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Reddit glossary

User guide · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · about 10 minutes to read

Plain-English definitions of the words you meet on Reddit — from OP and karma to locked, archived, removed and brigading.

SubMouse Editorial guide — independent and not affiliated with Reddit. Steps cite public Reddit Help pages; menu labels can change.

How to use this glossary

Terms are grouped by topic. Use the A–Z index below to jump straight to a term. Definitions of platform features follow Reddit Help; slang meanings can vary between communities, and examples are illustrations rather than quotes.

Posts, people and places

Subreddit (community)

A topic-based community on Reddit, written as r/ followed by its name. Each one has its own moderators and rules on top of the sitewide Reddit Rules.

Example: r/gardening is a subreddit; its rules can differ from those of r/houseplants.

See also: Find related subreddits · Choosing where to post

u/ (username)

Prefix for a Reddit account name, such as u/example. Typing a username with u/ in a comment links to that profile.

OP (original poster)

The person who made the post. Reddit Help says OP is marked with “OP” or a mic icon next to their username in the comment thread.

Example: “OP said in a reply that they already tried restarting.”

Post

A top-level submission to a community — text, link, image, video, poll or similar — that others can vote on and comment under.

Comment and thread

A comment is a reply under a post or another comment. “Thread” can mean the whole post with its comments, or one chain of replies within it.

The community information panel, usually holding the description and rules. Reddiquette asks you to read a community’s rules, “usually found in the sidebar,” before posting.

Wiki

Pages a community can host for FAQs, guides and longer rules. Moderators also use a wiki page to store AutoModerator settings.

Custom feed (multireddit)

A named feed that combines several communities. Reddit Help notes custom feeds were formerly known as “multis” or “multireddits”.

See also: Save posts and build custom feeds

Repost / crosspost

Reddit’s feature for sharing an existing post into another community, shown with a preview of the original. Reddit Help says it was formerly called crossposting, and not every community allows it. Separately, users also say “repost” for content that has already been posted before.

See also: Reposting on Reddit

Lurker

Someone who reads Reddit without posting or commenting, as defined in Reddit Help’s expressions list.

Throwaway

Common slang for a separate, often temporary account used for one sensitive post. Reddit Help says multiple accounts are allowed, but voting on the same content with more than one account is vote manipulation.

AMA (Ask Me Anything)

A post where someone invites questions about themselves or their work. Reddit Help notes each community has its own rules for AMAs, and not all communities host them.

Votes, karma and recognition

Upvote and downvote

Arrows on posts and comments. Reddit Help describes upvotes as showing content positively contributes, and says votes influence what is surfaced. Reddiquette suggests downvoting what doesn’t contribute — not what you simply disagree with.

See also: Karma and upvotes explained

Score (hidden scores)

The vote total shown on a post or comment. Reddit Help says votes are not displayed for the first few hours after a post is created, and some communities hide comment scores for a time.

Karma

A score reflecting the upvotes and downvotes your posts and comments receive. Reddit Help says upvotes and karma don’t have a 1:1 relationship, and some communities require a certain amount of karma before you can post. Thresholds vary by community and are often not published.

See also: Karma and upvotes explained

Cake day

The yearly anniversary of the day your account was created. Reddit Help says a cake icon shows next to your username that day.

Awards

Ways to recognize a post or comment, available in certain communities. Award options and costs have changed over the years; Reddit Help lists the current ones.

See also: Awards and coins: sunset and return

Flair

A small tag. Post flair labels a post’s type or topic; user flair appears next to a member’s name. Moderators decide whether flair is enabled, and some communities require post flair before you can submit.

Example: A recipe community might use post flair such as “Question” or “Recipe”.

Moderation and enforcement

Moderator (mod)

A volunteer who manages a community: removing or approving content, locking threads, setting flair and more, depending on their permissions. Reddit Help says mods show “MOD” or a shield icon by their name.

See also: Reddit moderators explained

Admin

A Reddit employee. Reddit Help says admins may communicate policy or product changes, answer questions and enforce the Reddit Rules, and appear with “ADMIN” or a Snoo icon by their name.

Mod vs admin

Moderators run individual communities and enforce that community’s rules; admins work for Reddit and enforce sitewide rules. Reddit Help lists things mods cannot do — for example, see who voted or who reported content, edit other users’ posts, or see a user’s IP address.

Removed vs deleted

Removed means a moderator (or a filter) took content out of the community; per Reddit Help, people following a direct link see “[Removed by moderator]”. Deleted means the author deleted it themselves; Reddit Help says deleted posts and comments can’t be restored, even by mods or admins. Mods can remove, but not delete, other users’ content.

See also: Edit and delete your posts

Mod queue

The moderators’ list of reported and filtered items waiting for review, where they approve or remove content.

See also: Mod queue workflow

Mod mail

The shared inbox for contacting a community’s moderator team, rather than messaging one moderator privately.

See also: Handling mod mail

AutoModerator (automod)

Reddit’s built-in rule tool that moderators configure to act on new posts and comments — for example replying with a reminder, filtering for review or flairing by keyword. Reddit Help notes it only acts on new content and can’t react to a user’s history.

See also: AutoModerator getting started

Crowd Control

A moderator safety setting that collapses or filters comments, and filters posts, from people who aren’t yet trusted members of the community — for example accounts with negative community karma or new accounts, depending on the level set.

See also: Lock threads and use Crowd Control

Ban (community) and suspension (sitewide)

A community ban, set by moderators, stops you participating in that community. A sitewide suspension or ban comes from Reddit admins for breaking the Reddit Rules.

Ban evasion

Using another account to keep participating in a community you were banned from, or recreating a community that admins banned. Reddit Help calls both a violation of the Reddit Rules that could lead to sitewide suspension.

Shadowban

Informal term for being restricted without an obvious notice. Reddit Help describes accounts flagged for spam or inauthentic activity, whose posts and comments may not show up as expected, with an appeal form. Some communities also hide content from specific accounts using AutoModerator; Reddit Help says it does not treat these as community bans for ban-evasion purposes.

Brigading

Users from one place swarming another community or thread — voting, commenting or reporting en masse. Reddit’s Disrupting Communities policy prohibits coordinated voting and interference, and the Moderator Code of Conduct says communities should not be used to direct or encourage interference elsewhere. Simply discussing another community is generally allowed.

Vote manipulation

Artificially changing vote counts — with multiple accounts, voting services, automation or organized groups. Reddit Help lists it as prohibited.

Quarantine

A status admins may apply to communities that many people would find highly offensive, or that promote hoaxes. Per Reddit Help, quarantined communities show an opt-in warning and are left out of search, recommendations and feeds such as Popular.

NSFW

“Not Safe For Work”: a label for mature or explicit content. Reddit Help says all NSFW content is required to be marked as such; viewing it can require you to confirm your age, depending on your account and location.

See also: Age verification and community access

Spoiler tag

A tag that hides a post’s text and media until the reader chooses to reveal it. Moderators must enable spoiler tags in their community first.

See also: Spoiler tags on Reddit

Post and thread states

Locked

A locked post or comment can’t receive new comments or replies from anyone except moderators and admins. Per Reddit Help, members can still vote and can edit or delete their existing comments.

See also: Lock threads and use Crowd Control

Archived

An archived post no longer accepts new comments or votes. Whether and when posts archive can depend on community settings; we could not confirm Reddit’s current default in Reddit Help, so we don’t state one here.

Locked vs archived

Locking is a deliberate moderator action on a specific post or comment, and can be undone. Archiving is an age- or setting-based state for older posts rather than a decision about one thread.

Contest mode

A moderator setting for a single post. Reddit Help says it hides replies to top-level comments, scrambles comment order and hides comment scores — useful for votes or contests where early comments shouldn’t win by position.

Highlighted (pinned / stickied) post

A post moderators keep at the top of the community, such as rules or weekly threads. Reddit Help notes that outside the community, for example on the home feed, it looks like an ordinary post.

See also: Scheduling community posts

Distinguished

A moderator or admin marking their own post or comment as official, so it shows their MOD or ADMIN label.

Comment sort

The order comments appear in: Best, Top, New, Controversial, Old or Q&A. Moderators can suggest a default sort for a post or community; readers can usually change it.

Common abbreviations and slang

TL;DR

“Too long; didn’t read” — a short summary, often at the end of a long post.

Example: “TL;DR: the router was fine; the cable was faulty.”

TIL

“Today I learned” — introduces a fact the poster just discovered.

ELI5

“Explain like I’m five” — a request for a very simple explanation.

See also: Alternatives to r/explainlikeimfive

IANAL / IANAD

“I am not a lawyer / doctor” — a disclaimer before giving an informal opinion.

CMV / DAE / ITT

“Change my view”, “Does anyone else…?” and “In this thread” — common post and comment openers listed in Reddit Help’s expressions page.

Edit:

A note added to a post or comment after posting, explaining what changed.

See also: Edit and delete your posts

Reddit hug of death

When a linked website goes down because of heavy traffic from Reddit, per Reddit Help’s expressions list.

Circlejerk

Slang for self-congratulatory discussion where everyone agrees, or a community built to parody that. Usage and tone vary by community; it can come across as dismissive.

Copypasta

A block of text that gets copied and pasted repeatedly, often as an in-joke.

More on SubMouse

Reddit Help sources