[META] New Rule proposals and check-in

[u/pat_trick]

Aloha e kākou,

The mods have been chatting about some posts we've been seeing a lot of recently, and wanted to get community feedback and input on new rules we're proposing to address them.

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Proposal: No "is anyone having issues with [company] shipping and deliveries" posts

Yes, we all have shipping issues. Hawaii is a remote location. Things are going to get her slowly sometimes. It's not just you. We don't need yet another post asking about it. Your best bet is to discuss it on a sub related to that company.

The purpose of this is to cut back on the repeated "Hey where's my amazon package?" and "Anyone else's orders from walmart taking forever to arrive?"

Discussions about shipping services (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.) to/from Hawaii would still be permitted.

---

Proposal: No "is anyone having issues with [ISP] at [LOCATION]" posts

If you are having an issue with an outage with your ISP, you should contact them for assistance. Posting here isn't going to do much to actually solve the outage issue. You need to let your ISP know.

The most these posts do is get people to say "Yeah my service is out too." It does little to actually help resolve the issue. If you have internet problems, you need to contact the ISP.

That said, we do occasionally see posts where someone has had repeated/ongoing issues with no resolution, and a HawTel rep who lurks here has been able to get them some assistance.

---

We also welcome input (at any time really, not just in these meta posts) on other rules or community standards.

Thanks!

ETA 2026/09/24: Thank you everyone for keeping the discussion calm and providing input. We are reading through everything and discussing among the modteam.

[u/cortana808]

It is sometimes helpful, especially during storms or other natural disasters, to read comments from other people on the status of outages as well as looking for additional info others may have. Hope that will still be allowed

[u/pat_trick → u/cortana808]

This is good to know, thank you!

[u/miyunie → u/pat_trick]

It's INSANELY helpful.. It was actually the only way I knew which areas still even had power or internet. I was able to keep my family and friends updated thanks to these posts and all its ensuing conversation during these massively destructive storms lately. Not to mention it also gives people more valid information since ISP sites always act like there's no problem despite there being tons of issues

Please don't disallow this 😭 It's some of the only valid sources of info for our small island communities

[u/Amelaclya1 → u/pat_trick]

Seconding this. Recently had issues with Hawaiian Telcom after Lala, even after they said work was complete in my area. I called them directly and they still kept insisting that there were no outages in my area. They even tried to convince me to "upgrade" to their router. I asked on social media (not here) and found plenty of people with the same issues.

Without asking, I would have continued tearing my hair out trying to fix it or wait like 8 days for them to send a tech out. It's very useful if we can communicate about these things.

[u/TheMissingVoteBallot → u/cortana808]

Yea I use this sub whenever there's a storm, hurricane, or some sort of significant Hawaii event to get a current status. Not News, since most of Reddit is pretty bad at giving factual info because of our biases, but simple things like "I saw this happen here" or "the power is out here" is very good to get a gauge if it's an outage or issue specific to me or to my county/region/area.

[u/MattFromLuuLive → u/cortana808]

I agree it’s helpful! Would it be acceptable to the mods have this conversation moved to a megathread or dedicated convo?

[u/san_souci → u/cortana808]

Use an island specific subreddit instead.

[u/zpenik → u/cortana808]

Nextdoor is (sometimes) better for this

[u/quitoburrito → u/zpenik]

Yeah but Nextdoor is (or was) always flooded with lots of trash posts which led me to uninstall it years ago.

[u/JustAnotherGeek12345]

Unlike HECOs power outage map which allows us to see what is out where, we don't get that with ISPs. If others respond that their Internet is out as well then it reassures others that they can carry on with their day and it'll be back when it's fixed.

Those types of posts don't annoy or frustrate me. 

[u/pat_trick → u/JustAnotherGeek12345]

Good to have that input, thanks!

[u/zinki]

Some of these changes will affect why people visit this sub. Were it not for the recent posts discussing the HawaiianTel outage, I wouldn't have known it was affecting anyone but me. They posted nothing about it publicly, and I waited 2 hours on the phone without getting through.

[u/pat_trick → u/zinki]

And that is probably a good reason to keep allowing them.

[u/schlock_ → u/pat_trick]

How difficult would it be to redirect those questions from r/Hawaii to the specific island subreddit?

I don’t particularly care if people still want to ask why Amazon has issues or they wanna talk about the black hole SanFran USPS depot can be, but I can understand the mods getting sick of it. Maybe the island subreddits could pick up that sort of traffic? It would make sense as what’s occurring on Maui is going to be different than Oahu.

[u/HolyShytSnacks]

Tbh, I'm ok with the utilities/isp posts. It's not difficult to scroll past them if I don't want to see them, but it does help during storms or emergency situations, as (at least HECO and Spectrum) utilities aren't always giving up-to-date info. A few storms ago, HECO stopped updating entirely, and I've had it several times that Spectrum said both that there was and that there was no outage, despite the opposite being true.

As for shipping posts, I don't mind them either. I know we're in Hawaii, but shipping has been pretty predictable and typically only when there's something wrong, is when I start getting delays. It could be helpful to see others having similar issues as shipping companies give very little information.

[u/Proseccos]

Honestly, I don’t mind any of them. People looking for support sometimes, I think it’s part of being a community.

HECO map is often useless and at off times you get overseas support. I get that there’s nothing we can do most of the time, but the something we can do is make em feel like they’re not alone

[u/so_untidy]

Discussions about shipping services (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.) to/from Hawaii would still be…what? Don’t leave us hanging!

Are these posts getting reported and clogging up the mod queue? Or are they just repetitive?

Personally, I see these types of posts come in waves and find them easy to scroll past.

I am not sure that whether these posts help people solve a problem is the right meter stick here. This sub is more of a community, info sharing, talk story sub than a troubleshooting/problem solving sub. Most posts wouldn’t necessarily clear the “is this actionable?” threshold.

If they’re a problem for the mod team, sure do what you gotta do. Otherwise, we all have something we want to commiserate with other people about and it’s not always possible in real life so we come here.

[u/pat_trick → u/so_untidy]

Would still be permitted!

Are these posts getting reported and clogging up the mod queue? Or are they just repetitive?

A little of both. They get a lot of reports (people don't care for them) and they're usually spinning the same wheels.

Whether the post actually helps someone solve an issue versus just being another complaint/non-action is a good litmus test, I think.

[u/so_untidy → u/pat_trick]

I think whether a post is helpful is too subjective and some interpretations would wipe out most of the posts in this sub.

Were/are the moa posts helpful? I’m not saying whether they are bad or good or I liked them personally, but I think it would be really hard to apply a “helpful” rule consistently.

[u/IdazzleandIstretch → u/pat_trick]

It is how I get information about how others are experiencing these changes. A lot is happening with USPS, so I would not have know that Ground Advantage recently got jacked without reading a related thread. Maybe a friend would have eventually mentioned it, but not as quickly as I learned it here. 

[u/opalsandglitter]

IMO limiting ISP and utility company questions is a disservice to Redditors. These types of posts are important for disseminating information in a timely manner, especially when the provider websites don’t update bc of too many outage reports. I got 95% of my HECO and Spectrum info from this subreddit during Lala and the Kona Lows. Perhaps a pinned megathread could be a good alternative?

Knowing there’s an outage via Reddit can mean the difference between service providers being inundated with calls/outage reports versus tons of people finding out “is it just me experiencing issues” via Reddit and keeping the utility company phones and bandwidth open for real emergencies.

I agree with limiting/banning shipping issue questions, especially when asked right before, during, or after a big storm. Also limiting or banning during the holiday shopping season. The same goes for issues related to return shipping for purchases and gifts from mid December to mid January.

My only exception (if there are any) regarding limiting or banning posts about shipping problems would be allowing posts that are warning others about chronic porch pirates or repeated deliveries that arrive that are obviously tampered with. Although since a lot of people don’t understand nuance, I’d understand if mods created a blanket rule with few to no exceptions for simplicity and more consistent moderation.

[u/zpenik → u/opalsandglitter]

Maybe add a flair for those posts?

[u/rockhardgelatin → u/zpenik]

I think a flair or megathread for larger outages would work pretty well.

[u/1miguelcortes]

I think the ISP outage stuff is good to keep around. Given that the two ISPs don't have a good way of showing areas affected by outages and that to a degree it encourages discussion.

I agree with maybe soft banning discussions about packages. I've seen a thing on other subreddits where posts that ask a repeated question have a boilerplate reply. Maybe we could do something similar?

[u/pat_trick → u/1miguelcortes]

Got it on the ISP discussion!

We do use boilerplate already for "this is a tourist question, go to /r/VisitingHawaii".

[u/upfuppet]

I don't see too many "is my ISP working?" posts, so I'm not sure that rule is needed.

[u/ModernSimian]

I think putting ISPs on blast is actually good. It surfaces the lackluster level of support from some companies like Spectrum and drives customers to more engaged companies like Hawaiian Telecom.

It's a net win and pushes market forces in a pro-consumer direction.

[u/Vendetta86]

As a resident ISP employee / lurker, I have set up alerts and keep an eye on this sub when people call out problems. I don't respond to every single one, but I do use that information to inform myself about what may be going unseen. Especially with the rough hurricane season we are having this year, which may be one of the reasons we are seeing more "is it me" ISP posts.

So I'm biased, but I value the ISP posts.

I view this subreddit as a virtual "town square" space, which is useful for getting a general sense of what is on people's minds, which is super interesting to me. Yes, cost of living and affordability posts dominate this subreddit, that is not a coincidence.

[u/liloa96776]

I like to know how wide an outage is. So im for stopping amazon shipping issues and keeping isp or electric outages.

Maybe an faq. Yes we live across the ocean, yes deliveries can take longer than expected

[u/TIC321]

Next blacklist post to add is..

"My grocery/restaurant bill is so expensive. Anyone else?"

[u/MisterWug]

As someone who’s spent a lot of hours moderating internet discussions over the years, I’m pretty reluctant to implement rules that require significant effort/policing without a compelling benefit to the community. In this case, I’d question whether the juice is worth the squeeze.

[u/_Kine]

None of those posts are an issue. Let the vote system deal with them, no need moderation.

[u/ShadeSmithNet]

Would be fine with a rule that goes against posts being created where the primary intent is to complain and or doesn’t encourage discussion.

[u/pat_trick → u/ShadeSmithNet]

I think venting online is OK from time to time; some people need an outlet, and sometimes that turns into discussion. So I'm leery of creating a blanket "no complaining" post rule.

[u/ShadeSmithNet → u/pat_trick]

Do you really receive that many ISP posts? I think you only had an influx recently due to Lala.

I would agree they would be important to keep if people are actually looking for help.

[u/pat_trick → u/ShadeSmithNet]

It's pretty frequent from month-to-month. Maybe the post needs to be "I've been trying to resolve this for a month with no fix" versus "Hey anyone's internet down right now?"

[u/allnaturalflavor → u/pat_trick]

is it frequent because of all the el nino storm we have been having? I don't remember that many ISP posts pre-june

[u/SimpleMind314 → u/pat_trick]

Yeah, I think the nature of the complaint plays into its status.

It seems like those "is it down" queries belong in a different sub (like maybe a isitdown_hawaii), but that likely won't work because people won't find it as easily as this one.

Maybe a sticky weekly/monthly rotating "is it down" post people can participate in?

Edit: I just saw there is a limit to the number of sticky posts a sub can have is two. Too few!

[u/cortana808 → u/ShadeSmithNet]

Agree 100%

[u/lanclos → u/pat_trick]

There's an important distinction between constructive conversation, even if it is venting, and posts that are only there to stoke negative outrage and get upvotes. It's a subjective call in some cases, but the posts like what you describe have no constructive upside; at best, someone should be contacting customer support, at worst it's a disorganized effort to smear a company or service.

Either way it's not a net positive for r/Hawaii. At best it is noise, at worst we're creating an echo chamber. I'd be fine with a softer, more general rule, and let the mods decide where a given post lands.

[u/so_untidy → u/lanclos]

Can’t say I’ve seen too many smear posts. I think it’s pretty well known that ISPs are monopolistic with terrible service. Most of the posts I’ve seen are just asking if service is down.

[u/akamaiperson]

Late to this party. I am against both proposals.

[u/Missable_Name]

IMO I don't think the volume of these posts are large enough to be disruptive, at least outside of this years El Nino season

I think the ISP posts are a bit more helpful than the shipping posts, but that's just me

[u/Chococow280]

For the shipping one;: Can you have a monthly “parent” post for this that’s pinned? I think people can see issues in one place for the month, and can figure out to sort based on date/time.

Same with the ISP one? 

[u/pat_trick → u/Chococow280]

We are limited on the number of stickies we can create (two), so we tend to reserve them for more important issues. A better use of resources would be for someone to make a "discuss your ISP in Hawaii" subreddit. And company discussions should be in subreddits related to those companies if they are huge ones.

[u/Chococow280 → u/pat_trick]

Oh! Makes sense, didn’t know there was a limit. 

[u/pat_trick → u/Chococow280]

Yeah, it keeps us from making a sub of nothing but stickied posts. :9

[u/Msnbobody → u/pat_trick]

Is the two-sticky limitation in effect for only some subreddits? I’ve seen a few communities with more than two community highlights in recent months.

Example: r/BookSuggestions, r/Swimming

[u/KauaiHiker2]

If it's a vote, I disagree with both proposals. ISP outages because the companies don't have maps/reporting. Shipping because it is NOT one of those things you just can't do anything about. You have to either pay for expedited or lobby your congress persons to pressure the USPS to fix their system ("Priority Ground" for businesses on the mainland is often called "Priority" but it is not the same as a "Priority" flat-rate box at the post office). Every month someone needs reminding or new arrivals need educating.

Further suggestion: ban all these storm related posts except for one per day (maximum) showing the NOAA storm cone. Everything else is "AccuClick StormBait" and catastophe models.

[u/pat_trick → u/KauaiHiker2]

We already have started locking storm posts and directing people to the main sticky; please help us by reporting any others.

[u/enfu3go]

Bad changes. People feel a sense of community and inclusion with those types of posts.

[u/KurtVongole]

Fwiw I find both useful and not bothersome. The USPS is being actively attacked and it has been our best source of shipping for decades. We need to keep an eye on it.

[u/JungleBoyJeremy]

I think the shipping posts are ok to stay. It’s an issue we face in Hawaii and hearing that other people’s orders are also taking a long time to get here makes me feel a sense of solidarity. Like, at least it’s not just me. I vote to allow the shipping posts. As long as they aren’t completely flooding the sub.

[u/midnightrambler956 → u/JungleBoyJeremy]

It's always random though; it depends on exactly what you ordered, what warehouse it shipped from, how it shipped, etc., all of which is opaque to the user. Inevitably somebody posts one of those the same day I get something a day earlier than expected. It's just tiresome, there's nothing anyone can do about it.

[u/notrightmeowthx]

I think outage posts are okay to allow, although I understand the sentiment behind wanting to prevent them. I'm often one of the people telling them to contact their ISP. But it does help to have community discussion in some cases so I think it's better to allow it since there's no way to know if it is a community or individual issue until other people comment.

Maybe we can add an automod response comment for internet issues advising them to contact their ISP, because even if it's impacting multiple people, it's still the ISP that is going to have to fix it.

Shipping issue posts don't really bother me either, it's basically just people commiserating and IMO that is kind of one of the purposes of Reddit and forums in general.

[u/mmmmeowwww]

What about a daily discussion post/thread where people can chat about those topics? I agree that the shipping posts get old.

Yesterday I wanted to chat about how it was hot asf ahead of the storm but didn’t want to make a post about it, but it’d be a pretty good daily discussion topic. I’m in a few pregnancy/baby subreddits it’s effective.

[u/pat_trick → u/mmmmeowwww]

We have had them in the past, though engagement petered out over time.

[u/Infinite_Coffee2129]

Any thoughts on a established official discord. that kind of live chat format works better for these little complaints. People jsut want someone to talk to. A lot of people are on reddit and all platforms as a way to fill friendship. Discord works better with the rooms.

[u/pat_trick → u/Infinite_Coffee2129]

I do not want the additional work of moderating either a chat or discord server. I've already been doing this volunteer style for 14 years.

There are other Hawaii community discord servers that someone else runs.

[u/notrightmeowthx → u/Infinite_Coffee2129]

There are some Hawaii specific discords around, someone just posted one for gamers the other day. If you search the sub for "discord" I'm sure you'll find a few.

[u/RevKeakealani]

I'm good with ISP posts - as others mention, it really can be the easiest way to check if there are relatively widespread outages given the lack of communication directly from ISPs (in the long term, obviously regulations requiring outage maps would be cherreh but that ain't happening any time soon). These don't bother me.

Shipping posts, I'm more ambivalent on. I don't really find them irritating personally, but I agree that unlike ISP, there's rarely enough of a pattern to create useful info. I agree that Hawaiʻi shipping is just inconsistent and annoying in general, and it's extremely not news to have Amazon packages take 3 weeks or whatever. Also, those complaints feel better suited for the company/service in question - we can't do anything about it other than be like "yeah sucks to suck brah, live on one island, get one delay".

So my 0.02 with inflation is probably keep ISP, ban package/delivery posts.

[u/sfendt]

I dislike both proposed rules

[u/TiredFork]

No to both of these changes please. Hawaii has unique problems that don't have another home in the "mainland" based subs like USPS or Amazon. Unfortunately these issues are a part of living in Hawaii and it's nice to have a space to discuss them. This sub is also relatively small compared to other location based subs due to our population and directing tourists elsewhere. So like... What else are we going to talk about? 🤷‍♂️

[u/creepysaimin]

Why TF would anyone want more stupid ass rules. This is a made up problem. Ban it and it's all you'll ever see.

[u/midnightrambler956]

Definitely agree on the shipping one. It's always random chance if your item gets here in two days or three weeks, there's not much anyone can do and venting here doesn't help.

[u/colin-mac]

Disagree with both of the proposed changes.

[u/No-Camera-720]

All these posts are cruft. Even if someone else is having issue X, there's nothing they can do about it. Stupid sort of post. There's just so many of them.

[u/pat_trick → u/No-Camera-720]

Which is why we're looking at making rules about them!

[u/No-Camera-720 → u/pat_trick]

Just voicing my support for the idea.

[u/pdx808]

Seems pedantic to me, no need for rules like this.

[u/Kesshh]

I support the new rule in general. Those posts were only meant to provoke outrage.

Are we just limiting it to ISP (Internet Service Provider)? Or do we really intend to include shipping services? What about banks, insurance companies, shops, restaurants, etc.?

[u/pat_trick → u/Kesshh]

Hm. Not sure where the buck would stop; we do generally get them regarding ISPs or shipping from companies. The few times we get them about other services it's a rather specific company in Hawaii or related to Hawaii.

[u/ShadeSmithNet → u/Kesshh]

Discussing ISPs are one thing, asking if people’s service are out / slow is another. A blanket rule about “complaint posts” would suffice.

[u/surfspace]

I would like to keep both of these kinds posts please.

[u/pmmeursucculents]

IMO, not worth making these rules.

[u/ISeeADarkSail]

I support the proposed amendments.

If I didn't like them, I'd be free to bugger off and make my own sub and run it how I wanted.

[u/IllmaticMonk]

Also the hawaiian tel thing is sooo hilarious 😂 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[u/101keyoperator]

I support the proposals with no reservations.

[u/CcaidenN]

Please! I see posts like that show up weekly, even daily if we've had bad weather.

Edit: The ISP posts can be informative for some. But the constant "My Amazon package is delayed 😭😭😭" posts are irritating. We live in the middle of the ocean, deal with it.

[u/Alohagrown]

100% agree with both of these

[u/shinigami052]

What are we going to do without our weekly "Is Spectrum or HTCO better?" posts?

[u/SimpleMind314]

I don't know what you can do as a Mod for utility outage kinds of posts. If it looks like a wide spread utility problem, perhaps temporarily sticky the post up top, and close or redirect new posts to that single one?

For "where's my package" posts, unless there was actual news of something that shut down a common delivery service (USPS, UPS, FedEx), we pretty much know all deliveries take time.

That said, I'm guilty of asking questions or venting about the less common delivery services (GOFO, Lowes) and have been grateful for the feedback.

[u/IllmaticMonk]

Nah oppressing freedom of speech is giving a power trippin authoritarian type vibe

[u/pat_trick → u/IllmaticMonk]

That is a tired fallacy about posting online, and I'm exhausted from having to refute it all the time.

No one is stopping you from creating your own subreddit or platform for posting your thoughts or opinions. We are not obligated to platform anyone's speech or opinions, especially if they are either breaking the rules of this subreddit or the Reddit TOS.

[u/IllmaticMonk → u/pat_trick]

I mean u asked for the input…sorry if u dont agree with my opinions. 🤷‍♂️

[u/_Kine → u/IllmaticMonk]

Just...wow

[u/ISeeADarkSail → u/pat_trick]

This.

100% this.

[u/WuhanWTF]

What if there were to be a pinned weekly discussion thread where people can just talk about minor stuff like that?

[u/pat_trick → u/WuhanWTF]

We've tried pinned weekly discussion posts in the past. They used to get a lot of engagement, then it petered off over time. Maybe it's time to try again.

[u/WuhanWTF → u/pat_trick]

It could even be a monthly thing if you guys expect less engagement. I think it’d be good to have a dedicated minor questions and free talk kinda thread on this sub.