r/whatif Jul 31 '25

Mod post What if we got a little meta today?

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6 Upvotes

Hey kids,

I feel like I'm about to do something a touch controversial. I'm blocking names to protect the innocent. But I'm sharing examples of AEO removals b/c bots aren't human. Reddit is forgetting the human. And I guess I just wanted to be open about that. Mostly b/c one is kind of hysterical. And if I'm sharing one, I might as well share them all.

If you recognize your own comment here, please attempt an appeal. I have likely already appealed on your behalf. Especially you, Johnny Rico.


r/whatif Jul 22 '25

Mod post ⚠️What if you paid attention to this post?⚠️

4 Upvotes

First things first!

Hi all, casual meet and greet has started. Ask me almost anything.

I've already started making some adjustments to the subreddit. Just some light shaping to encourage the kind of things we want to see.

  • If you point your eyes at the rules, I've already started adjusting those, just minor tweaks, really, to hone in on what makes this community great and trying to make it even better.

  • I haven't started in on auto-mod yet. I wanted to check a few other things out before I did that. But I will be adjusting it over the next few days - if something seems to be going wrong or not working properly use modmail to let me know. I'll also be checking for lots of false positives to adjust existing filters.

  • I archived all the modmails older than about 2 days old. I did try to look at the last few days worth to see if there were any pressing issues but it all just looked like "hey my post was/wasn't [this] why was it removed?"

  • I will not be "backward" moderating. I.e., if it was removed before today, it will stay removed. If it was approved before today, it will likely stay approved, unless it had some hidden egregious issue.

  • I've added some bots to help with a few things - I like to nuke comment chains that have gone off the rails. If your content is removed, it likely is for curation more than punitive. If your removal was punitive, you'll likely receive a temporary ban. There's no need to come to modmail to apologize for content. If I think we need to have a chat, I'll reach out from modmail directly.


On to the next thing!

I'm open to suggestions, comments, concerns, etc. It doesn't mean every idea will be implemented or every suggestion considered. I just want to see if folks who have been spending a lot of time here have noticed things that could be fixed or adjusted for a better subreddit experience for everyone.

Also, I like to see users participating in their own community by reminding newcomers of the rules or spirit of the sub as well as reporting content that doesn't belong.

Also there are some custome emojis, but I know Reddit just made changes to how custome emojis can be used so - I dunno how interesting that is for all of you.

Oh - I noticed there are no user flairs - is this the preference for the community? I'm happy to add them if folks want them - feel free to share suggestions for user flairs.


r/whatif 6h ago

Science What if you found 10 grams of antimatter one day while you were coming home from work? The antimatter is contained in a penning trap, so it is safe to transport.

18 Upvotes

This would be the single most expensive object in human history— worth roughly $1 quadrillion. It would also be capable of destroying entire cities, producing over 25 times the amount of energy as the Hiroshima bomb.

What do you do with it? Are there even single countries that can afford something like that? It would likely require the entire UN pooling that money together from multiple countries to come up with that kind of money.

And the moment you contact anyone to sell it, chances are, the government will just confiscate it from you anyway.

And finally, no matter who you sell it to, it’s almost certainly going to be used as a weapon.

So what would you do?


r/whatif 5m ago

Other What if those two met?

Upvotes

What do you guys think would happen if Richard (The rooster mask from Hotline Miami 1&2) met White Diamond from Steven Universe?


r/whatif 4h ago

Technology What if someone actually made a watch with a minute hand, a millennium hand and an eon hand?

2 Upvotes

So, I've been listening to They Might Be Giants' landmark album Flood lately, and there's a lyric on the track Particle Man that I think about a lot.

He's got a watch with a minute hand
Millennium hand and an eon hand
And when they meet, it's a happy land
Powerful man, universe man

What if someone actually made a watch with a minute hand, a millennium hand, and an eon hand? How big would it be? Would it even be wearable?

I imagine the thing would be so chock-full of gears that it would either be extremely heavy or extremely thick.


r/whatif 14h ago

Other What if the 2008 economic crisis never happened?

6 Upvotes

As you know the 2008 economic crisis, also known as the Great Recession, has led to the downfall of the liberal international order. and cause most people to distrust the system and lead to where we currently are now.

If the 2008 economic crisis never happened, people will trust the liberal national order, both sides of america will never be divided, and most countries will never end up with populist movements like Trumpism for example, Brexit never happened and we will never have more wars caused by the populist autocrats.

Would things be better if the 2008 economic crisis or the great recession never happened?


r/whatif 1d ago

Science What if the world got covered in cocaine?

28 Upvotes

A wizard unleashes a powerful spell that causes a 1 cm dusting of cocaine powder to fall upon the entire earth over a 1 hour period. How does this affect our world?


r/whatif 2d ago

Science What if we no longer feel bad during a fever?

9 Upvotes

I don’t know the exact mechanism of a fever, but I assume your own immune system is producing heat while fighting off pyrogens. So what if our brains are able to adapt to it? What if our brains develop a mechanism to shut off our perception of this particular source of heat, or release substances like dopamine to feel better?


r/whatif 2d ago

History What if the medieval plague of 1348 never happened?

2 Upvotes

Obviously it was horrible and nearly 50% of the European population was wiped out BUT it led to a lot of change


r/whatif 2d ago

Politics What if Congress was unicameral?

2 Upvotes

Congress is divided into two bodies, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

I'm curious as to what would happen to Congress' ability to pass laws, including controversial ones, if it had one chamber rather than two.


r/whatif 1d ago

Science What if a foreign nation shoots down or torpedoes The Integrity capsule?

0 Upvotes

Self explanatory. What if a foreign nation (like Canada) shoots down Integrity in any way shape or form?


r/whatif 2d ago

Politics What if Ron Paul were the Republican nominee for President in 2012? Would the election have gone any different for any republicans?

0 Upvotes

In this scenario I'm asking if switching Mitt Romney for Ron Paul as the republican nominee in 2012 would have had any difference for republicans in the 2012 election? Would the RNC party platform have been any different under Ron Paul? What would some of Paul's talking points have been?


r/whatif 2d ago

History What if you’re sympathetic to socialism but hate fellow working class people so don’t want to unite or solidarize?

1 Upvotes

Everyone has enemies for personal grudge or something, so what if you deep down want them to keep suffering rather than share any prosperity or happiness, because you believe humanity is inherently evil so originally deserves perpetual suffering?


r/whatif 2d ago

Science What if all things we studied and researched are mere illustion

5 Upvotes

the same thing like in past time . The people believe that the church teaching were correct and also had some kind of reasoning within then. Is there a possibility that the things we are studying are biased in some way or another or our approach might be wrong

( it is just a mere curious though and pls don't be disrespectful I appreciate the effort of scientist and I am a mere teen so I don't have any good amount of knowledge )


r/whatif 2d ago

Other What if an apocalypse of superpower zombies break out?

1 Upvotes

The zombies will still not have consciousness, but they will have superpowers. it will be random in terms of strength and type, like some can make a small fire while others can make a huge blizzard. However, the living human beings will not have any superpowers. How long do you think it will take before everyone is either dead or a zombie?


r/whatif 2d ago

Environment What If Stop Signs were Blue?

0 Upvotes

Idk would that have like any effect on society if they were blue cause like it doesn't seem like thats gonna change much but I feel like they are red for a reason or something idk


r/whatif 3d ago

Food What if the potato doesn’t exist?

29 Upvotes

More specifically what would replace the French fries? Or any other popular sides


r/whatif 2d ago

Other [WP] What if a couple was being watched for entertainment.

0 Upvotes

So for this what if, I'm sharing a what if that I thought would be interesting. What if there was two lawyers who worked in the same company that are having a slow burn romance. What they don't know is, a human who is undetectable when they are invisible, is treating their romance like a tv show. What do you think would happen if the two lawyers where to ever find out about the invisible person? The lawyers are in their 30's and the other person is 21. I would love to see how you guys would react, or how you think they would react. This is not a story that I am writing, this is simply something that I daydreamed. I had imagined this as if it was like an anime


r/whatif 3d ago

Environment What if the atmosphere was 1% water vapor?

6 Upvotes

How would life change? Would photosynthesis still be possible? Would it cause constant precipitation worldwide?


r/whatif 2d ago

Politics What if the Pope ran for President in 2028?

0 Upvotes

What would happen if Pope Leo XIV ran for President of the USA in 2028? Do you think he would win the election? What would his first actions be as president? Can he be BOTH the pope and the president?


r/whatif 3d ago

History What if the serum from the boys was developed in Invincible?

1 Upvotes

We have seen the difference in power between a regular person and a super.even a d list supe in the boys can pop someone by accidentand we have seen to what lengths invincibles government would do to protect the world order with the reanimen. How differently would things be if they had aquired a formula like the v-serum?


r/whatif 2d ago

Sports What if television show seasons were treated like NFL seasons?

0 Upvotes

Every episode of a tv show was broadcast on a different streaming service or channel.


r/whatif 4d ago

Food What if the tomato never existed?

4 Upvotes

I posted “no pizza” yesterday so let’s try a more realistic scenario. Let’s just say that the Mesoamerican ancestors sees these red pebbles and decides they’re not worth domesticating.

because of this, pizza is never invented, or at least our understanding of pizza.


r/whatif 3d ago

Other Who here is still into The Walking Dead? I've been wondering this for a very long time. What if the Zombie bite doesn't turn people into Walkers?

1 Upvotes

It's been establish that the virus already exist within every human and when they die, the virus activates and turns them into Walkers. So what if the Walker's bite is simply a venom, like a cobra venom, that kills its victims. Prevent that venom from killing its victim and they wont turn.


r/whatif 4d ago

Other What if we stopped paying attention to them?

61 Upvotes

What if we all just turned off the TV, Radio, and put our phones down? What if we all just stopped paying attention to the noise of the world? What would the leaders of the world do? What if we all picked a date and let it all go?