/r/polandball: International drama in cartoon ball form. : subredditoftheday

358,150 Abonentów usług internetowych for 6 years!

Polandball is an internet phenomenon that started in 2009 on the international section /int/ on the German image board Krautchan, where one British user named FALCO decided to mock a Polish user named Wojak by drawing little comics in MS Paint depicting countries as flag-balls with eyes, usually making Poland look like an idiot in the process. Like for example having fun with the stereotype of Polish people being car thieves. In all of the comics, FALCO drew Poland with the flag colors upside down. Whether he did this by accident, or if he did it intentionally to further annoy the nationalistic Wojak, is unknown. FALCO himself only drew a couple of comics before he moved on and faded into legend. And as the first comics were about Poland, they starting being referred to as "polandball comics". Some notable ones:

The original "Poland cannot into space"

But even if FALCO stopped making comics, they had an immediate appeal. Soon enough other users joined in and started making their own as well. Some were quite decent. Others were... Well... not so much.

And then polandball remained in relative obscurity for a couple of years, occasionally popping up in various Krautchan threads but not making any real noise, until May 24th of 2011 when /u/767, a Krautchan regular himself, created the subreddit /r/polandball. It was a small subreddit for a long time, that had managed to work itself up to around 4,000 subscribers, when all of a sudden "The Great AskReddit Migration" happened on January 30th of 2013, when an AskReddit post about small but underrated subreddits led to /r/polandball almost doubling its size in a single day. That's when the snowball started rolling, and the growth has practically been exponential since then. We honestly don't know how to even put brakes on the train, and we're attracting tons of new people every day. Today we're rocking more than 350,000 subscribers, and it was only two months ago that we celebrated 300k!

One thing we are known for is that the subreddit is very strictly moderated, and yes, that is 100% true. We have rules, lots of them, and we do enforce them. Part of it comes down to a keen sense of quality control (and practically the entire mod team is chosen from among the more well-known comic makers), and partly because we have spent the past six years fostering a certain culture in the subreddit that we want to preserve.

Polandball comics, by their nature, are somewhat insulting. That's the idea. We make comics where we make fun of national stereotypes and throw around insults left and right, but it's done in a spirit of camaraderie and inclusiveness. Everyone gets it equally, and you don't get to be mad about it when it's your country being targeted. And as a result, you learn something new about the world every day. We have subscribers and artists from all over the world, and we have one of the most international subreddits out there (which can be seen through our countryball flair system that we encourage our subscribers to use). As such, we strike down hard on behavior that runs counter to that culture. We also have a system of "approved submitters only", where new fledgling artists must send their comics for review by the mod team before they can get posting rights in the subreddit.

Yes, at the end of the day, what we are talking about is MS Paint comics with flag balls. They're silly, nonsensical and probably fairly inconsequential. But at the same time, we like to think that what we have built here has actually become somewhat meaningful to a lot of people. It's hard to explain. You know what? Just visit the subreddit, go visit the "Top of all time", read through a couple of them, and maybe you'll get it. Just like all of us did. Maybe it'll be love at first sight for you as well.

Did you know that we do semi-regular events where we redesign the subreddit to celebrate various countries national days? You can find a complete archive of previous events here! They're done in conjunction with volunteers from our subscriber base and are usually planned out months in advance.

Did you know that we hold monthly comic drawing contests focused around different themes every month? Anyone can participate, even if they're not an approved submitter. (Be aware though, your comic must still be compliant with our rules if you want to enter it into the contest.) There's one coming up next week!

Did you know that we have a couple of sister subreddits as well, dealing with slightly different subject matters? There's for example /r/stateball with comics about US state stuff, /r/PolandballArt for artistic pieces done polandball style, or /r/planetball for all you astronomy nerds out there!

1. First of all, holy shit. I love /r/planetball. I didn't even know that was a thing. Here's the question, what are you favorite posts from /r/polandball spin-off subs?

/u/jesus_stalin: There aren't that many official ones, but /r/PolandballArt is my favourite. /u/John_V98: r/polandballarena, our sub for collabarations has great potential, I wish people posted there more. /u/jPaolo: /r/PolandballArt, because I like seeing well drawn polandball pieces, and I think all high-arters should go there and leave comics to proper folk of simple art /u/CupBeEmpty: The main sub is my favorite, no question. I like a lot of the stuff on /r/polandballart. We really do have some really talented MSPaint pixel artists which is weird to say because it doesn't seem like a high talent genre. But, nonetheless there are people who post stuff there that really have a comic artists eye. Most of the other "polandball" subs are off brand, unofficial, crap without much quality. /u/DickRhino: /r/polandball cannot be topped, there's just no competition. But among the other ones I like /r/planetball the best, and I wish it was more active than it is. /u/a1pcm: /r/polandballgifs, because animation is cool, and /r/PolandballArt, because some of that stuff can frankly be amazing.

3. You mentioned the strict moderation. What is the most difficult rule to enforce, and what rule(s) do you see users slip-up on most often?

/u/jesus_stalin: Our approved submitters understand the rules on comics, if they didn't then they wouldn't be approved in the first place, so it's not often that we have to remove a comic for rule breaks. The vast majority of rule enforcement comes from the comments section. Whenever a comic hits /r/all (especially if it's controversial or relating to the USA), we are met with a tsunami of users who don't understand our sub and its culture. Therefore, our comment policy rules concerning "boring political arguments and soapboxing" are easily the most enforced. If you're going to partake in our comment section, have a sense of humour and learn to laugh at your own country. Every country gets the piss taken out of it here. /u/John_V98: Most, if not all rules have a degree of subjectivity to them. Sometimes, there can be a disagreement between the mods on wheter a particular comic is worthy of removal or not, or if something in it warrants a small fix or not. People need to understand this is part of the nature of the subreddit, and while we make mistakes sometimes, we're always trying our best to be fair and transparent with our users. /u/jPaolo: The most difficult rule is to make Redditors not to behave like typical Redditor: hiveminded, brainless maymay repeater who thinks that posting song lyrics or copy pasting his political opinion from /r/news is worthy of up-arrows. Not only it's hard because rest of Reddit encourages it, it's hard also because it's mostly gray area and cannot be automatised like removing neo-nazis. /u/CupBeEmpty: As far as strict moderation goes the hardest rules are the ones that are most subjective. It is easy to detect copy and paste and line tool. That is just a matter of it being there or not. What is really hard is policing content. For me it is always our requirement that approval requests be original and creative. In order to start posting you have to submit an original and creative comic to us and if we approve it you can post. How do you judge whether something is original and creative? Sometimes I will make a favorable call on an approval request and another mod will let me know they didn't think it was good enough. Other times I will see things rejected that I thought were good enough. We have a lot of mods, the mods all have different tastes, the mods all have different thresholds for what they think is good. It means making the call on approval is difficult but it is also a big strength for the sub in general. All modmail is open to all mods so the approval request decisions give you a really good insight into the way your fellow mods think and judge things and that isn't small potatoes considering we have mods from all over the world from different backgrounds and cultures. /u/DickRhino: I think my answer is going to differ a bit from the others. There is one imperative rule in this place, possibly the most important rule of all, but probably the one people have the easiest time forgetting: Be funny. We get so many approval requests sent to us where everything is drawn decently enough and doesn't violate any artistic rule, but where I'm just left scratching my head and asking myself: "Where's the joke?" Comics are called comics for a reason, and it's because they're supposed to be comedic. But because it's MS Paint and because it's supposed to look simplistic, people just assume that it's going to be easy. But the thing is, being funny isn't easy at all; being funny is just as hard as being able to draw. So many people fail at it. Some don't even try. Then there are those who make comics for the sole intent of offending, purposely making them devoid of any joke and just making them as insulting as possible just because they want people to get angry. We don't really tolerate that sort of thing either. Simply put: If isn't funny, then it isn't good enough. /u/a1pcm: Not taking things seriously. Seriously, there's too many times when comment sections will just fill up with unfunny walls of text, or "Ackshually..." comments. Oh, you drew the wrong model of this firearm, it hadn't been invented yet by the year the comic takes place in. Or, actually, the US policy towards the Middle East isn't what the comic depicts. etc. etc. People take Polandball too seriously.

4. When you say "often," do you pronounce the "T"?

/u/jesus_stalin: No /u/John_V98: No, but who knows if that's right or not, I'm not the best english speaker around. /u/jPaolo: English is not my mother tongue. I tend to say "often" the way my interlocutor says it. /u/CupBeEmpty: Nope. I have that flat, desirable Midwestern US accent. For me it is "offen." I like accents though so I don't mind how people pronounce it. I actually prefer a bit of variety accent and slang-wise. Probably one of the things I like about polandball comics. /u/DickRhino: Hell no. /u/a1pcm: Yes, that is the complete, standard, and correct way of pronouncing "often."

5. Why do you mod this sub?

/u/jesus_stalin: I've not been part of the /r/polandball community for as long as many others have, but I love this place to bits. It really is completely different to most other places on reddit, and there's no way I was gonna turn it down when I was approached to become a mod. /u/John_V98: I love the community and I wish to do everything I can to help it grow and develop. Also I get the opportunity to see dozens of unique comics a day, not only those posted on the sub but also the ones sent to us via approval requests. /u/jPaolo: Because I try to preserve what made /r/polandball unique and not another subreddit, bleh. I know it's futile though. /u/CupBeEmpty: I guess I would say it is a hobby. I have a pretty demanding job and personal life in the real world so modding polandball, despite the headaches, is actually sort of a lark. However, I would never tell anyone I know in real life that I enjoy lording over internet strangers who make meme ball comics about international relations and stereotypes. /u/DickRhino: I found this place early, back when it only had around 2000 subscribers, and I've loved it from the start. I got modded when it had somewhere around 10k, I think. I've put in countless hours into moderating this subreddit, I've reviewed thousands of comics for approval, I've drawn a ton of comics myself... It's simply been the best internet community I've ever been a part of. It also helped me get through the boredom of law school. I love this place, and moderating it is a pleasure, not a chore. I honestly just wish I had as much time to do it now as used to, but alas, as we grow older and get more responsibilities IRL the only option left is to outsource the hard work to third world child laborers. /u/a1pcm: With its excellent content, it's a bright spot within the Polandball universe, and I didn't want to see it stagnate in quality. I also wanted to see to the sub's future growth and development. Progress is exciting.

6. For the uninitiated, how does /r/Polandballart differ from /r/pollandball?

/u/John_V98: It's just art píeces, never comics. People don't have to try to come up with good punchlines, all the effort goes to the art instead. It's also much more experimental, we see people trying new drawing techniques every once in a while. /u/DickRhino: /r/PolandballArt is supposed to be straight up art pieces, like paintings. They aren't supposed to have narratives, or jokes, or multiple panels. It's literally just meant to be art, but with a polandball twist to it. That's why I really love the ones that really explore different art styles. Like, the landscapes and hyper-realistic pieces are fantastic, but I'm more into the weird and creative ones. You know, the "artsy" stuff. Some examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, /u/a1pcm: /r/PolandballArt is for one panel art pieces which do not have visible dialogue between characters. Because of this, the pieces tend to be very artsy and high effort. Comics, on the other hand, belong on /r/polandball.

7. Your favorite kind of pickled herring?

/u/DickRhino: Glad you asked! I'm a sucker for herring flavored with Brännvin and orange peels, tastes absolutely amazing with sour cream and chives. Take a shot of schnapps bottoms up, and down a piece of herring immediately after. Do it. Do it now. You'll thank me later.

8. How much effort do people put into contest entries?

/u/a1pcm: Glad you asked, because your mileage may vary. On one end of the spectrum, there's the quick-and-dirty, low art, fast comics, which can be quite funny. Contrary to popular belief, they can win contests. On the other end, there's the super-high-art, insane, ridiculously effortful comics, which demonstrate a mastery in the comic art. I personally do a few of these, and I think the most time I've spent on any one comic over the contest drawing period over the weekend is probably 27 hours. I have heard tales of more, though.

11. What's your opinion on the comics medium?

/u/a1pcm: I'm fascinated by it. It wasn't long ago that I discovered the works of comics theory by McCloud and Eisner (1, 2), which shed light on the whole range of expressions comics can effect. For example, McCloud delves into how the cartoonist's method of abstraction, or drawing things simpler, can increase the reader's self-identification with the characters in the comics. We are more likely to self-identify with something that has less physical features, because details can alienate/separate us from the characters portrayed. There's a whole other range of interesting examples I won't get into, but my point is, I love comics, and I love how it can be so versatile. Polandball hasn't yet experimented with all the different styles of comics, but I think it'll get there some day. We just need some brave artists. 1 - McCloud, 1993. Understanding Comics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Comics 2 - Eisner, 1990. Comics and Sequential Art.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_and_Sequential_Art /u/CupBeEmpty: I love comics in general. I don't mean comic books either. I mean comic strips and webcomics. It is a form of art that is really pithy and actually quite hard to do well. It is one of the big reasons I like polandball comics. It is a really constrained comic form so when it is good it can be really, truly excellent. I will make two suggestions for anyone that likes comics. One, watch the documentary Stripped. It deals with print comics and webcomics and it is really well done. It has one of the extremely rare interviews that Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin and Hobbes) has ever done. He liked the project so much that he actually came out of retirement to make their movie poster. The documentary has tons of interviews from the most famous comic strip creators of strips like Garfield and Doonesbury as well as creators of webcomics like Hark, A Vagrant! and Dr. McNinja. Truly a fascinating documentary. My second recommendation is that if you are ever in Columbus, Ohio visit the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University. It is a museum dedicated to comics and cartoons. It also houses the complete works of Bill Watterson (the creator of Calvin and Hobbes) including a ton of original drawings and descriptions and associated stories that you cannot find anywhere else. Watterson donated essentially his entire body of work to the museum. The museum also showcases the history of political cartoons in the US. It is a "niche" museum to be sure but well worth the visit. Maybe someday it will have a little display of polandball shitposts printed out alongside Civil War political cartoons. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

10. How do you deal with life?

/u/a1pcm: I always find it important to have a nice walk with nature every once in a while, to not take everything so seriously, and to eat a chill pill.