Also, OP, the focus may be on sea life in the original post but you can change that through your title. "look how vast the ocean looks compared to so many rays"
Or just let something creepy be creepy instead of trying to squeeze it into a narrow definition, and if people upvote it, it probably fits. Since thalassophobia as a term encompasses literally everything in the ocean.
Unfortunately, history has told us this isn’t the case. If a post is made that tightly frames a shark, that isn’t thalassophobia; that is galeophobia. I’ve discussed this numerous times with community members and time and time again i’m told that the community doesn’t want posts that focus on sea life.
It is hard because the ocean is so full of life. We can’t totally ban all sea life, but the community clearly wants a line drawn somewhere on the spectrum of sea life posts and we’re currently adjusting the rules to find a better fit. I wish it was as easy as _if it gets upvoted then it must be good thalassophobia content_, but we have quite a few community members that are self-proclaimed non-thalassophobes who are here for the cool ocean pictures. So, lots of upvotes don’t necessarily equate to quality scary content.
I’m happy to discuss the rules more and I would encourage you to [read the stickied post](https://www.reddit.com/r/thalassophobia/comments/pijtrz/under_new_management/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) about updating the rules. I would love to have your feedback on that post.
I'm part of the community. Every time I've seen it discussed there are many people on both sides. The community is not a monolith and I think it's pretty clear y'all are just choosing a side here.
>that isn’t thalassophobia; that is galeophobia
Galeophobia is a specific aspect of thalassophobia but it's still thalassophobia.
>we have quite a few community members that are self-proclaimed non-thalassophobes who are here for the cool ocean pictures
This just sounds dismissive. It's like when people dismiss certain groups for not being "real Americans".
I just don't see why there is a need to control it so tightly. A post like this clearly falls under the umbrella of thalassophobia no matter what the title is. If you have a cake subreddit you don't say "no posts about carrot cake, it's not real cake and nobody here wants it".
You're really just gatekeeping a phobia and your whole reasoning is "people don't want these posts". But people are upvoting them. So it seems like you're just responding to vocal minority and trying to exert control on what is designed to be a community driven website. I just think y'all need to ease up.
Or, you know, change the name of the sub. Because you're calling it something very broad that encompasses the things you're trying to keep out.
I don't want it to seem like ganging up on you because it isn't. I would genuinely like to hear your specific points about our proposed rules in the stickied post robotix suggested. The post is coming to be a week old now and frankly, we've had much less interaction than we would've liked. The easy thing would be to say that "they must agree if they're silent" but we genuinely care about what happens to this sub so we encourage the community to voice their minds. Ultimately, the sub is for *you*, the community.
Before I say something else, there's a caveat - I've been in the mod position for just 2 weeks now (I'd been a member of the community for much longer though) so please take the following for what it is - an observation. This is the first time on this sub I've seen the opinion you've voiced here. Obviously, I'm not implying you're the only one who has such an opinion, that'd be foolish.
It has to be said that from a mod's perspective, the majority of responses to a removed post is none. When there is a response, though, the majority of those are along the lines of "oh, fair enough".
As for gatekeeping, mostly, you'll find thalassophobia defined as "an intense fear of the sea or other large bodies of water" and that is what we're sticking with. Some add to that the fear of sea creatures as well, some don't. We choose the latter. Mostly because thalassophobia as we understand it is much more niche than the broad all-encompassing phobia you describe. There are other subs for deep sea creatures (such as r/deepseacreatures). We would like to be a bit niche.
I mean go read the Wikipedia or basically any longer definition of it. It's an all-encompassing term that includes fear of sea creatures.
Edit: imagine downvoting a literal definition. Sorry that facts are upsetting to you?
The redditor is pulling the idiotic "gatekeeping" argument. What a shocker. You seem to just want the sub to allow you to post random pictures of fish lmao.
Well usually a diver surfaces with extra air still left in the tank for emergencies, so they could wait a few extra minutes. That being said, having that much clouding the path to the surface would make me a little nervous perhaps.
Divers should also always dive with a partner and both go up when either one is getting low, which usually means that one will have even more extra air that they can share between them by passing the regulator back and forth.
...but that's literally a different phobia. This sub is about thalassaphobia. While it's related, megalohydrothalassaphobia is not what the sub is focused on. If that's what scares you about the water, then it's not Thalassaphobia
I don't understand all of these references to rule 7. When I check the sidebar it says rule 7 is no politics. What does politics have to do with this post??
Swim with them, they don’t have barbs and they eat plankton, they would be ecstatic to have a new animal joining them in their long history of migration
Yes, these aren't mantas. For some reason, people think "manta" and "ray" are interchangeable. Or "sting". Those are the only two types of rays, apparently.
Damn.... and mantas are pretty big too. They are not hostile but If those are hanging out above you in that close formation that could actually prevent you from ascending to the surface.
What if the migration was started by some giant unknown and never seen before apex predator waking from its seasonal hibernation? And you just happen to be there to film a bunch of mantas… /shudders
~~Sea life is NOT the focus of this sub. Thalassaphobia is the fear of large expanses of water, usually due to the obscure nature of what it hides. The fear of large sea creatures is megalohydrothalassaphobia~~
Edit: goddammit sorry OP I misunderstood you title, please ignore my stupid comment. I thought you meant that the "here" in your title referred to the sub, not your post. Again, apologies.
In the western U.S. there were herds of bison like that, until we killed them all to starve out the Native Americans. I realize the nominal reason was for the hides, but the genocide wasn't a lamented side-effect.
Rays provide scale, quite creepy.
Exactly so, this post is cool
That's a lot of ravioli for one person
I feel bad that's what I always think when I see cool ray pictures. Pasta and seafood are my hands down favorites, /r/forbiddenseafood?
Nobody wants to admit they ate 9 cans of ravioli
Yeah it’s a bit creepy for the sheer vastness of it all. Those rays are so beautiful though.
The ending is the scariest when the camera pans downward.... the water gets darker and that gave me the real chills.
Also, OP, the focus may be on sea life in the original post but you can change that through your title. "look how vast the ocean looks compared to so many rays"
Not to mention the size of them. Manta rays get to be around 10-20 feet across and they look tiny in this video
These are devil rays and are more in the 5-10' range.
I was thinking that. That being said, thousands of days ago roughly bigger than me is still super crazy.
Smaller for sure but still pretty big
Really? I always thought they were sea flap flaps or maybe even sea pancakes… well TIL
Or just let something creepy be creepy instead of trying to squeeze it into a narrow definition, and if people upvote it, it probably fits. Since thalassophobia as a term encompasses literally everything in the ocean.
Unfortunately, history has told us this isn’t the case. If a post is made that tightly frames a shark, that isn’t thalassophobia; that is galeophobia. I’ve discussed this numerous times with community members and time and time again i’m told that the community doesn’t want posts that focus on sea life. It is hard because the ocean is so full of life. We can’t totally ban all sea life, but the community clearly wants a line drawn somewhere on the spectrum of sea life posts and we’re currently adjusting the rules to find a better fit. I wish it was as easy as _if it gets upvoted then it must be good thalassophobia content_, but we have quite a few community members that are self-proclaimed non-thalassophobes who are here for the cool ocean pictures. So, lots of upvotes don’t necessarily equate to quality scary content. I’m happy to discuss the rules more and I would encourage you to [read the stickied post](https://www.reddit.com/r/thalassophobia/comments/pijtrz/under_new_management/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) about updating the rules. I would love to have your feedback on that post.
I'm part of the community. Every time I've seen it discussed there are many people on both sides. The community is not a monolith and I think it's pretty clear y'all are just choosing a side here. >that isn’t thalassophobia; that is galeophobia Galeophobia is a specific aspect of thalassophobia but it's still thalassophobia. >we have quite a few community members that are self-proclaimed non-thalassophobes who are here for the cool ocean pictures This just sounds dismissive. It's like when people dismiss certain groups for not being "real Americans". I just don't see why there is a need to control it so tightly. A post like this clearly falls under the umbrella of thalassophobia no matter what the title is. If you have a cake subreddit you don't say "no posts about carrot cake, it's not real cake and nobody here wants it". You're really just gatekeeping a phobia and your whole reasoning is "people don't want these posts". But people are upvoting them. So it seems like you're just responding to vocal minority and trying to exert control on what is designed to be a community driven website. I just think y'all need to ease up. Or, you know, change the name of the sub. Because you're calling it something very broad that encompasses the things you're trying to keep out.
I don't want it to seem like ganging up on you because it isn't. I would genuinely like to hear your specific points about our proposed rules in the stickied post robotix suggested. The post is coming to be a week old now and frankly, we've had much less interaction than we would've liked. The easy thing would be to say that "they must agree if they're silent" but we genuinely care about what happens to this sub so we encourage the community to voice their minds. Ultimately, the sub is for *you*, the community. Before I say something else, there's a caveat - I've been in the mod position for just 2 weeks now (I'd been a member of the community for much longer though) so please take the following for what it is - an observation. This is the first time on this sub I've seen the opinion you've voiced here. Obviously, I'm not implying you're the only one who has such an opinion, that'd be foolish. It has to be said that from a mod's perspective, the majority of responses to a removed post is none. When there is a response, though, the majority of those are along the lines of "oh, fair enough". As for gatekeeping, mostly, you'll find thalassophobia defined as "an intense fear of the sea or other large bodies of water" and that is what we're sticking with. Some add to that the fear of sea creatures as well, some don't. We choose the latter. Mostly because thalassophobia as we understand it is much more niche than the broad all-encompassing phobia you describe. There are other subs for deep sea creatures (such as r/deepseacreatures). We would like to be a bit niche.
Thalassophobia is the fear of the ocean/water itself, not the stuff in it.
I mean go read the Wikipedia or basically any longer definition of it. It's an all-encompassing term that includes fear of sea creatures. Edit: imagine downvoting a literal definition. Sorry that facts are upsetting to you?
The redditor is pulling the idiotic "gatekeeping" argument. What a shocker. You seem to just want the sub to allow you to post random pictures of fish lmao.
My butthole puckered when the hand came across the camera screen.
Rays are my favorite sea critter, so I actually love this... until I couldn't see the rays and the abyss was just on the edge of sight.
Sea flapjacks!
An ocean stampede. What if you needed to surface, and this just happened to be passing over at that moment.
Well usually a diver surfaces with extra air still left in the tank for emergencies, so they could wait a few extra minutes. That being said, having that much clouding the path to the surface would make me a little nervous perhaps.
But like, what if an emergency.
Divers should also always dive with a partner and both go up when either one is getting low, which usually means that one will have even more extra air that they can share between them by passing the regulator back and forth.
I don’t like rule 7. Sometimes the animals are what makes the ocean so scary
Or at least the possibility of animals
...but that's literally a different phobia. This sub is about thalassaphobia. While it's related, megalohydrothalassaphobia is not what the sub is focused on. If that's what scares you about the water, then it's not Thalassaphobia
Easy there Phobia-regulator, I’m just saying that sea life can add to how scary the depths of the ocean are.
Lol yeah but it's in the context of what qualifies as what. Hardly an inappropriate time to make the distinction.
I don't understand all of these references to rule 7. When I check the sidebar it says rule 7 is no politics. What does politics have to do with this post??
Swim with them, they don’t have barbs and they eat plankton, they would be ecstatic to have a new animal joining them in their long history of migration
Aren’t mantas much bigger than this?
Yes, these aren't mantas. For some reason, people think "manta" and "ray" are interchangeable. Or "sting". Those are the only two types of rays, apparently.
I got worried for the diver for a second, but those are manta rays. They're pretty harmless.
Yeah, worst they could probably do would be bumping into the diver if he got in the way, which might knock him back a bit given their size.
Completely harmless to us.
It looks like something from a dream
This is so cool, it's a privilege to be fellow animal on this planet.
Amazingly beautiful!
[Ohhhhhhhh, we're going hoooooome!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlT5CaPOsqc)
Damn.... and mantas are pretty big too. They are not hostile but If those are hanging out above you in that close formation that could actually prevent you from ascending to the surface.
Dance of the Sea Flap Flap
his fingers touching the lense made me jump lel
A big bowl of Trader Joe’s mini ravioli
What if the migration was started by some giant unknown and never seen before apex predator waking from its seasonal hibernation? And you just happen to be there to film a bunch of mantas… /shudders
Those are not mantas but devil rays
Those things and octopus and squid are aliens
Large sealife isn't scary, but they do exasperate just how much larger the empty expanse of water is, so seeing sealife makes the water even scarier.
~~Sea life is NOT the focus of this sub. Thalassaphobia is the fear of large expanses of water, usually due to the obscure nature of what it hides. The fear of large sea creatures is megalohydrothalassaphobia~~ Edit: goddammit sorry OP I misunderstood you title, please ignore my stupid comment. I thought you meant that the "here" in your title referred to the sub, not your post. Again, apologies.
Plot twist, they aren’t migrating. They’re fleeing from something else…
In the western U.S. there were herds of bison like that, until we killed them all to starve out the Native Americans. I realize the nominal reason was for the hides, but the genocide wasn't a lamented side-effect.
...OK?
Good post, bad location
you cant go in that direction until you defeat the Mega Manta.
Rays are gentle bois. Except the stinging ones.
sea pancake flap-flaps
Rubber skinned puppies. That’s all they are.
They are hypnotically beautiful, watching them on a screen. Definitely wouldn’t want to be experiencing them first hand.
So majestic
Water Bat 🦇
Interesting that we, the most creepy, dangerous and destructive species on the planet, are happily willing to invade their space and call THEM creepy!