Reddit what is it

In most cases, you'll receive a message if there was a problem with your post. You can click the Envelope icon in the top-right of Reddit to check your messages. Reddit newcomers will encounter lots of internet slang acronyms and terminology that are confusing at first. Below are some of the most common to help you on your way:. Reddit isn't much fun without some great subreddits to enjoy. The best way to build up a collection is by searching Reddit for topics you're interested in.

Here are a few popular and interesting subs to get you started:. This is just a small sample of what's available. Check out subreddits full of facts and stories for more. On every subreddit and post, you can sort by several criteria. Hot is the default and shows posts with a lot of recent activity. New , Top , and Rising are all self-explanatory. Controversial shows posts with roughly equal amounts of upvotes and downvotes. With some options, like Top , you can filter by the past day, week, year, or all time.

Use the View options to change how posts appear. The default wastes a lot of space, so we recommend changing it to the Classic layout in the middle. This lets you see more posts at once without getting too cramped. Some subreddits have wikis or FAQs that can help you get acquainted with the basics. Check the right sidebar or above the view options for these before you start posting.

You'll also find the subreddit rules in the sidebar. You might see gold, silver, or platinum icons that appear next to posts or comments. This is related to the paid Reddit Premium service, where you can purchase coins and use them to give awards to posts. It's not necessary by any means, but when you see that, you know someone paid money to award them.

For more, check out our guide that explains what Reddit Premium is and how it works. Click the Save button on any post or comment to keep it for later.

Click My Profile under your username at the top-right to get access to all your interaction history, including saved content. Install the Reddit Enhancement Suite browser extension to add lots of handy features. And don't forget to review our guide to Rediquitte for some major no-nos. Now you have an idea of what Reddit is and how it works.

A year earlier, the platform introduced the Reddit Gold subscription model. Reddit became one of the first major websites to accept payment in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin for their paid subscription Reddit Gold, gifts, and Redditmade subreddit fan articles that are for sale. This is expressed both in the page guidelines and in the Reddiquette etiquette for Reddit. Transparency is provided by the transparency reports. Steven Huffman returned as CEO in At that time, Reddit employed about people, climbing to in During these years, the platform has consisted mainly of American users.

The website was originally written by Common Lisp, but before its release, the development team switched to Python. The web. According to their own statements, however, the company had moved so far from their slapdash beginnings that lengthy public code developments were now hindering new product launches. In , Reddit migrated to the Amazon Web Services cloud, and since , Amazon CloudSearch has been taking care of the internal search. The official Reddit app is available for Android and iOS.

Since they are not particularly popular in the community, some competitors have established themselves, including Boost, Relay, BaconReader, and Sync. For tablets running on Android, there is Reddita.

There is even an unofficial cross-platform app for desktop PCs: Redditr. Forums live on user-created content. Community members create subreddits on specific topics and set up forum rules. Other users act as moderators who enforce these rules in the subreddit. Each subreddit also determines its own rules that determine which contributions are allowed.

Moderators delete comments that violate forum rules and can exclude repeat offenders from the group. Their basic tenant is that all users should feel welcome. On the one hand, it encourages participation in the internet and for that participation to be as polite as possible.

On the other hand, netiquette recommends adhering to technical security standards and ensuring good legibility. Users should also comply with applicable law. Here are some of the Reddiquette points summarized:. Reddit users usually attach great importance to their privacy. VPNs and privacy discussions are often the order of the day. This is also important to the site operators. In a interview, the head of communication Victoria Taylor explained how Reddit informs its users as transparently as possible about geotargeting in banner advertising.

For example, those who engage in doxing are banished from the site. Registration can be completed in a matter of seconds:. There is a feed of the top posts on the Reddit main page. With the new design, you can choose between a tile view, the classic forum view, and a compact version. Here you will be able to find potentially interesting subreddits by browsing visible posts.

You can also enter a term in the search bar , and the results list will show you subreddits with thematic overlaps, as well as posts within the Reddit cosmos that use the term. The old Reddit design is still so popular among users that you can permanently switch to the traditional list view in the profile settings.

By clicking on the join button , posts from the subreddit in question will be included in your feed. By filtering for new posts, you can be one of the first people to rate a post and potentially bring it to the top of the most popular posts of the day. Members can publish posts within a subreddit. If there is no subreddit on a topic you are interested in, you can create a subreddit yourself.

Posts consist either of a link or of their own writing. On the Reddit homepage , you will see a pen next to your name. Clicking on it opens a new window. You can decide whether you want to write your own text or prefer to share an image or link with others. In addition, you have to select a subreddit that you want the post to appear in.

Think of a headline and select a tag that categorizes the content. Before you publish a post, check again to see if it adheres to the Reddiquette. If you post in a particular subreddit , you should also observe its own rules. Some subreddits, for example, only accept posts accompanied by an image, others have certain formatting rules for headlines in order to maintain the overview in the forum. If you violate the forum rules, the moderators may delete your post.

They can also comment on other people's submissions by just clicking on the open comment field right under the submission. In the same way, you can reply to people's comments by clicking reply. And finally, registered users can upvote or downvote any of the submissions, which is the way that Reddit makes submissions surface to the front page. Reddit has a front page in which certain submissions are featured, thanks to different algorithms.

This front page has different tabs. If you are not registered, the default tab is "Hot," which is basically a view of the submissions with the highest scores over a period of time. The score is determined by subtracting the downvotes from the upvotes. If you are registered, then the default tab is called "Best. This is a personalized view that will also eliminate things that you have already clicked through the next time you load the front page. This is done to ensure that the Best page remains fresh.

There are other tabs, like "Rising" — which features posts that are new and are getting upvotes quick — and "Controversial" — which uses an algorithm to determine which posts are the subject of conflicting opinions by looking at the fluctuation of the upvotes and downvotes. There are four basic submissions: link, image, video and text.

All of the submissions require a title, which Reddit encourages to be interesting but devoid of hyperbole and self-promotion. As a general rule, reddiquette dictates that you should be a civilized person and remember that there's always a human being on the other side of the screen. Of course, no spam or trolling is allowed. While self-promotion is permitted, it's only tolerated in moderation. Just be mindful about what you do, try to be respectful of others, and you will be fine.

Yes, beyond the logical etiquette, each subreddit has its own rules that you should read and abide by when posting or commenting.

It's always a good idea to read a subreddits rules before you make a submission. Some subreddits will require you to apply a "flair" to your submission, which roughly identifies what it is about. Some subreddits even allow you to add a personal flair that will appear alongside your username.

This can be used to show off your personality or interests. As people upvote or downvote your posts and comments, these get added to your "karma. However, Reddit karma cannot be redeemed and there are no prizes or rewards for amassing a certain amount of it. It's really just a score that shows how active you are on the website. Any time someone votes negatively to one of your post, you lose points on your global karma. But you shouldn't worry to much.

The point of Reddit is not to accumulate karma points but to learn, have fun, waste time or add to the conversation in a constructive or funny way.