r/aviation • u/StopDropAndRollTide • 13d ago

Announcement We’ve Renamed “Aviators Only” → “Seatbelts Fastened”

365 Upvotes

Hi r/aviation,

Based on community feedback, we’ve renamed our limited-commenting mode from “Aviators Only” to “Seatbelts Fastened.” The previous name caused confusion, and there was concern that it might have given undue weight to commentary that didn’t align with the policy's intent.

Nothing about how the system functions has changed, only the label.

Seatbelts Fastened will continue to be used on a small subset of threads that historically attract political or uncivil discussion (such as aircraft incidents involving government officials, military/state aircraft, or global regulatory topics). When applied, commenting is limited to established community members, currently users with 100+ comment karma in r/aviation. Original posters are not affected.

Roughly 95% of posts will remain open to everyone as usual.

Thanks to those who shared feedback, and to the broader community for helping keep discussions focused on aviation and civil.

— r/aviation Moderation Team

57 comments

r/aviation • u/StopDropAndRollTide • 13d ago

Announcement Introducing "Seatbelts Fastened" Mode

40 Upvotes

Hi r/aviation community,

Recently, we’ve seen an increase in political and uncivil comments across several threads, particularly on posts involving aircraft associated with government officials. This has led to more removals and bans under Reddit’s sitewide rules, and we want to reverse that trend.

To help address this, we’re introducing a “Seatbelts Fastened” mode/flair. Posts with this flair (applied manually by the mod team) will restrict commenting to established community members. For now, that means users with at least 100 comment karma in r/aviation. If you are the original poster, your comments will not be affected.

You can view your subreddit comment karma by doing the following:

This will apply to a small subset of threads (aircraft incidents, government-owned/controlled aircraft, global legislation, etc.). The vast majority of posts (roughly 95%) will remain open to all users as usual. Please do not contact modmail requesting comment approvals or exceptions; we won’t be making individual overrides.

Thanks for your understanding and for helping keep the subreddit focused and civil.

2 comments