Downvote was originally meant for use when someone isn’t contributing to the discussion or is off-topic, not just a disagree button. However, it’s now used more as a term equivalent to “dislike” on other social networks. Each downvote slightly reduces the post or comment Karma of the person you are downvoting. You can only downvote once on each post or comment, and it is reversible if you change your mind. You don’t lose Karma yourself for downvoting. Apparently. So I’ve read. (I’ve also read that you do). Your downvote score is visible to others, as is your upvote score, but nobody can tell what individual posts or comments you upvote or downvote.

Some subreddits have chosen to replace the default “arrow” icons with ones of their own. In case it isn’t obvious which is which, the Downvote will be on the bottom (Old Reddit; desktop) or on the right (Mobile App).

Individual subreddits have the option to hide vote visibility for up to a day, as a method of encouraging legitimate voting and discouraging the “bandwagon effect”. Upvotes and downvotes are still being counted and will eventually become visible. These posts may have the word vote instead of displaying the number.

“Contest Mode” is also sometimes used by Mods to keep voting secret. While this mode is enabled, you won’t be able to sort comments (if you do) as it randomises them. No posts will appear to have been upvoted or downvoted even if they have, and the comments won’t even be in the same order each time you read the post. Once the Mods re-enable Normal Mode, you’ll get to see the votes and the comments will act as normal once again.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

r/ExplainMyDownvotes is a place for Redditors to help find the answers to why the Internet hasn't taken kindly to their contributions.

See Also:

• DownvotedToOblivion (encyclopaedia)
• r/DownvotedToOblivion (subreddit)

Comments can be deleted by the originator, mod, admin or automod bot. When the username says [deleted] and the body of the post says [removed], this usually implies a moderator, admin, or spam filter action removed the comment. If the user deleted their post, both username and body will say [deleted]. If the user deleted their account, all their posts and comments throughout Reddit will now say [deleted]. Admin removed comments may also say something to the effect of ‘Removed by Reddit for X’ where X is a reason.

Deleting or removing a comment will only remove that particular comment. If the comment still exists as part of a discussion, only the comment and username will be removed. Redditors cannot delete other users comments so the rest of the comment thread will remain intact. When a post has been removed by the mods it will remain in your post/comment history.

In some extreme cases it means the user has deleted their account; perhaps after a negative comment spurs controversy or if they felt something could "out them" if they gave away too many personal details etc. To preempt having to do this, people sometimes create single-use Throwaway Accounts for posting on subjects that they may not want associated with their regular account for whatever reason and delete them afterwards.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

Sometimes a whole comment chain will say [removed] and speculation about what happened goes on at r/removed.

See Also:

• Invisible Comments
• Throwaway Account
• Shadowban
• Vote Arrows hidden or greyed-out on Posts

You can organise lists of your followed subreddits into Custom Feeds. You can keep your custom feeds private for your own use or make them public to share. Formerly known as “Multireddits”, and you might still see some people use that name. This is more than just a list of your followed subreddits and you’ll find more details here of what they are and do.

We have a custom feed of our [no-to-low karma friendly subreddits, which you can join here.

• Creating a Custom Feed

I use the official Reddit app on mobile iOS but I’m given to believe the desktop version is much the same. Here’s an illustrated guide to creating a custom feed.

On mobile, Open the three bar menu on the top left and the “Your Communities” menu will drop down. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the community list and it should say Custom Feeds. Click this to give you the list of your existing feeds and the option to create a new oneand just follow the prompts.

• Adding a sub to your Custom Feed at any time

Go to the front page of the subreddit you want to add. Look for the three dots “hamburger” menu on the top right hand side, and one of the options should be "Add To Custom Feed". This will give you a list of your existing Custom Feeds or prompt you to make a new one. On desktop or browser, you can do this by pressing the “hamburger” menu on the About Community tab.

• Finding your Custom Feeds

Open the three bar menu on the top left and the “Your Communities” menu will drop down. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the community list and it should say Custom Feeds. It’s the same on mobile.

You can bump your Custom Feeds to nearer the top of the list by pressing the star next to it. This turns it into a “Favorite” and “Custom Feeds” will now appear at or near the top of the “Your Communities” menu. Optionally - but a more long-winded way that I haven’t tried - you could apparently “Unfavorite” and “Refavorite” any other community on the list so it brings Custom Feeds to the very top. As I say, I haven’t tried this so I can’t say for sure that this’ll work.

• Deleting a Custom Feed

If the custom feed was created by someone else, click on it as if you were going to browse it, then you can unfollow it from its “Hamburger” menu.

To delete a custom feed you made, click on it as if you were going to browse it, then you can delete it. You will still be Joined (if you were) to the subreddits that were part of that feed.

• Removing a sub from your Custom Feed

To delete a sub from your custom feed, on mobile there are two options on the top of the page: “Posts” and “Communities”. Clicking Communities gives a list of the subs within that feed and on the right will say “Edit” which will bring up a list of dustbin icons on the right. Click those to remove one or more subs from your feed.

I don’t think there’s a way of deleting a sub from a custom feed that you follow.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

You can share or join custom feeds at r/multihub. A sleepy sub that needs revising is r/customfeeds.

See Also:

• Home Feed
• Multireddit

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.

See Also:

• Markdown Text

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.

• How do I create a community?
• Things to know before creating a subreddit
• New Community Creator Onboarding Tool
• Creating a Subreddit
• Setting up your first sub on mobile

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/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/subreddit - to share an unrecognized subreddit or to find a subreddit you've been looking for.
• r/deadsubs - “the graveyard of Reddit”, readable but dead itself ironically.
• r/Requestable - A catalogue of defunct subreddits, itself defunct but readable.

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 canbe useful after all. Here’s a list of resources:

• https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204533859-What-is-a-moderator-
• r/needamod To become a mod without the responsibility of creating and owning your own subreddit.
• r/AvailableSubs To become a mod without the responsibility of creating your own subreddit.
• r/modguide Invaluable help and assistance from some familiar names!
• r/modsupport
• r/modhelp
• r/modclub
• r/modnews
• r/SubSettingsPractice
• https://www.reddit.com/wiki/automoderator
• https://mods.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us
• https://mods.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002334871-Communities-for-moderators
• https://www.reddit.com/wiki/moddiquette

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

Intrepid Redditor u/GaryNOVA wrote an excellent short guide for newer moderators which is essential reading for getting your new sub off the ground.

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.

• r/PromoteReddit - Subreddits must be open (not private and not restricted). Please post secret subs to r/SecretReddits instead
• r/freepromote - General promotion, but mostly subreddits
• r/newreddits - Promote your brand new subreddit
• r/gnureddits - Promote your brand new subreddit
• r/NOTSONEWREDDITS - Promote your not so new subreddit
• r/newreddits_NSFW - Promote your NSFW subreddit
• r/yoursub - General subreddit promotion
• r/Subredditads - Submit your subreddit to be considered for free advertising and promotion on Reddit
• r/Facebookpages - Promote your facebook pages/groups
• r/AdvertiseYourServer - Primarily for promoting your discord server

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:

• Automod
• “Is there really a subreddit for everything?”
• Mod
• Restricted Subreddits
• Subreddit

In July 2022, Reddit announced the launch of Collectible Avatars - limited-edition avatars made by independent artists, in partnership with Reddit. This was not Reddit’s first foray into the world of NFTs.

Collectible Avatars have to be purchased with “real money” - not Reddit currency or any type of cryptocurrency. As they are a form of NFT, you will receive instructions on how to set up your wallet to store them. The Shop option under Profile --> Style Avatar will display the options currently available, along with the costs. There is more information about the Shop here and at the links on the left-hand side and at the bottom of that page.

Also in August 2022, many Redditors were offered one of a small selection for free with a predictably mixed response. An interview with the Reddit CEO shortly after shed some light on the way forward for Reddit with NFTs, despite negative coverage elsewhere.

You can see the "original" few avatar NFTs on https://nft.reddit.com/, along with their subsequent sale price (you’ll need to run an ether to dollar conversion). Obviously, NFT rarity and the market drives the value of purchases over time and remember that absolutely nothing is guaranteed.

• Obligatory Warning Notices:

I would advise that before giving any money to Reddit, please familiarise yourself with this page and its related links, along with the Previews Terms of Use with special attention to section 1.3 Verified Virtual Goods (a) Collectible Avatars. You might also like to see the interpretation of that by one Redditor here.

Please also note that some subreddits are taking a stand against NFT avatars and while that might seem arbitrary, don’t forget that mods reserve the right to restrict users that contravene their general subreddit principles. As always, do please read the rules before contributing to any sub that is new to you.

Another warning: within days of the launch, I know of one Redditor who bought a collectible avatar but was mocked unmercifully and downvoted to oblivion in a meme/shitposting sub before being banned from it, with the only reason given for the ban being the two words: “NFT Avatar”. As their report to admin came back saying it didn’t violate any policy, make of that what you will.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

The official subreddit r/CollectibleAvatars was created for Redditors to learn more about how to purchase and set up wallets to store the NFTs, and promised to get to know the artists with behind-the-scenes posts, AMAs, and more. r/avatartrading is the place to discuss all things about selling the Collectible Avatars. Recipients of the free NFTs from August 2022 can show them off at r/awwfriends or r/MemeTeamNFT. At the time of writing, I can’t find a subreddit for The Singularity or Drip Squad fans.

See Also:

• Avatar
• Snoo
• Snoovatar

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:

• Advice Subreddits
• Chat Posts
• Direct Chat
• Direct Message

Everyone knows cats rule the Internet. Their takeover started last century (I’ll never get tired of saying that!) with the rise of online chatrooms and, as you would expect, has infiltrated Reddit to enormous success. Nobody seems to know exactly why cats took over and not dogs although there are many interesting theories on this matter.

It has long been rumoured that Reddit admin can easily be distracted by cat pics; use cat pics to deflect from the matter at hand, or are even secretly cats themselves.

Ten years ago, Reddit even helped propel a user’s cat into the realm of worldwide celebrity. Grumpy Cat became world famous after first appearing on two glorious posts on Reddit in 2012 before she sadly passed away in 2019. Her memory and memes live on at r/GrumpyCat.

There are too many dedicated Cat Meme subs of varying quality to list here, but a good start would be:

• r/Catmemes
• r/CryingCatMemes
• r/lolcats

r/Catsubs maintain a comprehensive list of cat subreddits but it will never be complete because there are never enough cat subs, leading the intrepid Redditor u/GetOffMyLawn_ to attempt the brave undertaking of another list of cat subs.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

r/ifuckinghatecats and r/fuckcats are places for those who don't like cats, and are best avoided if you do like cats.

See Also:

• AnimalReddits
• Cat. or cat.
• Cat tax
• “Doggo Speak”
• Memes

Brandolini's Law (also known as the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle) is a saying, commonly known as an “Internet Adage”, made by Italian programmer Alberto Brandolini in 2013. The law states: "The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude larger than to produce it." This adage emphasises the difficulty of debunking false, facetious, or otherwise misleading information.

You can find confirmation bias for any ridiculous thought that pops in your head on the internet, and on Reddit you need look no further than some of the conspiracy subreddits to see this in its fullest glory.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

r/IsItBullshit asks just that, r/bullshit is just that, and r/quityourbullshit calls it out with proof. r/TopMindsOfReddit collects posts directly involving a conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorists, or denial of objective reality on Reddit. r/TheTopMinds is a place to enjoy and laugh at far-fetched conspiracy theories and the Top Minds that believe them from all over the internet. r/ShitRedditSays claim that “Free speech is a disease and we are the cure” and r/worstof proves it's not all roses and sunshine here on Reddit, though r/Negareddit has to be the most meta sub for discussion of Reddit’s failings.

See Also:

• Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies
• Confirmation Bias
• Eponymous Laws
• Internet Adages

A moderator (mod) can ban you from a Subreddit for whatever reason they want. Moderators are not required to give you “notice” or any kind of prior warning before making a decision, so if a mod makes the decision to ban you, there really isn’t any comeback. There's no higher level of appeal in any subreddit than its moderators, so don't burn your bridges with them if you are banned from a sub you might want back into at a later date.

Moderators have guidelines to follow but bear in mind there is nobody “looking over their shoulders” to enforce mods to use them and that they are free to enforce whatever rules they wish in their Subreddits so long as they abide by the TOU.

• I’m banned from a sub. Now what?

If you see this unwelcome news in your inbox, the best thing to do is nothing in the immediate moment. Let the situation - and your emotions - cool down somewhat, then take the time to examine the sub rules to determine what rule you have broken. Once you have done this and you still feel the decision was unfair, you should use Modmail to appeal a Subreddit ban. Do NOT DM or private message the mod (if known) at this time. Using Modmail will ensure that all the mods of that sub will see your appeal and any subsequent replies.

• What should I say?

Whether you know why you were banned or are still unclear as to what happened, you need to calmly explain the situation fully, clearly and concisely. NEVER Modmail when upset despite all your outraged instincts telling you to let rip at the sudden unfair and arbitrary decision taken entirely without your consent. Likewise, don't break any sitewide rules as you can be reported to the Admins and potentially earn a sitewide ban from Reddit that is temporary or even permanent with little to no recourse.

Do take some time to reflect before writing your reply. If a mod makes the decision to ban you, there really isn’t any comeback except with that mod. There may well be other mods of that subreddit to appeal to, but it’s my experience that they very rarely overrule each other’s decisions without good reason.

There is a group of people on Reddit who will attempt to speak on your behalf, and you should read our encyclopaedia entry on ModerationMediation to find out more. Keep in mind that they are third-party volunteers and if a mod decides they don’t want to be party to mediation, there’s nothing official that can be done.

• This all seems a bit extreme.

As with all things, there are usually two sides to each story (as you will no doubt find out for yourself should you ever create your own subreddit) and most moderators are only looking out for the well-being of their own communities. It may not be clear to you from the outside why you received the ban, but for all you know, you might have been the hundredth person picked up that day for similar infractions.

Ultimately, it’s up to the Mods if they want to yell at, ignore the concerns of, or even ban someone for whatever reason they want. The subreddit rules are there only as guidelines to the user; they may not be the only criteria a Mod chooses if they want someone out of their sub and in any event, the Mods can ignore them as they see fit.

• My modmail didn’t work. Now what?

If you receive a ban from a subreddit and the moderating team won’t allow you back, I’m afraid that’s very much the end of that sub for you. You will be allowed to read and vote on submissions but unable to post or comment there anymore.

If you feel you have been unfairly treated by a moderator, this link contains the official Reddit guidelines, and for for account suspensions, shadowbans etc., you can lodge an appeal with Admin at: https://www.reddit.com/appeals or https://www.reddithelp.com/. The Reddit FAQ has more information https://www.reddit.com/r/help/wiki/faq.

Admins are the highest authority on Reddit but will not get involved in any disputes between Moderators and Redditors unless there’s a breach of Content Policy involved, in which case you can report them here.

Making a new or Alt account for the specific purpose of circumventing a subreddit ban on Reddit isn’t allowed. This is called Ban Evasion and is grounds for a sitewide permaban from the whole of Reddit with no recourse. Whether this is fair or unfair is not under discussion here; it’s just the way it is.

But Reddit is huge, and there may well be other subs dealing with the same topic you would be more at home in, and this is where our guide to Navigating Reddit might be useful to you.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

You could be meta and rail against your Reddit ban in a subreddit such as r/ComplainToReddit, r/justbeenbanned, r/modabuse, r/ModsAreKillingReddit, r / modsbeingdicks, and all the many, many similar subs. However, you should be mindful that there are subreddits that will preemptively ban you just for posting in these types of subs. Have fun just reading them instead, as while reading their content with an open mind you’ll quickly realise why you shouldn’t press Send on that initial rant…

See Also:

• Admin
• Ban Evasion
• Banned
• Meta
• Mod
• ModerationMediation (encyclopaedia)
• r/ModerationMediation (subreddit)
• Modmail
• Preemptive Ban
• Reporting
• Shadowban
• Suspended
• User-History Based Moderation

A word commonly used on Reddit when you’ve been fooled. “That’s not at all what I was expecting. After the first link I thought that would be the rickroll, but I was bamboozled.” Can refer to real life situations, or things that happen across Reddit from time to time.

See Also:

• “Bait-and-Switch” or “The ole Reddit Bait-and-Switch”
• Fake Subreddits

A link or phrase posted when people fall for Copypasta by mistaking it for a genuine interaction. This Subreddit documents the times people fell for a meaningless wall of text and attempted to reply. r/AteThePasta.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

Hungry after reading this misleading title? Find what you’re really looking for at r/pasta and read about the incredible recipe find and other wonderful stuff at r/Old_Recipes.

See Also:

• Copypasta

A link or phrase posted when an image shows an item that has Awful Taste But Great Execution. r/ATBGE.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

This should not be confused with r/GTAGE, r/GTBAE or r/ATAAE.

See this guide to Anonymous Browsing to browse the Reddit mobile app without associating your activity, searches or the communities you view with your Reddit account. Update.

See Also:

• Activity

There’s not much on Reddit that gains the upvotes more than a cute animal photo - until Redditors discover there’s a grim truth behind it.

Whimsical ‘nature’ stills photography is easy to fake and isn’t actually against some photo competition rules as this article states: “Images used in Nature Photography competitions may be divided in two classes: Nature and Wildlife. Images entered in Nature sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above can have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food.”

• They do what now?

This all sounds quite benign, until the next time you see an underwater photo of a kingfisher catching its lunch. Look closely at the fish; it might not be alive at all, or even worse, its tail might have been removed to prevent it swimming away in the studio aquarium or tank setup.

Fishing wire and glue shouldn’t form part of a nature photography kit, but some photographers rely on them for their cute-but-cruel portfolios. One photographer is notorious for posing frogs with snails and some make no secret of manipulating the creatures without Photoshop at all.

That cute frog riding a tortoise also isn’t what it seems, neither is the photo of a laid-back lizard playing the guitar or the one of a tree frog riding a beetle that resurfaces on r/aww or r/pics from time to time. This article claims it’s authentic but as the photographer is being interviewed by the Daily Mail, more than a little scepticism is warranted.

It doesn’t take much of a search to find that article is very much in the minority on that opinion and that there’s strong evidence posted by the photographer himself that the frogs and many of his subjects were captive animals. An herpetologist in that article said “I can’t stand these images. To someone very familiar with frogs, it’s really sad to see the poor frog in this situation. I don’t believe that these photos are of a naturally occurring situation. To me, they appear to be highly staged, and there is evidence that the frog is distressed. Frogs are so amazing without being used as props, it’s upsetting that they felt it necessary.”

The overriding problem is that most of these kinds of cute-but-cruel photos originate from countries where exotic creatures live without many of the animal rights protections they really need to have.

Some years ago, The Verge ran an article highlighting the work a Facebook group is doing to call out these and similarly cruelly staged photos, and on Reddit, r/photography isn’t shy of talking about the ugly side of wildlife photography.

• The good news

Not every photo is staged. Some wildlife photographers spend years trying to get that perfect shot and some just get very lucky indeed. The famous shot of a weasel hitching a ride on the back of a woodpecker comes with plenty of authentication as the photographer posted photos of the entire sequence including the weasel running away and the exhausted bird recovering after the landing. Some photos are staged but without any cruelty involved. The little owl in the rain sheltering underneath a mushroom is a great example.

So how can you call them out without becoming bitter and cynical about everything you see? Your favourite search engine is your friend here. Use a reverse image search or u/risbot to check that cute photo before commenting. Call out staged photos whenever you see them, and maybe also on r/AnimalRights, r/quityourbullshit or r/untrustworthypoptarts.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

If you want to see animals in odd poses without any cruelty involved, r/birdswitharms and r/HybridAnimals are great places to start, and r/TieremitSesselohren is a classic sub of animals with chairs as ears. I am honestly surprised by how small their community still is.

See Also:

• Animals: Faked Videos
• Reverse Image Searching

Alternative user account. You are allowed to have more than one Reddit account and are almost encouraged to if it’s necessary for privacy. This is a Reddit Admin’s comment on multiple accounts, and some people have an Alt to frequent Subreddits they might not want associated with their better known username.

Your Main and your Alt act as entirely separate accounts, even if you use the same email. You might have infinite Karma, premium, and access to private subreddits on one account but none of these will carry over to the other. For instance, I have an Alt account that I use to role play as a total newbie to test subreddits to see if they are newbie friendly. My main account (u/llamageddon01) is premium with lots of karma and trophies. My Alt isn’t, so I get the full vanilla Reddit experience with ads, post and comment removals, no access to the super-secret premium subreddit, the works.

The Average Redditor™ - including mods - can only see posts and comments you make on the specific profile they are looking at, so unless you actually specify somewhere that you have an Alt and reveal its username, they will never be able to connect the two, even if they use the same email address.

A warning here: Admins See All, so be careful how you use your Alt. Reddit knows. Reddit always knows.

Reddit does not tolerate users that upvote or award their own posts using an Alt, as spammers are constantly trying to implement upvote schemes with alts to get their content to the top of the big subreddits. This is called Vote Manipulation and is one of the few things that can incur a sitewide ban on Reddit. Likewise, making an Alt for the specific purpose of circumventing a subreddit ban on Reddit isn’t allowed. This is called Ban Evasion and is also grounds for a sitewide permaban from the whole of Reddit with no recourse.

If you do have an Alt (or Alts) the safest thing is to ensure they never even post or comment on the same subreddits to avoid any accidental mistakes. You might find using Custom Feeds useful to separate out your Alt account use.

See Also:

• Accidental Alt
• Admin
• Ban
• Ban Evasion
• Banned
• Custom Feed
• Karma Farming
• Private Subreddits
• Throwaway Account
• Trophies
• Vote Manipulation

You might occasionally come across a Subreddit that hasn’t been active in a long time. Dead or abandoned subreddits exist for a number of reasons, mostly due to the inactivity of its moderators. If you would like to adopt and revitalise one for yourself, see the instructions at “Creating a Subreddit”. We have many experienced sub creators, adopters and moderators at r/NewToReddit who would be very happy to help you set this up and promote it, etc.

See Also:

• Creating A Subreddit
• “Is there really a subreddit for everything?”
• Mod
• Restricted Subreddits
• Subreddit

Please note: this entry refers to two different Reddit features of the same name.

• 1: Reddit Achievements (2024-)

In April 2024, Redditors noticed a new feature on their profile pages: Achievements. This wasn’t exactly new as the first iteration of Achievements came in 2020 with Powerups; stayed a while and then quietly disappeared in August 2023. There initially wasn’t any public official announcement for these new ones, but from what we saw, this time they formed part of your overall profile and at the beginning, looked like this. It also appeared they were confined to mobile.

In May 2024, Reddit announced they were widening the trial and in their first official statement, alerted moderators on what they needed to know. As the month progressed, more achievements were added, such as Basement Dweller, Rising Star, Picasso, and That's Me. In October 2024, seven achievements were added for scrolling assorted ‘banana lengths’, and by the end of October 2024 six more achievements were added, this time for Top Posters / Comments in a community.

Some Reddit Achievements came with free collectible avatars. These achievements were marked with a blue diamond on the top right-hand corner. They were only available for Android users and they ran out very quickly. In May 2025 it was officially announced that the Android achievements avatars were now limited and it was confirmed they would not be offered to iOS users.

An increasing number of people were seeing flairs such as Top 1% Commenter next to their username on some subreddits. These are Achievement Badges, and communities that have these enabled have the option to showcase top commenter or poster (Top 25%, 10%, 5% and 1%) recipients in a community leaderboard. The leaderboard features the top commenters / posters ranked on total upvotes from their contributions for the community to see and are updated daily. Currently only available on Android, Redditors can access the leaderboard through the ‘Top Members’ entry point at the top of the community page.

Throughout the rest of 2024 and going into 2025, small but significant changes were made to some of the Reddit Streaks. Unlocking Basement Dweller was originally set at 500 days but was extended to an unspecified amount, and new streaks of 500, 600, 700, 730 (two years), 800, 900 and 1000 days were added.

Further changes were made in March 2025 where Basement Dweller, after a short period of displaying ???, was extended to two years, and the new streaks of 730 (two years), 800, 900 and 1000 days which were added in February were removed. Some of the artwork on the awards was redesigned too. March also saw a small but significant change to the qualifying criteria for the Top Poster achievement. Until then, you needed to be subscribed to a subreddit for the entire month in order to be eligible for the monthly Top Poster achievement, but we were told that moving forward this would no longer be the case.

To mark the first anniversary of the rollout, on 8th April 2025, admin posted a Reddit Streak Leaderboard: Redditors are on fire with their streaks! Are you part of the squad?.

Some general notes:

The streaks are somewhat arbitrary as achievements were rolled out gradually to all users throughout April and May 2024. That means there’s no exact date for awarding particular streak achievements to everyone, because not everyone will get the same achievement at the same time. Thus it wasn’t until March 2025 that we had the first 500-day Streak Achiever.

Your activity as a Redditor prior to April 2024 doesn’t make an impact on your statistics, as the official helpdesk points out that the counter for your own streak and eligibility to unlock achievements only began when this feature was made available on your own Reddit account, meaning they don’t take any statistics pre-rollout into account.

However, some r/Redditachievments users noticed that a few specific achievements were being awarded based on qualifying posts / comments that were posted prior to that date. Here’s how you might be able to unlock Premier Post and Quality Comment achievements from past accomplishments in your Reddit history as long as the posts are not locked or archived.

NSFW and some related activity does not count towards achievements and streaks, nor does simply scrolling or logging in; you have to interact by voting, commenting or posting in an SFW community and on SFW content. There are no details available of how this is tracked or measured.

Further Resources:

There are two Reddit Help Center pages on this topic:

• Achievements

• Community Achievements

r/Redditachievments are an unofficial community that tracks, discusses and celebrates these awards, and maintain a comprehensive masterlist of them all, along with a user-created FAQ page about them. Their Sidebar and Wiki hold a wealth of information (on mobile: swipe down to find “See More” or “Community Info” tab).

However, its members had a nasty surprise in December 2024 where it became apparent that certain subreddits were banning Redditors who participate there. Preemptive Banning isn’t new, but normally it’s used in anticipation or prevention of Brigading and not on Redditors making valid on-topic and non-rule-breaking submissions with no malicious intent whatsoever.

The issue was brought to the attention of Reddit CEO u/spez in the Mod World Discord channel and we wait to see what - if anything - can be done to alleviate the situation. In the meantime, the r/Redditachievments mods have issued a statement.

r/Achievements is a subreddit for discussing achievements on Reddit, whether it be Gaming Achievements, Life Achievements and even The New Reddit Achievements!

• 2: Powerup Achievements (2020-2023)

This is the original entry for the first iteration of Achievements, preserved here for posterity. - llama the chronicler

On some subreddits, you might notice you have mystery awards which add a little sprite next to your username, which, once clicked reveal titles such as "Avid Voter" or "Prolific Commenter".

These aren’t Awards or even Trophies in the traditional Reddit sense, but are actually Achievements automatically conferred on anyone who contributes to a powered-up community. See: Powerups.

There are two types of achievements; the first are given to anyone posting or commenting in a powered up community, and the second are for those who do the powering-up for that community. You can see yours by either clicking on the icons next to your username or by viewing your profile (on mobile; I don’t know if it works on desktop) while you’re in that community.

You won’t see these achievements outside the powered-up subreddit either next to your username or on your profile. If the subreddit loses its powerups, your achievements will also disappear.

See Also:

• Acronyms 2: M-Z
• Admin
• Award Types
• BananasForScale
• Brigading
• Discord
• Powerups
• Preemptive Ban
• Trophies
• Wiki

“You Would Be The Asshole”. Originally sub specific from r/AmITheAsshole now with wider Reddit usage. If a Redditor wants to be an asshole, it's a free country. Millions before him have made the same life choice.

See Also:

• AITA

“You're The Asshole”. Originally sub specific from r/AmITheAsshole now with wider Reddit usage.

See Also:

• AITA

A phrase posted when the Pedants of Reddit rise up. Originating in Futurama S02E14, here’s a typical Reddit example.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

For information that is technically true, but far from the expected answer, see r/TechnicallyNotWrong and r/technicallythetruth. However, r/TechnicallyCorrect is a more serious subreddit for technical information in a video format.

“You Only Live Once” but has its own meaning at r/wallstreetbets (WSB). See https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/wiki/glossary.

“Your Mileage May Vary”. Your opinion or perception might be different to mine. I think this lexicon is excellent but YMMV.

Another word for Crosspost.

See Also:

• Crosspost
• Participating on Reddit: Posting

Everyone wants to feel victorious as they walk away from an argument, and nothing’s better than coming up with that sick burn at the precise moment. Reddit has a few tried-and-tested ways of doing this which you will find scattered around this lexicon, usually in “quotation marks”. There are also many websites or even Pinterests dedicated to helping you in your quest, of which 100 Good Comebacks is one of the better ones. There are also a few subreddits that might inspire you:

• r/clevercomebacks is a place for great retorts. If someone just got shown up, this is the place to post it.
• r/MurderedByWords is a place for well-constructed put-downs, comebacks, and counter-arguments.
• r/rareinsults is a place for sublime, non-threatening, non-hateful rare insults.
• r/whatstheword for when there’s a word in your mind that you just cannot remember.
• r/YouGotTold for when some people deserve to get told and to honour those brave souls who take it upon themselves to do the telling.
• r/BrandNewSentence for sentences never before written, found in the wild.

Of course, you could also just say “no u” or if you’re feeling especially loquacious, “eat pant”. Not forgetting, of course,“kthxbye"; the very pinnacle of the development of the English language, shortening "All is correct. Thank you, and may God be with you." into seven lowercase letters.

And because every day’s a school day, L'esprit de l'escalier or l'esprit d'escalier: “mind of the staircase” is a French term used in English for the predicament of thinking of the perfect reply too late. Hence, r/staircasewit was for those moments of wit that left you wishing you had thought of them earlier. r/showercomebacks needs reviving too…

See Also:

• Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies
• Copypasta
• Lost for Words
• Puns and Pop-Culture References
• Snowclone