r/rugbyunion • u/ConscriptReports Australia • Sep 26 '26
Miscellaneous The introduction of a new trial for a potential addition of Rule 11: No unflaired accounts allowed to comment until a flair is selected
Hi all,
In an attempt to get ahead of the massive surge in sub participants that will join in the latter half of the 2026 season, with the conclusion of the Nations Championship, and in the 2027 season for obvious reasons, we in the Mod team have decided to trial something new: automod will block anyone from posting a comment in a thread until they have selected a flair for themselves.
We do this in the hope that it will curb the amount of bad-faith comments and trolls that lower the quality of discussions around Rugby in our community. We desire to keep our side of the Rugby social ecosystem a fun, friendly and non-toxic space where all are welcome to discuss the Rugby first and foremost.
If it ends up being too restrictive or counterproductive to fostering of that aforementioned community ethos of good Rugby discussion, we'll not institute Rule 11 and roll back the adjustments to AutoMod.
Thanks All,
The r/RugbyUnion Mod team
Edit: As pointed out in the thread, to clarify with more information, currently the AutoMod will hit an unflaired individual with the following message telling them to flair up:
Your {{kind}} has been removed because r/rugbyunion requires users to have a user flair before participating. Please select a user flair and try again. On desktop, use "Community options" or the edit icon beside "User flair" in the sidebar. In the Reddit app, open the subreddit, tap the three dots at the top right and choose "Change user flair". If you are unable to select a flair, please contact the moderators.
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u/JensonInterceptor Sep 26 '26
We're pretending that flaired long term users dont post toxic trash every time some countries play the sport?
One of the biggest contributors to this sub told me years ago that its okay to hate X country because people from Y political union did bad things historically
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u/B4rberblacksheep Sep 27 '26
Did that person happen to be a moderator cause I saw an interaction like that just a few months ago
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u/No-Bison-5397 Sep 27 '26
Yeah.
The game was crazy yesterday but after the win it was a little embarrassing to share an Australian flair with some of the comments.
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u/Savage13765 Sep 26 '26
No, but cutting out a percentage of that kind of comment is better, and this is an easily implemented way of doing so.
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u/TagMeInSkipIGotThis Sep 27 '26
It won't cut out anything, you just pick any old random flair and be as toxic as you want.
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Sep 26 '26
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u/rugbyunion-ModTeam Sep 27 '26
It will never be considered ref abuse if a user criticises specific aspects of a referee's game, decision, or style. However, ad hominem generalised attacks are unacceptable, this includes accusations of corruption and intentional bias.
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u/HitchikersPie Sep 26 '26
I’m fine with this as long as people can comment, and get an automod reply on how to flair up, ideally we should want to get as many people joining, not inhibiting their ability to join
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u/MrQeu Sep 26 '26
Don’t like it. You can say whatever you want on your flair. Rather put up a karma limit. Maybe even higher karma limit than now if you want.
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u/19Andrew92 Sep 26 '26
Agreed… I think it’s more fucked up that the people who don’t use flairs are trying to comment on this to explain their reasoning and are just being automatically deleted…
Making a change then essentially banning the people who are on the other side of the argument is hardly fair
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u/know-it-mall Sep 27 '26
Yea this needs stated several more times. We literally can't read what their arguments are against it because they are being immediately censored.
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u/Connell95 Sep 26 '26
There already is a karma limit to post, surely? If not, that’s a bit mad, given it’s just a basic subreddit toggle.
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u/treacletart284 Sep 26 '26
I actually dont think there is for here. I do know from experience though you need a positive Contributor Quality Score, but that takes very little to actually get
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u/kiwiborger Sep 26 '26
Yeah, I was shadowbanned for a wee bit and couldn't properly comment in match threads until I had a moderate CQS score.
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u/weapwars Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 27 '26
This is a completely unnecessary position. This sub is not being brigaded and not suffering from excessive trolling. Instead it's being made more and more inaccessible except to a small cabal of power users. If what you want is a small insular clique then fair enough, youre all within your right to do it. But moderation actions like this and the excessive spoiler rule only serve to turn off anyone but the hardcore users. And this won't stop toxicity, it just contains it to the hardcore power users who act like prefects and school captains.
Rugby is not as popular other sports. It has a large following of fairweather and casual fans. This is just reality.
Edit: btw, the mods are doing this but totally on board with AI.
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u/Thecceffect Sep 26 '26
Why it's fun trying to guess what ban base they belong to
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u/rustyb42 Sep 26 '26
It's usually south Africa or new zealand
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u/McFly654 Sep 26 '26
I’ve dealt with some pretty ugly Irishmen and Aussies on here too
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u/dwaynepebblejohnson3 Sep 26 '26
We are pretty funny looking tbf. A lot of us have quite weathered faces
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u/Rasengan2012 Sep 26 '26
Had an Irishman call me a racist after I said “good game” on a SA v Ireland post match thread 😭😂
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u/slefandar Sep 26 '26
Bro there's no need for that please apologise, we are an inclusive community here smh
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u/dwaynepebblejohnson3 Sep 26 '26
You can usually tell based on whether they have a superiority complex (NZ) or a rabid hatred of other teams (SA)
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u/negrofarmer Sep 26 '26
South African’s don’t hate other teams (except England)
Personally I admire the Irish and New Zealand National teams, love to see other nations break out on the world stage.
I love to see the game grow and enjoyed by all; all but the English.1
u/AutoModerator Sep 26 '26
Hi u/negrofarmer, your comment has been removed because r/rugbyunion requires users to have a user flair before participating.
Please select a user flair and try again. On desktop, use the edit icon beside "User flair" in the sidebar. In the Reddit app, open the subreddit, tap the three dots at the top right and choose "Change user flair".
If you are unable to select a flair, please contact the moderators.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/g_spaitz Sep 26 '26
lol I was going to comment the same but it seems I'm not the only one thinking it.
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u/Hoaxtopia Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
A flair has never stopped me posting bad faith comments here.
All this does is gatekeep new fans to the sport. This is one of those things that is a big task for new fans and first contributors who might want to ask some simple questions or might not be Reddit users previously yet is a tiny task for trolls with intention who understand the system.
Just moderate the sub properly like every other sporting sub....
This just feels like a lobster is too buttery woe is me impulsive change.
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u/weapwars Sep 26 '26
The rugby union sub being shitty at appealing to new users and causals to appeal to a the embedded group is frighteningly appropriate given the sport in question.
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u/sheep1996 Sep 27 '26
The rugby Union sub is very different to any of the other sports subs I’m a part of. There’s lots of toxicity, sure, but there’s an absolutely massive amount of insightful real-time commentary that just doesn’t exist anywhere else. Look at something like the cricket or football subreddit match threads and it’s just full of one word slop, which has started to happen in the bigger international threads here.
So I’m super excited for this rule, it just adds a bit of effort so that people who are just going to join in to say “haha loser knocked it on” are discouraged from commenting until they have something important enough to say that they get themselves a flair.
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u/TagMeInSkipIGotThis Sep 27 '26
it kinda feels like what you're unintentionally saying is that the rule isn't needed as this is already a better place than most.
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u/know-it-mall Sep 27 '26
Completely unnecessary rule. And people shouldn't have to do a flair to comment on a sport. Why do they have to claim alignment to something? And how does it stop trolls or bad faith arguments in any way?
And the fact that you are automatically deleting comments from people who are trying to make a point about why they don't is atrocious.
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u/BenButton123 Sep 26 '26
Other sports subs don't require this, why does this one, which has way less regular users and posts/comments need it?
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u/Consistent-Annual268 Sep 26 '26
This sub is uniquely and tremendously non-toxic amongst sports and pop culture subs. Finding ways to preserve that is not a bad thing. The question is just how to achieve it, this is one attempt by the mods.
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u/BenButton123 Sep 26 '26
Eh? This sub has plenty of toxicity. Spend 5 minutes in a international match thread.
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u/Llew19 Sep 26 '26
I mean that's kinda the point, the frequent commenters are generally fine. It's only when the internationals roll around and the mongos come out of the woodwork do things take a turn. That last SA v NZ mens game was one of the worst threads I've ever seen, I had no idea so many kiwis had access to the internet to post so much fury
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u/Syphe Sep 26 '26
I only open the match threads at half time but I find all users that post in them a bit sad, I can't imagine spending the game arguing with other Internet users while the game goes on in front of you.
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u/19Andrew92 Sep 26 '26
Have you never been on a match thread?
This sub can be just as toxic as any other one
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u/weapwars Sep 26 '26
It's really not, it's just that it suits a bunch of hardcore power users. If you want to protect a community go make a discord and stop squatting on a generic sports sub.
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u/HaggisTheCow Sep 26 '26
Nah sorry this is a terrible rule.
But no more than I'd expect from a mod team which features someone who has half the sub blocked.
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u/BillHicksFan Sep 26 '26
Out of curiosity, who's that?
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u/HaggisTheCow Sep 26 '26
I'm unsure if he's still a mod, being you know blocked and all for saying something mean about Edinburgh, but connell
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u/Whit135 Sep 26 '26
Baffling new rule. I have chosen a random flair and can now say whatever I want under the guise of been a Malawi 7s supporter lol. This trashes any new and random visitors first time engaging on the sub by deleting ther first interaction at which point the will almost certainly leave and not comeback. Staggering that wed discourage engagement and new fans...
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u/Vrakzi Sep 27 '26
The worst thing about this decision is that there will no longer be the opportunity to tell people to FLAIR UP OR FUCK OFF in the sledge threads.
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u/WCRugger Sep 26 '26
Hate it. Why is it necessary? Who cares if they have a flair or not. I've added just to make this comment. Though it does feel very Rugby.
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u/KassGrain Sep 26 '26
I think this is a wrong answer to a real problem. Forcing users to set a flair will not make them behave better, on the opposite it could reinforce a biased behavior of "Oh this user has this kinda flair, so he is probably this and that".
I dont have a proper solution to give other than "mod team needs to take on more work, thus recruit more".
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u/chocolateturtle456 Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
Will they get an automod reply telling fhem what to do and how to do it?
I'm all for nuanced conversations with fans of other teams and countries but I'm also here for those ridiculous takes you see from the fans and letting them have time to watch the game and understand the game.
I feel like if someone doesn't have a flair that already lets you know that they may be new to the game, or the sub, or Reddit in general.
Also, what is my flair?
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u/mhaze0791 Sep 26 '26
Yours is Hurricanes
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u/chocolateturtle456 Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
Cheers mate.
Of course it is 😅 I'll ride that high for another 10 years.
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u/kiwiborger Sep 26 '26
Some subs automatically assign flairs to new users, just have it say "I'm new to this sport" or something, no need to make a big fuss about it.
And hey, remember when you guys tried to ban memes during the World Cup? I still remember that.
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u/BillHicksFan Sep 26 '26
That was nearly 4 years ago and the mod team is completely different, lol.
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u/Gent414 Sep 26 '26
Can we get some of the flairs updated? Bristol have been the Bears for 8 years now 🙄
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u/TheMusicArchivist Sep 27 '26
I don't like it. Imagine your first comment is "you're not yet welcome to post here". It would put me off interacting altogether.
I'd rather we just down vote or block the morons as necessary. Are we seriously expecting a massive increase in new users over the autumn anyway? Surely all the nerds are already here.
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u/puchunz Sep 27 '26
I don’t like this rule change, it’s making the match threads less interactive and harder for casuals to drop in and engage.
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u/_Mc_Who Sep 26 '26
Can I use this as a moment to request new Champ flairs pls
No Richmond flair makes me sad ):
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u/SignalButterscotch73 Sep 27 '26
I strongly recommend that the block is only on creating posts and on not making comments.
Random folk getting involved in match threads during internatonals, despite some of them being complete numpties, is a good thing for the growth of the sub. It's how I got involved. (not sure how good of an example that is... my have scuppered my own case with that admission)
Rage bait posts by folk without flairs is a problem, spamming the sub with crap that shouldn't have been a comment at best is a way bigger issue than idiots that can easily be ignored in a match thread.
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u/ruggerdubdub Sep 27 '26 edited Sep 27 '26
The fact you’ve implemented it without sounding people out to whether they actually want to trial it, and then deleting comments automatically from those who aren’t flaired/falling in line feels slightly dictatorial to me.
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u/Myburgher Sep 27 '26
I don’t mind the law change, but it’s if the refs are going to referee it consistently which is the issue. If the law is applied one way for the Aus vs SA game thread and another way for the Nations Cup game threads, then I don’t know what to expect anymore.
I’m not saying every decision will be perfect, as the mods are people too and make mistakes. I just want consistency. But of course I’ll be biased toward my own comments and ignore comments from rivals.
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u/Geosaurusrex Sep 27 '26
Not being funny but what was the point in adding like 20 mods last WC if they're not gonna moderate comments? This is just lazy.
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u/treacletart284 Sep 26 '26
Gonna have to have this pinned to the sub for a while, and probably in most threads too. I quite like this idea though, if anything just so we can tell who supports who
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u/World_In_Union Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
This is dumb and lazy from the Mods.
It will reduce engagement which the sport needs as much of as possible. Especially during the World Cup
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u/protostar71 Sep 26 '26
It takes literally two seconds to flair up. You clearly didnt struggle with it.
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u/19Andrew92 Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
Honestly can’t see this making a single bit of difference other than automatically removing someone’s potentially first interaction with the sub…If someone wants to be a dick in the sub they’re just going to do it anyway but with a flair
Edit: also finding it concerning that there’s plenty of people who don’t have flairs who are trying to comment on this very post with presumably differing opinions… and they’re just being deleted automatically!
You have literally just made a change and everyone who doesn’t like the change simply can’t voice their opinion! I get why you want to try the change but you have to actually allow people to explain why they don’t like/ want to use flairs before you essentially auto ban them from participating in the sub…
Give the people that don’t use them a bloody chance to say why
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u/weapwars Sep 26 '26
This sub has consistently been moving to become an old boys club, mirroring the height of toxic and awful rugby culture for a while now. They should honestly just move to a discord cos that's what they act like.
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u/Very_Dolphin Sep 26 '26
I didn't even know how to add a flair. Thankfully the bot that blocked me told me how
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u/TagMeInSkipIGotThis Sep 27 '26
Flair is a silly way to try to police this for mine; because you're relying on people picking one in good faith, and the options are so broad its a pretty meaningless way to tell whether any comment is in good faith or not.
IMO its counterproductive and doesn't help anything.
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u/holyoak Sep 27 '26
r/rugbyunion meets Office Space.
I mean, sure, you just have to have one flair to comment. But don't you want to express yourself more? Brian over there has 15 flairs!
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u/CreepersForLife Sep 26 '26
No as other people are saying just making a small step for people to comment will stop a lot of new people presumably and sure a small amount of trolls and the like, but the actual new good people is likely to be larger.
Need to do everything to just let people join in and get into the sport.
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u/mango_yoghurt Sep 27 '26
Is it possible to make the comments automatically collapsed?
Whilst I don't mind the trial and think it addresses a real problem (plus is immensely funny seeing edgy morons with 'blank flair' or 'flairs suck' as their flair), it's a bit annoying scrolling past loads of deleted messages and long explanations in a match thread
Don't know if this is a reddit feature tho
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u/mango_yoghurt Sep 27 '26
Alternatively could we just have [commented deleted because no user flair] and have the automod dm the user?
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u/Connell95 Sep 26 '26
This is sensible. I’ve seen several secret Dan Lancaster fans on here unwilling to flair up appropriately to identify themselves, and those people are cowards.
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u/treacletart284 Sep 26 '26
Theyre afraid because theyre only the #4 Dan Lancaster fan and know their place in the hierarchy
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u/B4rberblacksheep Sep 27 '26
My only caveat to this, can the bot not interact with sledge threads so we can all scream FLAIR UP OR FUCK OFF in good faith at people XD
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u/Syphe Sep 26 '26
Can we also ban those that choose to hide their comment and post history? It seems this is the choice of trolls
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u/AutoModerator Sep 26 '26
Hi u/Syphe, your comment has been removed because r/rugbyunion requires users to have a user flair before participating.
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u/Syphe Sep 26 '26
Can we also ban those who choose to hide their comment or post history? Seems like a much bigger indicator of a troll or racist poster IMO
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u/RaaschyOG Sep 26 '26
People finger pointing and generalising in this post already are enough to convince me this is a good idea
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u/zenrobotninja Sep 26 '26
As others have said , I think it'd be better to warn rather than delete. But also get that this way will be faster. Do agree with the general idea tho
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u/HugeMcAwesome Sep 26 '26
Coming into this thread and seeing 90% of the whingers all flaired to the same country is one of the biggest wins for flair I've ever seen. It helps contextualise so much in this board.
Awesome move mods, you know I love and support you guys.
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 27 '26
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Sep 27 '26
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Sep 27 '26
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Sep 26 '26
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Sep 27 '26
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u/OneWingedAngelfan Sep 26 '26
I purposely removed my flair due to xenophobic comments in this sub.