Good morning (or evening, or afternoon, or whatever it is where you are) everyone!
Let’s get right to it: We have revised the subreddit rules. The previous rules needed a bit of tightening up and tweaking to cover new situations and rather than just hack a new rule on the end of a list that was starting to bloat at *thirteen* rules, we decided to strip it back and rebuild.
Without any further preamble, here’s the new rules. Note that a number of these rules have the same *title* as old rules, but have had their content revised. *Please read the entire text of the rules!*
>**Rule #1: Refrain from harassment and bigotry** *AKA: Don’t be an ass. We encourage honesty (including blunt/brutal honesty) and frankness here, but there are limits. Sexist, racist and other forms of bigoted language will not be tolerated, nor will personal attacks, name calling, or direct insults.*
>
>*Follow the* [*Reddit Content Policy*](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) *and basic* [*Reddiquette*](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439)
​
>**Rule #2: Do your own research before posting** *Please take a moment and try to research your question on your own before posting. This may include: Googling your query; reading past posts; or contacting your school, embassy or employer for information. We also have a* [*wiki*](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/wiki/index) *that covers many commonly asked questions, as well as a dedicated* [*visa wiki page*](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/wiki/visas) *that gives basic information on the most common visa types. If you research online and still can’t find the answer to your question, please present the information you’ve already discovered in your post.*
​
>**Rule #3: No AMAs** *This sub is full of people who have been in Japan for a long time, working across a variety of industries and sectors. The intent of* /r/movingtojapan *is so users wishing to move to Japan can ask questions (and get clear, unvarnished answers) from the entire community — not just from one person.*
​
>**Rule #4: No Promotion** *We are here to answer questions, not to promote businesses/influencers/ourselves. As such we do not allow unsolicited links to any of the following: Relocation services, blogs, vlogs, social media accounts, fundraisers, or business websites.*
>
>*Promotion of businesses except in the case of genuine recommendations are strictly prohibited. User accounts tied to businesses will be automatically banned.*
​
>**Rule #5: No job postings or surveys** *No job postings or recruitment solicitations. We’re not a job board. No surveys, crowdsourcing or soliciting information for the purposes of projects, business development or otherwise.*
​
>**Rule #6: Don’t know? Don’t post!** *The goal of* r/movingtojapan *is to provide factual information to our users. As such we do not allow anecdotal or unsourced information. If you don’t have firsthand experience with the topic at hand, please refrain from giving advice unless you can back that advice up with official sources.*
​
>**Rule #7: Keep it on-topic and relevant** \**Please do your best to keep the discussion relevant to OP’s original questions. Off-topic tangents are not helpful to anyone. This also includes attempts to “hijack” a post/comment thread with unrelated questions.*
>
>**NOTE:** *This rule does not include conversations that are relevant to moving to Japan that may not be covered by OP’s original questions.*
​
>**Rule #8: No meta commentary** *We do not allow posts/comments about the sub and/or our users. This includes, but is not limited to: Discussing voting (up or down), complaints about moderation, discussion about other subreddits and their moderation, and discussion of other users.*
>
>*Questions/comments about moderation should be directed to the mods via* [*Modmail*](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/movingtojapan)*. If you have a problem with another user you can use Reddit’s built-in blocking tools or use the report button to bring it to the attention of the moderators.*
​
>**Rule #9: No Chats/PMs. Period.** *We do not allow soliciting PMs or offers to move the conversation to PMs. Any posts/comments containing any such language will be removed.*
>
>*We also do not allow unsolicited Chats/PMs to moderators or other users. Questions/comments about moderation should be directed to the mods via* [*Modmail*](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/movingtojapan)*. If you as a user receive an unwanted PM/Chat, please report it to the mods via* [*Modmail*](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/movingtojapan)*.*
These new rules are effective immediately. Enforcement will be the same warning -> suspension -> ban system as before. Warnings issued under the previous rules *will* carry over.
Still here? Great! That’s the basics of what you need to know about the new rules.
If you have questions about the new rules, feel free to contact the mods via [Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/movingtojapan). (Note that we are happy to answer *questions*. We are not going to entertain arguments about moderation or whether something should/should not be a rule.)
If you’d like a more nuts and bolts explanation of each rule and how it will be interpreted, please see the [Subreddit Rules wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/wiki/rules/) where we’ve gone into more detail about the logic behind each rule and what it applies to.