One horse-sized life update

Six months ago, I was in Brussels with a friend for the League of Legends World Championships, and we had stumbled upon the greatest place we could have found at that given moment: an e-sports bar. The two of us sat for a drink, tourists trying to get our bearings in a new city. In spite of the familiar sounds and sights that accompany just about every drinking establishment, it still felt very strange. We were clearly far from home. After a bit of time, we were approached by a guy wondering if we were also here for League like he was. When we responded in the affirmative he invited us to join him and another friend at a table. It turned out after some brief introductions that the two of them had met on Reddit, in the sub-reddit dedicated to all things League. Suddenly, four strangers from three different countries meeting in a fourth one had a very clear common thread: dank memes. We talked about said memes that had been flooding the front-page in the weeks leading up to this event, the hopes of our respective regions so clearly expressed in each comment in every post, and some of the personalities that had established themselves in that particular sub-reddit. We talked about how the two others met which is a great story in and of itself: one had posted about meeting up to every individual comment on the “Get to know <this city>” threads for the tournament stages, and the other noticed this while browsing and realized he’d probably found a friend. A few weeks later, two Americans, a Dane, and an Englishman sit down for a drink at a bar in Brussels. In this moment, 5,500 miles from home after a week of travel already, I felt suddenly refreshed. While the surroundings, the language, and even the drinks were foreign (aside: there is nothing quite like Belgian beer in Belgium), the jokes, the conversation, and the laughter at the table were not. It felt like I had been sitting down at that table on Saturday nights for months.

I really wanted to tell this story because it wouldn’t have been possible without the internet and, to a greater extent, without Reddit. Sure, some parts might have still happened, but the ease with which the four of us connected was facilitated by this imaginary location, this singular place where thousands of people from all over the world can meet to discuss, commiserate, and sometimes even create new content revolving around one topic, one idea, one passion. This is really a story about Reddit. It’s the story of finding a place to belong, where the magic of home can be found anywhere by anyone looking for anything or nothing in particular. Whether you want to figure out how rich 1% milk is, share or discover the next big hit, or just break bread with a neighbor, there’s bound to be a place for you. Beyond all of the OPs not delivering, incredible photoshop wars, moderator drama, EU vs. NA salt, and the rest of the dank memes, there’s something about every sub-reddit that makes it more than a bunch of links, something that makes Reddit more than just the front-page of the Internet.

And that something, that community, is what I really want to contribute to. It’s what I’ve wanted to help build and shape and bring to people my entire life. So, in a few weeks, I’ll be working at Reddit on tools, infrastructure, the site itself, and whatever else I can get my hands on and contribute to. Don’t worry, I’ll do my damnedest to make sure your puppy stream never goes down and that you’re able to ask Bernie Sanders about duck-sized horses in his next AMA. But I also hope to help build something that can lead you to new discoveries, new communities, new opportunities. We live in the future. Let’s make a home for it.