To the mere mortal Reddit can seem somewhat overwhelming. Reddit for beginners is an array of link, upvotes, downvotes and comments on threads makes it seem like an unnavigable maze. This confusing display to Reddit for beginners is however overshadowed by the brilliance that is Reddit. And with some basic training, could turn the site into a very valuable tool. So if you want to take advantage of all that Reddit has to offer but not sure where to start we have a brief Reddit for beginner’s guide.
In a nutshell, Reddit was born in 2005 and a heavy competitors of Digg. Users submit links on a message board and they upvote or downvoted, thus determining their position on the site. The more upvotes the post receives, the higher it is positioned. This can be very beneficial for the sites at the other end of those links as they are awarded with traffic in the thousands from Reddit users.
Subreddits
Subreddits is the term given to those with the most popular channels; These Subreddits are responsible for the posts submitted on the homepage. They can even become part of the default homepage if they gain enough followers. You are able to search for Subreddits individually or subscribe to them, consequently making their posts appear on your homepage. They include movies, music, gaming , pics, tech and so much more. Reddit for beginners would recommend browsing these Subreddits.
Upvoting and Downvoting
Upvoting and Downvoting are fairly self-explanatory. It determines how the posts rank. Next to the post number on the left hand side you will find some up and down arrows with a number in-between them. This number is referred to as the submission score; this is calculated by misusing the downvotes from the upvotes.
Reddit have a time decay algorithm to help make the posts rank fairly as posts that appear on the homepage will undoubtedly get more upvotes and downvotes. To combat this the algorithm has been put in place to ensure new interesting posts appear on the homescreen. Any post over 12 hours old has to have 10 X the amount of upvotes that a new post has to ensure that only the most popular posts remain.
Submissions
You can explore new material that is being posted simply by clicking on the ‘New’ tab in the menu. From there you can narrow down your options even more by either selecting a Subreddits page or finding out what new posts are gaining momentum by selecting ‘Rising’. They even have an option for ‘Controversial’ which can make for some entertaining reading. This is a great way to locate the kind of material that will interested you and a must for Reddit for beginners.
Reddit Definitions
Reddit for beginners can seem somewhat foreign and this could be attributed to the fact that it has a whole other language. Here are some common Reddit terms and definitions.
Karma – Wether it is link karma or comment karma, this is a rating you are given which can alert other users if you are worth listening too or a serial pest or spammer.
AMA – Ask me anything.
DAE – Does anyone else?
FTFY – Fixed that for you.
IAmA – I am a.
OP – Original Poster. Refers to the person who originally posted the link.
TL;DR – too long; didn’t read.
TIL – Today I learnt.
Posting
Posting is probably the easiest thing to do on Reddit for beginners. Simply hit the submit button, write your title, type in your URL then select your Subreddit before hitting submit. That’s it. If you want your post to be seen in the mountain of other posts you need to make sure you target it to an appropriate audience. Picking Subreddits which have higher subscriber numbers is generally the way to go. Also Reddit users LOVE personal stories and factoids, which is why ‘TIL’ is so popular.
Apps
Of course what would a live message board be if you couldn’t have access to it wherever, whenever you want. Reddit has some fantastic apps which are available on iOS and Android. The links are below.
iReddit – Download HERE for iOS devices.
BaconReader – Download HERE for Android devices
We hope our Reddit beginners guide provided some small insight into the exciting and valuable world of Reddit.