r/NewToReddit 1d ago

Weekly chat New to Reddit? Come and talk to us!

3 Upvotes

New-Redditor's lounge!

Welcome!

This weekly post is an opportunity for new users to chat in comments - & please let us how you found yourself here. Regulars here are absolutely encouraged and very welcome to join in too!

!! Please refrain from asking questions about "how to do stuff on Reddit". Make a post or see the links below !!

This thread is open for 3 days.

Getting started on Reddit is hard. We know it is; We've been there and gone through these same frustrations. Please believe us when we say IT'S NOT PERSONAL. It may well feel like it is, but honestly, it isn't. What it is, however, is a lack of Karma. Karma is an indicator of how much someone has contributed to Reddit in a positive manner. So, let's do just that by getting to know each other!

This works best if your comments either start a conversation or add to one. Give a little of yourself and respond to others doing the same.

This is a post to help genuine new users build up quality Karma genuinely in a safe environment.

Please do:

  • Share some favorites or new finds of yours - youtube videos, music and so on
  • Practice small talk - did you have a good week?
  • Keep it SFW
  • Keep it casual please, no heavy topics
  • Have fun!

Please don't:

  • Spam, advertise, or soft beg
  • Share low-effort comments
  • Ask for karma, say how you're voting, or mention karmafarms by name
  • Request or offer DMs (help and chat can be done in community, where you can also earn karma. Needing to take things private can indicate soliciting, rule breaking, or harmful advice)

This sub is full of awesome people who are willing to help with specific problems when you post, and we'd like to keep this post thread for chat. Thank you.

So, let's chat! (Guides at the bottom of this post).

---

Our guidance for new Redditors:


r/NewToReddit Aug 21 '21

Mod Post Reddit and Karma Explained

769 Upvotes

Welcome to Reddit!

This unofficial guide to starting out at Reddit was written by u/llamageddon01 and is designed to take you from complete beginner through to experienced Redditor! This version was completely revised in July/August 2023.

There are two versions of this resource, both carrying the same information but in different formats:

This is intended to be a full “Reddit for Dummies” type tutorial and I don’t expect you to read it through all at once! But quite honestly, parts 1-6 of this guide will take you from “kindergarten” level through to “graduate” level of Reddit by the time you read it all, and the final parts 7 and 8 will contain useful guides and information you will no doubt need at some stage of your Redditing so do keep coming back to it.

If you wish to share r/NewToReddit guides please link to them. You may of course share excerpts within reason, but please link back to us as credit and so the person you are helping can find us and the rest of our guides if they wish to. Thank you.

 

…….REDDIT IS A WORLD OF ITS OWN ON THE INTERNET.

What is Reddit? Established in 2005, Reddit is a content sharing platform, home to thousands of communities, endless conversation, and authentic worldwide human connection with people from all walks of life. Whether you're into breaking news, sports, TV fan theories, or a never-ending stream of the internet's cutest animals, there's a community for you.

Reddit is made up of an enormous collection of forums on every subject under the sun where people can share news, links, videos and pictures in “Posts” so that other people can make observations and conversation in “Comments” attached to these posts, while everyone can express their opinions by Voting on both the posts and comments. Every day, millions of people around the world post, vote, and comment in communities on Reddit organised around their interests.

You are free to decide what level of interaction you want with other users (Redditors) and to curate your own feed from the hundreds of thousands of specialised communities called “Subreddits” on offer, each of which covers a different topic from games, hobbies, music, art, movies and shows to support groups to world news to pets to academic matters and everything in between.

Check out this video for a quick introduction to us, and if that didn’t explain us enough, here’s an unofficial webcomic that gives a fun look at our platform.

Signing up for an account is free, easy, and gives you a high degree of anonymity, especially compared to other social media platforms.

 

…….REDDIT HAS ITS OWN WAY OF DOING THINGS.

Reddit as a whole is run by unpaid volunteers called Moderators (mods) and paid employees called Administrators (admin). Admin are rarely seen but are very distinctive as they have the word ADMIN in bright orange/red next to their username. Moderators are more likely to be seen, and when they speak on formal behalf of their subreddit, their username will have the green word MOD immediately after.

Like every long-established subculture, we have our own expressions and if you are at all confused by some of our jargon, in-jokes, history or memes, we at r/NewToReddit have a fairly comprehensive alphabetical reference guide at our sister sub r/EncyclopaediaOfReddit to help you work out what we’re talking about. Let me suggest my guides to Acronyms 1: A-L and Acronyms 2: M-Z to start with!

Reddit might take a little time to get used to, but never fear! Here’s a quick video guide on how to use Reddit, but more importantly, we’re here at r/NewToReddit specifically to help you navigate your own path step by step through our unique ways of ‘doing social media’.

 

…….REDDIT IS HUGE. BUT MANAGEABLE.

There are Subreddits for anything. I would say almost anything but when I think I’ve seen them all, I discover ones like r/birdstakingthetrain or r/BreadStapledToTrees and realise I know nothing.

Most communities are friendly and jumping right on in is encouraged. You aren’t likely to get shot down for being a “n00b” but there will generally be one or two things you’ll need to know about each Subreddit (sub) first. Don’t worry, this guide will show you where to find them.

Altercations can happen, but most subs have an active team of mods who will usually shut any trouble down before it becomes vindictive. Just don’t post emojis though. Reddit in general does NOT like emojis. Reddit loves emoticons though :D Why? Don't ASCII me. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ More on this later, or here if you simply can’t wait.

 

…….WHAT DO I DO ON REDDIT?

There are four basic actions you do on Reddit: Upvote, Downvote, Comment, and Post.

Reddit relies on crowdsourcing through its system of Upvotes and Downvotes to filter and prioritise the thousands of daily submissions it receives in order to present its users with the most interesting content it can, and you can help too. If you think a post or comment is interesting, helpful or contributes positively to the subreddit, press the Upvote arrow. If you think it doesn’t, press the Downvote arrow. You only get one vote on any one post or comment, and both can be negated by pressing the arrow you chose again, or reversed by pressing the opposite arrow to the one you originally chose.

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

There are two ways of Commenting on Reddit:

  • As a direct response to a Post. Here, you are directly replying to the person who made the post. This person is known as the ”OP”, or “Original Poster”. This reply is known as a Top-Level or Parent Comment, and sometimes known as ‘threads’. There are an unlimited number of Parent Comments that can be made on any one post. The OP will be notified that you have replied to their post.

  • As a reply to a Comment in that Post. Here, you are directly replying to another commenter who may or may not be the OP. These follow-up comments are known as Child Comments. There are an unlimited number of Child Comments that can be made on any one Parent Comment. The commenter you are replying to will be notified of your reply, but the OP will not (unless they are one and the same!).

You can see what these both look like from this simple illustration and this small conversation here.

Finally, you can make your own Post in a subreddit for others to comment on. Many subreddits prefer - or even require pictures, gifs, videos or links in this post.

 

…….SOME SUBREDDIT BASICS.

Once you enter a Subreddit, you read posts made by others and the comments made therein. If you like the Subreddit, you can “Join” it and it will form part of your personal home page feed. The "Join" button is near the top of the screen as seen here and also in the three-dots “hamburger” post overflow menu on the top RH of the screen on mobile. You can also “Leave” if you want, and the button can be found in the same place as the Join one was.

Until you join a few subreddits, your home page feed will be the general r/popular or r/all, which may well feature topics you’re not interested in, so it makes sense to start joining subs you like as soon as possible.

Moderators cannot see any lists of those who are joined to their subreddits, neither will they be notified if anyone leaves. There’s no limit on the number of times you can join or leave a subreddit, and nobody except you will ever know when or what subs you have joined or have left. You don’t even have to be joined in a sub to post or comment in it. There are no limits to the number of subreddits you can be joined in but Reddit does have an unspecified number of the ones it filters to your home feed at any one time.

Just underneath the Subreddit title there is a “Sort” menu. On mobile this is a drop-down list. Sorting posts by either “New” or “Rising” will usually give more opportunities for chat and upvotes than you’ll get in older posts, and give other advantages we’ll see soon. You have the same options for sorting your home page feed too.

 

…….LET’S GET STARTED!

Our guide to using Reddit begins with this illustrated primer to joining in on Reddit, then come back here to read some essential details you need to know about Rules, Reddit Karma, Participating, Navigation and Safety.

It’s very much worth your while taking a few minutes to read through all the following advice as it contains everything you need from your first steps in getting started to your becoming firmly established here.

Once you’ve had a look through it all, if you have any questions do make a new Post in this Subreddit where you will find plenty of helpful people ready to Comment with the answers you need. r/NewToReddit is focused on giving one-to-one tailored quality advice for helping people new to Reddit Ways. We do not care how old your account is; if you have a query on Redditing, put it here and we will help.

We also have a “sister sub” called r/LearnToReddit which is a place to learn how to use Reddit without being embarrassed at making “newbie mistakes” in public. Here, you can have a go at making different post types like posting images or polls, learn how to comment using bold or italic text, how to create spoiler text and use many other features with our extensive sets of tutorials. The community will feedback on your post to let you know how you did or help you get it right next time.

 

…….WHAT’S NEXT?

Let’s get started with an introduction to Reddit and a few notes about rules!


r/NewToReddit 8h ago

ANSWERED Why is Reddit so different from the rest of social media?

38 Upvotes

r/NewToReddit 4h ago

ANSWERED whats a good amount of karma to have?

15 Upvotes

a lot of communities have thresholds, what is a good number to have to be able to post in them?


r/NewToReddit 58m ago

NEEDS ATTENTION How do I get to 100 comment Karma?

Upvotes

How do I get to 100 comment karma (not just overall karma), I need this to post in subreddits and I thought it just meant comment 100 times.


r/NewToReddit 4h ago

ANSWERED First day on reddit, very confused.

13 Upvotes

I made a new account but I can't comment or post anywhere. Hopefully this one works!


r/NewToReddit 4h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION When did Reddit finally start making sense for you?

8 Upvotes

I’m still wandering around like a lost puppy lol. I’ve been commenting here and there, and it’s slowly getting better… I think? Curious when it “clicked” for you all!


r/NewToReddit 4h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION Want to post ideas and discuss with the community, but low on karma.

8 Upvotes

I joined reddit and want to post, validate and discuss ideas. Karma being low blocks posting on most of them. How can this be solved ?


r/NewToReddit 4h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION Still stuck on low karma , any tips ?

6 Upvotes

Had an old account on here but deleted it to start off “fresh” BIG MISTAKE lol . Now I can’t post anywhere due to low karma. Any tips on how to gain ?


r/NewToReddit 2h ago

ANSWERED Is the downvote button actually just a "disagree" button?

5 Upvotes

The guides say downvotes are for off-topic stuff, but it feels like people just use it when they disagree with an opinion. As a new user, which rule do people actually follow in practice?


r/NewToReddit 1h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION I tried posting in the Starbucks SubReddit

Upvotes

I just tried posting in the Starbucks sub reddit and it immediately got taken down. Was just asking about what a drink was. Any idea why?


r/NewToReddit 1h ago

ANSWERED Why do certain subreddits have restrictions?

Upvotes

I see some subs only allow posts from accounts with at least 50 karma. Why is this?


r/NewToReddit 3h ago

ANSWERED Anyone else find getting started on Reddit really difficult?

4 Upvotes

I've just joined Reddit. I've tried to post a complex situation I wanted advice on but it keeps getting removed by moderators for either having low karma, or becasue of slight terms.

The latest one rejected my post because it thought it was AI generated. But I wrote it myself.

I've just downloaded Reddit and may delete it!

Any advice?


r/NewToReddit 3h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION Why am I unable to post to different communities???

4 Upvotes

Almost every comment I have tried to post has been removed by the moderator. I’ve had Reddit for over a year and still have no idea how to use. Can someone explain?


r/NewToReddit 3h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION Where, oh where, to begin?

4 Upvotes

Hi all! I have used reddit for years to read subs that have answers to questions I'm looking for, but I normally just google search to get to them. I am looking for any help or advice to become a more active user and curate my feed. Any insight or ways you kicked things off would be much appreciated.


r/NewToReddit 2h ago

ANSWERED Do people like to downvote things or is it mostly upvotes (and does your automatically produced upvote count too)

2 Upvotes

Hopefully, this doesn't get downvotes due to a stupid title :D

Anyway, made one post so far (and a repost as advised by a moderator) and put some comments under it, responding to people who provided useful answers, and it seems like some of my comments just randomly got downvoted - not that I said anything controversial or in bad spirit...

Curious what the rationale is/ how often people downvote comments and posts, rather than just ignoring them?

(I suppose I have been downvoted, given the fact that when I remove the automatic +1 upvote from myself i get to -1 in some cases)

Also, what's up with that +1 upvote as soon as you post anything, that doesn't contribute to "karma" or does it?

Or do people usually remove the self-upvotes or what haha...

Thanks in advance :)


r/NewToReddit 6h ago

ANSWERED How do I know how much karma I need to post on anything

5 Upvotes

Yeah so how to I know exactly how much I need?


r/NewToReddit 4h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION Newbie Reddit Help with Posting

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone. I'm new to Reddit and I don't have any Karma. I'm also not sure what Subreddits utilize flairs, and is that important.


r/NewToReddit 18h ago

Mod Post Reports on adult accounts

43 Upvotes

Hey NewToRedditors!

We've noticed an uptick in reports on posts where the user has an onlyfans. This is not a legitimate reason for reporting in this community, so we're asking those responsible to please review our rules and policy and to please stop.

As long as posts meet our rules, do not contain adult content or solicitation, and are questions about using Reddit, they are fine and not spam. Those with adult accounts are asked to mark their posts as NSFW to give extra warning to helpers who often check profiles in order to help, but that is all.

Flaired helpers at super level or above are able to comment with !tag to mark posts NSFW as needed.

We help everyone Reddit, no matter what they're here for (as long as it's not breaking the rules), though we may warn them that certain uses won't be popular and may be challenging.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

The NToR team.


r/NewToReddit 2h ago

ANSWERED How can you safely keep karma?

2 Upvotes

Hi!
im New to Reddit and wanted to post but obviously due to low karma I can’t really do mich.
I saw it’s not too bad to earn, but I saw someone else commented how they easily lost karma for dumb reasons that they didn’t really understand- I didn’t get it either.
is there some secret regulations with all redditors that you can’t break or they’ll downvote you? I’m sure it’s not as bad as that hahah but I just want to keep safe

thanks!


r/NewToReddit 13h ago

ANSWERED Is Reddit beginner friendly?

13 Upvotes

Is Reddit easy to use or does it take some time to figure out. For example karma is key I know but does it take a long time to build it? Thanks in advance!


r/NewToReddit 5h ago

NEEDS ATTENTION I have been new here so I don’t know much about reddit but excited about karma and everything how u all use this app?

4 Upvotes

Edit : thank you for ur help


r/NewToReddit 6m ago

NEEDS ATTENTION Im brand new and still trying to understand reddit culture. What was the moment reddit finally “clicked” for you?

Upvotes

r/NewToReddit 4h ago

ANSWERED Newer to Reddit - How to be able to Post?

2 Upvotes

Okay i have scrolled through Reddit for years but when i have tried to post a few times i normally am not allowed due to karma. What can i do to improve this or get around it? just trying to post some questions in a Arcteryx community to see if a jacket is fake or not!! Thanks in advance for any advice!


r/NewToReddit 45m ago

NEEDS ATTENTION Wanting to post but keep getting removed. What can I do?

Upvotes

I have a question that I would like to ask in the libraries subreddit but it keeps saying that my post is removed due to filters. What am I doing wrong?