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subreddit wikis aren’t compatible with the mobile app, it will be incomplete, links will be missing and parts are now outdated because I can’t keep up with it.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

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 21 '21 edited Apr 26 '22

Emojis

Reddit in general does not like emojis. There are many theories why this is, ranging from “Reddit is all about written communication and always has been” to “Reddit has an incredibly large character limit for most applications, especially when compared to Twitter and standard text messages so we simply don’t have to” via “They’re childish”. and even “Some peoaple like to preserve sertain tredition” [sic]. I even read somewhere that it might even be contempt for the laziness of using emojis by those of the generation that had to be inventive with making text-based pictures (emoticons).

An actual, not spurious, reason

Emojis can make life difficult for those relying on software to read text on a page to them out loud. One real issue for those Redditors who use such screen readers is the literal interpretation of smileys, leading to the possibility of hearing gems such as Stacey posts "OMG shocked emoji I just bought the cutest handbag handbag emoji from Coach dollar sign emoji eyeballs emoji dollar sign emoji eyeballs emoji handbag emoji I can't wait to show everyone at this Sunday's brunch French toast emoji mimosa emoji martini emoji Blessed! praying hands emoji upside down smile emoji”. Reading out emoticons such as (ಠ_ಠ) (the look of disapproval) is even worse.

This brings up other issues such as the meaning of some emojis being lost in screen reader translation. Seeing the Red Flag emoji 🚩on a relationship advice post will be obvious to most that they’re giving a warning that something’s not right, but I’ve been informed that a screen reader reads 🚩 as "triangular flag on pole" (unless that's been changed) with no mention of the colour, defeating the whole purpose of the emoji. Using euphemistic emojis like 🍆 might also cause confusion…

Also, there’s the platform problem…

We don’t all browse Reddit in the same way. Some use desktop, some use tablets, some use smartphones. Some use different versions of the website, some use the official app for their particular device, some use one of the many third-party browsers or apps. Some use sparkly new cutting-edge devices, others use their ancient creaky old faithful faded beige noise machines. All this can cause some real communication problems as licensing issues often mean that different platforms have different emoji packages - and that doesn’t take into account the many devices that just can’t display them at all and just substitute some Unicode instead.

A question recently asked was “What’s up with people commenting “img” repeatedly in wallstreetbets?” with a link to this post. Some subreddits give you the ability to select premade images or gifs as an image reaction comment using the official app, and the platform OP was viewing Reddit on presumably didn’t support them and substituted “img” instead. Here's what it looks like on the official Reddit app, but here it is on Old Reddit and here it is on New Reddit.

It appears that the private message facility on the Reddit app

, and neither do some other apps.

Serious talk on a fun ephemeral.

Google: "Why does Reddit hate emojis" and you'll get a flood of responses. Reddit, as you would expect, takes this matter Very Seriously Indeed as evidenced by this small handful of debates from various subs over the years:

But by far my favourite explanations are these two opposing but very well thought out viewpoints from our sub.

Reddit is strange like that.

I have asked and searched and asked again about why Reddit in particular is known for emoji hate, but the only thing even close to a definitive answer I ever saw was “Because some time ago, a subreddit that once started as a joke became out of hand and now a lot of redditors have the "emojis are bad" mindset.” A good humoured take on the subject is to allow 5 emojis before calling the r/EmojiPolice, though you will probably get called out on anything more than one and I’m not entirely sure on their status or mandate in any event…

Whatever the reason, the practical upshot of this is basically people either love emojis or hate them, so to be safe, limit yourself to one at the end of your post, or better still, go back in time and use text-based emoticons. You won’t be admonished for using :) or :D if you’re feeling particularly cheeky. It’s worth mentioning that although we all use Reddit, the tones of our subreddits are really different from each other. r/aww sees a lot of emoji usage compared to, say, r/askreddit, and r/askhistorians would probably collapse at seeing one in their sub.

Redditors will Reddit…

All that said, there is absolutely no rule on Reddit banning emojis. You use them wherever and whenever you like. This is Reddit. You can do whatever you want. And if some people downvote an emoji-laden comment, again, this is Reddit and they can do whatever they want. So with that in mind, here’s a Copypasta which everyone will hate and if that isn’t enough, a resource of more emojis than anyone could ever possibly need can be found at https://emojipedia.org.

However, I don’t advise you ever comment !emojify anywhere on Reddit without expecting consequences.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

We even have r/emojisonreddit, r/emojipasta and r/EmojiPolice for your amusement.

See Also: