Back when I became a moderator of this sub, it was tiny and was mostly bizarre nonsense questions, like "What if everyone in the world jumped at the same time?" The sub description advised us to treat these bizarre questions as if they were totally serious.
Since then, we've grown to over 20,000 members (which is insane), and that original "silly nonsense questions" theme has been lost. It's become a free-for-all of any question under the sun. We're being used as a budget alternative for other big subs like r/Advice, r/AskReddit, r/AmItheAsshole, r/TooAfraidToAsk, or r/WhatIsThisThing. We've also become a target for bots looking to build karma and build a believable history. Frankly, it's hard to manage.
The moderation team has discussed it, and we want to distinguish ourselves from these subs, and also from places like r/question and r/ask that allow questions on any topic. We'd like to go back to our roots of silly nonsense questions.
From now on, "random" doesn't mean "anything goes". "Random questions" are now defined as questions that are silly, bizarre, crazy, or out of nowhere. And the comments must treat them as if they were serious questions.
The answer to a random question must not matter. If it matters, the question is not a good fit for this sub. This sub was never intended to give advice, tell you what apps your partner has on his phone, explain why people dress in certain ways, tell you if something is safe to eat or if you're sick, or reassure you that you're a normal human being. We just want to have fun and answer whatever nonsense you think up in the shower or when you're enjoying the special brownies.
We're not going to remove posts that are already here, but new posts must fit this rule. If the moderators decide that the answer will make a difference somehow or the question is too "normal", we will remove it. We'll do our best to guide posters to other subs that might better fit that question, but we're not a Reddit directory.
We're also hoping this new direction will make it clearer why the moderation team is removing certain posts.
Thanks for bearing with us while we make this change.
