Hints for Redditors

For the uninitiated, reddit.com is a website that hosts communities of people interested in just about anything.  There’s a lot of interesting stuff there, if you can find it.  Semi-organized chaos is the way I look at it.  Redditors are what people who use the site call other people who read and post to the site, especially post.  You have to create an account to post.  Subreddits are the individual groups gathered under the reddit umbrella.  I have no idea how many there are, but there are lots and if you want to start your own, go ahead.

I haven’t posted on reddit, but I do read several subreddits.  If you want to read or post to reddit.com, here are a few hints for you, from me.  You can thank me later, or not.

Nobody cares if you’re posting via your cell phone.  Stop saying that.

Nobody cares if you’re posting from your regular account, a burner or throwaway account either.  You can stop saying that too.

If you make a mistake in formatting, don’t say you’re sorry, fix it.

If you think your post is too long, saying you’re sorry makes it longer still.  Instead, make it shorter.  If your post is more than half background, that’s where you can start making it shorter.

Don’t promise me something is relevant.

If you’ve written “but I digress (or I’m rambling)” eliminate that phrase and whatever you wrote just above it too.

Spelling correctly is good.  Maybe you could write your posts in a word-processing program with a spell checker, then cut and paste them into reddit.  Almost everyone on reddit who means “altar,” as one example, writes “alter” instead.  They’re not the same thing.

Punctuation would be your friend if you let it be.  I’m talking about things like periods, commas, quotation marks, apostrophes, hyphens.  They’re all good, and would make your posts more readable.

Anagrams, and jargon are both bad unless you’re trying to restrict your audience.  The people who already know will be fine with them, but new readers won’t know what the hell you’re talking about.

If you take those suggestions, reading reddit will certainly be easier for me.  So, thank you.

Things I Know

In case you’re wondering why TCM is running the movies it is today, it’s Doris Day’s birthday.  She’s 96.  In honor of the day, please don’t eat any daisies. 

Christine Shawcroft is a member of the British Parliament and was, until recently a member of the executive committee of the Labour Party, the largest out-of-power party in the UK.  She resigned from the executive committee recently over a controversy where she supported a local Labour Party candidate who had previously written a holocaust denial article.  The British Labour Party has been troubled because some members have been accused of anti-Semitism.  Ms. Shawcroft has been replaced in her leadership position by comedian Eddie Izzard. 

Saint Karen (who must be a saint to put up with me) and I have only spent a few days in England in our lives, but we approve of this substitution.  Worldwide, we believe, there are way too many clowns in politics, so we view comedians as a step in the right direction.

My local bagel store was open on Sunday, so it didn’t surprise me that they wished me Happy Easter.  For those who don’t understand the joke, bagels are ethnic food associated with Jewish people.  Easter Sunday was two days after the first night of Passover.  Observant Jews are prohibited by religious dietary laws from eating leavened bread during Passover.  Therefore, on this Easter Sunday, it was very unlikely for the owners, staff, or customers at the bagel store to be Jewish.