RedditReviews 533

I've been a Redditor for years and it's been a major part of my internet experience. I've laughed, I've cried, I've learned (I have learned SO MUCH from this site from mending my hoover to improving my coding. The list is endless.

The interface is tricky at first (in that it's extremely simple and text based). But hey, no goddam social media icons everywhere, or irritating ads, no request for your personal information.

Reddit - you've been there for me. Love you.

Once you've earned a permanent suspension (usually for a relatively minor infraction), they will go out of their way to keep you off the site.
Step 0: Suspending you
Step 1: Suspending any name on the same IP.
Step 2: Locking you out entirely with a phony "wrong password" error.

This is very shady.

It doesn't matter if the password is correct; they will say it's not to keep you away.

They will suspend new accounts that don't even post within an hour if they decide you're a "bad user."

The admins must try to be this useless. It can't be an accident.

Web 2.0 tools have made sharing tastes, interests, and more than anything stories more possible than ever. Social news and networking sites are the primary vehicles for this exchange of information, with different sites geared toward different methods of distribution.

Reddit accomplishes this by focusing on separating the wheat from the chaff. Rather than subscribing to and individual's account and following their postings, you subscribe to groups called "subreddits" focused on areas of interest. Claiming to be the front page of the internet, they allow you to control what content you see on your personalized homepage by which subreddits you subscribe to. Subreddits vary wildly in size, seriousness, and topic of interest (with everything from the general r/funny sub-reddit to r/hardcoreaww, which hosts content of normally terrifying animals like lions being adorable).

In order to separate the wheat from the chaff, Reddit uses a point system it calls karma. As long as you have an account (which is free and doesn't even require an email address), you can either "upvote" or "downvote" a submission signifying your approval or disapproval. If the submission is a link to another site on the internet, an upvote earns the author positive karma and a downvote earns negative karma, ensuring quality content. In addition, each subreddit has its only rules regarding what can and cannot be submitted, with dedicated moderators enforcing them.

Reddit is best used as a resource for discovering information and crowd-based opinions. Its weak points are arguably in its poor interface for viewing a specific member's contributions, and re-posting of content by users in an attempt to gain more karma on their account (even though it has no real world value).

The self proclaimed "front page of the internet" is exactly what it claims to be. All the hottest links/videos/stories/music/etc. Are here before they become big in mainstream media. It's the news before the news. It's basically ran and governed by the users too, which is a great touch, and it also acts as a "forum for everything". There are subreddits (basically a specific forum) for everything you can possibly imagine. You can customize which ones you're subscribed to and keep up on (and take part in) the discussions/what's happening in all of your favorite subjects/hobbies. Find a cool link or picture that you feel the internet would love? Post it in the appropriate subreddit and reap the massive mounds of Karma (points based upon users upvoting/downvoting your link or comment). You can also download Reddit Enhancement Suite which gives you even more control and customizability over the site and begin to peruse through the internet in style. Beware though, Reddit is the biggest time sink you will ever encounter. StumbleUpon can't even compete against it.

Finally, the front page to the internet. OK, so that doesn't explain much. Basically, you find something online you want to share with others, you click on the funny little alien head. You input a title to explain your find, along with additional text, and there you go: you've shared a bit of your life with the world. Reddit has a rating system (upvotes, downvotes) to control how interesting and relevant your link is to the community, and the most interesting, funny, or touching links usually makes it to its coveted "front page" (the first page you see when you visit the site). Because of the various "sub-reddits" available on the site, you can register a screenname for yourself and start personalizing what information you want to see on your front page (i. E. If you're a fan of jazz music, http://www.reddit.com/r/jazz has posts of jazz-related finds).

This site is notorious for having a massive following and a simplistic design, making it easy to use. Commenting on others links allows you to give your opinion on the post or ask questions. You don't even have to post a link to an image or video to ask a question, search for help, or contact other users. After a few days of trying it out, I'm sure you will be as hooked as I was because there is so much original content floating around on the site that it keeps you coming back.