Hey all, just a quick community update to announce I finally got around to writing some rules. Basically, it just boils down to “keep the same level of professionalism as Tom and don’t get him mad at us”

The main driving factor behind all this is his response to /r/tomscott, which he asked to shut down after they were practically doxxing him and doing other unsavory stuff like vandalizing Wikipedia in his name (you can read more at the linked post on his site). He also had a problem with having a subreddit in general, given the site’s overall reputation. On that front, I’ll admit I’m operating on a “better to ask forgiveness than permission” stance – I don’t expect Tom to approve of “a community about you on ‘not-Reddit’,” but I hope that if he ever finds us, we can show him that we’re better internet citizens who can be trusted to behave well.

While I was at it, I also updated the links sections a little with more of Tom’s (inactive) socials and alternate Piped/Nitter links next to YT/Twitter

You can find the current rules below and in the community sidebar. Feel free to provide any feedback you have, these are in no way set in stone

Rules

1. Professionalism

Tom holds a high standard for his content, and we should maintain that as his fans. There isn’t a strict definition for this, but in general, just use common sense and be polite. Disagreements are fine, but be respectful and keep it strictly to the topic at hand – no personal attacks, no “straw man”-ing or any other bad-faith agruing. Bigotry will be banned without hesitation.

2. Relevancy

This community is about all things Tom Scott. Of course, that’s its name. But specifically, it’s about Tom Scott the YouTube channel, and associates. That includes friends like the TechDif crew. Outside content featuring or about Tom is also welcome.

What is out of scope is Tom Scott the person. Anything digging into his personal life or history is strictly prohibited. That’s a big part of why he wanted the subreddit taken down, so let’s show that we can be better than that.

3. Moderator discretion

Without trying to list out every bad thing you can do, again, just use common sense and ask yourself if Tom would approve. If Tom isn’t likely to approve, neither are the mods, even if the rules don’t explicitly prohibit it. Even if nothing is going wrong yet, we may also preemptively stop conversations that look like they’re going to a bad place. I’m not trying to micromanage y’all, I just want to keep every nice and tidy so Tom doesn’t get upset with us.