2 upvotes, 0 direct replies (showing 0)
View submission: A Guide to Reddit Lingo
- ELI5
“Explain Like I’m Five”. A request for an explanation in simpler terms. Originally sub specific from r/explainlikeimfive now with wider Reddit usage.
- Emojis
Reddit in general does not like emojis. There are many theories why this is, ranging from *“Reddit is all about written communication and always has been”* to *“Reddit has an incredibly large character limit for most applications, especially when compared to Twitter and standard text messages so we simply don’t have to”* via *“They’re childish”.* I even read recently that it might even be contempt for the laziness of using emojis by those of the generation that had to be inventive with making text-based pictures (emoticons).
I have asked and searched and asked again but the only definitive answer I ever saw was some variation of *“Because some time ago, a subreddit that once started as a joke became out of hand and now a lot of redditors have the "emojis are bad" mindset.”* A good humoured take on the subject is to allow 5 emojis[1] before calling the r/EmojiPolice, though you will probably get called out on anything more than one and I’m not entirely sure on their status or mandate in any event!
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/EmojiPolice/comments/fxyhw6/helo_newcomers_please_read_this_post/
Whatever the reason, the practical upshot of this is basically people either love emojis or hate them[2], so to be safe, limit yourself to one at the end of your post, or better still, go back in time and use text-based emoticons. You won’t be admonished for using :) or :D if you’re feeling particularly cheeky. It’s worth mentioning that although we all use the same platform, the tone of the subreddits are really different from each other. r/aww sees a lot of emoji usage compared to, say, r/askreddit, and r/askhistorians would probably collapse at seeing one.
2: https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/8k04ub/people_should_use_emojis_on_reddit/
All that said, there is *absolutely no rule on Reddit banning emojis.* You use them wherever and whenever you like. This is Reddit. You can do whatever you want. And if some people downvote an emoji-laden comment, again, this is Reddit and they can do whatever they want. So with that in mind, here’s a resource of more emojis than anyone could ever possibly need https://emojipedia.org[3] and if you really want to be banned from some subs; typing **!emojify** will translate a comment into emojis. Use at your own risk and don’t say I didn’t warn you about subreddit bans. r/emojisonreddit, r/emojipasta, r/EmojiPolice. *See Also:* Emoticons, Tone Indicators.
- Emoticons
We have already established that in general, Reddit does not like emojis, but prefers the old-school Unicode-based Emoticon. An emoticon is a typographic display of a facial representation, used to convey emotion in a text only medium. Like so: ;-) or if you’re feeling really fancy, the look of disapproval (ಠ_ಠ) or “Lenny Face," ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Useful lists of text-based emoticons to copy and paste are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emoticons
Some of these are going to be trial and error; some will work and others won’t. So remember: 🤭= bad, but Reddit loves emoticons. Why? Don't ASCII me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ r/emoticons. *See Also:* Emojis, LimbRetrieval-Bot, They Knew, Tone Indicators.
- ESH
“Everyone Sucks Here”. Originally sub specific from r/AmITheAsshole now with wider Reddit usage.
- ESL
“English as a Second Language”. You may sometimes see this initialism during apologies for stilted language or simple misunderstandings. According to Alexa Internet, as of February 2021 Reddit ranks as the 18th-most-visited website in the world. We are a global community and it stands to reason that many of our users are non-native English speakers.
Reddit has resources for ESL teachers in subreddits like r/ESL_Teachers or r/OnlineESLTeaching, and many resources for those learning a second language such as r/languagelearning or r/language_exchange where you can find a language partner to learn together. From 2021, Reddit’s interface became available in several languages[4] in the first phase of our product translation in German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. *See Also:* Tone Indicators.
4: https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/o6ipy5/introducing_reddit_in_new_languages/
- ETA; Edit:
“Edited To Add”. Sometimes just “Edit:”. Used if you go back and change something in your post or comment. There is a long time limit on editing your posts or comments, however you cannot edit the title of a post at any time. It’s good form to state your reason for any editing of posts. Even if it was just edited for spelling, a simple "Edit: typo" will help explain. Don't reply to your own comment to add information as it will become out of order in the thread. If you have another thing to add to your original comment, edit it and say "Edit: And I also think..." or something along those lines. ETA: typo *See Also:* “Ninja Edit”.
- r/everyfuckingthread
A link or phrase posted when the Reddit Hivemind decides to derail a post with a Meme or a Comment Chain. The sub was created as a repository of Reddit Moments, like a “Know Your Meme - Reddit Edition”. r/everyfuckingthread. *See Also:* Hivemind, Meme, One-word Comment, Reddit Moment.
- “Everyone on reddit is a bot except you.”
A phrase[5] derived from one older than Reddit. The likelihood is that it originated from early Internet chat rooms such as IRC. When you joined an Internet Relay Channel, you could see a list of users who were already there and at least one was an admin bot. Along with novelty bots who would respond to specific phrases or questions, it was entirely possible to join a channel and chat with several users there, all bots except you.
Sometimes it seems that way on Reddit too, and someone will post this phrase. A correct reply would be HA HA, NO BOTS HERE, FELLOW FLESH PERSON. Or you could use Markdown Text to create tiny text saying ^^beep ^^boop; the response given by many Reddit bots. r/totallynotrobots. The suspicion that Redditors are mostly bots is real, and not entirely unfounded[6] as in 2020, it was discovered a GPT-3 bot had been posting in one subreddit for a whole week[7].
There are Subreddits where everyone actually is a bot, and these make for fascinating reading. r/SubSimulatorGPT2 is where AI simulates Reddit posts and comments. My recent favourite involves arguing bots[8] of different genres threatening post removal and mod appeals. r/subredditsimulator was its predecessor and here’s an interesting article about it[9]. You cannot post in either of those subs, no matter how much you want to join the conversations. Are we all in a sim game? r/outside.
9: https://www.engadget.com/2019-06-05-subreddit-simulator-gpt-2-bots.html?
- “Everyone on Reddit is a...”
A phrase posted in the sense of a Meme when one of Reddit’s generalisations is proved wrong. Or right. Usernames on Reddit are rarely noticed, and even when they are they don’t tend to give anything away about the user, so some of the most common assumptions are:
Reddit loves generalisations. Reddit loves memes. Here, we have both! But if you want actual statistics, there are some interesting ones here from 2020[10]. *See Also:* Astroturfing.
10: https://www.alphr.com/demographics-reddit/
- EXIF Data
EXIF data is removed upon uploading images to Reddit, as is common practice for other social media.
There's nothing here!