For my anthropological analysis, I chose the internet subculture of Redditors, the users of the website Reddit . The basis of Reddit lies in the post, which can either be plain text or a link from an outside source, oftentimes from image hosting site Imgur. Once a post has been made, users can choose to “upvote” or “downvote” posts, which in turn sends popular posts to the Front Page, an agglomeration of posts from various communities, or “subreddits”. These subreddits cover a variety of topics, ranging from Funny to Ladyboners, a collection of people users think are attractive.
What really makes each of these subreddits unique is how the users decide how to post. While there is original content, or OC, oftentimes posts are influenced by a herd mentality. For example, recently Reddit has been abuzz with the meme False Fact Nancy Grace, started by /u/muff_daddy. Since it was posted on March 26, “nearly 80 instances have were submitted to /r/AdviceAnimals, with at least six posts garnering more than 1,500 upvotes” (knowyourmeme.com). Other examples of this include a week without opinion-based memes, and Weird Stuff I Do Potoo. However, many memes, such as Success Kid, first posted in 2007, are considered a staple of Reddit and tend to last longer than more transient memes.
Another interesting aspect of Reddit is the concept of Karma. As previously mentioned, users can upvote or downvote the posts of other users. The total rating of a post is based on the number of upvotes minus the number of downvotes. This total is then added up with the score of other posts by the user, and shows their total karma. There are two types of karma: link karma and comment karma. Link karma, as the name implies, is karma gained from posts, whereas comment karma is based off of the number of upvotes and downvotes a comment has received. However, the desire for karma has led many users to submit posts with the sole intent of gaining upvotes.
Reddit has become a dynamic source for entertainment, news, and self-expression. What really fascinates me about it, however, is how the goal of accumulating karma has led to a kind of herd mentality, where posting habits are subject to the rise and fall of popularity, and how other posting trends seem to stay around for years.
DTC 375: Jesse Pearson 
Awesome post!
I have never actually been on Reddit my self, I do know about it of course but I have never had the inclination to browse its content. If I was to head to Reddit, I would probably head to r/pimpcats. I hear its just posts about cats, money, and guns! AWESOME! But I digress, I think that your post was definitely enlightening on just who and how these people on Reddit work, as well as how Reddit it self works. Good work
Quin
I use edit quite a bit and I find the concept of Karma so interesting. It’s much different than what someone would say Karma is in the real world. Most people see karma as good things will happen if you do good things and bad things will happen if you do bad things. Karma will come back to bite you in butt. However on reddit, it’s simply how good something is. A post with high karma is popular. A person gets more karma. By posting funny or interesting things. You can lose it by being down voted into oblivion. And yet, getting more karma doesn’t do much for you. I have a competition with my boyfriend; I have more link karma and he has more comment karma.
It’s just just a weird concept!
I’ve been slowly using Reddit more and more (mostly for Magic the Gathering, League of Legends, or the part where redditors ask questions). I can’t remember the term exactly, but there is a term that describes where a redditor makes an account for the sole purpose of posting a comment to a question and never look at it again so it can’t be traced back to their account. Why is Karma so popular? From what I’m understanding you gain Karma points by having a popular comment or post. How does having a high Karma differs from having a low Karma? Does it affect the way the redditor is viewed in forums?
This subreddit is pretty damn intense: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/t0ynr/throwaway_time_whats_your_secret_that_could/