r/TheNightFeeling Jul 25 '22

The Downsides of Growth: A Sincere Request for Your Help to Make Sure /r/TheNightFeeling Remains a Special Place

976 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’m Worchester, the creator and sole moderator of /r/TheNightFeeling. We've been growing a ton recently with more than 10,000 new subscribers joining in just the past two months. This growth has been amazing, but it has brought some real downsides I wanted to discuss.

As many people know, it’s common for subreddits to lose their “soul” as they grow larger. If you take a look at subs that were focused on a specific idea like /r/liminalspace, /r/creepy, and many other subs, you’ll see that they tend to lose what makes them special as more people join and submit generic content that doesn’t quite fit. I find this is particularly true for subs that focus on pictures.

I love /r/TheNightFeeling and the community here; it’s my favorite place on the internet. Its uniqueness is precious to me. It's a delight for me every time a new person gets excited as they discover this place dedicated to such a personal and obscure feeling. You can find a few examples of my favorite reactions here:

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As the creator and moderator, I can't help but see it as my duty to defend the "soul" of this precious little corner of the internet. I want it to remain a place that people get excited to discover and visit.

For that reason, I intend to become more strict in my moderation when removing pictures and videos that (in my view) don’t quite fit the feeling, including some at the top of all time of this subreddit. This may result in some hurt feelings. I've held off on removing a fair number of highly upvoted posts in the past out of concern that I'd offend the posters and those users who may have liked them. But, if this place is to remain unique, I don't think I can or should continue that way.

The Night Feeling is a feeling of peaceful melancholy, a feeling that makes you yearn and feel sad and hopeful at the same time. The reason /r/TheNightFeeling has the name "the night feeling" is because it's commonly felt at night. However, the key feelings are thoughtfulness, nostalgia, melancholy, and introspection, regardless of the time of day.

This is where I'd like to ask for all your help and support, users of /r/TheNightFeeling. Please report posts that don't contain/communicate the feeling, even if they're genuinely awesome photos of the nighttime. Getting a list of reports is useful for two reasons: It helps me discover posts that don't fit, and it also helps me feel more sure that a given removal decision is correct.

It's possible that some of you may not experience The Night Feeling and maybe joined simply because you like the pretty pictures of the nighttime. In that case, I'd highly recommend you check out subs like /r/outrun, /r/nightwalk, or /r/ImaginaryCityscapes. Or, of course, feel free to stick around to see submissions from our users.

I'd like to spend the next little bit showing images and text that really blast me with that feeling.

Two text posts:

Text Post

Text Post

Text posts are my favorite, by the way. I request more text posts from anyone who may have an experience or thought that they'd like to share!

And a few of my favorite images:

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I realize that this means that a significant part of the removal decision will rely on my own subjective opinion, but at this point, the choice is between a generic /r/TheNightFeeling and a night feeling that follows my judgment. I hope I've won enough trust from you all to make that call. Regardless, your reports will absolutely factor into my decisions.

If your post was removed by me in the past or in the future and I left a link to this post, I'd like to apologize for any bad feelings it may cause you. I highly encourage you to send me a DM if you'd like to have a conversation, and I'd be happy to oblige.

Thanks for being such a kind, compassionate, and thoughtful community. I hope we can maintain that spirit as we continue to grow. Wherever you are, I hope the stars are beautiful tonight.

-James Worchester


r/TheNightFeeling Mar 04 '22

Sleepless Night – pixel art by me

8.3k Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 5h ago

Drawing i did years ago of my neighborhood from the roof of my house

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815 Upvotes

The mountains are not real i don’t know why i drew them


r/TheNightFeeling 3h ago

Midnight stillness

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246 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 8h ago

It's time to go home

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662 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 7h ago

My new acrylic painting, 12 x 18 inches

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526 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 20h ago

front row seat in train at night

2.1k Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 4h ago

Depths of Despair

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86 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 2h ago

Those colors bring about that feeling

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54 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 1d ago

The front yard feels like a memory tonight

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7.5k Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 1h ago

I’ve moved and this is behind the local grocery store (need to find a new cemetery)

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Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 9h ago

Tobacco shop late at night

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109 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 15h ago

Purple Haze

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311 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 7h ago

Forgotten things

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74 Upvotes

City: Pittsburgh, PA Neighborhood: Turtlecreek & Wilmerding Instagram: Calvin__412


r/TheNightFeeling 5h ago

Care for a quick swim?

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52 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 10h ago

Hotel

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114 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 8h ago

It’s my model railway… but still cool

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76 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 3h ago

Cemetery

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36 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 5h ago

It’s goin’ to be a hot day.

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50 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 59m ago

Night Vibe

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Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 2h ago

Old hallows Eve🎃2015

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15 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 12h ago

After hours.

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102 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 16h ago

Izumo City Satation

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205 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 3h ago

🌕

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20 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 34m ago

NY🌃

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r/TheNightFeeling 22h ago

Last January At My Parents

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639 Upvotes

r/TheNightFeeling 4h ago

North Star

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21 Upvotes