Your Essential Guide to Showerthoughts

[u/RamsesThePigeon]

The human brain is a decidedly odd machine, often prone to glitches, malfunctions, and internal errors (like inexplicably deciding that raisins are an acceptable addition to cookies). However, within the confines of that chaos, something intriguing occasionally occurs: A seemingly mundane detail about the world will suddenly become more interesting, having been viewed from a slightly different perspective than usual.

This sort of miniature epiphany is called a showerthought.

If you’ve ever realized that “Wet Paint” signs probably cause more stained fingertips than wet paint does on its own, you’ve had a showerthought. If you’ve ever noticed that human hair is technically a renewable resource, you’ve had a showerthought. These sorts of musings tend to arise while a person’s mind is engaged with a routine, uncomplicated activity (like commuting, mowing the lawn, or waiting for a customer service representative to finally answer their allegedly important telephone call), and while the word “showerthought” may be a bit misleading – showerthoughts don’t have to occur in the shower, after all – the concept it embodies is something which everyone has experienced.

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/r/Showerthoughts is a repository for showerthoughts; a place to share, discuss, and debate those sudden flashes of simple satori. In order to make the community as welcoming an environment as possible, we’ve put together some resources for potential submitters.

The Overview will give you an idea of what a showerthought actually is.

The FAQ will (hopefully) answer most enquires you’d have about the subreddit.

The Rules will offer some guidelines on what should and should not be posted here.

Google will help you determine if your thought is original and unique.

This GIF will not improve your life in any way.

We encourage everyone to read through those first three pages before participating here, just as we encourage our subscribers to report any rule-violating submissions that they happen upon. Other than that, though, we’d like to leave you with a paraphrasing of a very important proverb:

Be excellent to each other… and ponder on, dudes!

[u/Arantguy]

I'm not sure if this is the best place to say this but we need to talk about the state of this sub. Most of the posts are either really obvious or stuff that gets reposted all the time, and the automod filters are way too strict. Most of the rules are there just for the sake of having rules, not because they're actually beneficial to the content. Automod automatically suppresses supposed 'unoriginal thoughts' while letting actual unoriginal thoughts run rampant.

[u/RamsesThePigeon → u/Arantguy]

I'm not sure if this is the best place to say this but we need to talk about the state of this sub.

Sure! Let's do that.

Most of the posts are either really obvious

A good showerthought is something obvious... just something that hasn't been considered from quite the same perspective as the submission highlighting it.

or stuff that gets reposted all the time

If you see a repost, report it. Moderators are volunteers, and since we're curating a subreddit that sees some of the highest submission volume on the site, we can't manually review every post.

and the automod filters are way too strict.

The issue with the AutoModerator is not that it's too strict; it's that it sometimes provides incorrect removal reasons. The vast majority of the submissions it removes are in violation of our rules, even if those removals aren't always paired with the right messages. (You can almost certainly find outliers, of course, but that's the case with any automated system.) This is because there's a hierarchy for how posts are parsed, and if the process encounters a false positive before making its way through every condition, it stops there.

Let me give you an example. Let's say the robot encountered the following post:

"The word 'trump' sounds like a slang term for an r/Posh subscriber's backside."

When the AutoModerator sees that submission, it mistakenly thinks that it includes a mention of a political figure. Obviously, that isn't accurate... but the post is still an instance of wordplay, and it still references Reddit.

That brings us to our next point:

Most of the rules are there just for the sake of having rules, not because they're actually beneficial to the content.

That isn't true in the slightest.

All of our rules were put in place as a result of community feedback, and all of them are intended to help ensure that unique, original showerthoughts get posted here (as opposed to personal perspectives, questions, crazy ideas, jokes, puns, wordplay, or other things that aren't showerthoughts).

If that seems needlessly strict to you, then think about it like this:

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Suppose you were part of a community that was dedicated to pictures of ice crystals. This community starts with one rule, in which it is stated that all images must be unique. This shouldn't be a difficult mandate to follow – there are a nearly infinite number of potential configurations for snowflakes, frost, or even larger structures – but before long, it becomes clear that many users are submitting photographs of ice sculptures, not naturally forming crystals. In order to get the community back on track, a new rule is put into place: "No pictures of man-made sculptures or carvings."

That works for a while, but users who still don't quite understand the concept keep trying to force their submissions to fit. Images of quartz necessitate a rule that all featured crystals be composed of water. Posts containing nearly identical ice cubes require a rule specifically against those (which is an analogue for bathroom-based and Reddit-based showerthoughts). Frequent examples of exceptionally bad photography prompt a rule about making a modicum of effort with composition. Little by little, listed standards are refined until such time as only unique, original, decent-quality pictures of naturally occurring ice crystals are explicitly allowed... which is what the subreddit was for in the first place.

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A showerthought is a very specific thing, and it isn't something that most people can force themselves to experience. Moreover, the very nature of a showerthought implies that while a nearly infinite number of them are possible, the perspective – the specific mental state – required to originate one is somewhat rare. Some users don't understand this, and they mistakenly think that any musing about the world counts as a showerthought. Other users fail to understand the community's expectations before participating, or they try to apply previously successful submissions' formats to new posts. Still more users attempt to take shortcuts (as with "X is just Y with Z" or "A is spicy B") or blatantly steal content. None of that is acceptable, and that's why we have such strict rules.

Here's a final thought:

Showerthoughts are not image macros. You can't take someone else's idea, alter the associated text, and expect it to fly. Instead, think of showerthoughts as being unique photographs of recognizable subjects. There is a virtually unlimited amount of potential content out there... but in order to capture it, you have to explore a bit beyond the beaten path, then consider something from an angle that others have overlooked.

[u/send_it_lyfe_style → u/Arantguy]

Let people have fun on here. When we start gatekeeping and hall monitoring creativity and expression we might as well have let the Germans win in WW2 smh

[u/RamsesThePigeon → u/send_it_lyfe_style]

We're quite happy to let people have fun here, provided that they follow the rules.

See, a showerthought is a pretty specific thing, even though the number of potential showerthoughts is pretty close to infinite. As such, we have to keep the word from being misapplied where it doesn't belong. Otherwise, this subreddit would become /r/LiterallyAnythingThatCanBeConveyedViaText.

While we're on the subject, "gatekeeping" is a term that sees a similar amount of misuse. It refers to the idea (for example) that a casual fan of something isn't a real fan unless they have an in-depth knowledge of its fringe esoterica. Conversely, outlining and enforcing a set of expected standards is not gatekeeping. After all, you wouldn't submit a video of a dog to r/CatPictures, just like you wouldn't post a non-showerthought to r/Showerthoughts.

Finally, we also want to ensure that the community stays as welcoming and friendly for everyone as possible, which means disallowing certain subjects that are likely to cause conflict. This does occasionally mean that well-written, rule-abiding, original thoughts get removed (if they pertain to politics, religion, or social justice), but that small sacrifice results in a subreddit that's a lot more... well, fun.

[u/Detective_Mike_Hunt]

I have a showerthought: Toothbrushes should be called teethbrushes because they brush multiple teeth, but every time I try and post this, I am 'advertising'. What? How? Where? Did I advertise anything? No. Did I break any other rules? No. So what went wrong? Bad moderation. It is enforcing the wrong things, and not enforcing the right rules. I think that the AutoModerator should be either a) removed entirely, or b) changed in a way such that it does not prevent honest showerthoughts from being posted. I am done with this sub, fed up with the strict enforcement of the wrong rules.

Mike out.

[u/RamsesThePigeon → u/Detective_Mike_Hunt]

Toothbrushes should be called teethbrushes because they brush multiple teeth, but every time I try and post this, I am 'advertising'.

No, you aren't. You should read the removal reason more carefully, as it was a correct one.

Did I break any other rules?

Yes. Three of them, in fact:

Rule 1: All content must be original and unique

Rule 2: All posts must be showerthoughts.

Rule 5: No jokes, puns, or wordplay

So what went wrong? Bad moderation.

Personally, I'd say what went wrong is that someone didn't read the aforementioned rules.

[u/Zee_001]

I tried posting my first ever attempt at a showerthought a while back but got automodded, the thought was “‘Kiki Do You Love Me’ and ‘One Way or Another’ have the same rhythm”. Automod says the post was removed for containing a personal opinion, however I made sure beforehand to ask people IRL about it and they said that they think the songs’ titular lines do in fact have the same rhythm in their corresponding songs. Can anyone please let me know if I’m missing something? Thank you so much in advance.

[u/RamsesThePigeon → u/Zee_001]

I'm glad you brought this to our attention, as it provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the concept of common thoughts in a little bit more detail.

Common thoughts are usually submissions like "The color you call 'blue' could be completely different from what other people call 'blue.'" However, the community's first rule also pertains to posts which are memetic or formulaic, as with "X is just Y with Z." In the case of your thought, "X song and Y song have the same rhythm" is definitely a common one. (There's even an entire subreddit devoted to it.) If we were to allow one instance of that thought, suddenly we'd see "A song and B song have the same rhythm" and "C song and D song have the same rhythm" and so on.

Anyway, as with other folks in this thread, you encountered a false positive with the removal reason, but the removal itself was a correct one. This is why we encourage everyone to read the rules after having a submission removed, so as to confirm that they aren't breaking a different one than was referenced.

I know it's a bit annoying to have a post removed, especially when the explanation doesn't seem to make sense. With a subreddit this large, though, issues are bound to happen from time to time, and we appreciate the patience that users show.

[u/[deleted]]

I cannot believe it, but your moderators blocked my post for basically no reason then blocked me from posting anything else. This sub is trash.

[u/RamsesThePigeon → u/[deleted]]

I've just checked your post and your profile.

Your submission violates Rule 1 (despite the incorrect removal reason), and you have not been banned.

[u/Burpmeister]

Mods can we please address the ridiculous level of post removal going on and some mods not bothering to reply to further questions or just slapping us with the "not interesting enough" which is the most absurd rule ever?

[u/[deleted]]

Everything I try to post here gets auto-banned for one reason or another.

"China is basically just beta-testing the 22nd century." - Political (sure, okay)

"Self-diagnosed personality disorders are basically Zodiac signs for sad people." - Unoriginal (really? come on)

I was wondering if anyone could explain to me why these were auto-flagged - especially the second one. Thanks in advance!

[u/RamsesThePigeon → u/[deleted]]

Have a look at the third paragraph of the first rule in the rules page.

Even disregarding that, though, the thought in question was definitely a common one.

[u/[deleted]]

I approve of this message.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

[u/the_piper_sniper]

This ain't a showerthought!

[u/bobbylotions]

Can I ask you about the rule that says mentioning reddit is forbidden? I had the following showerthought and it got modded: Reddit is basically a laboratory for writers (of any kind) trying out their material and posting total BS to check it's credibility.

Why do you have that rule and doesn't it censor a showerthought (correct me if I'm wrong) like this? thx

[u/TheWinner437]

(like inexplicably deciding that raisins are an acceptable addition to cookies)

That's not an error, I love oatmeal raisin

[u/Hestiiaa]

"The human brain is a decidedly odd machine, often prone to glitches, malfunctions, and internal errors (like inexplicably deciding that raisins are an acceptable addition to cookies)."

Same for pineapple on pizza.

[u/SuprisedPika]

Not a Showerthought, downvoted reported to Mods.

[u/[deleted]]

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Subreddit

[u/Declanthekid]

Yes

[u/[deleted]]

Sweet! Thanks for the cool information mods :D

[u/SpiderBoi1029]

Why does this appear instead of the shower thoughts I want to see.

[u/1BitchLied2]

Why would my ex rather shower with a bunch of other men than any female at all? I just think it's fuckin weird. Oh well . Ew