“Toasting” is the internet’s clapback to “roasting,” and it’s overwhelmingly wonderful

Overwhelmed by the negativity of the current news cycle? The subreddit thread r/ToastMe has the antidote. Born in response to the popular subreddit r/RoastMe (in which users post a photo of themselves and then ask the internet to, well, roast them), toasting is the exact opposite. Users post a photo of themselves—often sharing that they’ve had a particularly hard day—and the internet provides love and compliments. “Only genuine and unique compliments by awesomely nice people are allowed here,” the page says,

The thread has blossomed into a space where people struggling with things like coming out to their families and negative self-image can go for uplifting words of support. “It is important to reach past the superficial levels of a person’s personality, and to touch (and, in this case, praise) a deeper aspect of their character that somehow shines through,” the page’s guidelines suggest. The commenters seem to have taken this advice to heart, offering heartfelt compliments beyond a casual emoji or “like.”

Here are some of our favorites:

A genuinely heartwarming comment thread? A great way to start the week. Maybe we’ll even get toasted ourselves.