Do the common terms used by Reddit users confuse you? Understanding Reddit’s glossary is a crucial step towards easier and more effective marketing on the platform.
In this article, we will explore the importance of Reddit glossary and how it can improve your marketing strategy.
Glossary list of the most used Reddit terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Alt | An alternative user account. |
| AMA | “Ask Me Anything”. Also a subreddit where users answer questions from the community. |
| AMAA | “Ask Me Almost Anything”, where the person answering the questions sets some limits on what they will answer. |
| At a [0-10] | A sliding scale of “highness” from marijuana, with 0 being sober and 10 being extremely high. Mostly used in subreddits like /r/trees. Example: “I wrote this at a solid [7]”. |
| Benned | A perversion of the word “banned” used by SRS (ShitRedditSays) mods. |
| Brave or So Brave | A sarcastic expression used to dismiss a comment or patronize someone for conforming to popular opinions. |
| Brony | A male fan of the children’s show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. |
| Cakeday | The day a user joined Reddit. It is like a birthday and displays a small icon next to the username. |
| Circlejerk | A group of people with similar beliefs that self-validate each other, suppress opposing opinions, do not consider that alternate opinions exist, or consider themselves, their opinion, or their group exclusive/superior. Derivatives: /r/circlejerk: a parody subreddit that considers the majority of Reddit a circlejerk. Circlejerker(s): someone (or a group) from /r/circlejerk, or less commonly, a group that is a circlejerk. |
| Crosspost | Indicates that the post was also posted on another subreddit where the original poster recognized it. |
| Ctrl-F | Indicates that the user was searching for a specific reference in a thread. |
| DAE | “Does Anyone Else” – an appeal to a common feeling/situation/dilemma. Also a subreddit. |
| Defaults | The twenty subreddits that appear on the Front Page to users who are not logged in. Reddit users are automatically subscribed to them when they create a new account. These subreddits are chosen based on their high activity on Reddit. You can find them here (the first 20). |
| EDIT | Indicates that someone has changed their comment after first posting it. Usually followed by additional text, responses to subsequent comments, or explanations of why they edited their comment and what they changed. |
| ELI5 | “Explain Like I’m 5” – a request to explain something in simple terms. Also a subreddit. |
| Ent | Refers to a pot smoker, originally derived from the giant walking trees in Lord of the Rings, where “trees” signify pot. It is commonly used in /r/trees, which is known as the “home of the ents.” |
| ETA | Short for “Edited to Add.” This term is often used when a user makes an addition or modification to their post or comment. |
| F7U12 | Shorthand for FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU, this term usually refers to the popular subreddit focused on rage-comics. |
| Fap | A slang term for masturbation. |
| Flair | Refers to the images or text that appears next to usernames in certain subreddits. It is usually customizable and allows users to express their personality or interests. |
| [FIXED] | A remix of an original post, often with the aim of making the post more relevant or closer to the truth. |
| Forever alone | Refers to someone who has no significant other (SO) and often little-to-no social skills, and perhaps is also considered unattractive. This term is often associated with a meme-face. |
| FTA | Short for “From The Article,” this term is often used when sharing information or quotes from a linked article. |
| FTFY | An acronym for “Fixed That For You,” this term is used to indicate that a comment has been edited to improve or modify its meaning, often in a humorous way. |
| GW | Short for “Gone Wild,” this term is a NSFW subreddit that features explicit or sexually suggestive photos of redditors. Amateur (self) photography only. |
| Hivemind | Refers to the collective mindset of the Reddit community, where individual opinions tend to converge towards a group consensus. |
| IAMA | An acronym for “I Am A,” this term is also a subreddit in which famous or uncommon people get interviewed by the Reddit community. Past guests have included President Obama, Snoop Dogg, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Scientists of the Mars Curiosity Rover Mission. |
| IMO | Stands for “In My Opinion,” this term is often used to preface a personal opinion in a comment or post. |
| IMHO | Short for “In My Humble (Honest) Opinion,” this term is similar to “IMO” but carries a more modest tone. |
| IIRC | An abbreviation for “If I Recall Correctly,” this term is often used when the user is not entirely certain about a fact or piece of information. |
| ITT | Stands for “In This Thread,” this term is often used to refer to the ongoing discussion in a specific Reddit thread. |
| Karma | The point system used by Reddit, where users earn “link-karma” for upvotes on their posts and “comment-karma” for upvotes on their comments. Karma is mainly used for personal gratification and has little practical value on the site. |
| Karmawhore | A pejorative term for someone who reposts links or comments frequently in an attempt to gain internet points. It may also refer to users who frequently pander to the Reddit hivemind voting patterns for the same purpose. There is a website called karmawhores.net that provides karma statistics for users. |
| Meta-subs or meta-reddits | Subreddits oriented around talking about reddit itself. These subreddits primarily (or exclusively) feature content from www.reddit.com. Examples of meta-subs include /r/MetaHub and /r/TheoryOfReddit. |
| MIC | “More In Comments”. This is a phrase used when a post’s title is not fully descriptive of its content, prompting users to look in the comments section for more information. |
| Mod | Short for “moderator”, a person who has been granted the power to manage and control a subreddit. Mods have the ability to remove comments and posts, ban users, and more. |
| MRA | Stands for “Men’s Rights Activist”. Members of this social movement aim to address discrimination against men, particularly in areas such as reproductive rights, divorce settlements, domestic violence laws, and sexual harassment laws. MRA members have been known to clash with members of other social justice groups. |
| Neckbeard | A derogatory term used to describe a stereotypical Reddit user who is perceived as unkempt and hypocritical. The term comes from the stereotype that redditors often have poor hygiene, and fail to shave the hair on their necks for weeks or months. People may use the term “neckbeard” to describe someone who judges others for their flaws, but doesn’t recognize their own. |
| Ninjaedit | Refers to an edited comment that has been updated quickly enough to avoid showing an asterisk indicating that it has been edited. The term “ninjaedit” implies that the edit was made stealthily, without alerting other users to its existence. Comments that provide no indication that they were edited, despite the presence of an asterisk, are also considered ninjaedits. These comments are often frowned upon because they can make threads confusing to read. |
| Novelty account | An account created for humorous purposes that often repeats variations on a joke related to the username. For example, the user “Shittywatercolor” creates watercolor paintings related to various topics that arise in threads. |
| NSFW | Stands for “Not Safe For Work”. This warning indicates that a link leads to sexual content, violent or gory images, or other content that is inappropriate for viewing in a professional or public setting. Users can also tag their posts as NSFW by clicking “nsfw->yes” below the posted link. |
| NSFL | Stands for “Not Safe For Life”. This warning indicates that a link leads to extremely graphic and disturbing content, such as gore or death. |
| OP | Stands for “Original Poster”. This is the person who created the submission that is being commented upon or discussed. |
| Orangered | The color of the envelope icon that appears when a user has a new, unread reply or message. Having an “orangered” indicates that there are unread messages waiting for the user. |
| Power user | A Reddit user with a high karma score and a recognizable username within the Reddit community. Power users are often very frequent posters and may be accused of being karmawhores. |
| Pun thread | A series of comments that make puns, often of decreasing quality, that are related to the original post’s theme. Puns can be a common form of humor on Reddit, and pun threads can become a popular feature of a given post. |
| Reddit switcharoo | A comedic method on Reddit where users facetiously provide a coherent interpretation of a post that was not intended, often by switching two elements. For example, if someone posts a picture of a dog licking a person’s face with the caption “I wasn’t expecting that,” a switcharoo comment might be: “They also weren’t expecting the human to react that way.” |
| Reddiquette | Refers to the rules of Reddit, the rules of a specific subreddit, or unwritten guidelines of conduct followed by typical Redditors. |
| Relevant username | Used to describe a comment that has a coincidental relation to the name of the account that posted it. |
| Repost | Posting an image or link that has already appeared on Reddit, usually in the same subreddit, for a second or more time in an attempt to gain internet points. The word “repost” is generally used to denote disapproval, and often leads to debates on the validity of reposting in the context of user-voting. |
| RES | “Reddit Enhancement Suite” is a browser add-on dedicated to improving the Reddit experience. |
| RTFA | An acronym that stands for “Read the F***ing Article.” |
| Shadow-ban | A site-wide ban on a user that the user is not notified of. This is usually the result of breaking Reddit’s rules. The user is unaware of the ban because their posts will still show up for them, but nobody else will see the user’s activity. |
| Shitpost | A post that lacks any real value and is usually ascribed to circlejerk posts or those that are overly stupid, boring, sensationalistic, or lame. |
| Sockpuppet | A Reddit-specific term for an alternate account (an “alt”) used by a Redditor to speak in a voice other than that of the creator’s recognized username. Sockpuppets differ from ordinary alts in that they may be used to express controversial or negative opinions, rant, or troll. |
| Spamfilter | The system that filters out posts likely to be spam in subreddits. Mods can choose to approve them; if not, they won’t show up. |
| SJW | An acronym that stands for “Social Justice Warrior,” which is almost always used as an insult. The term refers to a range of attitudes and behaviors from “crazy person who takes everything as a personal insult and uses the rhetoric of social justice to bully people” to “person whose politics are left of mine.” |
| SRD | “Subreddit Drama” usually refers to the subreddit /r/subredditdrama, but can also (very rarely) refer to the actual drama itself. |
| SRS | “Shit Reddit Says” is a meta-subreddit centered around social justice issues and making fun of the behavior of Reddit users. Its controversial opinions and moderation policies make SRS a hot spot for drama. |
| Sub | An individual subreddit. |
| That’s the joke or thatsthejoke.jpg | Indicates that a commenter has just pointed out the humor in a joke, especially if the source of the humor is obvious. |
| THIS | Indicates agreement with or a desire to draw attention to a comment. This term is often downvoted. |
| TIL | An acronym that stands for “Today, I Learned.” |
| TL;DR | TL;DR stands for “Too Long; Didn’t Read.” It’s often used by redditors to indicate that they didn’t read a wall of text or to provide a shorter summary of a lengthy post. |
| Trees | “Trees” is a slang term for cannabis, or pot. It’s also the name of a popular subreddit where people discuss cannabis-related topics and refer to themselves as “ents,” a reference to the tree-like creatures from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels. |
| Whoooosh | “Whoooosh” is an onomatopoeic word that is used to indicate that a joke or humorous comment has gone over someone’s head. It’s often used in response to a comment that misses the point of a joke or doesn’t understand the humor in a situation. |
| WIP | WIP stands for “Work in Progress.” It’s often used by redditors to indicate that a post or project is still being worked on and is not yet complete. |
| X-post | X-post is short for “cross-post,” which means that a post has been shared or cross-posted from one subreddit to another. It’s often used to indicate that a post has been submitted to multiple subreddits. |
How to Utilize Reddit Glossary for Marketing?
Here are some tips on how you can use Reddit glossary to improve your marketing strategy:
Understanding Your Target Audience
Understanding your target audience is critical for effective marketing on Reddit.
By understanding their interests, preferences, and the communities they are active in, you can create content that resonates with them.
Using relevant terms and phrases can help you to connect with your target audience and increase engagement.
Creating Relevant Content
Creating relevant content is another critical aspect of successful marketing on Reddit. By using the right terms and phrases in your posts and comments, you can increase their visibility and relevance.
It is also essential to understand the subreddit’s rules and guidelines to avoid being flagged as spam or self-promotion.
Conclusion
In conclusion, understanding Reddit glossary is crucial for effective marketing on the platform. By using the right terms and phrases, you can increase the visibility and relevance of your content, connect with your target audience, and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
It is essential to invest time and effort in learning and using the platform’s jargon and to stay up-to-date with new terms and trends.
