Reddit Weird Behavior Explained – Let’s Make Reddit More Comprehensible

I have already listed a few weird things about Reddit, and here’s a follow-up listing some more things Redditors themselves keep wondering about:

1. Where do my saved threads go?
2. Why do the vote totals fluctuate by about ± 3 votes when you reload the page?
3. What’s the red envelope next to my username? Why is it red but sometimes empty when clicked?
4. How do I add formatting to my comment?
5. Why does a dot sometimes show up where the score should be?
6. How can I filter submissions on Reddit to ignore those I didn’t like?
7. How do I filter comments to a story?
8. What does it mean that the submission number is colored?

1. Where do my saved threads go?

There is an option to save the item under each link on Reddit. But many people wonder where those links are saved.

“Saved” category can be found when clicked on “More” link on the front page:

2.Why do the vote totals fluctuate by about ± 3 votes when you reload the page?

There are two possible explanations of that (the second one is the one that occurs more often):

• Caching. Not all cache servers have the most current count. On some occasions, every refresh shows a different count.
• Reddit adds small random numbers of up and down votes to the displayed totals to thwart spam bots and karma whores. It’s easy to see with Commentroversy Greasemonkey script

3. What’s the red envelope next to my username? Why is it red but sometimes empty when clicked?

The envelope next to your username becomes red once one of your comments has been replied by someone.

Sometimes it can be red but showing nothing when clicked. It means the commenter was banned or he deleted the reply.

4. How do I add formatting to my comment?

Use Markdown syntax explained in detail here; here are most commonly used cases (to see it, click “help” under the comment box):

5. Why does a dot sometimes show up where the score should be?

It is explained in the official Reddit FAQ. In short, just give it some time 🙂

6. How can I filter submissions on Reddit to ignore those I didn’t like?

You can set the preferences to never show you again the story you disliked:

7. How do I filter comments to a story?

There are a couple of ways to filter comments other members didn’t like:

• Install this Greasemonkey script to see comments disliked by many members in a lower font size:

• Set the preferences to hide comment lower the specified score:

8. What does it mean that the submission number is colored?

When a submission’s number is colored, it means it’s reached the #1 spot on reddit. Clicking on this number will take you to a running list of all the #1 reddit links (explained here).

Any more Reddit questions? Please ask them here!