DEEP DIVE

What Is Reddit?

Reddit is a social media forum site wherein users can discuss almost anything by making posts and commenting on them. Here’s a run-down on some of the more common Reddit lingo, popular subreddits, and other basics to know for navigating the site.

Reddit Lingo

Cake Day

On Reddit, Cake Day is the anniversary of when someone created their account. Cake days are treated like birthdays. In celebration, people are typically liberal with their upvotes on posts from someone’s cake day.

Quarantine

A quarantine is meant to prevent potentially offensive, rule-breaking, and/or harmful subreddits from being accidentally accessed by unsuspecting browsers. In this way, an iffy subreddit can continue to function and reform, but it can only be accessed by those specifically looking for it, who must also confirm that they are willing to view

Upvote | Downvote

By clicking an up arrow, Redditors can upvote a post, signaling that they like it. By clicking a down arrow, they can downvote a post, signaling that they do not like it. A total numerical score for a post is its total upvotes minus its total downvotes.

Sort By Hot | Sort By New | Sort By Controversial

When viewing posts, Reddit users can choose to sort them by “hot,” “new,” “top,” “rising,” or “controversial.” These measurements refer to the numbers of upvotes and downvotes a post receives. Many Redditors consider sorting by new and thus helping other viewers see the best posts, to be an important labor of love for the greater community.

Mods

Mods (moderators) are individuals who volunteer to moderate Reddit communities to ensure that they are safe, on-topic, and generally well maintained.

Karma

Reddit Karma is a user’s total number of upvotes subtracted by their total number of downvotes. Karma scores are publically displayed on profiles. For many Redditors, high karma is a source of pride.

Lurker

A lurker is a Reddit user who views posts but does not actively participate in the community. Some lurkers may upvote and downvote posts, while others may not even have a Reddit account.

Repost

A repost is when someone posts a screenshot or copy/paste from another subreddit, attempting to pass it off as their own original post. When other redditors notice this, they will typically comment “repost” “reepost” or “REEEEE.”

Popular Subreddits

Reddit has over 1.2 million subreddits. Subreddits can typically be found by typing in reddit.com/r/ and adding the name of the sub.

Dank Memes

The dank memes subreddit is dedicated to memes that are particularly funny, and often not amusing to “normies.”

Funny

r/funny has over 23 million subscribers who post and enjoy humorous videos, images, and text posts. There are many memes on this sub, but it is not entirely dedicated to memes.

Mildly Interesting

The Mildly Interesting subreddit is dedicated to exactly that: things that are mildly interesting. Posts that are too interesting or not interesting enough typically get removed or downvoted.

Shower Thoughts

Shower Thoughts is a place where people can post random, but possibly brilliant ideas. The subreddit defines shower thoughts as “a miniature epiphany that makes the mundane more interesting.”

IamA

On this sub, public figures and people with interesting stories can make a post inviting visitors to “AMA.” They must verify that they are who they say they are in order for a post to be approved.

Wholesome Memes

This subreddit is dedicated to wholesome memes and positive posts.

TIFU

TIFU stands for “today I f**ked up.” On this subreddit, people share stories in which they seriously messed up or became the butt of a joke. This page has over 14 million subscribers.

Reddit Memes

Memes are all over Reddit and have many subreddits dedicated specifically to memes. Meme-specific subs include ones such as Meme Economy, History Memes, Anime Memes, Dank Christian Memes, Garlic Bread Memes, and more. There is a popular trope on Reddit about how Instagram users “steal” their memes and try to pass meme formats or screenshots as their own creative output.

Reddit is the place where many popular memes were born and became popular including Big Chungus, Ultra Instinct Shaggy, and The Queen’s Death Conspiracy.