Recently, many users have been posting images and videos of new Chinese aircraft that are of low-quality: either low resolution or technically-acceptable resolution with a small aircraft in the frame (i.e., if the photo was properly cropped it would not have met the resolution limit).

This subreddit, and many others with the "-porn" suffix (e.g., r/WarshipPorn, r/EarthPorn, etc.), were established to be places for high-quality media of their respective subjects. They were not established as current-event subreddits. I will reiterate: r/WarplanePorn is for high-quality media (high-resolution and hopefully of some aesthetic merit) of military aircraft. The entire founding purpose of the subreddit is aesthetics and not news. Our job as moderators is to preserve this purpose; so many other subreddits have broadened their scope to the point of banality, and we will not be responsible for another such case.

We do indeed have an exception to our resolution rule: that the subject must be "exceptional." This pertains to rare media, media of exceptional aesthetic quality, and media of historical significance. The images of the new Chinese aircraft do not meet these criteria. In a year or two's time, when we have actual high-resolution photos and videos of these aircraft, these images and videos currently being posted will be irrelevant. How many of you look back on some fuzzy photo of the J-20 now when we have hundreds or thousands of high-res photos available?

The only reason they are being posted is that they are new. There are many other places, both on reddit and the internet more generally, where you may find these images and videos and discuss them. But please understand that they are not appropriate for this subreddit.

For those accusing us of bias, know that we have been accused of being pro-Western and pro-China in about equal measure. What you you may not know is that probably an equal number of non-Chinese posts get removed for exactly the same reasons.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with posting high-quality photos of Chinese aircraft: the subject is irrelevant and all that matters is the quality. And if you do post a low-res image, you will not be banned; the post will simply be removed. Before you post, just take a second to think about if it is appropriate for this subreddit. A quick look at the other posts on the subreddit gives a good idea of what is appropriate.

Edit: Note, not all images of the new Chinese jets are low-quality, see here (although please don't post images you believe to have had some degree of AI enhancement):

https://www.reddit.com/r/WarplanePorn/comments/1k5vamn/album_ladies_and_gentleman_finally_high_quality/

While the vast majority of our users consistently submit high quality images as intended, we continue to experience waves and bouts of substandard low resolution photos submissions and video media.

Currently, our Rules located in the sidebar include the dimension requirements which has not changed:

The minimum accepted image dimensions are 1024 × 768.

What is new is this:

For rules violations related to the posting of low resolution or low quality images, the post will be removed plus a minimum 3-day temporary ban will be issued to the user involved. Repeat or chronic violators are subject to a permanent ban. If there are questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment here or DM the moderators directly.