Subreddits

Reddit is an entertainment, social networking, and news website where registered community members can submit content, such as text posts or direct links, some of which appear on the Main Page. However, all content must first be submitted to a subreddit that is dedicated to a particular subject. Then users can vote on whether they like the submission or not. The most popular submissions appear on the subreddit's front page, or the sitewide front page.

Subreddit overview

Reddit entries are organized into areas of interest called subreddits. Originally, the front page was the "main-reddit", and other areas were "subreddits". There are about 50 "default subreddits" dealing with topics such as books, television, and music, and thousands of additional non-default subreddits. The default subreddits are the 50 subreddits which are first recommended to new users to select via their customizable top menu bars. All new users are initially automatically "subscribed to" the 50 default subreddits, but can then customize their "subscriptions."

Any registered user who has maintained an account for 31 days or more may create a non-default subreddit. There are over 11,400 active total subreddits to peruse, including the default set of 50 subreddits as of February 2016. The site has a default "Front Page" which contains staff selected popular articles, and also an "All Page" which contains only the very top ranked article/ subreddits as ranked by readers themselves, and which page is accessible via an "All" link at the top of the "Front Page."

In an interview with Memeburn, Reddit GM, Martin noted that the platform's "approach is to give the community moderators or curators as much control as possible so that they can shape and cultivate the type of communities they want".

IAmA and AMA

One of the most popular subreddits is IAmA ("I Am A") where a user may post "AMAs" (for "Ask Me Anything"), or similarly "AMAAs" (for "Ask Me Almost/Absolutely Anything") – prompts for others to ask questions about any topic. AMAs are open to all Reddit users, and use the site's comment system for both questions and answers; it is similar to a press conference but online. This subreddit was founded in May 2009. From 2013 to 2015, Victoria Taylor assisted reddit's volunteer community in presenting interviews.

A number of notable individuals have participated in the IAmA subreddit or in an AMA, some of whom have appeared multiple times. Notable people who participated in the IAmA subreddit itself include then-United States President Barack Obama (while campaigning for the 2012 election), Bill Gates (multiple times), and Donald Trump (also while campaigning).

As of May 2017, Barack Obama's AMA is the highest rated on the site, followed by those for Victoria Taylor, Reddit's former director of talent; Ken Bone, an Illinois man who went viral during the 2016 U.S. presidential election; Leah Remini, an actress who is a former member of Scientology; and Bill Gates. The increased traffic for Obama's AMA brought down many parts of the website when it occurred on August 29, 2012.

On July 2, 2015, hundreds of subreddits, including several with over a million subscribers, were set to private by their respective moderators after Victoria Taylor was dismissed. Sources close to Reddit cited an increased focus on commercializing AMAs as the most likely reason.

/r/science

Nathan Allen speaks about /r/science to the American Chemical Society

Main article: /r/science

/r/science is an Internet forum on Reddit where the community of participants discuss science topics. A popular feature of the forum is "Ask me Anything" (AMA) public discussions. As of 2014, /r/science attracted 30,000–100,000 visitors per day, making it the largest community-managed science forum and an attractive place to host discussions.

AskReddit

One of the most popular subreddits as of 2017, site members can ask any question including very personal ones, and the most interesting ones are answered by the other users.

Political subreddits

The largest is r/The_Donald, a forum which says it is "for serious supporters" of the President of the United States.

Other subreddits

Subreddits have been formed about extremely obscure subjects and very unusual viewpoints. Among the more popular are many subreddits about towns (/r/Boston, /r/PeoriaIL), countries (/r/De[utschland, /r/Australia), interests and hobbies (/r/DIY, /r/books), and fandoms (/r/ASOIAF, /r/TheWalkingDead).

• /r/askhistorians and related Historians answer questions about the past. Parodied in /r/badhistory

• /r/aww Cute animal photos. Also: /r/eyebleach)

• /r/BadEconomics

• /r/BestOfOutrageCulture A sampling of apoplectic rants and overreactions by people who are outraged by a topic.

• r/dataconspiratardshate Mocking conspiracy theorists who devise statistics that they claim prove their theories.

• /r/debunkthis Mostly urban legends being debunked.

• /r/skeptic Paranormal claims being debunked.

• /r/ExplainLikeImFive Complex or confusing phenomena and situations explained in layman's terms.

• /r/legaladvice/ For legal questions. Parodied in /r/BadLegalAdvice/

• /r/nottheonion News stories with absurd and comical aspects.

• /r/OutOfTheLoop For catching up on trends, memes, and news stories users don't understand.

• /r/raisedbynarcissists Support for people who were raised by parents with cluster B personality disorders.

• /r/scholar They can find links to obscure paywalled research papers.

• /r/spaceporn Spectacular space-related photos

• /r/talesfromtechsupport A repository of frustrating stories of dealing with IT clients.

• /r/topmindsofreddit Mocking unconventional social and economic theories.

• /r/whatsthisbug A community to help users identify various bugs.