About r/ask
In its own words:
This is a place to ask specific, closed-ended, non divisive questions.
Community guide
r/ask (#818, about 1.3 million subscribers) — This is a place to ask specific, closed-ended, non divisive questions. A recent sample averaged 34 posts a day (~100% text). Its public rules include: Be polite and civil.; Post Format; Content Guidelines; No NSFW; No advertising or calls to action.
What belongs here
Stay inside the room’s stated scope rather than adjacent off-topic dumps. Self-promotion and ads are limited—read those rules before linking your own work. Medical advice requests are out of scope.
How it differs from lookalikes
Prefer this room when your post matches its description and rules—not merely a larger sibling community. Skim the full public rule list once rather than assuming defaults from similar subs.
Practical pointers
Read the live sidebar/rules before posting; rules can change. Common flairs include: Popular post.
The community was created on Mar 21, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Nov 2, 2026, it has gained 1,293 subscribers (+0.10%). It sits just behind r/Accounting (#818) and ahead of r/AskCulinary (#820) in our ranking.
What sets r/ask apart
Compared with other large communities, r/ask leans heavily on text posts (100% of recent posts; the typical Top 100 subreddit sits at 35%). Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (17:00 UTC) sees about 4.3× as many posts as the quietest (12:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026, r/ask climbed from 1,289,733 to 1,296,169 subscribers (+6.4K, +0.50%). That is about 126 new members per day. The chart shows 10 weekly subscriber counts.
Top posts on r/ask this week
This week’s highest-ranked posts, in Reddit’s own order (collected Nov 8, 2026).
- What makes my pal so attractive to women?u/Conscious_Reach_2173 · Nov 2 · text post
- How come people are saying the AI bubble is popping?u/vnevner · Nov 1 · text post
- Is it better to use Deodorant or Antiperspirant?u/ToeAffectionate1079 · Nov 2 · text post
- Before Google existed, who did we ask when we didn't know something?u/JunShem1122 · Nov 2 · text post
- Which invention changed human history the most?u/JunShem1122 · Nov 1 · text post
- How is teenage drinking view in the US?u/MisterBBlluuee · Nov 4 · text post
- do animals have accents?u/Warm-Squirrel9719 · Nov 1 · text post
- Why do advertisements for chocolate ice cream and sweets so often feature women enjoying these products without men? Is there a particular marketing strategy behind this choice?u/TheShyBuck · Nov 3 · text post
- Do lawyers feel bad about defending the wrong people?u/Unusual_Recover7208 · Nov 5 · text post
- Are schools teaching kids the wrong things when it comes to behavior and consequences?u/Impossible-Rock9720 · Nov 5 · text post
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/ask, from 2022 to 2024, ranked by Reddit.
- What is something you can say "I'm with the boomers on this one" about?u/AnitaVodkasoda · Jun 29, 2023 · 24,851 points · 11,769 comments · text post
- What’s a dead give away you grew up poor?u/Tired0fW8ting · Jul 6, 2023 · text post
- My dad is just under 50 and he constantly says everyone in his school was skinny and that kids have gotten bigger, is this true?u/FullIntention4306 · Apr 13, 2023 · 17,875 points · 8,056 comments · text post
- Why are younger guys these days interested in middle aged women??u/fluffymulligan · Jul 31, 2023 · text post
- Why do people have zero sympathy for the people on the submarine?Jun 22, 2023 · 15,337 points · 8,529 comments · text post
- Has Elon Musk’s recent behaviour effected your decision to buy a Tesla car?u/Joey-tv-show-season2 · Jan 8, 2023 · 15,052 points · 5,843 comments · text post
- What are we doing to our children?u/AspectAppropriate901 · Nov 2, 2023 · text post
- Is America really as bad as it looks it the media? (to europeans)Aug 2, 2022 · 12,159 points · 6,051 comments · text post
- What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard someone say?May 7, 2023 · 11,921 points · 5,206 comments · text post
- Why don't we institute a 15% annual wealth tax on all individuals with a net worth of more than $100 million?Dec 13, 2024 · text post
What r/ask talks about
We read the titles of 261 recent posts (Oct 29–Nov 5), the words that come up most are “women”, “man”, “good”, “wrong” and “feel”. Other frequent themes are person, girl, men, job, night and nowadays. Recurring phrases include “former coworker”, “coworker reached”, “sax criminal” and “criminal nowadays”. By format, 100% are text posts.
Activity and best time to post
r/ask gets about 34 new posts a day. The public archive holds 696,306 posts and 14,730,621 comments in total, about 21.2 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Wednesday (46 posts) and the quietest was Thursday (29). Posting peaks around 17:00 UTC and is lowest around 12:00 UTC.
Rules of r/ask
The moderators of r/ask list 10 rules. In short:
- Be polite and civil.
- Post Format
- Content Guidelines
- No NSFW
- No advertising or calls to action
- No medical, legal, or technical questions
- Please use the search feature and do your research before posting
- No AMAs, DAEs or similar posts
- Minor Policy
- No Questions About Race, Gender, or Groups of People
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/ask 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/ask have?
r/ask has 1,296,169 subscribers (Nov 9, 2026), which makes it the #819 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 6,436 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026.
When was r/ask created?
r/ask was created on Mar 21, 2008, so it has been around for 18 years.
Is r/ask still active?
Yes. r/ask gets about 34 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 696,306 posts and 14,730,621 comments. In a sample of 261 recent posts we counted 209 different authors.
What is the best time to post in r/ask?
Based on post counts from Oct 29, 2026 to Nov 4, 2026, the busiest day was Wednesday and the quietest Thursday, and most posts arrive around 17:00 UTC, with the fewest around 12:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What kind of posts are on r/ask?
The community describes itself as: “This is a place to ask specific, closed-ended, non divisive questions.” Recent post titles often mention women, man, good, wrong and feel. Most posts are text posts (100%).
Is r/ask SFW?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/ask as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
What are the rules of r/ask?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/ask accepts text posts only. It has 10 posted rules, starting with: “Be polite and civil.”; “Post Format”; “Content Guidelines”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
What subreddits are similar to r/ask?
Communities with similar topics include r/AskReddit (60.1M), r/AskCulinary (1.3M), r/AskEurope (1.7M), r/AskPhysics (1.6M) and r/AskUK (2.5M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 9, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 6, 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/ask.