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Enter any two safe-for-work communities. We’ll place their public descriptions, members, growth, topics and collected rule titles side by side — instantly, from data we already have.

r/whatisthisthing vs r/whatsthisbug

Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.

Swap sides New comparison Related to r/whatisthisthing Related to r/whatsthisbug

Bug ID room vs mystery-object ID room

r/whatsthisbug’s public description invites identification of insects, spiders, crustaceans and similar. r/whatisthisthing’s directory text is for identifying mysterious objects.

In our directory, whatisthisthing is larger (about 3.2M, rank #331) than whatsthisbug (about 1.3M, rank #838). Activity samples show whatsthisbug posting more often (~141 posts/day vs ~55). Both samples are gallery- and image-heavy. whatsthisbug’s sample flairs include ID request and just sharing; whatisthisthing’s sample uses solved/open status flairs. Our directory lists each name among the other’s related communities. SubMouse already compares tipofmytongue with whatisthisthing; this pair is specifically bug ID versus general object ID.

Collected short rule titles were available for whatisthisthing (civility, solved replies, no AI answers, submission guidelines). For whatsthisbug, collected short rule titles were n/a in our snapshot.

  • Choose r/whatsthisbug when the mystery is an insect, spider or similar arthropod.
  • Choose r/whatisthisthing for general mysterious objects under its solved-reply and anti-AI rules.
  • Both sit outside the current Top 100 cut; tipofmytongue-vs-whatisthisthing is a separate curated page.

Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-07.

r/whatisthisthing

For the identification of mysterious objects

For the identification of mysterious objects

Members
3.2M
7-day growth
+1.3K
Posts/day
55
Directory rank
#331
Created
Sep 5, 2010
Submissions
Link posts

Sample mix: galleries 57%, images 40%, text posts 2%

Rule titles (short names we collected)

  • Be civil
  • Be helpful / No Jokes
  • Try to include a link...
  • Reply "Solved!"
  • DO NOT DELETE YOUR POST
  • Be detailed
  • Do not post AI generated answers.
  • Do not use URL shorteners or tracking links
  • Check the F.A.T.
  • Posts must adhere to submission guidelines

Open r/whatisthisthing on SubMouse

About this community: r/whatisthisthing (#331, about 3.2 million) identifies mysterious objects. Rules: be civil and helpful (no jokes); include links when useful; reply “Solved!”; don’t delete posts; be detailed; no AI answers; no URL shorteners/tracking links; check F.A.T.; follow submission guidelines. Gallery/Image (~55 ppd).

r/whatsthisbug

Bug identification! All insects, spiders, crustaceans, etc. welcome!

Bug identification! All insects, spiders, crustaceans, etc. welcome!

Members
1.3M
7-day growth
+606
Posts/day
141
Directory rank
#838 (listed; no SubMouse page yet)
Created
Aug 31, 2010
Submissions
Text or links

Sample mix: galleries 48%, images 38%, videos 12%

Rule titles: n/a — we have not collected short rule names for this community yet.

Look up r/whatsthisbug (info tool)

About this community: r/whatsthisbug (#838, about 1.3 million) is a bug-identification helpdesk for insects, spiders, crustaceans and similar—photo ID first, not a general "what is this object" room.

Supported differences

Aspectr/whatisthisthingr/whatsthisbug
Public focus (from each community’s public description) For the identification of mysterious objects Bug identification! All insects, spiders, crustaceans, etc. welcome!
Size
r/whatisthisthing is larger in our directory (about 2.5×).
 3.2M members 1.3M members
Posting activity (our sample) 55/day 141/day
Common post types in our sample galleries 57%, images 40%, text posts 2% galleries 48%, images 38%, videos 12%
Allowed submission type (meta) Link posts Text or links
Selected rule titles (short names we collected) Be civil; Be helpful / No Jokes; Try to include a link...; Reply "Solved!"; DO NOT DELETE YOUR POST n/a

What they share

  • Our directory lists each of these communities on the other’s related list.

Rules and posting patterns we can verify

whatsthisbug: collected short rule titles n/a in our snapshot. Our sample is gallery/image/video-heavy with ID-request and just-sharing flairs.

whatisthisthing short titles include: be civil; be helpful / no jokes; try to include a link; reply “Solved!”; do not delete your post; be detailed; do not post AI generated answers; no URL shorteners or tracking links; check the F.A.T.; posts must adhere to submission guidelines. Our sample uses solved/open status flairs.

Where this comparison comes from

Public descriptions and member counts from SubMouse’s safe-for-work directory. Short rule titles (where collected) and activity samples SubMouse collected. Mutual related-list links. Short titles only. Related curated page: tipofmytongue-vs-whatisthisthing.

Members and public descriptions come from SubMouse's safe-for-work directory (as of 2026-11-02 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-10-26. Posts/day and post-type mixes appear when we have an activity sample. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order — communities outside the current Top 100 open in the info tool instead of a full community page.

Comparisons we prepared

Hand-written explanations for pairs where the public descriptions and rules support a real distinction: