r/90s: rules, karma requirements and posting culture

Who posts here

Nothing here needs expertise. The typical post is a picture or clip with a seven word title, and the typical reply is about nine words of recognition, a quoted line or a joke. Asking whether anyone remembers something is the house format, so a basic question gets answered, not corrected.

• People who grew up in the decade and post what they remember: shows, toys, school lunches, ads.
• Film and music fans sharing clips, posters and release anniversaries.
• Some younger members who caught only the tail end of it and want to see what it looked like.
• Small creators with a retro channel, stream or artwork, posting under the Self-Promotion flair.

Karma and account requirements

What it takes to get a post through in r/90s.

What you can post

What happens to a new post

Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 400.

• Stayed up91%
• Removed by Reddit's filters6%
• Held by AutoModerator<1%
• Removed by moderators<1%
• Deleted by the author2%

Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.

The rules, in the mods' words

1. 1

   Please follow reddiquette & be respectful.

   - Keep it civil at all times. - Keep in mind that someone disagreeing with your opinion or perspective is not a personal attack. - Do not demean, insult, belittle, or harass others. - Do not use racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or any other form of discriminatory language. - Violating this rule may result in a temporarily or permanent ban depending on the severity.

2. 2

   Posts must be related to the ‘90s.

   - This subreddit is for everything ‘90s. Feel free to report all non ‘90s images and discussions.

3. 3

   No low effort posts.

   - Please include context in the title field when posting images, gifs, and videos or other non-text content. - Low effort posts are subject to removal at moderators descretion.

4. 4

   Self-promotion is allowed once weekly with community participation.

   - We allow one instance of self-promotion per week with community participation. - Linking to any content you're affiliated with in any way is self-promotion. - Read reddit's guidelines on self-promotion: www.reddit.com/wiki/selfpromotion

5. 5

   Soliciting business is strictly prohibited.

   - We do encourage people to share their content, but it's strictly prohibited to make a business out of it on this subreddit. - This includes linking to sales websites, promoting merchandising for financial gain, or directly messaging other users via DM or chat to solicit business. - A violation of this rule may be met with a permanent ban.

6. 6

   No NSFW content.

   - NSFW posts, or comments that contain explicit, or general inapproriate content will be removed.

7. 7

   Users are limited to a maximum of three posts within a 24-hour period.

   - In the event that a user is identified posting more than three times within a 24-hour time frame, their posts will be removed, and the user will receive a warning. - Repeated violations of this rule may result in a temporary, or permanent ban from the community due to spamming.

8. 8

   Do not make use of Redact.dev.

   - Mass deleting comments, or posts with Redact.dev will result in a permanent ban.

9. 9

   No AI-generated content.

   - AI-generated submissions, comments, or content are strictly prohibited. - The '90s offer plenty of existing material, making the use of AI-tools for creating additional content unnecessary. - The AI-content is often irrelevant, misleading, or failing to capture the spirit of the decade.

These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.

The culture

r/90s is a scrapbook. About half of posts are images and more than a quarter are videos: movie posters, music videos, TV stills, old ads, toys. Text posts are rare, under one in ten. The title does the work, and the rules ask you to put context in it so people know what they are looking at.

The posts that travel are simple prompts for recognition. A still from an old show asking who remembers it drew over 300 comments. A film matched to the day's date, an early video game and a piece of trivia about a sitcom house being demolished all did well. Anniversaries are a staple: a film released 30 years ago today, two teen stars turning 50.

There is not much of a fight here. Friction shows up in the comments under celebrity posts, where a thread about an actor's work drifts into arguments about their private life. The moderators' firm lines are elsewhere: no AI-generated content, no links to X, Facebook or Instagram, and no using the subreddit to sell.

What lands

• A single recognizable image with a title that asks if people remember it.
• Anniversary posts tied to the date: a release 30 years ago today, a star's birthday.
• Trivia with a small surprise in it, like a plaque marking where a sitcom house used to stand.
• Clips from films and music videos, with the title naming the work and the year.

What gets removed or ignored

• Links to X, Facebook or Instagram, and screenshots from them. AutoModerator removes X links on its own.
• Posts that sell something. An advert for a ticketed tribute night was removed even with the Self-Promotion flair.
• AI-generated images, text or comments.
• A fourth post inside 24 hours, and image or video posts with no context in the title.
• Present-day news loosely tied to the decade can go too. A link about an old series arriving on a streaming service was removed.

The unwritten rules

• Keep the title short and specific. The median title is seven words.
• Do not expect discussion in depth. The median comment is nine words, usually a memory, a quote or a joke.
• Links in comments are rare, about 1 in 40. A link to your own channel will stand out.
• Photos of actors attract comments about their personal lives. If you post a celebrity, that is the thread you may get.

Self-promotion

The rule allows one self-promotional post per week, on the condition that you also take part in the community, and it counts any link to content you are affiliated with as self-promotion. Selling is a separate matter: linking to sales sites, pushing merchandise or messaging members to solicit business is prohibited and can mean a permanent ban. In practice the Self-Promotion flair is used for things like a retro gameplay video or a nostalgia stream. It is on under 2% of posts and those posts get modest attention. An event advert under the same flair was removed.

How people write here

Typical post length

32 words

Typical title length

7 words

Titles phrased as a question

16%

Typical comment length

9 words

Comments that include a link

2%

Posts that carry a flair

100%

The regulars

The accounts that showed up most in our sample. Worth reading before you post: they set the tone, and they are usually the first to reply.

Top keywords

The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/90s.

• mtv 10 posts
• movie 20 posts
• remember 34 posts
• song 13 posts
• nostalgia 9 posts
• soundtrack 5 posts
• mtv unplugged 5 posts
• belding 5 posts
• movies 11 posts
• iconic 7 posts
• kid 14 posts
• nickelodeon 4 posts
• mighty ducks 4 posts
• mariah 4 posts
• haskins 4 posts
• dennis haskins 4 posts
• carey 4 posts
• n64 4 posts
• madonna 4 posts
• club 9 posts
• boy 8 posts
• remembers 7 posts
• tiffani 3 posts
• mr belding 3 posts
• mariah carey 3 posts
• kurt 3 posts
• grammy 3 posts
• autotune 3 posts
• watching 12 posts
• dance 6 posts
• awards 5 posts
• watched 9 posts
• celebrities 4 posts
• peak 8 posts
• kids 12 posts
• school 15 posts
• music 10 posts
• halloween 6 posts
• films 5 posts
• rangers 3 posts

Recurring topics: movies.

Posts that did well

• Today is a good day to watch Mrs. Doubtfire1.1k upvotes · 33 comments · :photo: Photo
• GTA 1 🚖🚔🚘883 upvotes · 137 comments · :photo: Photo
• Remember this show?599 upvotes · 312 comments · :90s: Discussion
• Unexpected MP3 Mashups: A Welcomed Surprise596 upvotes · 61 comments · :video: Video
• The house shown in the sitcom "Family Matters" was demolished in 2017. The building that replaced it put up a plaque to commemorate the original house.587 upvotes · 151 comments · :photo: Photo
• Can we get this lady some Tylenol. She’s had a headache for over 30 years219 upvotes · 15 comments · :photo: Photo
• I feel this in my shitty fake driver's license from 199148 upvotes · 5 comments · :video: Video
• The Pizza Hut BOOK IT!35 upvotes · 1 comments · :90s: Discussion

Growth

1. 2012973
2. 20132.2k
3. 20143.4k
4. 20154.8k
5. 20167.2k
6. 201710k
7. 201820k
8. 201948k
9. 202089k
10. 2021135k
11. 2022184k
12. 2024338k
13. 2025495k
14. 2026651k

Common questions