About r/PublicFreakout
In its own words:
A subreddit dedicated to people freaking out, melting down, losing their cool, or being weird in public.
Community guide
r/PublicFreakout (#187, about 4.9 million) collects videos of people freaking out, melting down, losing their cool, or being weird in public. Rules require video posts (text needs mod approval), ban doxxing, death/murder videos, bigotry, and abusive comments, and ask for tact around mental-disorder content. Video (~54.7 ppd).
Video-first submissions
Rule set is video posts only; text posts need moderator approval. Facebook videos are allowed but not encouraged.
Hard safety lines
No doxxing; no death/murder videos; no racism/sexism/transphobia/bigotry; abusive comments removed. Use tact for mental-disorder videos.
Practical pointers
Submission must fit the public-meltdown theme; follow posting guidelines on-sub.
SubMouse Editorial
The community was created on Oct 12, 2013, which makes it 13 years old. Since Oct 26, 2026, it has gained 1,403 subscribers (+0.03%). It sits just behind r/dating_advice (#186) and ahead of r/manga (#189) in our ranking.
What sets r/PublicFreakout apart
r/PublicFreakout is far more video-driven than most big subreddits: 97% of its recent posts are videos, against a median of 4% across the Top 100. It is a discussion-heavy community, with about 107.3 comments per post over its lifetime versus a Top 100 median of 14.0. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (16:00 UTC) sees about 4.0× as many posts as the quietest (06:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026, r/PublicFreakout grew from 4,850,600 to 4,863,087 subscribers (+12.5K, +0.26%). That is about 284 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (9 so far), so it gets longer every week.
What r/PublicFreakout talks about
Across 350 recent posts (Oct 29–Nov 5), the words that come up most are “man”, “woman”, “police”, “fight” and “halloween”. Other frequent themes are ice, caught, road, trump, crowd and street. Recurring phrases include “fight breaks”, “ice agent”, “turning point” and “point usa”. By format, 97% are videos and 3% are links.
Popular post flairs: 🥊Fight 🤬 (51), 😫Chaos Moment🫨 (40), 🤬Public Rager😱 (23), 😾MAGA Freakout🙀 (17), 🥸Weirdo Freakout🥸 (17), 😀 Happy Freakout 😀 (16).
Activity and best time to post
r/PublicFreakout gets about 55 new posts a day. The public archive holds 505,137 posts and 54,192,649 comments in total, about 107.3 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Thursday (78 posts) and the quietest was Wednesday (37). Posting peaks around 16:00 UTC and is lowest around 06:00 UTC.
Rules of r/PublicFreakout
The moderators of r/PublicFreakout list 10 rules. In short:
- Rule 1; No doxxing
- Rule 2; Use tact videos involving mental disorders
- Rule 3; Abusive comments will be removed
- Rule 4; No racism, sexism, transphobia or bigotry
- Rule 5; Video posts only
- Rule 6; Text Posts require moderator approval.
- Rule 7; Posting Guidelines.
- Rule 8; No videos involving death/murder.
- Rule 9; Facebook Videos are allowed, not encouraged
- Rule 10; Submissions must fit community
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How big is r/PublicFreakout?
r/PublicFreakout has 4,863,087 subscribers (Nov 2, 2026), which makes it the #187 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 12,487 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026.
When was r/PublicFreakout created?
r/PublicFreakout was created on Oct 12, 2013, so it has been around for 13 years.
Is r/PublicFreakout still active?
Yes. r/PublicFreakout gets about 55 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 505,137 posts and 54,192,649 comments. In a sample of 350 recent posts we counted 221 different authors.
What is the best time to post in r/PublicFreakout?
Based on post counts from Oct 29, 2026 to Nov 4, 2026, the busiest day was Thursday and the quietest Wednesday, and most posts arrive around 16:00 UTC, with the fewest around 06:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What kind of posts are on r/PublicFreakout?
The community describes itself as: “A subreddit dedicated to people freaking out, melting down, losing their cool, or being weird in public.” Recent post titles often mention man, woman, police, fight and halloween. Most posts are videos (97%).
Is r/PublicFreakout SFW?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/PublicFreakout as an 18+ (NSFW) community. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
What are the rules of r/PublicFreakout?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/PublicFreakout accepts link and media posts (no plain text posts), with images and videos enabled. It has 10 posted rules, starting with: “Rule 1; No doxxing”; “Rule 2; Use tact videos involving mental disorders”; “Rule 3; Abusive comments will be removed”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
What subreddits are similar to r/PublicFreakout?
Communities with similar topics include r/philosophy (18.6M), r/AnimalsBeingJerks (6.5M), r/productivity (4.3M), r/OldSchoolCool (19.7M) and r/AnimalsBeingBros (6.9M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 2, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 6, 2026). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/PublicFreakout.