/r/FloridaMan is a subreddit to chronicle misadventures and shenanigans of the world's worst superhero, Florida Man. As the community continue to grow, I thought now would be as good of a time as any to refresh the tips and overall guidelines for posting in the subreddit. Not everything going against this guide will be deleted, but following the tips will result in the best possible /r/FloridaMan posts.
Florida Man is the world's worst superhero. When a normal superhero realizes they have special powers, they go out to save the city or the world - Florida Man ran naked through a neighborhood, tried to have sex with a tree, and told police he was the mythical god Thor. Sometimes a normal superhero's crimefighting abilities and concern for public good get a special Florida Man twist, like when Florida Man was arrested for practicing karate by kicking swans in the head. Sometimes he's just goddamn weird, like when naked Florida Man chased people around a Chik-Fil-A parking lot, telling them they're gay for looking at his penis or when Florida Man broke into a house, pooped on the floor, masturbated, and then drank the contents of a vacuum cleaner.
The joke of the subreddit is that all of the stories shared here are about the same person, the world's worst superhero. As the world's worst superhero, Florida Man is not just a person in Florida. Florida Man also doesn't do dark and overly morbid things. His misadventures and shenanigans are of a more lighthearted variety.
- Don't try to lazily get around the rules
Post titles must contain "Florida Man" or "Florida Woman", occasionally posts are submitted where Florida Man is just added to the beginning to get by the filter. Florida men or Florida women are just groups of people from Florida and most assuredly not the world's worst superhero.
- Titles should be descriptive and stand on their own merits.
Posters have pretty wide latitude in how shitty titles can be. However extremely low effort examples like "Florida Man Florida Mans it" or "Florida Man is at it again" will be deleted. Headlines in all caps or title gore will also be removed at the discretion of the mods. Headlines should at least give readers an idea of the story being linked.
- Florida Man is a superhero, and that's his only profession and identity.
You wouldn't say "Spiderman photojournalist Peter Parker", "Iron Man business tycoon Tony Stark", etc. For example - Florida Man Police Officer Was Arrested 3 Times, Fired 6 Times, And Is Now Back On Patrol is not the greatest title, even though the story is solid.
- There is only one Florida Man.
Sometimes there are multiple people involved in a Florida Man story, and they're all from Florida. The best headlines only have one Florida Man so avoid titles like "Florida Man and other three other Florida Men decide to rob liquor stores with a dead stingray."
- Stories should not just be stories about news or well-known political figures doing normal things.
Occasionally, Florida's elected representatives decide to do or say something that the rest of us find pretty ridiculous. With very rare exceptions, these are not great Florida Man examples and might be a better fit in /r/florida or a more general news/politics subreddit.
A note for content creators:
Due to the popularity of the subreddit, different entities have tried to profit of it in various ways. We have seen spam networks spoofing legitimate links to steal traffic, accounts that only post links from obscure ad-filled blogs, newspapers with accounts that only share links from that newspaper, satire writers who have figured out Florida Man is easy clicks, and others. If you really love Florida Man and want to make a podcast, create a comic, and share it here then feel free to do so but make sure to contribute in other ways as well.
Lastly, and most importantly, there is one action that will get you banned, permanently, from /r/FloridaMan on the first offense:
Posts that are racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, or otherwise exist only to be bigoted will be deleted and the user that made them will be banned. To make sure that the most people enjoy the subreddit, there is a zero tolerance policy for these posts. I remember my first time seeing /r/FloridaMan, scrolling down the front page and laughing uncontrollably, trying to explain to my skeptical girlfriend what was so funny. Everyone should be able to share in that feeling without stepping on turds in the comment section.
