---
title: "Reddit 101"
description: "A guide to Reddit terminology, concepts, and Markdown formatting for Reddit posts."
canonical_url: "https://help.postpone.app/platforms/reddit/reddit-101"
---
# Reddit 101

> A guide to Reddit terminology, concepts, and Markdown formatting for Reddit posts.

New to Reddit? This guide covers the key terminology and formatting you need to know.

## What is Reddit?

**Reddit** is a social media platform that allows users to share content and engage in discussions. It is a vast network of communities called subreddits, where each community is dedicated to a specific topic or interest.

## Users

**Redditors:** Reddit users. Usernames are prefixed with "u/", e.g. u/Postpone-Grant or u/thisisbillgates.

**Karma:** A points system that reflects how much a Redditor's content and comments are appreciated by the community. You gain karma when your posts or comments receive upvotes. Reddit tracks post karma and comment karma separately.

## Subreddits

**Subreddit:** A community within Reddit centered around a specific topic or theme, prefixed with "r/", e.g. r/technology or r/AskReddit.

**Moderators:** Users who volunteer to oversee and manage subreddits. They enforce subreddit-specific rules, remove inappropriate content, and may ban users if necessary.

**Rules:** Each subreddit has its own set of rules that govern what kind of content can be posted and the behavior expected from members. These rules are listed in the sidebar. Violating them can result in your post being removed or a ban from the subreddit.

**Post Requirements:** Specific criteria that a post must meet to be accepted in a particular subreddit. For example, some subreddits have minimum karma or account age requirements, require flairs, or restrict certain types of content.

**Verification:** Some subreddits require verification from moderators before users can post. This is required in private subreddits.

## Posts and Post Types

**Post:** Any content shared on a subreddit. There are four main types:

- **Link Posts:** Share an external link to a blog post, news article, image, or more.
- **Text Posts (Self-posts):** Contain only text. Used for questions, stories, or discussions.
- **Image/Video Posts:** Share an image or video. Gallery posts are image posts with up to 20 images.
- **Poll Posts:** Ask other Redditors a question with up to 4 answer choices.

**Upvotes and Downvotes:** Users vote on posts and comments. The number of upvotes minus downvotes determines a post's **score**.

**Crosspost:** Sharing a post from one subreddit to another.

**Flair:** Tags that can be added to a post to provide additional context. Some subreddits require posts to have flairs.

## Comments

**Comments:** Users comment on posts to engage in discussions. Comments also receive upvotes and downvotes.

**Thread:** A series of comments and replies related to a specific post.

**Parent Comment:** The first comment in reply to the original post.

**Child Comment (Reply):** A comment that is a reply to another comment.

## Other Terminology

**AMA (Ask Me Anything):** A Q&A style post where someone takes questions from the Reddit community.

**Shadowban:** When a user is secretly banned. They can still post and comment, but nothing is visible to other users.

**Suspension (Ban/Permaban):** When a user is temporarily or permanently banned from Reddit. They can no longer login, post, or comment.

**Cake Day:** The anniversary of the day you created your Reddit account.

---

## Markdown Formatting

Reddit uses Markdown for formatting text in posts, comments, and direct messages. Here are the basics.

For a deeper dive, check out [Reddit's official Markdown documentation](https://www.reddit.com/wiki/markdown/).

### Headers

Create headers using hashtags. Reddit effectively displays Heading 1 and Heading 2:

- `# Heading 1`
- `## Heading 2`

### Text Styles

- `*italic*` or `_italic_` renders as *italic*
- `**bold**` or `__bold__` renders as **bold**

### Links

`[Link text](https://example.com)` renders as [Link text](https://example.com)

<note>

Reddit doesn't support inline images in Markdown. Use Reddit's image upload tool to add images to your posts.

</note>

### Lists

Unordered lists use `*`, `+`, or `-`:

- `* Item 1`
- `- Item 2`

Ordered lists use numbers:

- `1. First item`
- `2. Second item`

### Blockquotes

Prefix a line with `>`:

`> This is a blockquote`

> This is a blockquote

### Code

Inline code: ``code`` renders as `code`

Code blocks use triple backticks:

```text
code block
```

### Horizontal Rule

Use three hyphens, asterisks, or underscores: `---`, `***`, or `___`

<warning>

Reddit's Markdown support is not complete. Some advanced features may not work as expected.

</warning>


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