r/AskAnAmerican rules, stats, and what to post

This is a question and answer community where people learn about America straight from Americans. People post questions about American life, habits, and culture, and Americans answer them. The description makes one thing clear right away: this is not a current events sub. So the room is for cultural curiosity, not news debates and not practical advice requests.

The rule that decides everything here is “All submissions must be in question form. This includes a question mark (?) at the end.” If your post is not a question, it does not survive. The second rule that matters is “The text box is to be used to add clarification or context to your question only.” You cannot answer your own question in the text box, and clarifying remarks must stay under 250 characters. Then there is “Questions must be asked in good faith”, which is the rule that catches anyone posting a loaded question to steer the answers toward their product. “Do not comment with the intent to push an agenda, soapbox, sealion, or argue in bad faith.” covers the comment side of the same thing. “Surveys are not allowed. AMAs must first be discussed with the moderators.” means you cannot run a poll or an AMA here without approval. “Do not ask questions that are not on topic for the subreddit this includes current events.” bans travel, moving, school, and legal advice questions, and the description adds that this is not a current events sub. Finally, “No ”what do you think about X Country/citizens“ questions.” blocks the laziest kind of engagement bait.

A good post here is a short, honest question about American life or habits that ends with a question mark. If you are a founder, the respectful move is to ask something you genuinely want to learn, like how Americans handle a everyday problem your product touches, and then listen to the answers without pitching. Keep any context in the text box under 250 characters and do not answer your own question there. Check the FAQ and sidebar first so you do not repeat a question that is already common or currently on the front page. In comments, be serious and useful, because single word responses are not allowed and top level comments must be on topic.

Posts get removed when they are not in question form, so a title without a question mark is the fastest way to lose your post. Posts get removed for banned topics: where to live, where to go to school, what to do in a city, immigration, work, visas, and legal advice all belong elsewhere. Surveys are not allowed and AMAs need moderator approval first. Questions about what people think of another country or its citizens are banned. Agenda pushing, soapboxing, sealioning, and bad faith comments get you in trouble, and so do personal insults, slurs, bigoted language, and attacks on users based on their location or flair. Do not repost a thread that is on the front page or in the top 100 from the past week, and check the FAQ and sidebar before submitting. One more thing from the rules: do not comment on a thread if you arrived from a comment linked in another subreddit.

What strikes me most is how tightly this community guards its format. Every single submission has to be a question, which means you cannot sneak in a soft pitch disguised as a story. I also like that the rules name bad faith commenting directly, because that tells you exactly what the room will not tolerate.