Post on Reddit
Reddit is a major social website that features user-created content in the form of content submissions called “posts.” A popular post on Reddit can garner hundreds of thousands of views. See Step 1 below to learn how to post your own content, as well as comment on posts by others.
Contents
Steps
Making a Post
- Join Reddit. Reddit requires that its users register and pick a username before they can post. Visit the main page of Reddit. You'll see a large, busy-looking list of posts with numbers attached to them, plus a row of links along the top of the page.
- Click the link that says “login or register”. It's located in the upper right part of the page.
- Fill out the required information in the left side of the window that appears. You need to pick a username and a password, and type the Complete-a-CAPTCHA (sequence of random letters and/or numbers) at the bottom before you can register. You don't need to provide an e-mail unless you feel like it.
- Click create account when you're finished.
- See if what you want to post has already been posted. Reddit has millions of daily readers, and there's a good chance that the article you found has already been posted. Use the search function to look for the article. If you submit a link that has already been submitted and is being actively commented on, your submission will most likely get deleted.
- Start a new post. Start by clicking the “Submit a new link” or “Submit a new text post” links on the right side of the screen. Click "Submit a new link" if you have a link to an article, picture, or video that you want to share. If you want to ask a question or make a statement, use the "Submit a new text post" link.
- You can change your mind on the next screen by clicking between the “link” and “text” tabs at the top.
- If you are sharing pictures, using an Upload-Images-to-Imgur is highly recommended. This will ensure your pictures stay available even if thousands of people open the link.
- Fill in the necessary information. Reddit provides labeled fields for this. If you're writing a text post, you can choose to just fill the title field in and leave the main text field blank, if you want.
- Click the suggest title button to automatically generate a title based off the article you are posting. This is only available if you are submitting an article.
- Choose a subreddit. Reddit is divided into user-curated sections called subreddits. Every post needs to get posted to a specific subreddit. Each subreddit has a unique name and is usually centered around certain topics of discussion. Generally speaking, every basic area of interest you can think of already has a subreddit dedicated to it.
- When you choose a subreddit, you can pick from a list of the most popular subreddits, or you can start typing in a subreddit's name. As you type, a list of possible subreddits will appear for you to pick from.
- Make sure you are posting to an appropriate subreddit when submitting a link or test post. If the post does not match the subreddit's focus, it will most likely get deleted.
- Check the submission rules for the subreddit you are posting in. You can usually find these in the sidebar that appears on the right side of the screen when you open that subreddit. Submissions that don't meet the submission guidelines (title format, content, etc.) will be deleted by the moderators. Each subreddit has different rules agreed upon by that subreddit's community.
- Submit your post. Type in the CAPTCHA code and click submit in the bottom left part of the page. Your post will appear on the next screen. Your post may not appear on the "New" tab immediately. This is because some subreddits employ filters to keep spam out. Occasionally, good posts will get caught in the filter as well.
- Track your karma. Posts on Reddit are voted on by readers to determine whether or not they are worth of being seen. As your post gets more upvotes, it will become visible to more people. The karma score of your post is the downvote total subtracted from the upvote total. For example, if your post has 35 upvotes and 15 downvotes, it has a karma of 20.
- Text posts will not receive any karma. Only link posts can get karma.
- You can see your overall link karma in the () next to your username in the upper-right corner. Click your username and then the "submitted" tab to see your individual posts and their karma.
- Cross post relevant articles. If your article can apply to more than one subreddit, you can cross post it to other subreddits. After you post your article, create a new submission for the same article. Keep the same title, but add "(x-post from /r/Template:Var)". Replace Template:Var with the subreddit you posted to originally.
- Change the URL to the submitted article's URL on Reddit so that the cross post links directly to the original post.
- Be careful not to overdo it. If you cross post to too many subreddits, you will be viewed as a spammer and will most likely have your posting privileges suspended.
- Post original content. Reddit appreciates original content and ideas above rehashes and the same old thing over and over again. Find something truly unique, and post it to the appropriate subreddits. You have a much higher chance of garnering lots of views.
- Use the tag "[OC]" in your post to designate that it's original content created by you.
Commenting on a Post
- Find a post to comment on. The other type of post you can make on Reddit is a comment on someone else's post. Comments are how discussions form on Reddit. Comments are rated with upvotes and downvotes just like link posts, and your comment karma is tracked separately from your link karma.
- You can comment on any post in any subreddit as long as you are logged in with your account (the only exceptions are private subreddits that require permission to access).
- Choose a post. Find the gray text underneath the title of the post that tells you how many comments there are for it, and click that to go to the discussion page. You can comment on your own link posts. If you comment on your own submissions, you will have a "Submitter" tag next to your username for the comments on that post.
- Start a new comment or reply to an existing comment. Reddit comments are organized into collapsible threads, where replies for comments are indented. Comments with bad karma scores will often not be visible or will be automatically collapsed. You can either respond to someone else's comment by clicking the "reply" link underneath their comment, or you can post a new base comment by filling out the comment field and clicking save.
- Comments are organized by popularity. Reddit users click the up and down arrows to the left of each post to either “upvote” or “downvote” it. If your post is popular, it will move up towards the top of the list.
- Format your comment. If you have a lot of information to convey in your comment, it will be helpful to everyone else if you take some time to format it so that it is not just a wall of text. Ensure that your paragraphs are distinct and not too long, and use some comment coding to make things stand out.
- *italics* - italics
- **bold** - bold
- [linkname](http://example.com) - linkname
- > quoted text - Template:Var
- To start a new line, use two spaces at the end of the first line. To start a new paragraph, use a double line break.
Posting Etiquette
- Learn the global rules. These rules govern posting everywhere on Reddit. They are fairly simple.
- Don't post any sexual content featuring children or minors. This includes suggestive content.
- Don't spam. Spamming is the practice of rapidly posting the same thing over and over again, or filling up posts with repeated information.
- Don't try to affect how people vote on your posts. Everything from begging to asking politely is forbidden.
- Don't post personal information. This includes your own information and that of others.
- Don't damage or interfere with the site itself.
- Follow the specific rules for each subreddit. Subreddits are governed by their own secondary rules underneath Reddit's global rule set. Most of these are written as content restrictions.
- To learn the specific rules for a subreddit, check the right side of the main page of that subreddit. Rules are clearly listed there.
- Breaking subreddit rules won't get you in serious trouble with the site, but it can get you and your post(s) removed from that subreddit. It will also irritate other users of the subreddit.
- Study “reddiquette.” Reddiquette is a portmanteau of “Reddit” and “etiquette” that describes a set of common Dos and Don'ts of conduct throughout most of the site. Some of the more important pieces of reddiquette include:
- Remember that the person you are communicating with is a human. Other commenters and posters are human just like you. Consider if you would say if you confronted with this person face to face before posting.
- Vote on other users comments and submissions. Make sure that you only use the downvote option for content or comments that don't fit the subreddit or don't add anything to the conversation. Don't downvote because you don't agree with the other person.
- Make thoughtful posts, stay abreast of new posts, and link to outside sources responsibly. Meaning contribute to the conversation at hand in a meaningful manner. Redditors do not take kindly to blatant spam or self promotion. If you are upfront about what your link is, and it contributes to the conversation and is applicable, then by all means post. Blatant self promotion or attempts to garner traffic usually are not met with favorably.
- Let people know why you edited your comment. It is common courtesy to explain why your post has been edited, as everyone can see which posts have been edited.
- Don't be intentionally rude. Reddit strives to foster an active community, and rudeness undermines that.
- Don't start or participate in trolling and flame wars, which are attacks on other users without contributing to the discussion.
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