About r/Whatcouldgowrong
In its own words:
The best place to learn what not to do.
The community was created on Apr 27, 2013, which makes it 13 years old. Since Oct 19, 2026, it has gained 7,022 subscribers (+0.09%). It sits just behind r/facepalm (#97) and ahead of r/NintendoSwitch (#99) in our ranking.
What sets r/Whatcouldgowrong apart
Compared with other large communities, r/Whatcouldgowrong leans heavily on videos (82% of recent posts; the typical Top 100 subreddit sits at 7%). It is a discussion-heavy community, with about 55.5 comments per post over its lifetime versus a Top 100 median of 16.2. It is also one of the faster-growing big communities: its 0.39% gain since Sep 19, 2026 beats 91% of the Top 100. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (14:00 UTC) sees about 11.0× as many posts as the quietest (00:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Oct 29, 2026, r/Whatcouldgowrong climbed from 7,983,462 to 8,014,800 subscribers (+31.3K, +0.39%). That is about 783 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (8 so far), so it gets longer every week.
Top posts on r/Whatcouldgowrong this week
This week’s highest-ranked posts, in Reddit’s own order (collected Oct 30, 2026).
- WCGW opening the car door of the prime minister ?u/KilllllerWhale · Oct 26 · video
- Kicking a droneu/mythologicalduck · Oct 28 · video
- Excellent weight distribution strategyu/danielminds · Oct 27 · video
- what could go wrong when you forcefully pick up a poor squirrel for a ten second videou/achlysmizuki · Oct 28 · video
- Leave the gasoline alone...u/Alternative_Area6228 · Oct 29 · video
- Wall Climbing With Bro 🤝u/AfternoonPlane3049 · Oct 28 · video
- WCGW trying to swing faster....u/Average-Lemon · Oct 23 · video
- WCGW Driving Through Barricades and Ignoring Police?u/Nfarrah · Oct 27 · video
- WCGW Elephant carrying a 650kg (1433 lbs) silver-and-gold shrineu/gao7on · Oct 23 · video
- WCGW trying to stop a rider in high speed with a kicku/MeasurementBubbly350 · Oct 26 · video
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/Whatcouldgowrong, from 2019 to 2025, ranked by Reddit.
- WCGW when you ask a fashion blogger a nuclear weapon question?u/MrGuttor · Jul 7, 2022 · 139,889 points · 7,265 comments · video
- what could go wrong harassing a muslim family?u/TurtleFriend14 · Oct 15, 2020 · image
- WCGW trying to copy a technique without planning?u/backwards_watch · Feb 10, 2023 · 87,258 points · 3,492 comments · video
- WCGW Forgetting to switch to the Alt accountu/xeredge · Nov 10, 2020 · image
- Using a lighter to open plastic bags at a COTTON WAREHOUSE...?u/yellayahmar · Oct 6, 2020 · video
- WCGW kicking snowFeb 16, 2021 · video
- WCGW Listening to music out loud on a boat and then insulting whoever asks you to turn it downu/slitzzzz · Jun 15, 2021 · video
- When you teach the no so tech savvy how to play VRu/Halleyelec · Oct 31, 2020 · video
- WCGW If I break into this houseu/Sno_Jon · Jan 8, 2021 · video
- Block a farmers gate... What could go wrong?u/Tears_Of_A_Clown_88 · Jun 6, 2021 · video
What r/Whatcouldgowrong talks about
Across 131 recent posts (Oct 21–Oct 28), the words that come up most are “wcgw”, “wrong”, “trying”, “bro” and “bad”. Other frequent themes are driving, police, crane, stop, man and world. Recurring phrases include “data centers”, “wcgw trying”, “lit grill” and “wcgw driving”. By format, 82% are videos, 9% are links and 7% are images.
Popular post flairs: Rule #1 (14), Repost (4), Rule #7 (3), Rule #2 (2), Potato Quality (2), Rule #4 (2).
Activity and best time to post
r/Whatcouldgowrong gets about 18 new posts a day. The public archive holds 255,170 posts and 14,165,828 comments in total, about 55.5 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Tuesday (25 posts) and the quietest was Thursday (14). Posting peaks around 14:00 UTC and is lowest around 00:00 UTC.
Rules of r/Whatcouldgowrong
The moderators of r/Whatcouldgowrong list 7 rules. In short:
- Posts must contain both a stupid idea and a thing going wrong
- Direct links to content only (and no compilations)
- Tag your material NSFW if necessary
- Do not submit any posts involving serious injury - this is a lighthearted sub.
- No obscene material
- No fight posts
- No Tiktok videos or plugs for content creators
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/Whatcouldgowrong 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 many subscribers does r/Whatcouldgowrong have?
r/Whatcouldgowrong has 8,014,800 subscribers (Oct 29, 2026), which makes it the #98 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 31,338 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Oct 29, 2026.
How old is r/Whatcouldgowrong?
r/Whatcouldgowrong was created on Apr 27, 2013, so it has been around for 13 years.
How active is r/Whatcouldgowrong?
Moderately: r/Whatcouldgowrong gets about 18 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 255,170 posts and 14,165,828 comments. In a sample of 131 recent posts we counted 93 different authors.
When is r/Whatcouldgowrong most active?
Based on post counts from Oct 21, 2026 to Oct 27, 2026, the busiest day was Tuesday and the quietest Thursday, and most posts arrive around 14:00 UTC, with the fewest around 00:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What is r/Whatcouldgowrong about?
The community describes itself as: “The best place to learn what not to do.” Recent post titles often mention wcgw, wrong, trying, bro and bad. Most posts are videos (82%).
Is r/Whatcouldgowrong safe for work?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/Whatcouldgowrong as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
How do I post on r/Whatcouldgowrong?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/Whatcouldgowrong accepts link and media posts (no plain text posts), with images, videos and galleries enabled. It has 7 posted rules, starting with: “Posts must contain both a stupid idea and a thing going wrong”; “Direct links to content only (and no compilations)”; “Tag your material NSFW if necessary”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
Which communities are like r/Whatcouldgowrong?
Communities with similar topics include r/nottheonion (26.1M), r/WhatsWrongWithYourDog (2.3M), r/AmItheAsshole (24.7M), r/funny (67.6M) and r/memes (36.1M).
Stats from public data (data updated Oct 29, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Oct 29, 2026; top posts from Reddit’s public feeds). 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/Whatcouldgowrong.