Welcome new members & rule recap

[u/A_Seductive_Cactus]

Hello r/RomanceBooks and welcome to all new members of our community!

For the new folks - if you have any questions about the subreddit, feel free to ask them here. Below is a recap of some recent rule changes and general updates on how our community operates. We're glad to have you here!

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Rules

• We reordered our rules, as stated in this post, to align with our core values:
  • 1 No Discrimination - marginalized people are safe here.
  • 2 Be Kind & No Reader Shaming - responses to others on the sub should be kind and respectful. (This does not mean all interactions must be positive and pleasant. Unkindness is generally using insults, aggression, and other similar behaviors.)
• Here's the wiki link to our full subreddit rules.

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Community Surveys

• Subreddit rules are primarily driven by our community. Community surveys are held every 6 months to vote on rule changes and rule enforcement. Here are the most recent survey results from Oct 2024. EDIT: Here are the most recent results from May 2025.
• The mods will post a pre-survey post, eliciting suggestions and discussion on current rules and level of enforcement. Be on the lookout for our next survey in Sep/Oct 2025!

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Karma

• Even though we have over 360,000 members, RomanceBooks values our small-community feel. In an effort to encourage engagement, prevent spam bots from flooding our sub, and allow newbies a chance to learn the vibes of our community, we have karma-minimums in place to post in our subreddit:
  • All posts (except Book Requests) require at least 10-RomanceBooks-Karma. This rule only counts karma earned here in r/RomanceBooks, not from any other subreddit.
  • Book Request posts require at least 50-RomanceBooks-Karma. If you don't have enough karma to post a standalone request post, you can always ask in the Simple / Quick Question & Request thread, pinned to the top of the subreddit.
• We encourage our members to interact on posts, thank responders, give recommendations, and participate in discussions in order to increase their karma.
• For newbies to Reddit in general:
  • “Karma” is your upvote score in a community (the little arrows next to each comment and at the top of a post). Commenting on posts will earn you karma as other members upvote your comment. Here’s a link to the Reddit Help article, [What is Karma?](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204511829-What-is-karma)
  • You can view your subreddit comment karma in Old Reddit by navigating to your profile: https://old.reddit.com/user/me/ , in the top right under your karma score click “show karma breakdown by subreddit”. This can only be accessed in a browser, not the Reddit Mobile app.
  • Feel free to ask any other karma related questions here!

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Popular Links

• Wiki Index, RomanceBooks 101, and the Glossary
• Recommendation Resource (including our Best Romances of 2024 Awards)
• Magic Search button and How to Book Request
• Diversity Megathreads and Themed Megathreads

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Looking forward to another great year with you all! 💛

[u/jenken221]

How do you earn karma?

[u/VitisIdaea → u/jenken221]

We encourage our members to comment on posts, thank responders, give recommendations, and participate in discussions in order to increase their karma. When other users upvote your comments, your karma will increase.

[u/Plink-plink → u/VitisIdaea]

Maybe you could add this information above because in the link on how to earn karma you don't actually say how, you have to dig into the comments...

[u/Successful-Grade-434 → u/Plink-plink]

Same here. Ive never really interacted with reddit, just was a watcher and searcher so this is all confusing to me

[u/cranky_mom → u/Successful-Grade-434]

Im in the same boat as you. Always watch, never interact.

[u/Otakushipper109 → u/Successful-Grade-434]

Same I’m a lurker come to this subreddit all the time for recommendations but I don’t usually comment well till now cause apparently you need have karma to post 😭

[u/ProfessionalThat8714 → u/VitisIdaea]

How to actually achieve karma apparently just goes without saying for some reason but i however skipped that class I guess. Do I need upvotes to acquire karma or does just commenting provide karma as well?

[u/VitisIdaea → u/ProfessionalThat8714]

You need upvotes, so finding and participating in current (front-page) conversations/discussions is your best way to get karma, since there will be more people in those posts chatting and upvoting!

[u/ProfessionalThat8714 → u/VitisIdaea]

Ok so only up votes get karma. I didn't know that, thanks.

[u/Playful-Frosting-409 → u/jenken221]

Thanks for asking this, I was wondering the same.

[u/Pursegirly → u/jenken221]

I'm curious about this too. I've been participating but still can't post.

[u/Alarmed_Refuse_6702 → u/jenken221]

Thanks for asking this, I was wondering the same.