https://www.reddit.com/r/modguide/comments/fi7mwv/reaching_users_of_your_community_with_information/
created by MajorParadox on 13/03/2020 at 21:56 UTC*
31 upvotes, 2 top-level comments (showing 2)
When users come to your community, it can be helpful to provide them information related to the topic at hand. For example, if you have a community for a TV show, it's useful to have information on where to watch it and when it airs.
Other times, something big might have happened. For example, if the community is about a video game, perhaps the release date changed and your members would really want to know about that.
There are many ways to provide such information, some of which can be repetitive. But it's important to remember different users view your community from different platforms, so one approach may stand out to them more vs other platforms. And some approaches may never reach some users.
This is the text that describes your community. It shows up in the "About Community" widget or anywhere Reddit lists your community for others to find. This is arguably the most important information you need to give your users because it tells them what you're about!
Screenshot: example description
It can only be text, no links or markdown, because the data may be shown outside of Reddit when being shared.
Community description can be edited in community settings, see mod guide: the community settings
Sidebars can be confusing because there are multiple instances and they are named and displayed differently on different platforms. However, the important thing to remember is different users will access your community from different places, so you want to make sure all your bases are covered.
Sidebars are useful for sharing information with your users because, at least for desktop users, it's right there on the right side of their screen whenever they visit or even open a post.
There are two sidebars you should update. One is the new Reddit / redesign sidebar, see mod guide: new Reddit / redesign sidebar[1] / and second is the old Reddit sidebar, see mod guide: old Reddit sidebar[2]
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/modguide/comments/ff14q4/community_sidebar_new_redditredesign/
2: https://www.reddit.com/r/modguide/comments/fgjq3n/community_sidebar_oldclassiclegacy_reddit/
Menus are the links and drop-downs you can add right under your banner. You can add important information for your users there too.
While menus are only configurable via new Reddit/redesign (and displayed for mobile app users), it is possible to create menus on old Reddit using CSS[3].
3: https://www.reddit.com/r/modguide/comments/dz7kzx/an_introduction_to_css/
To add/delete/modify menus, see mod guide: adding menu tabs
Reddit allows communities to enable and create their own wiki pages. You can use them for whatever you want, but they are especially useful because you have more space to go into more details. While other options tend to be shorter (because you don't want to overwhelm your users), you can link from there to specific wiki pages to give more detail on the subject in question.
​
Other uses for wiki pages include archives of featured posts, more detailed rules, frequently asked questions (FAQ) about your community and/or the topic of it, larger community directories, and many more.
To create or edit wiki pages, see mod guide: subreddit wikis
Community moderators can pin up to two posts to the top of their main community listing page. That means they can control the first post (or posts) users will see upon visiting them.
​
Screenshot: example sticky post
Common use cases are a welcome post, a featured mod post, an announcement about changes to the community, an announcement about the topic of the community that members wouldn't want to miss, and many more.
Similar to sticky posts, mods can pin a single comment within a post so that users always see it first.
Screenshot: example sticky comment
Mods use sticky comments to give reminders about the rules (especially if the post is going off the rails), indicate sources of artwork or references, clarify misconceptions, and many more. Also, some communities use AutoModerator[4] to automatically add a sticky comment to all posts (or some subset).
4: https://www.reddit.com/r/modguide/comments/db2gfy/automoderator_what_it_is_and_how_to_set_it_up/
Reddit Live is a feature where you can make real-time updates, that refresh automatically and can do so in coordination with fellow contributors.
Live posts can be useful if your community deals with something that can have a lot of new information released at once. For example, a video game release, a big developing news story, or even details on the latest superhero film!
Click here to see the announcement of Reddit Live feature
Click here to create a new live post
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Welcome messages can be configured for your community so that new members get a pop up and a message sent to their inbox after they join.
(*Pop ups only shown if welcome message is not over 500 characters*)
Screenshot: example welcome popup
Screenshot: example welcome message
There aren't a lot of details about how this feature will ultimately work yet, but the gist is that moderators of a community can send a message and everyone who has joined the community will receive it in their inbox. It's like the welcome message, but you can send out an updated announcement for any changes, or big news, or anything you deem relevant.
Screenshot: example notification
This is currently only available to communities who have signed up and been chosen for testing the feature.
Click here to see the announcement of notification feature test
Comment by [deleted] at 14/03/2020 at 23:51 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Who Sees Community Description:
Also, for private subs, this is what non-approved folks see when they try to visit the sub. (On desktop, anyway. The app and mobile browser just blocks you with a generic message. I hope fixing that is on Reddit's to-do list.) In which case it's especially important to give some indication of what the sub is about, what kind of people will be accepted, and how to apply (i.e. send a PM to the sub's modmail, which is merely *implied* by the screen having a big "message mods" button).
Who Sees the Old Reddit Sidebar:
Mobile web users from the main community page's About tab
I was about to say it's not an about "tab", but I see that it actually is! The mobile web view has been recently updated and improved! (Although it seems to be not universally rolled out quite yet, on one of my tablets it's still showing the easily overlooked "About this community" link rather than the larger "tab". How it exactly works that Reddit serves a different web page to different devices is beyond me.)
While menus are only configurable via new Reddit/redesign (and displayed for mobile users)
Mobile app only, it seems. Not the mobile browser view (currently).
Also, some communities use AutoModerator to automatically add a sticky comment to all posts (or some subset).
Just because lots of people ask, and it doesn't seem to be listed in the automoderator "library of common rules" wiki page, here's how you do that:
---
type: submission
comment_stickied: true
comment_locked: true
comment: Your single-paragraph message goes here
---
type: submission
comment_stickied: true
comment_locked: true
comment: |
Paragraph one of a multi-paragraph message goes here
Paragraph two (etc.)
---
Comment by Xenc at 14/03/2020 at 19:31 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Impressive as always. 👏