diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9a8b2b2..4ee3693 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -239,5 +239,5 @@ results/*
 reddit-bot-351418-5560ebc49cac.json
 /.idea
 *.pyc
-/video_creation/data/videos.json
-/video_creation/data/envvars.txt
+video_creation/data/videos.json
+video_creation/data/envvars.txt
diff --git a/TTS/swapper.py b/TTS/swapper.py
index 025275a..c5f6776 100644
--- a/TTS/swapper.py
+++ b/TTS/swapper.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from dotenv import load_dotenv
 from TTS.GTTS import GTTS
 from TTS.POLLY import POLLY
 from TTS.TikTok import TikTok
+from utils.console import print_substep
 
 CHOICE_DIR = {"tiktok": TikTok, "gtts": GTTS, "polly": POLLY}
 
@@ -12,7 +13,11 @@ CHOICE_DIR = {"tiktok": TikTok, "gtts": GTTS, "polly": POLLY}
 class TTS:
     def __new__(cls):
         load_dotenv()
-        CHOICE = getenv("TTsChoice").casefold()
+        try:
+            CHOICE = getenv("TTsChoice").casefold()
+        except AttributeError:
+            print_substep("None defined. Defaulting to 'polly.'")
+            CHOICE = "polly"
         valid_keys = [key.lower() for key in CHOICE_DIR.keys()]
         if CHOICE not in valid_keys:
             raise ValueError(f"{CHOICE} is not valid. Please use one of these {valid_keys} options")
diff --git a/reddit/subreddit.py b/reddit/subreddit.py
index 964862f..92c6d7a 100644
--- a/reddit/subreddit.py
+++ b/reddit/subreddit.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import re
 from os import getenv, environ
 
 import praw
@@ -44,10 +45,14 @@ def get_subreddit_threads():
     print_step("Getting subreddit threads...")
     if not getenv(
         "SUBREDDIT"
-    ):  # note to self. you can have multiple subreddits via reddit.subreddit("redditdev+learnpython")
-        subreddit = reddit.subreddit(
-            input("What subreddit would you like to pull from? ")
-        )  # if the env isnt set, ask user
+    ):  # note to user. you can have multiple subreddits via reddit.subreddit("redditdev+learnpython")
+        try:
+            subreddit = reddit.subreddit(
+                re.sub(r"r\/", "", input("What subreddit would you like to pull from? ")) # removes the r/ from the input
+            )
+        except ValueError:
+            subreddit = reddit.subreddit("askreddit")
+            print_substep("Subreddit not defined. Using AskReddit.")
     else:
         print_substep(f"Using subreddit: r/{getenv('SUBREDDIT')} from environment variable config")
         subreddit = reddit.subreddit(
diff --git a/utils/subreddit.py b/utils/subreddit.py
index d12228f..e05c136 100644
--- a/utils/subreddit.py
+++ b/utils/subreddit.py
@@ -14,9 +14,12 @@ def get_subreddit_undone(submissions: List, subreddit):
         if already_done(done_videos, submission):
             continue
         if submission.over_18:
-            if getenv("ALLOW_NSFW").casefold() == "false":
-                print_substep("NSFW Post Detected. Skipping...")
-                continue
+            try:
+                if getenv("ALLOW_NSFW").casefold() == "false":
+                    print_substep("NSFW Post Detected. Skipping...")
+                    continue
+            except AttributeError:
+                print_substep("NSFW settings not defined. Skipping NSFW post...")
         return submission
     print("all submissions have been done going by top submission order")
     return get_subreddit_undone(