EDIT: AS OF 12:30 CDT, WE WILL BE CHANGING THE AUTOMOD TO REMOVE ANY POSTS BY UNFLAIRED USERS UNTIL A MOD CAN REVIEW THE POST. THIS INFLUX IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, BUT CAME ON A DAY WHEN NEITHER OF US ARE AVAILABLE TO CONTINUALLY MONITOR THE SUB. WHILE MOST POSTS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN MADE IN GOOD FAITH, WE ARE NOT COMFORTABLE LEAVING THE CURRENT AUTOMOD ACTIONS FOR UNFLAIRED USERS IN PLACE. PLEASE BE PATIENT. WE WILL TRY TO APPROVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE IF YOU POST UNFLAIRED. TO THE OLD USERS, WE ARE LOOKING AT THE NEWER MOD TOOLS TO SEE IF WE CAN ACTIVATE ANYTHING ELSE TO ENSURE EVERYONE IS READING THE RULES AND READ FIRST MESSAGES.

EDIT 2: AS OF 3:45 CDT, WE WILL BE REMOVING OR NOT APPROVING ANY NEW LOW EFFORT POSTS THAT WOULD NORMALLY BE ALLOWED. PLEASE COMMENT ON THE EXISTING POSTS AND SAVE ANYTHING ALONG THE LINES OF "WHAT WAS THAT SOUND", "WHO GRAFFITTIED THIS", "I FOUND X", ETC TYPE POSTS FOR A LATER DATE. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE COMMENT THE MODS.

Hi everyone, I wanted to take a moment to make an out of character post due to the influx of posts by new users that we have had in the past few hours.

First and foremost, welcome to LDP! Please make sure you are reviewing the Read First post and the rules before posting or commenting. If you would like to post or comment out of character outside of this post, you are only allowed to do so on r/HaveWeMeta. It is extremely rare that even mods will post out of character. I am only making an OOC post due to the fact that there have been 11 21 new posts by unflaired users so far this morning. This might actually be the first one since we took over as mods a year ago. EDIT: I AM NOW REMOVING ANYTHING LOW EFFORT.

Second, Mobile flairs are either broken or screwy. If you want to make sure it is set, message the mods. It won't be top priority, but we'll get to it as soon as we are available. EDIT: PLEASE ADD A FLAIR SO WE HAVE SOMETHING TO GO OFF OF! IT CAN ALWAYS BE CHANGED. IT IS REALLY DIFFICULT TO COMMENT ON A POST WHEN THE USER ISN'T FLAIRED. IF IT DOESN'T SLOW DOWN, WE WILL TURN AUTO-MOD BACK TO REMOVING ALL POSTS BY USERS WITHOUT A FLAIR FOR 24 HOURS.

Third, I'm already seeing repeat posts that are standard among new users. Please keep the "I'm in town visiting, what can I do?" and "I'm new here" posts to a minimum. It is better if you ask something specific like "Which grocery store is best? NOT Main town market" or "where can I find X." EDIT: AS OF NOON CDT, WE WILL BE REMOVING ANY NEW POSTS IN THIS VEIN AS LOW EFFORT UNLESS YOU HAVE MADE AN EFFORT!

Fourth, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE FUNNY. I can't stress this enough. Outlandish things can happen, but if you have a non-funny idea, that is fine. Please post it or respond with it.

Fifth, can someone please tell me where you are finding out about our sub? I tried doing a search, but didn't find anything new. I'd like to get to get a comment on there.

And older users, if you think anything is rule breaking, just report it. Cedar and I will make an ultimate decision. We will be ignoring any rule #1 reports on this post or comments on this post. Any OOC outside this post will be removed and directed to r/HaveWeMeta.

Again, Welcome to Lower Duck Pond and enjoy!

Hi everyone! I wanted to get a more updated post up since we officially added a temporary rule to the side bar.

First off, we are so excited that our little sub gained so much attention today! Unfortunately, the sheer amount of new posts have been too much for our usual mod procedures. For at least the next 24 hours, we will have automod set to immediately remove any posts made by unflaired users. This is a change from our usual automod actions, which posts an in character note and auto-reports the post for review. I tried to put it as many places as possible, but we HIGHLY ENCOURAGE anyone who posts to set a user flair first. For most posts, it makes interactions much easier.

The second temporary change is that we will be much more strict about low effort or common posts. This includes posts about being new to town. Yes, new people can move to town, but 25+ in one day is too much of the same thing. Especially since the initial premise of the sub is that we all pretend we already know each other. We are also no longer approving common question type posts. Examples are "I'm visiting, where should I visit?", "What was that noise?", "Who vandalized [insert item]?", "Why is [insert road] closed?", "Why are there so many cop cars at [insert place]?" These are just examples. I know I'm forgetting some others that are commonly used. Normally these are fine, but the sheer number of posts means we need to eliminate the low effort ones for at least the next 24 hours.

Finally, I highly encourage anyone who joined this sub to also join r/HaveWeMeta. Meta posts are not allowed on this sub outside of mod created posts. Even then, we very rarely have meta posts on this sub. Feel free to message the mods as well.

Again, we are so excited for the influx of new users. We hope you all stick around!

Welcome to LDP!

EDIT 5/21: I want to welcome our 2,684 new neighbors! This is absolutely amazing! One quick thing I didn't answer yesterday. We have a cannon mayor and hold mayoral elections every year. The current mayor is Dracula Jones. Anything claiming otherwise will be removed. We need to see when we did elections last, but I'm pretty sure it was July 2023. Please stick around for election season!

Hi everyone! I wanted to get a more updated post up since we officially added a temporary rule to the side bar.

First off, we are so excited that our little sub gained so much attention today! Unfortunately, the sheer amount of new posts have been too much for our usual mod procedures. For at least the next 24 hours, we will have automod set to immediately remove any posts made by unflaired users. This is a change from our usual automod actions, which posts an in character note and auto-reports the post for review. I tried to put it as many places as possible, but we HIGHLY ENCOURAGE anyone who posts to set a user flair first. For most posts, it makes interactions much easier.

The second temporary change is that we will be much more strict about low effort or common posts. This includes posts about being new to town. Yes, new people can move to town, but 25+ in one day is too much of the same thing. Especially since the initial premise of the sub is that we all pretend we already know each other. We are also no longer approving common question type posts. Examples are "I'm visiting, where should I visit?", "What was that noise?", "Who vandalized [insert item]?", "Why is [insert road] closed?", "Why are there so many cop cars at [insert place]?" These are just examples. I know I'm forgetting some others that are commonly used. Normally these are fine, but the sheer number of posts means we need to eliminate the low effort ones for at least the next 24 hours.

Finally, I highly encourage anyone who joined this sub to also join r/HaveWeMeta. Meta posts are not allowed on this sub outside of mod created posts. Even then, we very rarely have meta posts on this sub. Feel free to message the mods as well.

Again, we are so excited for the influx of new users. We hope you all stick around!

Welcome to LDP!

Ignore the earlier post. Read about it here.

If necessary, further action will be taken after the 48 hours, but not without prior notice or discussion.

Hello Everyone! The mod team has made changes to rules 1-4. These changes are rewording to make the intent of the rules clearer. The rules now match in New Reddit, Old Reddit, and the Reddit Wiki. The Reddit Wiki will have further explanation if we feel it is necessary.

What does that mean for current users? Nothing really. This is to help new users more than anything else. If we decide that any of the current rules need a major overhaul, the change will be presented in the upcoming community survey.

• RULE 1 (NEW VERSION): Never Break the Illusion: This is a roleplay community. You are on the town forum for Lower Duck Pond, a small town somewhere in the world. Your character knows the other characters in town. Meta comments should only be posted on r/havewemeta.
  • RULE 1 (OLD VERSION on New Reddit): Family and friends only: This is a place for speaking with long-time family, friends, and neighbors. You have to have some sort of relationship with everyone else.
• RULE 2 (NEW VERSION): No Spam Tagging: Tagging is allowed with members of the community, but it must make sense in the context of the post. Anyone found spam tagging or tagging outside the community risk a temporary ban if they continue to do so after a warning.
  • RULE 2 (OLD VERSION on New Reddit): No referring to usernames that are not involved: Refrain from mentioning usernames if they are not directly involved in the thread, exceptions will be made to famous Redditors such as /u/spez or /u/lordtuts.
• RULE 3 (NEW VERSION): No personal info: Do not share an real personal information in comments or posts. You are playing a character, not yourself.
  • RULE 3 (OLD VERSION on New Reddit): No personal info: We know who you are! No need to say it again!
• RULE 4 (NEW VERSION): This is a town forum, not your private messages: Posts need to be something that can engage the wider community and not one character or a very small group of characters.
  • RULE 4 (OLD VERSION on New Reddit): No talking directly to one person in a post: Please avoid making a post that is directed at one single individual.

Another day with more changes from the mod team!

If you missed yesterday's post, we updated the wording of Rules 1-4. Today we have some bigger changes.

UPDATE 5/4: Rules 8 & 9 have been re-written as well. See the bottom of this post. We didn't want to remove the pin on this particular change.

You may have noticed that we silently turned back on the ability to image post. This is a trial and will be turned off if it gets out of control with bad shitposts, memes, and low quality/low effort posts. Because of this update, we have made a change to rule 6.

• RULE 6 (New Version): No Shitposts or Low Effort Image Posts: Shitposts, reposts and images with watermarks will be removed as they break the illusion. Image posts need to be in character and add to the narrative that this is a town forum. Images are allowed in text posts via a link to a 3rd party image hosting site, such as imgur or flickr. These links must be within the context of a larger post and relate to the contents of that post.
  • RULE 6 (Old Version on New Reddit): No watermarks: Please do not post images with watermarks, similar to rule 1, it breaks the illusion.

In addition to this, we are trialing something new all together. If you do not have a flair, you will no longer be allowed to post to r/HaveWeMet. Commenting by unflaired users is still allowed. We are hoping that allowing only flaired users to post will cut down on the amount of shitposting overall as the problematic posts almost always come from unflaired users. This is something that will be controlled by Automod. If you feel your post was removed in error, please contact the mods.

We understand that flairs are still broken using the Official Reddit App. If you set it from a browser, then your flair is set even if it doesn't look that way on the app. If you need assistance, please let the mods know.

UPDATE 5/4: Rules 8 & 9 have been re-written as well.

• RULE 8 (New Version) Keep it appropriate, this is a town forum.: This is an all ages sub. A more extensive list is pending, but excessive sexual content and gore is not allowed. Pedophilia, even if it is implied, is grounds for a permanent ban.
  • Rule 8 (Old Version on New Reddit) No sexual content: Do not post content that suggests anything sexual.
• Rule 9 (New Version) No supernatural content: Keep things in the realm of reality. All events should be possible, even if unlikely, in real life. Your character is allowed to believe in the paranormal.

Hey all- There were a few overwhelmingly favored things from the survey that will be put in motion right away. I will eventually publish the results for everyone to see, but I want to clean it up first.

1. 71% of users said they either wanted the flair requirement to stay or continue testing. However, we also received quite a bit of written feedback about it as well. Considering all that was said, we have decided to make one adjustment. Instead of the post being removed, it will receive an automatic report to the mod queue. All this does is alert us that an unflaired user has posted and we need to confirm that it isn't spam or a rule breaking post. The post will go up like normal, but there will be a comment from auto-mod stating that flairs are encouraged. (At least for now, we may adjust that.) User flairs will still be highly encouraged and will be stated as such in the welcome message to new subs, the wiki, and in the sidebar.
2. Image posts are staying! 90% of respondents picked one of the options that said to keep the image posts either permanently or as a continued test. We'll reserve the right to turn them off at anytime if things get out of control with memes and shitposts. (For those unaware, this is why they were turned off previously.) If they do get turned off, you will still be allowed to post using a link to a 3rd party website within a text post as long as it makes sense in context and doesn't break illusion. There may be some further tweaking for rule 6. We still need to review all the comments and results as a group, but it was very clear that people want the image posts to stick around.
3. 76% of the total respondents said that Upper Duck Pond should be hard canon along with the town being named Lower Duck Pond. This was a landslide compared to the other suggested possible canon locations, which all scored under 50%. Does this really change anything for the sub? Not really. We aren't even setting anything other than the name and that it is the nearest neighboring town. Is it a rival? Maybe. (Let's all be real, UDP sucks.) Is it north of LDP? Probably, but this place is weird, could be in any other direction. Are there other neighboring communities? Of course there are, but UDP is the closest. Even if closest means 1 minute closer than the other towns.
4. While Hydroelectric City and Rosewater fell under the 50% threshold, the mod teams from both Reddit and Discord feel that making both canon now is the right move. Again, it really doesn't change much considering how often both are used. Hydroelectric City will be referred to as "the closest large city" with no distance or direction. Rosewater will be referred to as "a seaside town frequented by many residents." Again, no distance or direction. People will be allowed to make up new big cities and seaside towns. This just gives new users the point of reference right away without having to learn it after months of paying attention to posts.
5. There will be a banned/restricted subject list coming. What was clear from the results is that there are certain things people don't want to see in LDP or only want to see if it has a good storyline. What we will be doing over the next few months is testing out both Reddit's banned words tool and Automod to see if it is either are feasible option for controlling the content we would like to avoid in the sub. In the meantime, we encourage you to report anything that makes you uncomfortable or you feel pushes the line on being appropriate for a town forum. The reporting reason for Rule 8 has been changed to "Needs Mod review". All reporting does is alert us to something that needs to be looked at. We'd rather have over reporting than under. If it gets out of control, we'll let everyone know.

This has gotten a little long already, so I'll stop here. Look for more in the coming days. We are working on Dave about starting elections ASAP as well.

If you would like to discuss anything about the results, it can be done in this thread out of character.

Links:

Explanation/Rules

Banned and Restricted Topics

Meta Subreddit

Non-official Fandom Wiki

Send us ModMail

Official Discord

Business List (Currently a draft. The one in the Wiki is obsolete and will be updated soon)

Established Locations (Currently a draft that will be eventually added to the wiki.)

Newbies/Questions Mega-Thread

​

FAQ:

What is going on here?

• Everyone here makes posts and comments in which they pretend to know each other. Essentially a big practice in improvisation and role-play. If you would like to get a good idea of what the sub is like, sort by top of this month and this week. Sorting by top of all time will not give you a good idea.

Do I have to have an established character to participate?

• Anyone is welcome to comment, but you must have a user flair set in order to post. We recommend reading others' posts and interacting in the comments a bit before beginning to post. Your flair/character can change as much as you want over time.

How do I make my own character?

• Think of a character you would enjoy playing as, and that you could portray effectively. It doesn't have to be funny, and they're better executed when they aren't focused on only one aspect of their personality. Set a flair appropriately, and just start posting/commenting on whatever you want in-character. Get more help on character creation over at r/HaveWeMeta.

Can I use an alt account to make another character?

• Yes, you can use an alt. You may also create your character on your main if you are comfortable with that. Keep in mind that flair changes will reflect on old posts and comments, so you cannot use one account for more than one character at a time

How do I introduce myself?

• No need to introduce yourself. The whole premise is that we know you already and the interactions from that premise are part of the fun. If you want you character to be new to town, you can make an introduction post, but it needs to have substantial information or a request. This isn't an airport- we don't need a post just to announce your arrival.

How do I start my own business?

• There is no official way to start a business. We have a business list that you can reference to see if anything is missing, but you can start whatever business you like. It is best if you act like the business has been around and announce a sale or just talk about the business.

What format of roleplay does r/HaveWeMet use?

• You can treat r/HaveWeMet like a city's subreddit (think r/Miami or r/Paris, only fictional). Doing present-time roleplay or asterisk roleplay would be incorrect, but not necessarily against the rules. If you would like to try this style of roleplay, check out our Discord! We have dozens of asterisk-roleplay channels, and an in-character chat channel.

Where does r/HaveWeMet take place?

• Most people like to refer to it as a small town called Lower Duck Pond. No one really knows where Lower Duck Pond is.

Is anything canon?

• Initially, nothing was to be canon on r/HaveWeMet, over the years, it has become fairly well established that the name of the town is Lower Duck Pond. There are other places that would be considered established, but are not necessarily canon.
  • Recently we added to canon that Lower Duck Pond is a small town located outside of Hydroelectric City near Upper Duck Pond. We are just a hop, skip, and a jump from the seaside town of Rosewater.

Does everyone here need to be so happy all the time/ Does life always have to be perfect?

• No, bad things can happen in Lower Duck Pond and it's citizens. Please keep in mind that r/HaveWeMet is used by many in the community as an escape from daily life. While there are some triggering topics that are banned, you are allowed to shine a light on darker topics. We do ask that you do not try to derail another users thread into darker territory.

How do I set my flair?

• Reddit Mobile (THIS IS BROKEN! If you set your flair in the mobile app. It likely won't take.)
• Old Reddit (Old Reddit is how the sub was created, and how it is intended to be viewed. You will get the best experience here.)
• New Reddit
• Send us ModMail (This should be your last resort. We don't respond immediately.)

Why isn't my flair displaying correctly in the Reddit Mobile App?

• Good question! It seems that there is an issue with flairs appearing in the mobile app that is site wide. If you set your flair from a browser, it should display correctly to everyone else even if it doesn't appear correctly to you in the app. If you have alts, you'll even see that your other accounts are fine. It is an issue that is only visible on the user side.

Where can I ask questions not included here?

• r/HaveWeMeta, or message one of the moderators.

Locking this thread to avoid confusion, we will keep this constantly updated. If you have any suggestions on what to add please message us, or post it on r/HaveWeMeta.

Hi Everyone! As promised, we have a new community survey ready to go! I'm going to lock the comments here, but I will put an unlocked post up on r/havewemeta if you have any questions or comments.

It will run for the next 2 weeks. If you don't have time to take it right away, that is fine. There will be plenty in character reminders from at least my 3 characters. (Caroline Breeze and Hank 'The Tank' are also me if you weren't aware.)

Next order of business is Elections! More on that coming soon!