The Reddit glossary.

Reddit has its own words. Here is what they mean in plain English, and why each one matters if you are trying to be found there.

• Account ageAccount age is how long ago your Reddit account was created, and many communities require a minimum before you can post.
• AMAAMA stands for ask me anything, a post or live event where people ask one person or a team questions.
• AutoModeratorAutoModerator is a bot that mods set up to remove or flag posts that match certain rules, like a missing flair or too little karma.
• Ban evasionBan evasion means using another account to get back into a community or onto Reddit after you were banned.
• BrigadingBrigading is when a group from one place floods another community with votes or comments, usually to cause trouble.
• Cake dayYour cake day is the yearly anniversary of the day you made your Reddit account.
• CrosspostA crosspost is a post that is shared from one subreddit into another, with a link back to the original.
• DisclosureDisclosure means saying plainly that you are connected to the product, company or link you are mentioning.
• ELI5ELI5 stands for explain like I'm five, a request for a very simple explanation.
• FlairFlair is a small label on a post or next to a username that shows its topic, type or the member's role.
• Hot, New, Top and RisingThese are the ways Reddit lets you sort posts in a community: by what is popular now, newest, best of all time, or gaining speed.
• KarmaKarma is the score on your Reddit profile that roughly shows how much other people liked your posts and comments.
• Karma farmingKarma farming is posting low-effort content only to collect upvotes and raise a karma score.
• LurkerA lurker is someone who reads Reddit but rarely posts or comments.
• MegathreadA megathread is one big pinned thread that collects all discussion on a topic, like a weekly self-promotion thread.
• Moderator (mod)A moderator is a volunteer who runs a subreddit, sets its rules and removes posts that break them.
• ModmailModmail is the private inbox you use to message the moderators of a subreddit.
• OPOP means original poster, the person who started the thread.
• Pinned (sticky) postA pinned post, also called a sticky, is a post a moderator keeps at the top of a subreddit.
• ReddiquetteReddiquette is Reddit's informal guide to good behaviour, such as being kind, not spamming and adding to the conversation.
• Reddit AdsReddit Ads is Reddit's paid advertising platform, where businesses pay to show promoted posts to Reddit users.
• Reddit threads in search resultsThis is when a Reddit thread shows up in Google or an AI assistant's answer, often for questions about what to buy or use.
• Self-promotion ruleA self-promotion rule limits how often, or whether, you can mention your own product, site or business in a community.
• ShadowbanA shadowban is when your posts or comments are hidden from everyone else but still look normal to you.
• Spam (on Reddit)On Reddit, spam is posting the same links or promotion again and again, or posting mostly to promote yourself.
• SubredditA subreddit is a community on Reddit built around one topic, with its own rules and its own moderators.
• Subreddit rulesSubreddit rules are the written dos and don'ts of a community, usually shown in the sidebar or the About section.
• Throwaway accountA throwaway account is a temporary account someone makes to post about something private without linking it to their main profile.
• TL;DRTL;DR stands for too long, didn't read, and it is a one or two line summary at the end of a long post.
• Upvote and downvoteAn upvote is a vote that says a post or comment is worth seeing. A downvote says the opposite.
• Upvote ratioThe upvote ratio is the share of votes on a post that were upvotes, shown as a percentage.
• Vote manipulationVote manipulation is trying to push a post up or down with fake or coordinated votes.