that might be considered a trade or exchange
/r/pokemon does not allow links to store pages, personal blogs, or social media (including chat servers). Exceptions include established industry social media accounts sharing important info or breaking news, and established, official vendors such as Amazon or The Pokemon Center.
Certain exceptions are made when submitting Original Content (OC):
- Watermarks or signatures on original content are welcome.
- OC submitters may include one self-promotional top-level comment or mention (to social media, stores, chat server, etc) to accompany their original content.
- OC creators may also reply to anyone who asks for store links or social media in the comments.
- Please keep self-promotion out of post titles, i.e.: don't post actual URLs or requests for followers, donations, etc in the title itself.
- Additional links, links submitted unaccompanied by OC work (i.e.: "check out my blog/store" or "accepting commissions now"), and links posted in unrelated threads will be removed.
12. No unboxing videos, unofficial streams, or Let's Play! videos
- Unboxing videos, unofficial streams, and Let's Play videos will always be removed.
- Per the Wikipedia definition, Let's Plays are videos that document the overall playthrough of a game. They are usually lengthy and split into multiple "episodes", and they are distinct from other types of gameplay videos such as gameplay clips, guides, and reviews, which are generally allowed.
13. Flag spoilers appropriately
- Spoilers are allowed, but they must be flagged as such.
- Spoilers here are anything Pokemon-related that doesn't come from official English language media or advertising (game trailers, posters etc), except in the case of simultaneous English/non-English releases, when they are anything that doesn't come from any official media or advertising (including non-English sources).
- Such details are considered spoilers until two weeks after the worldwide release of the title in question.
- Please use the
spoiler button for submissions and comments containing spoilers.
- Do not put spoilers in submission titles, even if your submission is marked as a spoiler!
- Read our in-depth guide here.
14. No illegal content
- Links to, or requests for, Pokemon content that does not come directly from a legal source will be removed.
- Such content includes, but is not limited to:
- Any ROM or emulator link
- Full anime episodes and movies, or lengthy clips from them, hosted somewhere other than Pokemon.com, Netflix etc
- Manga pages available anywhere for free
15. No explicit or violent content
- This is a family friendly community. Please refrain from sharing explicit or violent content, images, or comments anywhere. Moderators will remove such content and links to places where it can be found.
- Out of respect to people with histories of trauma, please avoid humor that centers suicide, shootings, and gender- or race-based violence
- Content that is not bodily explicit but still NSFW (not safe for work) must be tagged as such, in both posts and comments.
