What Is Reddit Karma and How to Boost Your Reputation with Points

Are you a regular and active Reddit user? You might want to focus on your Reddit karma score for visibility and credibility.

Reddit has always been a unique platform in the social media space. This online forum has a large community that discusses and debates various topics. If you are a part of its community, you must be familiar with Reddit karma score. 

This is a fascinating feature of Reddit that most users do not have a clear idea of. In this Reddit karma guide, we will learn about it in detail, along with its types, benefits, ways to increase karma score, and how to avoid getting penalized.

What Is Reddit Karma Score?

Reddit karma score has nothing to do with your real-life karma. It is the point system that displays the engagement and popularity of a user in the community. If someone has a high karma score, it means that the posts and comments of that user are well-liked. 

On the flip side, people with low or negative karma score means the irrelevance of their interactions. The karma score is something that does not expire. So, you can collect accumulating karma scores that can be used till the last day you use Reddit.

Types of Reddit Karma Point

There are different types of karma points you get on Reddit that contribute to your karma score:

#1. Post Karma 

Reddit has a huge user base, and people instantly react to posts that they find useful. Hence, post karma is considered the most impactful scoring category. It is the real-time representation of the combination of upvotes and downvotes your Reddit posts have received. Upvotes make your score, while downvotes count decreases it.

Whether your post karma will increase or decrease depends entirely on how you understand the subreddit. You should take time before publishing a post and make sure the post is unique. Posting something outdated, unrelated, annoying, or offensive can reduce your score. 

#2. Comment Karma

You can also get karma points through comment karma. When you comment on a post, the upvotes and downvotes you get are counted to generate your overall karma score. Before you comment, be careful and think about how others will react to your comment.

If a post does not cover an important point on this topic, you should consider bringing that up through your comment. This could help you increase your karma score. Moreover, Praising the original poster or saying something nice about a post can get your comment some upvotes.

#3. Awarder and Awardee Karma

Apart from the above types, there is another kind of karma point, which is related to awards. If a user receives or gives awards, they can gain some karma points.

When someone decides to give an award, such as icons, premium badges, and access to premium Reddit benefits, they get the Awarder karma point. The recipient gets Awardee points. However, the awarder needs to purchase these awards with Reddit Coins. 

Best Strategies to Gain a Reddit Karma Score

Creating High-Quality and Engaging Content

The rule of thumb is to post new and interesting content that others will love. Make sure your posts are informative, witty, or well-planned. Also, your posts should be relevant. If the community is unable to connect to your posts or comments, They will not bother to upvote them.

Engage in Meaningful Discussions

Do not just limit your Reddit contribution to posting your own submissions. You can prove to be more useful and worthy of a high karma score by commenting on others’ posts and making the conversations interesting.

Actively commenting on Reddit posts also makes others interested in you. They might check out what you post and take your comments seriously the next time they encounter it. If you get an upvote from an unknown user, you could thank them in reply and start having a conversation with them as well.

Participate in Popular Subreddits

The more people view your posts and comments, the higher chance you have to get upvotes. Reddit is full of niche-based subreddits that target specialized communities. If you want to get more karma points, you should focus on popular subreddits like r/funny that comes with a large follower base. 

If you can attract members there, you are sure to get lots of upvotes. However, if you have time, you can also maintain a presence in the subreddits with a smaller audience. From there, you can also expect a slow but steady scoring.

Get Involved in Trending Topics 

Lack of visibility is often the biggest obstacle to getting a high karma score. Even your best comment or post could get buried if there is not enough audience to notice it. Therefore, it is better to comment on new or rising posts or posts on trending topics. In this way, you can get maximum visibility leading to more karma scores.

Be Active in r/FreeKarma4U

For Reddit users who want to increase their karma score, there are some dedicated subreddits. One of which is r/FreeKarma4U. Anything posted on this subreddit gets automatically upvoted by the other members. 

Likewise, you are also expected to upvote the posts and comments submitted here. This kind of unspoken agreement works as a win-win situation for every Redditor who wants to see a boost in their karma score.

Post During the Peak Time

If you can make your post visible to a maximum number of users, you have a high chance of getting upvotes for it. Try to post between 6 AM – 8 AM EST on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to get maximum visibility and interaction. Since people from all over the world use Reddit, this window is the culmination of peak times for different countries.

Use r/AskReddit to Ask Open-Ended Questions

While most subreddits are subject-oriented, r/AskReddit is a Q&A forum where anyone can contribute. Here, you can ask questions on almost any topic. By asking a good question, you can drive a lot of upvotes from the users. You can even answer the questions asked by others and collect comment karma for a wholesome karma score. 

How the Karma Score is Calculated

If you want to know how exactly your karma score is calculated, you are in tough luck. Reddit doesn’t disclose the algorithm behind calculating the karma score of its users. According to the common view, your karma score is directly linked to the upvotes your posts or comments get.

However, it is not that one upvote counts as one karma point. Actually, the more upvotes you get, the less karma point is added to your account. For example, if you are new in Reddit and have started to earn karma points recently, it might seem that every upvote adds one point to the karma score. 

But when you have collected a good number of upvotes for comment, like 5,000 or something, your score growth will become slower. Also, note that karma points are awarded on a sliding scale — the more karma score you have, the less point will be added for the same number of upvotes compared to what you used to get when you started off the Reddit journey.

This happens because the Reddit algorithm aims to discourage spammers. For the same reason, Redditors who frequently refresh their profile page may see their karma points fluctuate a lot.

How Upvotes and Downvotes Affect Your Karma Score

As mentioned earlier in this article, the exact algorithm used by Reddit to calculate karma scores is not publicly disclosed. Therefore, no one can tell the exact impact of each upvote or downvote on your karma score. 

Moreover, Reddit is also known for vote fuzzing, which means that the upvote and downvote counts displayed under your post or comment may not always reflect the exact number of votes you actually received.

When Redditors upvote your post or comment, it definitely contributes positively to your karma score. Thus, each upvote adds certain karma points to your post or comments karma, depending on the contribution. The exact amount of karma gained per upvote is not publicly disclosed by Reddit.

Similarly, when you get a downvote on your post or comment, it has a negative impact on your karma score. With every downvote, a certain amount of karma points gets deducted from your post karma or comment karma. Just like the precise upvote value, Reddit never reveals the exact point deduction due to downvotes.

Benefits of Having a Good Reddit Karma Score

Many articles suggest that there is no practical benefit of having a good Rddt karma score, and hence, you should not run after increasing your karma score on this social platform. Well, that is not correct. Though it does not have any real-life value, you can always get the following benefits on Reddit for a good karma score.

Increased Visibility

A higher karma score means greater visibility for your posts and comments. If you have a higher karma score, your posts and comments are more likely to appear above other posts and comments.

Get Recognition and Credibility

A good karma score means you are a trusted member of the Reddit community. For other users, your high karma is a sign of your expertise. Hence, they will value your comments more and might end up upvoting as well.

New Opportunities

With a good karma score, you will get access to subreddits with minimum karma score requirements. Some subreddits grant moderation privileges to Redditors with high karma scores. 

Unlimited Commenting and Posting 

While people are unable to make unlimited posts and comments with low karma scores, they are allowed to do so with lots of Reddit Karma points.

How to Avoid Losing the Reddit Karma Score

Avoid Spamming and Self-Promotion

As a social community, Reddit prohibits spamming and too much self-promotion. While contributing here, you should focus on genuine posts instead of promoting your own content or products only.

Participating in valuable discussions and sharing relevant information will help you get more karma scores, while constantly promoting yourself will result in losing karma points.

Say No to Negative/Disrespectful Content

Reddit is a community that values and expects mutual respect from each of its members. 

If your post spreads hatred toward other people or groups, you are more likely to get downvoted by Redditors who disagree with your viewpoint. Though you can post unpopular opinions, you need to be prepared for the consequences.

Always Follow the Rules of Subreddits

To participate in a subreddit, you have to follow its own set of rules, no matter how absurd those may seem to you. For example, you are allowed to post only links to images or videos in some subreddits. If you want to avoid getting downvoted for posting something unwanted on a subreddit, go through the terms and conditions of that subreddit carefully before posting. 

Avoid Vote Manipulation

Vote manipulation is strictly prohibited on Reddit, so you should stay away from it. This includes asking other members to upvote your post or comment, creating multiple accounts to upvote your content, or taking part in vote trading. These activities might result in a significant decrease in your karma score or even a Reddit ban.

Try to Understand Your Audience

Every subreddit has a unique audience that is looking for a specific type of content. You should take your time to develop a proper understanding of their interests and make your contributions accordingly. If you can post as per the community’s taste, no one is going to downvote your post, even if they do not upvote it.

Conclusion

Though the Reddit karma score does not have any impact in real life, it bears great significance to the regular users of this platform. It is not only a symbolic representation of your credibility but also showcases your value as an active contributor to Reddit.

Now that you know how to get more karma scores, what are you waiting for? Start following these approaches to genuine and meaningful interactions. When you start fostering the sense of Reddit community within yourself, you can gain a high karma score. 

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