r/dating vs r/dating_advice
Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.
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Related to r/dating
Related to r/dating_advice
Dating talk room vs case-by-case advice asks
r/dating describes itself as a place to vent, discuss and learn from dating experiences. r/dating_advice’s public description narrows that to advice about specific dating situations—not general debates—and sends longer relationships (over six months) toward relationship_advice or marriage communities.
In our directory, dating is larger (about 6.3M members, rank #126) than dating_advice (about 4.9M, rank #186). Activity samples flip the volume story: dating_advice posts far more often in our window (~544 posts/day vs ~185), which fits a request-driven advice room. Both samples are essentially all text. Our directory lists each name among the other’s related communities.
Rule titles underline the split: dating bans r4r ads and spam and requires civility; dating_advice bans pickup-artist/red-pill language, generalizations and gender-war framing, and flags off-topic or low-effort asks.
- Choose r/dating to discuss or vent about dating in general under its civility and no-ads rules.
- Choose r/dating_advice when you have a specific dating situation and want advice—not a broad debate.
- Both sit outside the current Top 100 cut, so SubMouse opens them via the info tool rather than a full /r/ page.
Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-07.
r/dating
/r/dating: vent, discuss, learn!
A subreddit to discuss and explore the dating process and learn from the experiences of others
- Members
- 6.3M
- 7-day growth
- +1.5K
- Posts/day
- 184.6
- Directory rank
- #126
- Created
- Mar 2, 2008
- Submissions
- Text posts
Sample mix: text posts 100%
Topics: Dating
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- Be polite and respect each other. Give good, ethical advice.
- This is not the place to try and get a date
- Stay on topic. No r4r ads, spam, advertisements or promotional content.
- No Personal Information
- No harmful or hateful rhetoric
- No reposting
Open r/dating on SubMouse
r/dating_advice
Dating Advice
this sub is for advice about specific dating situations not general debates. posts about relationships longer than 6 months post go to r/relationship_advice or if you are married post to r/marriage
- Members
- 4.9M
- 7-day growth
- +7.2K
- Posts/day
- 543.7
- Directory rank
- #186
- Created
- Sep 27, 2010
- Submissions
- Text posts
Sample mix: text posts 100%
Topics: Advice, Dating
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- No hate-speech, personal attacks, or harassment
- Spam / Advertising/ Solicitation of Dms
- Pickup Artist / Red pill language /MGTOW
- Off-topic / Low-effort
- Self-pity
- Repetitive topic
- Generalizations & Gender war
- Body Count
Open r/dating_advice on SubMouse
Supported differences
| Aspect | r/dating | r/dating_advice |
|---|
| Public focus (from each community’s public description) |
A subreddit to discuss and explore the dating process and learn from the experiences of others |
this sub is for advice about specific dating situations not general debates. posts about relationships longer than 6 months post go to r/relationship_advice or if you are married post to r/marriage |
| Size r/dating is larger in our directory. |
6.3M members |
4.9M members |
| Posting activity (our sample) |
184.6/day |
543.7/day |
| Common post types in our sample |
text posts 100% |
text posts 100% |
| Topic tags on SubMouse |
Dating |
Advice, Dating |
| Selected rule titles (short names we collected) |
Be polite and respect each other. Give good, ethical advice.; This is not the place to try and get a date; Stay on topic. No r4r ads, spam, advertisements or promotional content.; No Personal Information; No harmful or hateful rhetoric |
No hate-speech, personal attacks, or harassment; Spam / Advertising/ Solicitation of Dms; Pickup Artist / Red pill language /MGTOW; Off-topic / Low-effort; Self-pity |
What they share
- Shared SubMouse topics: Dating
- Our directory lists each of these communities on the other’s related list.
Rules and posting patterns we can verify
r/dating short titles we collected include: be polite; this is not the place to try and get a date; stay on topic with no r4r ads/spam/advertising; NSFW marking; no personal information; no harmful rhetoric; no reposting. Our sample mix: text posts; common flairs include advice, questions and venting.
r/dating_advice: no hate-speech or personal attacks; limits on sex-related topics; no spam/advertising/DM solicitation; no pickup-artist/red-pill/MGTOW language; off-topic/low-effort; self-pity; repetitive topics; generalizations and gender war; body-count framing. Our sample mix: text posts at a much higher posts-per-day rate than dating in the same kind of window.
Where this comparison comes from
Public titles, descriptions and member counts from SubMouse’s safe-for-work directory (see the date on this page). Short rule titles and posting-activity samples SubMouse collected for both names. Mutual related-list links between dating and dating_advice. Rule lines are short titles only — not full sidebar text or post bodies.
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.