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*[http://reddit.com/ reddit]
*[http://reddit.com/ reddit]
*[http://code.reddit.com/ Fixxit (reddit's code repository)]
*[http://code.reddit.com/ Fixxit (reddit's code repository)]
*[http://redditall.com/ think you've reddit all?] - Alexis' [[blog]] (the logo artist).
*[http://redditjobs.com/ reddit's job board]
*[http://redditjobs.com/ reddit's job board]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! subreddit search engines
|-
| [http://subredditfinder.com/ SubReddit Finder ]
|-
| [http://s272568090.onlinehome.us/reddit/karmanaut-redditmap.html Reddit User Karmanaut's bubble diagram]
|-
| [http://metareddit.com Metareddit]
|}


{{Advance Publications}}
{{Advance Publications}}

Revision as of 16:38, 7 July 2010

reddit
reddit logo
Screenshot
reddit front page on June 11, 2008
reddit front page on June 11, 2008
Type of site
News aggregation site
OwnerCondé Nast Publications
Created bySteve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian
URLwww.reddit.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationFree

reddit (pronounced /ˈrɛdɪt/, i.e. "read it", as in "have you read it?") is a social news website, owned by Conde Nast Digital, a subsidiary of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. Users can browse and have the option to submit links to content on the Internet or submit "self" posts that contain original, user-submitted text. Other users may then vote the posted links "up" or "down" with the most successful links gaining prominence by reaching the front page. In addition, users can comment on the posted links and reply to other commentators consequently forming a vibrant community. Reddit is unique in that users may create their own topical sections for which to submit their links and to comment.

Overview

Mister Splashy Pants logo used on November 27, 2007

The site has discussion areas in which users may discuss the posted links and vote for or against others' comments. When there are enough votes against a given comment, it will not be displayed by default, although a reader can display it through a link or preference. Users who submit articles, which other users like and subsequently "vote up," are then more likely to be displayed.

(Sub)reddits

Reddit includes topical sections called "reddits" (colloquially called "subreddits"), which focus on specific topics, such as pics, funny, politics, worldnews, atheism, programming, travel, food, science or the all encompassing reddit. Similar to various sections in a newspaper, each section focuses on user-generated content that is relevant to each reddit. There are hundreds of reddits and users are encouraged to create their own.[1] Submissions that are voted up receive prominence by being displayed on the front page of the specific reddit. Those submissions receiving a high rate of votes are then displayed on the main front page of reddit.com. Users may also subscribe and unsubscribe to various reddit sections allowing them to choose which links from which reddit is displayed on their personal front page.

Some prominent reddits are IAmA, where users in interesting situations and jobs can answer other users' questions; and AskReddit, where any user can ask a question, and answer questions posed by others.

Karma system

Reddit.com employs a moderation-based "karma" reward system for users who make submissions and comment on stories. Users gains one point of link karma when another user votes up their submission and loses a point when a user votes down their submission. Individual comments may also be voted up or down by other users and result in a user's comment karma. Users stop losing karma after their submission reaches 0. This is not the case for comments.

Karma points are also not gained from votes for direct submissions of Reddit-hosted posts to reddits (also known as "self" posts, usually indicated by "self.(name of reddit)" listed next to the name of the post)[2]; this was implemented by the administrators to counteract against "karma-whoring".

According to the administrators, only one Reddit user has ever managed to redeem his karma accumulation; this was done by post-mailing the offices of Reddit with documentation of his most recent accumulation wrapped in styrofoam, with the administrators replying with Reddit-branded gifts, or "schwag".[3]

Messaging

The site also fosters discussion and a sense of community by notifying users of replies to with a "orangered" envelope. The site administrators are also active users replying directly to users, submitting their own submissions and commenting on stories. They also host video interviews with questions submitted by the community. The community have also have been known to socialize at local parks and bars around the world.

The Reddit logo changes for various holidays and often for no reason, paying homage to Star Wars, classic video games, and geek culture in general. It often changes in response to major discussion subjects within the site or major news stories.

History

Reddit was founded by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian in 2005, both 22-year-old graduates of the University of Virginia.[4] It received its initial funding from Y Combinator. The team expanded to include Christopher Slowe and Aaron Swartz in 2005. Aaron Swartz joined in late January 2006 as part of the company's merger with Swartz's Infogami.[5] The combined company was known as "not a bug." Condé Nast Publications, owner of Wired, acquired "not a bug" on October 31, 2006.[6]

On June 18, 2008, Reddit became an open source project.[7] With the exception of the anti-spam/cheating portions, all of the code and libraries written for Reddit became freely available on another website dubbed "Fixxit."[8]

Reddit was named by Ohanian while browsing the University of Virginia's Alderman Library.[9]

In January 2010, Reddit users raised over $134,000 for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[10]

Technology

Reddit was originally written in Common Lisp but was rewritten in Python in 2005.[11] The reasons given for the switch were faster performance, wider access to code libraries, and greater development flexibility. The Python web framework that former reddit employee Aaron Swartz developed to run the site, web.py, is now available as an open-source project.[12]

Reddit currently uses Pylons as its web framework.[13] The site was hosted on several Linux servers running lighttpd, HaProxy, and paster;[14] however, as of November of 2009, Reddit has decommissioned their physical servers and migrated to Amazon Web Services.[15] In early 2009, Reddit started using jQuery.[16]

On February 18, 2009, Reddit released an iPhone Application for $1.99, which allows users to more easily navigate the site while using the iPhone. There were also several other reddit iPhone Applications made available, prior to the official application's release date. The first application was named "Satellite", which was released in November of 2008. It originally cost $4.99 but its price was later reduced to just $.99 after the release of the official Reddit application.[17] The second application, released in December of 2008 was called "Open Source Reddit", differing from Satellite by being free of charge. In June, 2010 the Reddit staff revamped the mobile site located at i.reddit.com. The new site features rewritten CSS, a new color scheme, and a multitude of improvements.[18]

Notable Community contributions

  • Reddit user Alan Schaaf created the popular free image hosting site Imgur
  • Graphic artist Mike Mitchell created the "I'm with COCO" poster, which has subsequently been adopted by Conan O'Brian for his The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour.
  • The saving of various abused and stray animals (sometimes working in concert with other community websites)

See also

References

  1. ^ reddits
  2. ^ Sorry, karma-whores. No more karma for self-posts
  3. ^ We've got mail!
  4. ^ Adams, Richard (2005-12-08). "reddit.com". The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
  5. ^ Swartz, Aaron (February 27, 2006). "Introducing Infogami". Infogami. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  6. ^ Arrington, Michael (October 31, 2006). "Breaking news: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires reddit". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  7. ^ Open source announcement on the Reddit blog
  8. ^ http://code.reddit.com/
  9. ^ "reddit nostalgia: whence came the name?," on Alexis Ohanian's blog
  10. ^ http://dri.convio.net/site/TR?pg=fund&fr_id=1030&pxfid=1511
  11. ^ "On lisp" blog post by Reddit founder "spez," detailing the reasons for switching to python from lisp
  12. ^ Official web.py site
  13. ^ Sites Using Pylons - Pylons Community — PythonWeb
  14. ^ Netcraft report on reddit.com
  15. ^ http://blog.reddit.com/2009/11/moving-to-cloud.html Moving to the cloud on blog.reddit.com
  16. ^ what's new on reddit: reddit now powered by jQuery - Posted by Chris Slowe (keysersosa) (Friday, January 30, 2009) - blog.reddit
  17. ^ Shortly after that was released, the guys at 3Cube Technologies released Satellite at $4.99 now just $.99. - Posted by alexis kn0thing at 16:43 on (February 14th, 2009)
  18. ^ http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/cd9ju/weve_revamped_reddits_mobile_site_let_us_know/
Wikinews has related news:
subreddit search engines
SubReddit Finder
Reddit User Karmanaut's bubble diagram
Metareddit
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