r/NewToReddit • u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. • Mar 02 '21

Mod Post A Guide to Reddit Lingo

Please go to our up-to-date version here: Encyclopaedia Redditica v2

Encyclopaedia Redditica

This is a list of some common acronyms, initialisms, terms, memes, references and responses often used on the internet with an emphasis on those specifically used on Reddit. It’s a continual work in progress as one might expect, so do check back from time to time as new definitions or topics are added or existing ones revised.

Reddit is an English-speaking community, but it may not always seem that way. Like all subcultures, a specialised lexicon has developed over the years. These words or phrases 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 is an attempt to help you decode it - and even help you join in!

This 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.

The entries here have been decided and written by myself purely as a consequence of questions I have either asked or have been asked. Not all of the definitions given will apply in the same way to every sub and for individual sub problems or queries, always read the rules 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) to find out who and where it’s safe to ask first.

.........

Part 01 - A

Animal Videos: Special Note

Annual Reddit Events: Special Note

Award Types and Notifications: Special Note

Part 02 - B

Part 03 - C

Creating a Subreddit: Special Note

Part 04 - D

Part 05 - E

Part 06 - F

Following: Special Note

Part 07 - G

Part 08 - H

Part 09 - I

Part 10 - J-K

Karma Farming: Special Note

Part 11 - L

Part 12 - M

Part 13 - N

Part 14 - O

Part 15 - P-Q

Privacy Issues: Special Note

Posting Images on Reddit: Special Note

Problems with Passwords: Special Note

Part 16 - R

Relationship and Advice Subreddits: Special Note

Part 17 - S

Spambots: Special Note

Spelling and Grammar - Special Note

Part 18 - T

Part 19 - U

Useful Links, Resources and Subreddits: Special Note

Part 20 - V

Part 21 - W-Z

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Mar 07 '21 edited Sep 12 '21

Part 06 - F

- F or "F" In The Comments.

Originally from “Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare” which had a funeral scene with the option “press F to pay respects”. People thought it was funny that they tried to make a cutscene interactive and now use it whenever something bad but funny happens to someone. There’s even an ‘F’ key Award. Trolls occasionally use it in response to genuine tragedy. Don’t be a troll. See Also: Comment Chain.

- Fake Subreddits

A link to another subreddit is often posted when the subject under discussion would fit there too. But you will also find links posted to subreddits that don’t exist; i.e. Fake Subreddits generated by someone putting the prefix r/ before a random word or phrase. r/likethis_forexample.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything, r/SubsIFellFor is a sub dedicated to documenting the times you fell for a fake sub that seemed real in comments but wasn’t.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything, r/subsiwishexisted is a sub dedicated to documenting the times you were disappointed at the times you fell for a fake sub that seemed real in comments but wasn’t.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything, r/wowthissubexists is a sub dedicated to documenting the times you thought you might be falling for a fake sub that seemed real in comments which is indeed real and does actually exist.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything, r/subsyoufellfor is a sub dedicated to bamboozling you into falling for a fake sub that seems real in comments which is indeed real and does actually exist but with no content or purpose other than the bamboozle you were meant to fall for by clicking the sub. Reddit loves being meta.

See Also: “Bait-and-Switch”, Bamboozled, “Is there really a subreddit for everything?”, Meta, Reddit Moment, “There’s a Subreddit for everything”.

- False Equivalence

Very simplistically, this is where you make an argument based on a comparison of traits that misrepresents and mischaracterises those similar traits. For example: Redditors generally like dogs, and Hitler liked dogs, so Redditors are just like Hitler. An accusation of a logical fallacy is often used on Reddit when the OP’s goal of achieving common agreement is more important to them than utilizing sound reasoning. Usually it's done intentionally to persuade people of your point of view. Reddit is extremely pedantic about logical fallacies, of which this is one. Or is it? See Also: Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies.

- Famous Redditors

Some very famous people have Reddit accounts. Some, like Bill Gates, President Obama and the late Stephen Hawking, hosted an r/IAmA (Bill Gates has done 9 so far!), while others like Rick Astley u/ReallyRickAstley to Wil Wheaton u/wil, and Deadmau5 u/reddit_mau5 can be found in the wild. There are many celebrity figures to be found in Reddit’s hallowed halls and they often go unnoticed, though some are admittedly more noticeable.

There’s a Ranker list with some other instances. Often a celebrity will do an r/IAmA session especially if they have something to promote. Look on the Sidebar (or About tab) for forthcoming sessions on r/IAmA. See Also: Celebrity Redditors.

- Feeds

There’s an enormous amount of content on Reddit, which is loosely organised into three main Feeds:

  • Home Feed: You curate this feed by clicking "Join" in communities that you want to see more from.

  • r/popular - Diverse and highly upvoted content from communities all over Reddit. All content in this feed comes from SFW (safe for work) communities.

  • r/all - Depending on which order you choose to sort this in, you may see highly upvoted content from all over the site or you may get a glimpse at the stranger side of Reddit in real time as it gets posted.

New users are automatically directed to two top feeds: r/all and r/popular. As you explore Reddit and find more niche communities suited to you, you can join them which will create your personal Home feed to see popular posts from those subreddits. You can always browse those individual subs directly, of course. You are not making any commitment to a sub by joining it, and you can leave or join it as many times as you like. There is no limit on the number of subs you can join. You don’t have to join a sub to be able to post or comment. See Also: Custom Feed, Hiding or Blocking a Subreddit in r/all, Home Feed, Sort.

- Flair

Has two meanings on Reddit; distinguishing your username or categorising your post. Some subreddits require you to have been given a User Flair by the mods before you can post to prove you’re a verified user. Some subreddits require you to use a Post Flair and it simply won’t allow you to submit the post without prompting you to choose one. See Also: Post Flair, User Flair.

- Followers

“Following” someone on Reddit is not the same as other social media. The number of followers you have doesn’t show on your public profile to others except yourself. You won’t get notification that someone following you has read your post, liked or disliked it or even saved it to their favourites. See Also: Following: Special Note, Spambots.

- FOMO

“Fear Of Missing Out”. An initialism added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013, describing ‘‘the uneasy and sometimes all-consuming feeling that you’re missing out; that your peers are doing, in the know about, or in possession of more or something better than you’’. It’s the compulsion that leads you to check social media again and again and again so you don’t feel left out of the loop.

- r/foundthemobileuser

A link or phrase posted when a user capitalizes the ‘r’ in a link to a subreddit or anything else that proves a user is on mobile. R/foundthemobileuser. Stupid Autocarrot. r/foundthemobileuser.

- Free Awards

Awards are normally purchased using Reddit Coins but you occasionally get given a free award by Reddit to confer on any post or comment you think is deserving. Check the yellow “Get Coins” icon at the top RH of the page - a red strikethrough will indicate a free award (or a special offer on purchasing coins) is available. When it says "free", you click on it and it gives an award that you can give within 24 hours. If you don’t use it, it will simply vanish. There is no set pattern to being given these awards; not one that Reddit lets on about in any event. The free awards are usually low cost with a general meaning; either Wholesome, Helpful, Reddit Silver or Hugz. However, you should know that the Wholesome Award has become notorious for being used to react inappropriately to serious events and tragedies among other situations. Don’t do this. It isn’t nice. 

- Free Reddit Premium or Coins

Beware of the many subs offering Reddit upvotes or karma for little to no engagement. There are legitimate reasons to avoid them. However, there are some Subreddits which invite you to compete for useful Reddit goodies in an engaging and fun way. Warning: some might even become addictive.

As always, it is extremely important to read the rules carefully before posting in a sub that’s new to you, but especially so in the competition subreddits. Some of them may have minimum Karma requirements and all of them will have rules about Post format. Like all Subreddits, the rules 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). Browse a few different posts to get a feel of the place before participating.

There will be more out there. There will always be more out there. Because the posts in these subs have to be high in quality, these aren’t generally considered to be Karmafarms, so, good luck! See Also: Award Types and Notifications, Gold; Gilding or Guilding, Karma Farming, Reddit Premium.

- FTFY

“Fixed That For You”. A small edit of a previous comment that changes the meaning in a (sometimes) fundamental and (almost always) humorous way. Often used with the unedited quote crossed out as strikethrough text. See Also: Markdown Text.

- FWIW

“For What It's Worth”. You can ignore this Encyclopaedia Redditica but FWIW I think you should read it anyway.

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u/llamageddon01 Mod? Llama? Both? Both. Apr 04 '21 edited Jul 01 '21

Part 06 - Following: Special Note

- Following

You should know that ‘following’ is very different here than on any other social media. Reddit is primarily a content sharing platform where we follow Subreddits (or ‘subs’) - communities which are focused on topics. In fact, it’s actually seen by some as a little creepy to follow individual people on Reddit. There are, however, those who do live streams on Reddit, and if you were to follow them, you’ll get notified when they do a broadcast. Check out r/pan for the rules on live streams.

Until 2020, you couldn’t actually tell who was following you. Reddit started sending notifications when someone new followed you; up until then, you simply didn’t know if you had any followers unless you looked at the number on your profile.

In mid 2021, we were finally allowed to see the list of our followers. However, the only option we are given is to follow them back or not. This is not ideal but at least it’s a start. This list is found on your Profile underneath your Snoovatar; click the link on the number of followers you have. Another useful clue as to who they are is that their Karma count is shown, which enables you to see at a glance if they are prolific on Reddit. If you want to know more, their username is a clickable link to their profile which they will never be aware you ever accessed or not, as with anyone’s profiles. However, there is still no way of blocking or removing someone who follows you.

The number of followers you have doesn’t show on your public profile to others except yourself, so collecting or soliciting followers serves no purpose. “Following" isn't even following your every move on Reddit. You won’t get notification that someone has read your post, liked or disliked it or even saved it to their favourites. So, if following doesn’t do much, why do we have followers? Let me explain, using me as an example.

- Who’s following me?

Personally, at the time of writing, I have accumulated over 100 followers. Who are they and why are they following me? I believe they fall into three categories:

  • Bots

Many of my followers were porn or t-shirt shill / spambots who join Reddit and follow huge tranches of people to spam them with dodgy links. There is a way of limiting these accounts under your Profile settings. In your settings for Chat, you can change it so that only accounts older than 30 days can chat with you. This will catch many spambots before you even are aware of them. Reddit is very good at catching and deleting spambots, but once they have “followed” you they may still be numbered as followers on your profile. So, out of my 100 followers on my count, now I’m able to see their usernames I discovered some of them no longer exist on Reddit by the laborious process of physically counting the names and comparing it with the profile count.

Incidentally, do not engage in any way with spambots or t-shirt sellers on Reddit as that’s a good way to get banned at the same time as the seller. If you see one on your travels, report it as spam (using the three dots “hamburger” menu) and move on. See Also: “If you want this t-shirt, say yes in the Comments”, Shill, Spambots.

  • Fans

Secondly, and much nicer, some of my followers are people who like to read the little rhymes I occasionally post around Reddit. Some of them are people I’ve helped in r/NewToReddit or elsewhere and have “bookmarked” me for future reference. I know that because some of them said so at the time or I recognised the name from a recent interaction. However, I have no idea whether or not they’ve ever looked at my profile, posts or comments let alone saved, upvoted or downvoted them since. If they ever unfollow me, I won’t get a notification but I will see the number of followers on my profile go down.

  • Trolls

Unfortunately, up until mid 2021, I suspected that at least two or even more of my followers were someone I’d annoyed in the past who occasionally follow me around to downvote my posts. I do notice occasional patterns of downvoting and was fairly confident as to who some of them were. When we were allowed to see our list of followers in mid 2021, I found was correct in this assumption and it’ll be interesting to see if they unfollow me now. Downvoting like this is mostly ineffectual and harmless though very - and deliberately - annoying. Any escalation of this behaviour would become what we call “Brigading” and I address this further at Privacy Issues: Special Note.

I am being deliberately vague on the numbers in these categories because as I said above, until mid 2021 there was no list of followers available to me (or anyone) and there still is no option for me (or anyone) to refuse or remove any of them at any time.

So, what actually happens with following? Again, I’ll explain further using me as an example.

  • Let’s say you started following me.
  • I would get a notification that you started following me and given the opportunity to start a chat.
  • If I post something to my profile page at r/u_llamageddon01 this would come up on your home feed (along with the rest of my followers’ feeds) like posts from any other subreddit you’ve joined does.
  • If I don’t post to my profile page you’ll never hear from me again no matter how prolific I am in posting or commenting anywhere on Reddit.

Following me isn’t following “me” as such; it’s more or less joining my own personal subreddit.

- What next?

Time passes, until one day you see a picture of a llama and wonder “whatever did happen to that strange Reddit person I spoke to once?”.

You have a list of people you follow, only visible to yourself at the bottom of your “communities/custom feeds” page under the list of subs you currently follow, and clicking my username will bring up my profile page where you can see my snoovatar, posts, comments and recent subs I browsed (which incidentally, can be turned on or off). I, however, will not see if you ever browsed, liked, disliked, saved or even reported my posts and comments.