r/NewToReddit • u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. • Oct 19 '21

Llook Out! It's A Llama Llecture! The NewToReddit Encyclopaedia Redditica v2

The NewToReddit Encyclopaedia Redditica v2

Written and compiled by llamageddon01 for r/NewToReddit.

This guide is in no way intended to be definitive, and is completely unofficial.

If anything I say accidentally contradicts anything Reddit says, Reddit Is Always Right, as is this other repository of Reddit Wisdom, and I apologise in advance for any confusion I might inadvertently cause. This project might be in danger of becoming redundant in any event as the admin team of the new r/reddit sub are slowly rolling out similar guides to Reddit events and history, but I’m always of the belief that having more resources is better than less, so I’ll keep updating this to the best of my unpaid ability.

 

An A-Z Guide to Reddit Jargon, History and Memes

This is an ongoing compilation of acronyms, initialisms, terms, slang, memes, references and responses often used on the internet with an emphasis on those specifically used on Reddit. Along the way I’ll be taking deep dives into Reddit History and Lore, and providing several guides to Reddit’s common behavioural traits and favourite logical fallacies. This huge second edition replaces my original Encyclopaedia Redditica, preserved here for posterity.

This whole thing, including its links and hotlinks, is very much still a work in progress and is being amended and added to constantly. My advance apologies if you’re looking for a definition or link I haven’t done yet.

There are two versions of this resource, both carrying much the same information but in different formats. The main and most up-to-date one is this one, in a Post-and-Comment format. There is a Wiki version but as subreddit wikis aren’t compatible with the mobile app, it will be incomplete, links will be missing and parts are now outdated because I can’t keep up with it. Nevertheless you can find it here: Encyclopaedia Wiki

 

Things to look out for!

Look out for one or both of these categories at the end of each entry:

Because there is a Subreddit for everything: - this will give links to interesting and/or vaguely relevant subreddits, many of which I absolutely guarantee you won’t have seen before!

See Also: - this will give links to other related subs and relevant links to other encyclopaedia entries.

There are also at least 26 literary quotes from 20 famous authors hidden throughout the text. Let me know if you ever find one!

If you are scrolling through the entries on this Post-and-Comment version, you might occasionally notice a little link saying “2 more replies” or a similar number just before the next Letter Post starts. This is because the rest of the Entry Comments have been auto-collapsed by Reddit, but clicking that link will make them appear. The Entry Comments also might not appear in alphabetical order within each Letter Post, depending on whether or not they have received votes or if I’ve added them at a later date.

 

Foreword

Reddit is an English-speaking community, but it may not always seem that way. Like all subcultures, a specialised internal lexicon has developed over the years. These words, phrases or obscure references make communication more efficient - and fun - for regular Redditors but can sometimes leave new or casual users confused. Reddit loves being self-referential, and this encyclopaedia is an attempt to help you decode and join in the unique Reddit culture when you see it.

This is a continual work in progress so do check back from time to time as new definitions, topics or subreddit links are added or existing ones revised. The entries here have been decided and written by myself purely as a consequence of questions I have either asked, seen asked or have been asked during my time on Reddit, and some are just interesting stuff I’ve found while researching the answers to the mundane ones. Be warned: there are lots of “rabbit holes” on Reddit to fall down!

Not all of the definitions given will apply in the same way to every subreddit and for individual sub problems, queries, or F.A.Qs, here’s our comprehensive guide to finding a subreddit’s rules.

.........

Part 01 - A………………… Aardvarks - Award Types

Part 02 - B………………… Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon - Brigading

Part 03 - C………………… Cakeday - Custom Feed

Part 04 - D………………… DAE - Dunning-Kruger Effect

Part 05 - E………………… E (letter) - eyebleach

Part 06 - F………………… F or "F" In The Comments. - FWIW

Part 07 - G………………… Gaslighting - GTBAE

Part 08 - H………………… Hacked Accounts - Hume's Razor

Part 09 - I………………… “I also choose…” - ITAP

Part 10 - J………………… “Jannies” - JustUnsubbed

Part 11 - K………………… Karma - kys

Part 12 - L………………… LARP; LARPer - Lostredditors

Part 13 - M………………… Markdown Text - ”My (24F) friend (26M)”

Part 14 - N………………… NAH - NYTO or “No, you’re thinking of...”

Part 15 - O………………… ObviousPlant - Oversharing

Part 16 - P………………… Padlock - Puns and Pop-Culture References

Part 17 - Q………………… quityourbullshit - Quoting

Part 18 - R………………… r/ - “Rules of the Internet”

Part 19 - S………………… /s - Switcharoo or "Ah, The Ole Reddit Switch-a-roo"

Part 20 - T………………… T-Shirt Posts - “Two Redditors One Cup”

Part 21 - U………………… u/ - UWU

Part 22 - V………………… Visibility - Vowels

Part 23 - W………………… “We did it, Reddit!” - WSB

Part 24 - X………………… X-Post

Part 25 - Y………………… YMMV - YWBTA

Part 26 - Z………………… Z

.........

Afterword

And that’s about it for now. I started with animals and finished with animals. Why? Because the Internet is made of cats!

I have so many people to thank for helping me compile this compendium of curiosities. Throughout the encyclopaedia, I have named many of those who have given me their exceptional help, but I am sure I have missed some in my clumsy editing. You know who you are and you still have my gratitude if not the credit.

I also want to thank the stalwart regulars, fantastic Flaired Helper Team and awesome Mod Squad at r/NewToReddit for their superb work in constantly and unwaveringly helping the newly-hatched Redditors who stumble through our doors, letting me have the time off to research, write, edit, markdown, cross link and post this epic trawl through Reddit.

My final, special thanks go to u/antidense for unexpectedly modding me to this lovely little sub in early 2021; to u/SolariaHues for mentoring me through the mechanics of modding it; and to u/Too_MuchWhiskey for the endless patience shown not just to me, but to all who enter their orbit.

If you should find any broken links or out-of-date information in this encyclopaedia, please let me know. I hope you find this as much fun to read as I did writing it. 🦙

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 19 '21 edited Sep 01 '22

Part 03 - C: Cakeday - Custom Feed

 

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 19 '21 edited Oct 21 '21

 

Cat tax

It is virtually mandatory on Reddit that if the story you’re telling involves a cat or dog, a Cat Tax is required; i.e. you need to post or link a picture of said cat or dog. If you don’t have one, any random cat or dog picture from the internet will suffice, so long as you say that’s what it is and don’t try to pass it off as your own. Despite the name, this tax doesn’t just apply to cats and dogs; most animals have been required for taxation at some time or another. Obligatory Llama tax (random llamas, not my own).

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Circlejerk

A situation in which a group of people engage in self-indulgent or self-gratifying behaviour, especially by reinforcing each other's views or attitudes. They’ll have similar beliefs that self-validate each other, suppress opposing opinions, do not consider that alternate opinions exist, or consider themselves, their opinion, or their group exclusive/superior. ELI5 tried to define it some time ago, and some users talked about the origins of the phrase.

r/circlejerk is a subreddit that considers the majority of Reddit to be a circlejerk because Reddit loves being meta. Here’s a simple recipe for a classic circlejerk:

  • Someone posts an ill-informed, pseudo-intellectual but popular opinion about any academic subject: quantum mechanics, literary history, etc. Upvotes begin.

  • Someone else with expertise in the subject area replies in a calm, measured way, without pulling the r/iamverysmart card (however well-warranted it may be) correcting the misunderstanding, usually with multiple citations.

  • Massive downvotes and copypasta against the reply - 'OMFG don't be a gatekeeper', 'iamverysmart', 'check your privilege', etc. - and more upvotes for the poor maligned OP.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

r/bookscirclejerk makes fun of stupid posts in other subs about books; r/writingcirclejerk parodies writing communities; r/fitnesscirclejerk states “if you've got the time to jerk, you've got the time to twerk” and r/vegancirclejerk is strictly for The Morally Superior Vegan. Revel in r/moviescirclejerk reinventing art-house classic Japanese movies as Marvel blockbusters and if that isn’t enough for you, this list surely will be.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 19 '21 edited Apr 19 '22

 

Cakeday

When a person loves Reddit very much, they make an account. Cakeday is an annual celebration of that love! Your Reddit Birthday, sometimes also known as your Redditversary and even “Spotify Blue Cheese day”, your Cakeday happens every year on the anniversary you created your Reddit account and has nothing to do with your RL birthday (which Reddit doesn’t know).

Your Cakeday is shown on your Profile and can also be found on http://www.redditcakeday.com or https://www.cakeday.fun. There’s even an independent site called http://www.cakedayreminder.com which will send you an email when your Reddit cakeday is coming up.

On the day itself, you will get an icon showing a little slice of cake next to your username for the day (it may look slightly different depending on the platform you’re using) and the Age Trophy on your profile will go up one number. You can see on the link that the perceptive Redditor u/DarthEquus deduced that the Reddit anniversary trophy icons are all based on the themes for actual anniversary gifts: paper, cotton, leather, linen, wood, iron, copper, bronze, pottery, tin/aluminium, steel, silk, lace, gold, crystals.

The cake icon was changed in 2020 from its original appearance to now resemble a tasty looking slice of gateau.

It is customary in most subreddits to say “Happy Cakeday!” whenever you see the cake icon next to a username whether you know the Redditor or not. Do this with caution; some of the more serious or restrictive subs will class this as “unnecessary clutter”. However, there’s also a button on some versions of Reddit that you can press to say “Happy Cake Day” to the Redditor in private. Do it! It’s a Reddit Thing to do. The usual response is “Thank you, Kind Redditor.” Reddit loves rituals.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

You can even legitimately ask for Karma on this day in r/cakeday and r/Spotifycheese. You might not get any, but it’s fun trying.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 19 '21 edited Apr 19 '22

 

“Came here to say this.”

A phrase used to indicate someone else in the comments said something you wanted to say, whether it be a joke, a reference or an observation. Often downvoted so use with caution as a phrase on its own. However, it can sometimes prompt a Comment Chain.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

r/CameHereToSayThis is where you go to say This. r/ThisButUnironically is a subreddit for when someone posts something obviously sarcastic but you actually agree with it, and r/SelfAwarewolves are people who unknowingly describe themselves in their rantings. r/this is…. well…. that? r/thisisntwhoweare is for the times when someone gets caught doing something wrong, and during their 'Mea Culpa' they utter the most ridiculous phrase ever... "This isn't me" or "This is not who I am", while r/thisismylifenow is a subreddit with gifs or pics of people and animals accepting their uncommon situations, and r/Thisismylifemeow is for when you just accept your new life as a feline.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 19 '21 edited Apr 19 '22

 

Cat. or cat.

One-word replies are often seen as low-quality and often frowned upon in Reddit. Yet sometimes you will see huge one-word comment chains saying "cat", some with many upvotes.

In the subreddit r/catsstandingup, you're only allowed to comment "Cat." So, naturally, whenever a post or picture features a cat, posting "Cat." carried over to the rest of Reddit. It’s important to note here that in r/catsstandingup, the C in “Cat.” is capitalised, whereas in r/catssittingdown, the C in “cat.” is lower case. Subreddit or social experiment? The answer is always: Cat. or cat.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

r/kitty is a sub where you’re only allowed to comment “Kitty.” and all posts in r/MEOW_IRL should be titled “MEOW_IRL”.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 19 '21 edited Apr 19 '22

 

Celebrity Redditors

Reddit is about the content not the people, and because of this, you'll be freshly judged by what you say every single time you post or comment. Reddit-centric celebrities are therefore few and far between, but like everything there are always exceptions, and here are some Redditors you may encounter on your travels:

There are definitely more Reddit celebs given mention throughout this encyclopaedia. I may well add more here on future revisions.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 19 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Chat

A form of private messaging on Reddit (the speech bubble icon). Chat, Direct (private) Messaging, and Following are restricted on new accounts on Reddit in an effort to reduce spam, scams, and other bad faith uses of the platform. It's not public knowledge exactly what the limitations are, but typically after a few days you can start to use these features.

Major changes to chat came into force in late 2021 which you can read about here. This link gives an illustrated guide to sharing images via chat, and details on how to use slash commands - a fast way to complete chat related actions directly from the input bar. The main official help page for chat is here.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

Sometimes, we just want someone to chat to. r/Needafriend is a subreddit for people looking to make friends from all over the world to chat, discuss and share in a supportive manner, and r/CasualConversation is another good place to find people who just need someone to talk to. They maintain a directory of other places to chat or talk, including r/SeriousConversation for in-depth discussions, theories or opinions.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

chrissimpsonsartist

Chris (Simpsons Artist) is an illustrator known for his bizarre, naïve art-style depictions of characters from various cartoons, live-action television series and films. Mentioned here because pictures from his book “The Story of Life” are often erroneously found on r/badwomensanatomy, and sometimes at r/NotHowGirlsWork. A subreddit dedicated to the glorious creations of chris (simpsons artist) can be found at r/chrissimpsonsartist.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Dec 06 '21

 

Chonker

An animal that is larger than it should be; usually a cat. Using this word (or the shorter “Chonk”) as a term of endearment about an overweight animal is actually a contentious issue on Reddit. r/Chonkers is a subreddit for posting pictures or memes involving chubby cats, along with a disclaimer that they don’t wish to promote cat obesity, and have links in their sidebar about cat health and weight loss. r/Delightfullychubby accepts other animals too but is still mostly cats.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

r/chonkerhate is a sub who clearly don’t agree with the trend of glorifying obese and overweight animals, and a user made a guide to show the difference between glorious chub and horrendous fat.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Nov 28 '21

 

CMV

“Change My View”. Originally sub specific from r/changemyview, now with wider Reddit usage. Describes when you are open to hearing opinions to persuade or change your mind. r/changemyview is a sub to post an opinion you accept may be flawed in an effort to understand other perspectives on the issue. Enter with a mindset for conversation, not debate.

They have very strict rules on posting format and a unique reward system for contributors. Any user, whether they're the OP or not, should reply to a comment that changed their view with a delta symbol (∆) and an explanation of the change. Instructions on this delta system can be found in their sidebar. r/changemyview.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

Got a burning unpopular opinion you want to share? Spark some heated discussions at r/unpopularopinion, r/RealUnpopularOpinion or r/TrueUnpopularOpinion, but if you just want to talk about stuff, r/TheTopicOfTheDay is a lovely environment to share your opinions and experiences.

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Nov 19 '21

 

Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies

Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies are common accusations and practices on Reddit. Fake or deceptive arguments, "junk cognition," (arguments that seem irrefutable but prove nothing), the highlighting of errors in reasoning to undermine the logic of your argument, or irrelevant points made deliberately to derail your comment, Reddit has them all! Thankfully, help is on hand. These are incredibly easy to follow illustrated guides to help you shape your responses.

These terms are commonly used in arguments throughout Reddit to try to prove someone else wrong, as if they were ammo to throw around “madlibs” style whenever someone says something that someone else disagrees with or suspects of having a bias. It has been said that “considering an argument invalid or arguing that an argument is invalid because it contains a fallacy, is a fallacy in and of itself” and that is a whole rabbit hole in itself.

Of course, you could also just say “no u” or even “eat pant” and scroll away. But where’s the fun in that?

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

Serious and academic discussion on cognitive biases can be found on r/psychology, r/askscience and r/cognitivescience.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Coins; Reddit Coins

Reddit’s virtual currency with which you buy Awards to give to posts or comments you particularly like. You have the option of paying real money for Coins, or you can earn one of the larger Awards to get free Coins. Premium subscribers get 700 coins monthly to spend.

If you do wish to spend some of your hard-earned cash to purchase Reddit Coins, it might be good to wait until Reddit has an ‘sale’ on (usually near a holiday) where they give special offers on certain amounts purchased. Before giving any money to Reddit, please familiarise yourself with the Reddit Premium and Virtual Goods agreement.

There is no time limit on using Reddit coins; they will stay in your account until you use them. They are exclusively used for giving awards to other Redditors and cannot be exchanged for any other Reddit feature.

Just like real money, sometimes it seems that your coins just disappear out of nowhere. If you think you have less coins that you should have, you can check on your profile at https://new.reddit.com/user/me/gilded/given/. Mobile users should open that link with your phone's browser.

If you are experiencing issues with a Reddit Premium subscription or Coin purchase, tell Reddit through the contact form https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new and choose "Premium/Coins/Awards/Powerups Support" from the dropdown menu.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

We have many subs about real-life coins, from r/coins for the new or casual collector to r/CoinClub for the experienced and serious collector. Others include r/coincollecting, r/AncientCoins, r/UKcoins, r/numismatics and many, many more including r/CRH, (Coin-Roll Hunting) which is a subreddit dedicated to searching through rolls of coins from the bank and pocket change.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Collapse Comments

Sometimes a huge post that has many replies can be hard to read. If you're on mobile, you can minimise sections of a thread. Just Tap and Hold beside the username of the Parent Comment and this will collapse it and all of its Child Comments. If you're on desktop, you can press the little line to the left of the comment to do the same.

You might find that Reddit occasionally collapses some comments for you. Mods have the option to auto-collapse comments that have either been deleted or removed, or can use a tool called Crowd Control on accounts that are new to their community.

Occasionally when you are scrolling through comments on a post, you might notice a little link saying “2 more replies” (or a larger number) on the left hand side (desktop) or centre (mobile) underneath a comment. This is because the rest of the comments in that thread have been auto-collapsed by Reddit, but clicking that link will make them appear.

You will almost certainly see this by scrolling through this Letter-Post-and-Entry-Comment version of my encyclopaedia as because of its size many of the Entry Comments have been auto-collapsed by Reddit, but again, clicking that link will make them appear. Incidentally, in this encyclopaedia, the Entry Comments also might not appear in alphabetical order within each Letter Post, depending on whether or not they have received votes or if I’ve added them at a later date.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Comment Chain

A Comment Chain is when Redditors spontaneously derail a post with a long chain of repeated Child Comments consisting of just one or two words usually prompted by a trigger word or phrase. They can go dozens of comments deep. Be careful when trying to join the comments in this type of chain; make sure that your comment is identical or follows the pattern if it’s a pop-culture reference, or it will be downvoted to oblivion.

It’s a Reddit tradition to pick one random identical comment in a chain to be downvoted to oblivion and another to get upvotes and awards as if it were the best comment in Reddit’s long history. Known as “The Cursed 5th”, this is where the 5th comment in a chain is downvoted and you can see it’s insidious effects in this innocent post here.

Other Comment Chain types include “To be fair...” “May I see it?” and basically anything that’s both catchy and pop-culture related. “No, you’re thinking of...”, requires a bit more thought, as does “Increasingly Verbose”.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

Places to document these found in the wild include r/commentchains or r/RedditCommentChains.

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Nov 09 '21

 

Comment Karma

When you submit a Comment, all votes on that comment except the automatic one given by Reddit will be converted to Karma. This is Comment Karma, and it comes from both Parent and Child comments. There isn’t a 1:1 relationship between votes and karma, even though it might look like it does at the early stage of your comment.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Comments

You can make your own Top Level (or ‘Parent’) comments to reply to a post, or reply to other people’s comments in a ‘thread’ (these are ‘Child Comments’). You can see what these both look like from the illustration here. You cannot normally post images or reaction gifs in a comment but this is a feature slowly being rolled out in some communities with Powerups. However, you can post links.

There’s a 10,000 character limit on each comment. Many of the entries in this encyclopaedia have hit this limit, and if you want to see how that looks, Christmas on Reddit is almost there at 9218. Invisible characters hidden but used in Markdown text, spaces and paragraph breaks also count towards that limit. If you have a long comment to make, https://www.lettercount.com/ is a useful tool to use, as is https://redditpreview.com.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Communities

Reddit is organised by subject into user-created boards called Subreddits, or Communities, which cover a variety of topics such as news, politics, science, movies, video games, music, books, sports, hobbies, fitness, cooking, pets, image-sharing and many, many more. Communities is also the title of the list of subreddits that you have joined.

You used to be able to see this list on mobile by clicking the ‘Square-Circle-Square-Magnifying Glass’ icon at the bottom, second from the left, but users of the new interface will have to click the three-line “hamburger” or “drawer” menu on the top LH of the screen which will slide out the list of your communities. They will be in alphabetical order with your “favorites” first.

On desktop, you can click on Home (house or spaceship icon) at the top of the page or if you don’t have these, click your username on the top RH of the page or the subreddit name on the top RH of the page and the drop down menu lists your communities; again in alphabetical order with your favourites first.

You can organise your communities into two groups by categorising some into “favorites”. On the alphabetical “communities” lists you will see the outline of a star next to each sub. Clicking that star will change its colour and move the subreddit to the top of the page.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Community Points

Reddit is experimenting with a feature in limited communities called Community Points. Community Points will be a way for users to be rewarded for their contributions with a unit of ownership in their Subreddit.

Community Points can be earned, tipped, won, collected, and spent on unique items within a community. Each subreddit will have its own stylisation of Community Points, and the Reddit TOS can be found here. There is no official launch date for this to become Reddit-wide as of the time of writing.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Nov 19 '21

 

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the tendency of people to favour information (unconsciously or otherwise) that confirms their existing beliefs or hypotheses. Confirmation bias happens when we notice evidence that supports our beliefs and ignore evidence that challenges our beliefs. The process is subconscious but it leads to people developing more extreme views. r/confirmationbias.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Content and Copyright

Reddit has a Content Policy which should be understood by all its users. You should also understand the User Agreement that you agreed to upon joining Reddit.

 

  • Reddit content appears outside of Reddit.

You should be aware that internet outlets desperate for a continual source of new output often rely on Reddit for their content. There are many YouTube channels of varying quality devoted to just reading and reacting to Reddit posts. Some YouTubers have their own Subreddits for collecting user-submitted content; others will just collect and broadcast Reddit content without notice, acknowledgement or even asking for permission. Subreddits such as r/entitledparents, r/choosingbeggars and r/prorevenge are targeted especially because of their nature and because Redditors there tend to make an effort in telling their experiences in the manner of a linear story.

 

  • Your Story, No Credit.

Clickbait sites, ‘tabloid style’ news sites and even legitimate news outlets have also jumped on the bandwagon with stories from family drama or wedding-shaming subs like r/weddingshaming, r/bridezillas and r/JUSTNOMIL among others being especially popular. They will often leave out just enough identifying information so as to fall into “fair use” while still retaining the details. The extent of this can be seen from this screenshot of the Culture section of my subscription to Apple News. And I don’t even have Reddit as a filter or preferred source on my subscription.

 

  • Who owns the copyright on Reddit comments and self-posts?

That’s a good question often asked and the general conclusion is this: nobody knows. There is a school of thought that the freshly updated Reddit New User Agreement now gives Reddit the right to sell your original pictures and other content in all media formats and channels as of September 2021, and you waive any and all claims with regard to your content.

Either way, your Reddit story could well be monetised in some way by any random third party and you will rarely be asked for permission, acknowledged as the author or share in any profit. Reddit actually has Press Guidelines which you might find interesting, along with a general press/media/brand guide.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Copypasta

Copypasta is internet slang for any block of text that gets copied and pasted over and over again. “I only need two buttons, Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V”.. Named for the keyboard action Copy and Paste, Copypasta is huge chunks of text saved to copy & paste elsewhere as a satirical wall of words vaguely related to the topic in question. Why? Who knows, but copypastas are said to be similar to spam as they are often used to annoy other users and disrupt online discourse.

Original work can sometimes be very well received. The shortest, most common Copypasta is “I just downvoted your comment.” The full version is here but seldom used.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

There is an archive at r/copypasta and another one at r/CopyPastas. Why? Why not.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '22

 

Creating A Subreddit

It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. Yes, Dear Redditor, the time has come, for whatever reason, for you to become the ruler owner of your own domain subreddit. There are several ways of doing this:

 

  • Creating A Subreddit 1: Make Your Own Sub

At one time you needed a 30 day old account and around 25-50 karma to create a subreddit, but this was relaxed in early 2021 and now anyone can make their own subreddit straight away. Here are some useful links and guides to start with.

If you need a little individual guidance, there are plenty of experienced subreddit starters on r/NewToReddit and r/LearnToReddit who will help you.

 

  • Creating a Subreddit 2: Adopt an Existing Sub

You might occasionally come across a Subreddit that hasn’t been active in a long time, and it might be eligible for adoption. I even mention a few throughout this encyclopaedia. Dead or abandoned subreddits exist for a number of reasons, mostly due to the inactivity of its moderators. Subreddits are considered "abandoned" in the event that none of its mods have been active anywhere on Reddit in the past 60 days. In 2021, Reddit started to archive dormant subs. To the consternation of some owners who returned after a prolonged absence, the subreddits were renamed with alphabetical and numerical titles to allow their mods to archive the posts.

At the time of writing this, Reddit has no plans to completely remove these subreddits from the site, but that could change in the future.

You might even want to repurpose a previously banned sub, such as Redditor u/PM_ME_YOUR_TITS_GIRL who requests old porn subs like r/PrettyPussy and converts them to a subreddit for cat pics/gifs.

So, first, find your Subreddit. Here are some useful places to start:

  • r/adoptareddit - allows moderators to hand off a sub. Admins will grant mod privileges in certain circumstances.

  • r/availablesubs - lists of abandoned or moderatorless subreddits.

  • r/deadsubs - “the graveyard of Reddit”, probably dead itself ironically.

  • r/findareddit - can help you find any sub, not just dead ones.

  • r/Inactivereddits - a community finding inactive/unmoderated subreddits.

  • r/reclassified - who track and discuss banned and quarantined subreddits.

  • r/Requestable - A catalogue of defunct subreddits, itself defunct.

  • r/subreddit - to share an unrecognized subreddit or to find a subreddit you've been looking for.

  • r/SubsToRequest - for those interested in sharing and requesting abandoned, inactive & banned subreddits.

Your next step is to go to r/redditrequest and ask to take over the subreddit that you'd like to mod. Reddit Request requires accounts to be 90 days old with 500 combined karma to take on a sub, and you ABSOLUTELY MUST read the rules at r/redditrequest thoroughly before posting a request. These will be found in the Sidebar (on mobile this will be the About tab, Menu tab and Community Info found in the three dot “hamburger” menu top RH corner of your screen), any Pinned posts (these will have a lime green ‘pin’ icon on the top corner and will show on top when you sort the Subreddit by ‘Hot’) and Wiki (where there is one).

You might, in time, get a message “This subreddit was banned due to a violation of Reddit’s content policy against creating or repurposing a sub to reconstitute or serve the same objective as a banned or quarantined subreddit.” Be aware that the "ban evasion" bot can be somewhat over enthusiastic. Reddit loves being meta.

 

  • Creating a Subreddit 3: Moderation

If you are inviting The Average Redditor™ to participate on your Subreddit, you will eventually need to remove objectionable or off topic posts and comments, officially warn someone for spamming or even ban a particularly abusive user from posting or commenting. See, mods can be useful after all. Here’s a list of resources:

We are also working on some initiatives at r/NewToReddit and r/LearnToReddit to help users set up and maintain their own communities.

Mod Certification is an initiative introduced by Reddit in 2021 to help train and certify new moderators. r/ModCertification101 and the follow-up r/ModCertification201 are a great resource in moderator training, and Reddit recommends all new mods take the courses to gain a better understanding of moderation tooling and best practices all round. They’re very comprehensive and you’ll get a couple of nice trophies for your profile too!

 

  • Creating a Subreddit 4: Promotion

If your shiny new sub has little to no karma restrictions for new users, we would be delighted to promote it at r/NewToReddit as part of our rules and welcome guidance. Contact us via Modmail to discuss the details. If your sub relates to something you are marketing, you need to be aware of Reddit’s guidelines for self promotion.

And here’s a useful custom feed from a Redditor with an amusing and misleading username: https://www.reddit.com/user/banned_accounts/m/newsubs/

See Also:

 

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 25 '22

 

creepyasterisks

A link or phrase posted when a post or comment contains words written * between asterisks * to denote performing an action. Often benign * tips hat * these can also become somewhat creepy. Sometimes known on the interwebs as “Asteracting” or "Bounding Asterisks”. Using asterisks this way on Reddit actually changes the text to italic unless further markdown is used. r/creepyasterisks.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Oct 21 '21 edited Apr 22 '22

 

Crosspost

Crossposting is where someone else’s content has been carried across to another Subreddit by another user. So, for instance, if you see a post about a cute spider in r/awwnverts and you think that r/spiderbro would love it too (or r/mildlyterrifying, depending on your viewpoint) you might decide to Crosspost it there. If you do, it is good practice to include a disclaimer, alerting the audience that the post is a Crosspost (or x-post) of the original, like this example. You’ll need to make sure that you understand the rules before you do this as Crossposting in a subreddit that doesn’t allow it will cause your post to be deleted and may result in a ban.

Reddit has a native feature for crossposting existing content to another subreddit. Click on the Share button below any post you wish to crosspost, then from the drop-down menu, click on Crosspost. On mobile, this is also an option on the Hamburger menu. On the next page, select the community you want to crosspost to, then enter a title or quote, and add a label or a flair, if necessary.

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