Upgrade your subreddit with these best Reddit practices
A well-organized subreddit is essential for decentralized governance because the exposure on Reddit depends on the quality of a content, rather than how many followers an author has. Here are some tips how to upgrade your sub.
This article is a part of a series about a global digital resistance:
- Decentralized governance: inside Hong Kong’s open source revolution (LIHKG, Reddit, Pincong, GitHub)
- Digital resistance: security & privacy tips from Hong Kong protesters
- Hong Kong digital warriors fight for freedom with memes, hashtags and hidden messages
- Upgrade your subreddit with these best Reddit practices (current)
Disclosure: some links in this article are referral links. I also own BTC, ETH, BCH, XMR, and all other coins mentioned in the article, but my portfolio is heavily diversified, so I don’t have financial incentives to shill for any particular coin. This article is brought to you by a privacy-oriented peer-to-peer marketplace LocalCryptos, so you can read the content for free without a paywall.
Intro
Before Internet, the distribution of information was centralized in the hands of authorities that controlled the message.
Then came Internet where an exchange of information was very decentralized, because public discussions mostly happened on small local online forums, in chats, and via mailing lists.
Unfortunately, over the time huge tech giants emerged and centralized the distribution of information, which made it easy for authoritarian states to infiltrate and subvert the system, outsourcing censorship to tech corporations.
That sparked many digital resistance movements from cypherpunks to crypto advocates and Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, which led to an ongoing arms race between people and a surveillance state all over the globe.
Nowadays, any big decentralized movement needs multiple online platforms that can be used for discussions, sharing of information, and governance.
Some highly advanced decentralized movements rely on their own online forums (e.g., LIHKG in Hong Kong pro-democracy movement), while others use already established social media platforms like Reddit.
In the beginning of this article we will focus on theoretical stuff and then move to real examples (with images and links) of how to improve a sub.
Why Reddit?
The problem with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, VK, and their decentralized clones (e.g. Mastodon) is that exposure of the content depends on the amount of followers an author has, which is centralization of information through gatekeepers, who might later become malicious or be forced by an adversary to abuse their power.
For example, a famous sport star or a controversial comedian can get many followers on social media and thus become an influencer. After becoming an influencer, a person can start participating in governance/politics and get a lot of exposure due to the huge army of followers regardless of how useful his content is for the community.
Another example is a person that dedicated his life to the movement and got many followers, so his contribution is largely recognized within the community, but he might eventually become a radical or go rogue, while his posts will still get a lot of exposure due to many followers.
However, a person with great ideas might not get any exposure simply because he doesn’t have much followers and his content is not viral per se. Additionally, a followers-based distribution of information de-incentivizes regular people from participating in the movement, because they don’t feel that they can influence the movement.
Another problem of Twitter-like platforms is that a person can lose all his influence overnight due to one controversial post like it recently happened with a very popular influencer ZeroHedge, whose Twitter account has been banned after doxxing a Chinese scientist, who could be allegedly connected to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.
The exposure on Reddit-like online forums, on the other hand, depends on the quality and relevance of the content, regardless of how many followers an author has. This model allows anybody to participate in a decentralized governance and get a lot of exposure if proposed ideas are valuable for the movement.
Not every movement has enough resources to develop its own discussion platforms, so using Reddit is the simplest solution. In this article we will list best practices from different subreddits.
Here are the topics:
- Reddit censorship-resistance
- Onboarding resources
- Wiki
- Flairs
- Megathreads for important events
- Brainstorming megathreads
- Finding peers
- AMAs
- Surveys
- Cultural exchanges
- Event calendar
- Dealing with noise
- Daily discussions
- Discussion hubs
- More subreddits
- Memes
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Reddit censorship-resistance
Having only one subreddit as a command center is a dangerous approach, because the power will be centralized in the hands of a few moderators, who can impose censorship to control the narrative or they can be forced by an adversary to cooperate. Additionally, Reddit itself can ban the subreddit of the movement e.g. due to pressure from an authoritarian state.
Ideally, a decentralized movement should rely on different discussion platforms and many subreddits, which are moderated by people with different vision on the future of the movement. That will assure that all participants can take part in the discussion, without being censored out due to their believes.
Here are some examples of different platforms used in decentralized movements.
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement: LIHKG, r/HongKong, Pincong.
Cryptocurrency community: Bitcointalk, r/CryptoCurrency, r/Bitcoin, r/btc, r/Ethereum, r/Monero, etc.
Onboarding resources
New people with nearly zero knowledge about the movement will visit a subreddit every day, so there should be a well-structured onboarding material with the crucial information and beginner’s guides.
There are different ways to present that information:
- megathread
- FAQ
- top menu
- sidebar
- button with an external link
A megathread at r/HongKong was a great example of an onboarding resources list with many links to online forums, Reddit live feed, different live streams, protests schedules, a wiki page, a live map, Telegram channels, donation campaigns, and many more.
The FAQ thread was pinned to r/btc in order to onboard new users and explain the main differences between r/Bitcoin and r/btc subs, because some newcomers could be confused since there were 2 subreddits with similar names.
Many useful resources for beginners were linked at the top menu of r/btc.
r/Bitcoin used a sidebar to link important resources that can help with onboarding.
r/btc used “get started” button at the sidebar that linked to an external website bitcoin.com.
Wiki
A detailed wiki is a good way to provide newcomers with more information about the movement, especially if there is no external wiki like bitcoin.it.
For example, r/australia sub had a dedicated wiki page about Australian bushfires.
Flairs
Adding colorful flairs and “filters by flairs” sidebar can help readers find most relevant posts.
For example, flairs at r/weekness
Megathreads for important events
During some big live events there might be too many similar posts, so well-moderated subreddits often use megathreads to combine together all discussions about that specific event.
For example, a megathread was used to discuss 2019 District Council Elections at r/HongKong.
Brainstorming megathreads
Brainstorming megathreads are a good source of new ideas on particular topics like suggestions how to improve a PR campaign or how to deal with water cannons. Brainstorming megathreads can also increase engagement of regular people in the movement, because they will feel that their voices are heard and that they can influence the movement. Brainstorming megathreads can be created periodically or when the movement faces a particular challenge. For example, this brainstorming megathread was used as a hub for all ideas and suggestions about a reworked character in LoL online game.
Finding peers
If the movement doesn’t have external platforms to find peers like LocalCryptos, then a subreddit can facilitate that.
For example, Weekly Friends Threads at r/gaming.
AMAs
“Ask Me Anything” (AMA) threads are a good way to bring more attention to the movement, motivate people to engage with the content, and clarify certain misconceptions.
For example, Braiins company started an AMA session at r/Bitcoin, which was pinned to the top for a few days.
Another approach is periodic AMAs e.g. every week or month. A good example is Monero’s MAAMs (Monday Ask Anything Monero), which are held every Monday.
There are different ways to organize AMAs with influencers. New subreddits might try to invite famous people, while popular subs can simply add a request form.
For example, there is a “request an AMA” button at the sidebar of r/politics.
Google forms can be used as a simple tool for AMA requests.
Surveys
Conducting anonymous surveys can increase engagement and attract some attention from news outlets. It can also give a better understanding of who the activists of the movement are, their age groups, countries, etc.
A survey can be conducted with Google Forms or other third party solutions like Survey Monkey.
Results can be presented as:
1. Reddit post without graphs
4. Webpage with interactive D3 visualizations
Cultural exchanges
Organizing events with people from other subreddits can build a bridge between two similar movements, and increase global solidarity.
For example, r/HongKong organized a cultural exchange event with another subreddit r/AskAnAmerican.
Event calendar
Scheduled events can be listed in the sidebar, e.g. an event calendar at r/politics.
Dealing with noise
When a sudreddit of the movement becomes big enough, the valuable information might get lost in the noise, so it’s important to keep a conversation focused on the main topic, while still give an opportunity for activists to engage in less-important conversations. This can be achieved with daily discussion threads, chatrooms, and creation of other subreddits.
Daily discussions
For example, a daily discussion thread at r/CryptoCurrency.
Daily discussion threads should be sorted by “new” by default in order to facilitate chat-style live conversations.
Discussion hubs
If there are many discussion posts, then they can be arranged into discussion hubs.
For example, a discussion hub at r/witcher.
Another way to arrange discussion posts is to link them in the sidebar, e.g. “Newest Official Discussions” at r/movies.
Valuable discussions can be archived in the post or on the dedicated sub, e.g. Best of 2019 Discussion Threads archive at r/discussionarchive.
More subreddits
During big price swings, there is often a surge of price-related posts at many crypto-related subreddits, so a moderator reminded to all readers of r/Bitcoin that the price-related content could be posted at daily discussion threads, in the chatroom, or at another subreddit r/BitcoinMarkets. At the guidelines section in a sidebar there was also a link to r/CryptoCurrency subreddit for non-Bitcoin crypto posts.
Friendly subreddits can be listed in the sidebar, e.g. “Our other subreddits” sidebar at r/videos.
Memes
Memes and artworks are important to raise global awareness and keep people engaged with the issue, but sometimes there might be too many memes and they receive lots of upvotes, so a valuable information gets lost. There are different approaches to solve memes problem:
- Combine all memes about a certain event together into one megathread
- Move all memes to another subreddit
- Restrict memes to only a certain day of the week (e.g., Mondays at r/witcher)
For example, r/CryptoCurrency had a link to r/CryptoCurrencyMemes subreddit at the top menu.
Other resources
r/Modguide is a sub to help moderators, and to learn/teach about moderation on Reddit, so you can find many useful tips there.
Conclusion
Reddit is a great platform to start a decentralized movement, but it’s still a centralized solution, so it’s important to diversify from it once there are more activists and more resources.
The future of decentralized governance depends on Reddit-like peer-to-peer platforms, where exposure will depend on the quality and relevance of the content. One of the projects to follow to is an open-source protocol Aether, a Reddit-like peer-to-peer social network, where moderators are elected and can be impeached or ignored individually.
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Disclaimer: I am not a licensed financial advisor, and this article is not a financial advice. The information presented here is for educational purpose only, it represents my personal opinion, and is not purported to be fact. Cryptocurrencies are very volatile and can move quickly in any direction. I’m not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods, services or companies mentioned in this article. Seek a duly licensed professional for an investment advice.
If you’re highly concerned about privacy & security, then you should read how Hong Kong activists avoid an internet surveillance.
If you’ve decided to get some cryptos, make sure to read about most common mistakes amateur investors make.
If you’re an activist, then check out an open source project decentralized-activism, which shares the best practices from different decentralized movements across the globe.
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Thanks to Mattias Nystrom for a review.
