How to Get Karma on Reddit

Although many Redditors and people alike also call karma “fake internet points,” it has a lot of meaning for users of this popular social news aggregation site. That’s why knowing how to get karma on Reddit can help you receive praise for contributing to the community.

So, how do you get karma on Reddit? The best way to get karma on Reddit is to contribute meaningful, interesting content that engages the community and gets upvoted. Avoid being self-promotional or spammy, and instead focus on providing value. Comment on popular threads, participate in threaded conversations, ask thoughtful questions, share insightful perspectives and original insights, tell stories and jokes; be funny, helpful and informative.

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Additionally, you can also post great and interesting links, but you should be very clear about your intentions. On top of it, keep in mind that Reddit’s peak activities are from  6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday, Eastern Time, and posting in that timeframe could get you the most attention.

A Thorough Explanation on How to Get Karma on Reddit

Karma is generated on a user’s profile as the sum of points they receive from upvotes. It’s a publicly displayed score that serves as a point of pride to many Redditors as a great score shows just how much they contribute to the community.

But having a great score also means two things – that you’ve earned it in the first place and managed to keep it by remaining an engaged Redditor.

There Are Different Ways to Gain Karma

The primary sources for getting upvotes are commenting and posting, and the gained score can be seen on your profile as Post Karma and Comment Karma.

While newer posts receive more attention, even older posts on some subreddits can bring you an upvote or two if you leave comments.

So, your positive score will rise together with your upvotes, although it’s only an approximate sum of upvotes. Receiving and giving away awards can also help you increase your positive score.

What Benefits Can You Use From Articles and Posts That Gain Positive Attention?

While Reddit’s positive score can not get you anywhere monetary, it is beneficial to its users in several ways. First of all, having a great score is utterly flattering (some users have gained it in millions).

Newcomers have probably noticed they have a time limit for posting, but a good score removes this pause between posts. While the website is free to use, some subreddits require users to have a certain amount of positive points before joining or posting.

Eventually, a higher score means you get better credibility when engaging in discussions with other Redditors.

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Can Posts Get You a Negative Score and Does Removing the Post Help?

If you choose to start a controversial topic, you should be aware that you may get downvoted. If you have gained a certain amount of positive points, the more downvotes you have, the more points you’ll lose.

But posting something controversial is not the only thing that can get you a negative score.

There are many ways to get negative points, but probably the most offensive thing in breaking common Reddiquette is to cause trouble to other Redditors for no reason.

So if you want to continue using this platform, keep it respectful. Also, keep in mind that you won’t be able to decrease negative points by deleting the downvoted posts.

The Best Way to Get Reddit Karma Fast

All users of this website start off by having one point. But if you’re looking for ways on how to get karma on Reddit fast, here are some great tips to get you started:

  • Make your start a great one. Share insightful and open questions in the subreddit called r/AskReddit, where you can cover a wide variety of topics. A good question gets tons of responses and upvotes.
  • Use the advantage of a subreddit people make for this purpose, like r/FreeKarma4U and similar subreddits. Leave comments or simply post there, where there’s an unspoken agreement that when you get an upvote, you return the favor.
  • Watch out for new and rising posts so that you can get great visibility. If you’re hunting for a good score, you should keep an eye on a post you have a feeling will gain in popularity real quick, so leave comments right away.

The key to obtaining a good score is to not get discouraged and remain patient. Above all, having Karma points does help on Reddit, but it isn’t necessary for using it. The video below shows how to gain a positive score really quickly.

Beyond Negative Score – The Most Controversial Moments of Reddit’s History

Some notable controversies regarding the behavior of Redditors include the following:

2010One user posted a link with a description for kidney donation to the American Cancer Society. Initially perceived as positive, other members started being suspicious and the user received death threats. He eventually proved his genuineness.
2013Reddit and its users have faced criticism after the Boston Marathon bombing because of the false identification of a number of people. Most notably, members misidentified Sunil Tripathi, later found dead of suicide.
2014The site was used to spread out explicit private photos from the celebrity photo hack. There was a subreddit created for this purpose, named “TheFappening,” which contained links to almost all of the criminally obtained images.
2020After updating the content policy, the website introduced some new rules. They were mostly meant to curb subreddits believed to promote hate and thus ended up banning around 2,000 subreddits the same day it came into effect.

Turning subreddits to private is a powerful tool of protest on this website, and many changes to its policy throughout the years were fueled by the members of the community themselves, who use it to make a statement.

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You Need to Share a Post on a Subreddit You Like in Order to Gain Attention

In order to get you started on this social news aggregation website, you need to engage through posting and commenting while sticking to Reddiquette.

But if you’re also wondering how to get more karma on Reddit, get people to like you, and gain more respect and credibility, you can apply all these mentioned tips.

But keep in mind that it’s not the positive points themselves that make your stay. It’s as the website itself claims – being a part of Reddit’s community means you should be a genuinely good person.

And on top of it, a good score will be a reflection of your legacy towards other people.