Stay respectful, civil, polite, calm, and friendly. ELI5 is a forum for people to request help understanding complex concepts, and share explanations, without fear of judgement. Don't insult people or their good intentions, even if a person (or another subreddit) seems rude or ill-informed. Remember the positive spirit of ELI5.

ELI5 is not a repository for any question you may have. It is for requesting a clarifying explanation so a complex concept can be be better understood.

Notably, posts will be immediately removed that ask for:

• Information about a specific or narrow issue (personal problems, private experiences, legal questions, medical inquiries, how-to, relationship advice, etc.)
• Subjective or speculative replies
• Straightforward answers or facts
• Recent/current events
• Reddit help

Replies directly to OP must be written explanations. They may not be jokes, anecdotes, etc. Short or succinct answers do not qualify as explanations, even if factually correct.

Links to outside sources are accepted and encouraged, provided they are accompanied by an original explanation (not simply quoted text) or summation.

Exceptions: clarifying on-topic questions, and links to relevant previous ELI5 posts or highly relevant other subreddits, may be permitted.

Unless OP states otherwise, assume no knowledge beyond a typical secondary education program. Avoid unexplained technical terms. Don't condescend; "like I'm five" is a figure of speech meaning "keep it clear and simple."

All comments must explain, ask about, correct or address facts. Trying to change someone's opinion or influence them with yours is not appropriate.

If you are not able to submit, discuss or correct factual information without implicitly or explicitly involving your personal view on the matter, do not post.

A loaded question presumes a controversial or not obviously true statement as fact. "ELI5: Why is Obama the president when he wasn't born in the US?" is loaded. "ELI5: The controversy about where Obama was born" is a non-loaded way to ask about the same topic.

If your question boils down to: "Why isn't this thing I believe (or is self evidently true) the case?" your question is loaded and belongs in another subreddit.

To avoid duplication, search for your key words, not your whole title. If you found only explanations that weren't clear on your point, explain that, and state what you're still trying to understand.

You can read more on our reposts policy here.

If you don't know how to explain something, you don't need to reply. If you have a partly educated guess, only comment on the parts you are sure of.

If the automatic moderator removes your post, read the whole message it gives you, and follow its advice. It's there to help, not to be evaded — evasion will result in a ban.

Moderation decisions are ultimately left up to the discretion of the ELI5 modteam. Do not try to find loopholes in the rules and sneak through them. Above all else, respect the spirit of the subreddit.