June 24, 2023, 5:34 am | Read time: 6 minutes

It boldly calls itself “The front page of the internet”–and with about 1.6 to 1.7 billion visitors per month, Reddit is indeed justifiably confident, as it ranks 20th among the most visited websites in the world. The platform has also become increasingly popular in Germany in recent years, as in May 2022, about 3.4 percent of users were German. This makes them the fifth-largest Reddit community after the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia–and from a non-English-speaking country, no less. This is remarkable, as Reddit has a high entry barrier due to its complex, nested structure.

There are endless rabbit holes, as the Reddit community often provides answers to the most extraordinary questions that are not addressed anywhere else. Since tech-savvy people primarily use Reddit, there are many solutions and tips for even the most obscure and unknown devices. But the site offers much more than that. TECHBOOK shows you how to navigate Reddit.

Where does the name “Reddit” come from?

Reddit is a play on the phrase “read it.” For example: “I read it on Reddit.” Reddit users are called “Redditors.” Reddit was founded in 2005 and has since experienced a steep rise. An IPO is planned for the end of 2023. So far, Reddit is mostly free to use, either via the website or the app. The platform is funded through advertisements. However, since 2010, there has been a premium membership that allows users to bypass ads.

“Dive into anything”

First, one should know how Reddit is organized–because Reddit is not a single large community but many small ones: These are called Subreddits, and anyone who has ever been on a classic internet forum can imagine what Subreddits are like. They are countless discussion rooms within Reddit, each dedicated to a different area of interest, with content posted by the users themselves. The major topics include gaming, sports, business, crypto, and celebrity, but essentially, there’s nothing that doesn’t exist. Instead of an overarching editorial team, the community manages the content itself: Users rate submitted links, images, videos, or texts with upvotes and downvotes–the more upvotes a post receives, the more prominently it is placed in the Subreddit or even on the homepage.

And there is an overwhelming number of these Subreddits, as anyone can create their own. Thus, the motto “If it exists, there’s a Subreddit for it” has become established on Reddit. And so, on Reddit, you can find places to discuss your favorite soccer team, exchange funny GIFs and videos, or read fanfiction. Classic Subreddits like r/funny, r/aww, or r/todayilearned have about 30 million users worldwide. By subscribing to Subreddits you like, you create your own Reddit, tailored to your personal interests. The website is different for every user, and that is one of its great strengths.

How Subreddits work

If you find a Subreddit you like, you can subscribe to it–similar to a channel on YouTube. When you log in to Reddit, you see the front page. Here, all current, positively rated posts from the subscribed Subreddits are combined on one page.

As in this example from the Subreddit r/funny, a post on the front page can look like this. Upvotes are displayed in the top left. Subreddit names always start with “r/” because the names are also part of the URL. This makes it easy to navigate directly to the respective Subreddit via the browser’s address bar. Although Reddit is predominantly an English-language platform, there is plenty of exciting content for German-speaking users. The German community is steadily growing: r/de now has 1.2 million subscribers, compared to 269,000 in 2021.

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Automated bots are also on the move

Numerous bots, or autonomous programs that can interact with users, circulate on Reddit. Bots scour all or specific Subreddits for fixed keywords to respond to them. Many bots are programmed to correct common spelling or grammar mistakes in the Subreddits. Bots can also provide more information on specific topics, convert units, or sometimes just comment on something completely pointless. Users can upvote or downvote bots in a comment with “good bot” or “bad bot.” For those who want an overview, Reddit offers a list of active bots and their triggers.

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The thing with Karma

Reddit has a Karma system to help identify whether someone already has experience in the community. Karma is an approximate evaluation of how many upvotes one has received on posts (“Post Karma”) and comments (“Comment Karma”). Naturally, only votes from others are counted, not one’s own. According to the FAQ, the conversion of Comment Karma is closer to a 1-to-1 ratio than Post Karma. Many upvotes for helpful, nice, or intelligent comments help boost the Karma score more quickly. Some Subreddits only allow entry once a certain Karma number is reached.

Reddit is for adults only

Finally, a warning, especially for parents: The motto “If it exists, there’s a Subreddit for it” is indeed to be taken seriously. Subreddits set their own rules for submitted content. Alongside many funny, informative, and stimulating communities on the platform, other Subreddits also contain pornographic content and images and videos of scenes not suitable for minors.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, 800 moderators wrote an open letter demanding stricter rules against racism, hate speech, and sexism. Since then, Reddit has tightened its regulations against hate speech, resulting in thousands of Subreddits being banned from the platform. Among them was r/The_Donald, then probably the largest supportive community of Donald Trump. Overall, the tightening of community rules marks a turning point in Reddit’s history, as the platform had previously been very reserved about the content of Subreddits. Although the non-age-appropriate Subreddits that still exist are marked with a warning, they are as much a part of Reddit as pictures of kittens and funny GIFs. Reddit is therefore a website for adults.