Tuesday, December 23, 2008

After a busy week, FeedANeed non-profit voting extended to Dec 31

It hasn't even been a week since we announced FeedANeed and the project has already received a ton of press, a slew of new partners, and most importantly, lots of volunteers. Our collective thanks go out to all of you.

Presently, we've got thousands of volunteer hours pledged and growing -- there's still time to sign up here. Erik and I have been keeping track of shoutouts here -- thank you for generating so much attention and let me know if we missed your blog entry, tweet, or FeedANeed tattoo picture.

Erik's been doing a tremendous job both on the publicity side as well as working with the many non-profits that have shown interest. To that end, he's created a Database of Awesome: the non-profit edition, which will help us to better match your non-profit with volunteers. The form is pretty straightforward and the data will not be sold, bartered, or used for evil in any way.

With all the recent attention FeedANeed has gotten, we're also extending voting until December 31st @ 7pm Eastern. And to save you a click, here's the current standings of FeedANeed non-profits.

Show non-profits that are:

hottest right now | newest | top-rated

Submit a non-profit with needs to feed

While you can submit as many predictions as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.

Back to top

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Animated .gif of aliens being thrown at the U.S. President, just one more way to get a bobblehead out of us

Muntazar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw his shoes at George W. Bush (and now faces up to 7 years in prison).

The video spread quickly around the Internet and was converted into an animated .gif. And that's where a redditor called bballbackus took over.


As expected, he was heartily rewarded on reddit for his hard work. He even ranked #3 on The Metro's The Ridiculant blog list of top Internet responses to the Bush vs. Shoe video.

This obviously earned bballbackus a complementary reddit alien bobblehead, but it came with my warning:
Don't throw this bobblehead at any heads of state.
However, I erred. If you are going to throw this bobblehead at a head of state, make sure someone is videotaping it. Then publish it online and we'll send you a replacement bobblehead.

The views and opinions expressed in the blog entry are solely of the individual, Alexis Ohanian, and are not the views of reddit.com, its parent, affiliate, or subsidiary companies
.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

FeedANeed.org - Volunteer to Help Non-Profits Get Important Things Done

Around this time last year, we were busy partnering with xkcd to raise over $3,000 for the EFF, a non-profit chosen by you as the recipient of our fundraising efforts.

This holiday season, reddit.com is launching its first Feed A Need project. Instead of asking for monetary donations, we're asking people to donate a few hours of their skills & energy. So if you are a programmer, designer, artist, lawyer, geology professor, bacon cooker, or anyone else with a few hours to spend for a good cause please consider participating in this year's Feed a Need charity drive.

To participate, fill out this form with as much information as possible. Your information will be entered into our "Database of Awesome", and you will be matched up with a project for a needy charity. See the list of non-profits here, vote up your favorite or submit one of your own. You needn't volunteer in order to help us choose the charities whose needs we'll be feeding.

But by working for at least 2 hours on a Feed A Need charity project before the deadline on February 14th, 2009, you're eligible for some great prizes from one of our amazing partners: Wufoo, xkcd, Destructoid, Ars Technica, Wired, EFF, 23/6, Baconfreak, Foundry Communications and more to come. Winners will be chosen at random from the pool of eligible volunteers.

Andrew Sullivan recently cheered the "Power of the reddit generation". Let us show the world what our generation can accomplish in the name of a good cause. Join the project here.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Filling a gaping hole in the 2008 year end awards, 23/6's Dickipedia and reddit open up the polls for "Dick of the Year"

It's that time of year when news and media outlets applaud how little we remember, and how little we've done with our own lives. Looking back at the past year, 2008 has had it's fair share of dicks. We've had enough cheaters, crooks, overpaid Knicks point guards, and megalomaniacs to fill a bag of dicks as Louis CK might say. To settle the score for the annals of history, reddit has teamed up with our friends at 23/6 to launch the DICK OF THE YEAR Awards.

Head over to the Dick of the Year reddit to nominate and vote on 2008's biggest dick. We've primed the dick pump with entries from Dickipedia.org, but that's just the tip of the dickitude. Nominate your favorite politician, relative, neighbor, Colbert Show host (we need the attention), or clever abstract concept.

23/6 is preparing a special trophy for the winner, and we will make sure it gets delivered, even if we have to bake it in a pie. Yeah, it's no secret that Gov. Blaggypants would have to be the odds on favorite at this point, but never count out the 2006 Bengals or The Pilgrims. Voting is open until January 1, 2009, so who knows what new and unforeseen dickery might pop up in the next two weeks. With a little luck the Dick of the Year award will take it's rightful place next to the Razzies and the Darwin Awards.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Thanks to BaconBuzz, team reddit gorges on succulent bacon

One week ago today, team reddit was recovering from a bacon coma. Our pal, Rocco, at BaconFreak.com sent us a case to try out before we named him BaconBuzz's chief bacon officer (CBO).

The Slowe's hosted the first (and sure to be recurring) team reddit bacon brunch. Among the sampling of bacon was a package of some spicy Cajun bacon. Fortunately, Dr. Slowe kept much of his old lab equipment.

Served with a delightful assortment of eggs, potatoes, and biscuits (Bisquick, if you're reading this, I'd like to endorse you). Steve couldn't join us, but we poured some bacon grease on the ground "for our homie."

Just kidding. We'd never waste good bacon grease.

But that wasn't all. As the final strips disappeared (see the before and after picture of bacon plate) we doled out the various packs of bacon jerky. Slightly winded, no one managed to try any until later, but one member of team reddit, raldi, was particularly moved:
I don't endorse products unless they really impress me (not that I've really had the opportunity one way or the other until now), and I have to say, the bacon jerky was spectacular. It's not some dried-out chewy strip of leather -- it actually tastes like just-fried bacon, and yet, you can carry it around with you or hide some under your pillow. My only complaint is that it doesn't come in a glass vial labeled, "Emergency Bacon."

Needless to say, the raldi family will be finding bacon jerky in their stockings on Christmas morning.
Forget "trust falls." This was a real team-building exercise. If you'd like to conduct one of your own with your co-workers, family, or even some bacon-loving strangers, consider ordering some bacon from BaconFreak. BaconBuzzers get 5% off.

And if you live in the Bay Area, get your bibs ready for a BaconBuzz tasting event...

Another blog.reddit poll ends, much was learned

Our most scientific poll yet concluded that 53% of redditors have peed in the sink. Yet a larger percentage of people who had not peed in the sink felt the need to qualify it (22%) than sink-urinaters (18%). Combined with what we learned from the Sheeple poll, we're really starting to understand the reddit community. Take that, Census Bureau.

Poll: Have you ever peed in the sink?
  1. Yes. 50 (35%)
  2. No. 32 (22%)
  3. No, that's as disgusting as "Vote Up if..." 31 (22%)
  4. Yes, but only once. 15 (10%)
  5. Yes, but I was also voting up. 12 (8%)
It's a new week and thus there's a new poll, thanks to raldi. Blame ketralnis for the pee poll.

We're anxious to know which Unicode character you are.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Three orphaned pets enter TheCuteList naming contest, two already found homes, the other has a new name

And hopefully with that new name, Rory (the cat formerly known as Tory), isn't far from a new home.

We didn't expect a pet - let alone two - to be adopted before the naming competition ended, but the power of TheCuteList (reddit) knows no bounds. These were homeless animals at the SF SPCA who particularly needed the extra attention, as they'd been there for quite some time.

By all accounts, this contest was a tremendous success. And we'll continue doing it every month on TheCuteList with organizations across the U.S. until every single dog and cat gets adopted. Mister Splashy Pants was just the beginning of the rename-it-to-save-it movement. Thanks to you, reddit.

When voting ended at noon today, swampsparrow had the highest scoring cat name (Rory, short for Rorschach) and MimiK had the highest scoring dog's name (ROFLs [Roffles]). They've each won a fine reddit bobblehead and the invaluable feeling that comes with renaming an orphaned animal (and hopefully getting it the attention it needs to find a home).

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Welcome, Mike Schiraldi (a.k.a. raldi)

Mike joined team reddit a little while after Erik, but he's been a redditor for over three years. He's getting his avatar before Erik only because he sent me his eye color in hex.

You probably already know him as raldi. He's still coming up with a title for himself (consider giving him some ideas in the comments) so for now I'll just say he's developing some nifty, albeit neglected, reddit features back into existence.

He's done quite a bit of traveling lately, which should explain the stickers on his suitcase. He's also a fan of a sport called "baseball" and language called Perl. Perl-ism aside, he also wanted a dollar sign to remind him that he's "a refugee from the collapsing financial industry." What's not to like?

Mike also has about 4x my karma, which makes things a bit awkward around here. I'm getting tired of bringing him coffee in the morning.

+15 Bonus points if you can identify those 3 country flags, their capitals, and their average yearly rainfall.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Trumpeting the MusicMakers, winner of the raise a reddit contest

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

-- Arthur O'Shaughnessy
Originate created the WeAreTheMusicMakers.reddit as part of the raise a reddit contest.
A subreddit for those in the music industry, as well as those that are interested in music composition, production and theory. Enthusiasts welcome! Also, consider discussing audio hardware and software! Questions are encouraged regardless of how basic/advanced! We are also interested in discussing the facets of the music industry, including record labels.
And after growing this community larger than anyone else, won the grand prize.








He's received all of his loot and is looking to share the WatMM shirts, pins, and stickers with the community that helped him win them. We're quite pleased with what he's done so far and will continue to do -- we've even learned a few things about making music along the way. That said, the reddit band is still a long way from getting an album on iTunes or Popcuts.

There's a new house ad in the rotation promoting the site. Plug in your amp and give it a click or reddit it and let us know if we should have set the volume to 11.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Blog.reddit poll ends decisively: Sheeple ought to be woken up

This first ever reddit blog poll ended today (find the weekly poll on the footer of this blog). The question was direct and simple, here are the results:

You come across some sheeple, what do you do?
  1. WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!! 48 (71%)
  2. Walk away slowly, careful to avoid making eye contact. 11 (16%)
  3. Engage them in spirited discourse about the pressing issues of the day. 8 (11%)
This week's question ought to evoke some more interesting results:

Have you ever peed in the sink?

Here comes a new challenger! With Sugar already adopted, we've got another dog to name

After the whirlwind adoption of Sugar, we asked our pals at the SF SPCA to send us another worthy orphaned dog for our TheCuteList naming contest.

I'd like to introduce you to the dog formerly known as Chip, go here to submit and vote on a new name for him. Same rules, same warm & fuzzy prizes for the winning redditor.

Chip, in his own words
view his profile | rename this dog!
8 years of living with the same family, and all of a sudden - here I am - interviewing new people as my best friend. I'm hoping the next one to step up is my dream pack. Someone told me I look like some famous guy - Clark Gable? I hope that helps my cause. I'm not too selective in what I'm looking for - Lots of outdoor activities - bringing me to things my houndy nose can sniff - the great outdoors is what I love!

If I may say so myself, I'm the perfect companion. Not too large, not too small, not too talkative, but not too shy. I love all things sniffable, and long walks through the neighborhood would give us a chance to meet new people, see new things, and of course - sniff new sniffs. I'll sit when you ask me to, heck - I might even hand over a paw to shake or a belly to scritchy-scratch. Kisses? I got em for ya. Snuggles when it's cold outside? No problem, buddy. So come on - let's find new, exciting adventures together!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

LegacyOfW.com - Tell Wired's ThreatLevel what ought to be the legacy of the US's 43rd President

As George W. Bush's 8 years come to an end, Threat Level's Ryan Singel thought it'd be a good time to reflect on the last two terms of the Decider and do some deciding of our own.

We've setup LegacyOfW.com as an easy way for us all to keep score and easily share this reddit-powered poll.

Submit your own legacy for W and vote on the rest. Here's a sneak peek at the current top legacies:



photo: Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite

Just one day after the naming contest started, orphaned dog has been adopted - somewhere, Mister Splashy Pants is singing a special whale song

Well done, reddit, Sugar was adopted this morning! Pity we didn't get a chance to rename her ("Splenda" was in the lead), but I think she'll get over it. This all happened within 24hours of the contest starting. We don't yet know if TheCuteList was specifically responsible, but the new owner had learned about her "from the Internet."

Thanks for already making this such a success for this lucky dog and the SF SPCA. We've already had a few more SPCAs around the country contact Erik for placement in what we're pretty sure will now be a monthly event on TheCuteList.

We still need to name (and find a home) for the cat formerly known as Tory. With almost an entire week to go, we're going to try and find another dog to profile for this contest.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Make Mister Splashy Pants proud: name an orphaned dog and cat to help them find a home!

A little while back, we wrote about Jessmuhkah, a redditor who asked reddit to name her cat.

This gave us an idea. In the proud tradition of Mister Splashy Pants, we thought TheCuteList could use a contest to name a needy dog and cat at our local San Francisco SPCA. I've had a bit of experience working with this fine organization and can write with confidence that they're a very worthy beneficiary of the reddit collective's imagination and voting prowess.

So here's the deal, they'll rename the following cat and dog whatever gets the most points in this thread for cat names and this thread for dog names. Don't worry, they know the "pics or it didn't happen" rule; we're expecting not only images of the '2.0' animals, but hopefully also a great adoption story as a result of this contest.

The only rule is it can't contain any profanity (this name will appear on the door for potential adopters to marvel at -- keep it family friendly). Submit your ideas and cast your votes before the deadline of Wednesday, Dec. 10th at noon Pacific. Winners will receive a priceless warm & fuzzy feeling and maybe something slightly more tangible.

Tory, in her own words:
she's been adopted!
Oh Hai! I have traveled a long way to be here. I started my life in Ventura County, and for some reason I ended up at the local shelter. Luckily, I was rescued and endured a long car ride along with 5 other cats. Since I arrived at The San Francisco SPCA several months ago, all of my traveling companions have found homes. Don’t get me wrong, this room with a view is a big upgrade from a cage. It's nice and all, but it’s not a real home :(

I am a very sweet lady, and I promise that I will give you lots of love if you let me join your family. I'm not a picky cat, but I do have one request: to be your one and only feline...other cats aren't exactly my cup of tea. Please take me home...it's what I dream of every night!


Chip, in his own words
he's been adopted!
8 years of living with the same family, and all of a sudden - here I am - interviewing new people as my best friend. I'm hoping the next one to step up is my dream pack. Someone told me I look like some famous guy - Clark Gable? I hope that helps my cause. I'm not too selective in what I'm looking for - Lots of outdoor activities - bringing me to things my houndy nose can sniff - the great outdoors is what I love!

If I may say so myself, I'm the perfect companion. Not too large, not too small, not too talkative, but not too shy. I love all things sniffable, and long walks through the neighborhood would give us a chance to meet new people, see new things, and of course - sniff new sniffs. I'll sit when you ask me to, heck - I might even hand over a paw to shake or a belly to scritchy-scratch. Kisses? I got em for ya. Snuggles when it's cold outside? No problem, buddy. So come on - let's find new, exciting adventures together!



Sugar, as described by her friends @ the SF SPCA
she's been adopted!
We've come to realize she's dealt a less than ideal hand in this card game.

See, she's a little older, a little chubbier, and little less spotty than the Cattle Dog mix down the hall. Her fur isn't as soft and luxurious as the Cockapoo next door, and she definitely doesn't seem like she wants to go for a daily swim like that big Yellow Lab across the way. Unlike the litter of puppies in the next hallway over, who've got that "new to the world" look about them that so many folks seem to fawn over, Sugar has character in her eyes, and a swagger in her walk that says "hey world – we're old friends. And p.s. – I'm already housebroken."

Sugar's got a pretty solid vocabulary – she'll sit, lay down, roll over and shake. But no, she doesn't know fetch, heel, or know how to get you the paper. And she's way too much of a lady to play tug-of-war. (She'd just let you win anyway – it's in her nature to make you happy). I guess the point is, Sugar isn't traffic stopping gorgeous, or so smart it knocks your socks off when she walks on her rear legs and recites the Greek alphabet. She loves leisurely walks, but she's just as happy to run circles in the back yard for a while, and flop down in the grass for a snooze. She's vivacious and outgoing, friendly and charismatic. She enters a room and you just know, you just feel - there's love there.

Based on the positive feedback we've already gotten, we're aiming to do this every month at cities across the U.S. -- New York is first up in the New Year. If you've got an SPCA in your hometown that you'd like to see featured on TheCuteList, message Erik.

--
The mission of TheCuteList is to be a 24-7 competition for the cutest things on the Internet, all of which are submitted and ranked by the site's users.

The mission of The San Francisco SPCA is to save and protect animals, to provide care and treatment, to advocate for their welfare, and to enhance the human-animal bond.

Founded in 1868, The SF/SPCA is a national leader in saving lives and raising the status of companion animals. Its innovative programs and services include: Maddie's Pet Adoption Center; Community Veterinary Services, including the SF/SPCA Animal Hospital and Spay/Neuter Clinic; Humane Education; public Dog Training classes; Feral Cat Assistance Program; and Animal Assisted Therapy.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Vector art really is a limiting medium for reddit alien creation

Playing with food might irritate parents. Creating art with it shouldn't. It's going to take some work to get this into the MOMA, so we ought to start the edible reddit alien campaign now. Food.reddit, we're counting on you.

Granted, Chris and Jeremy did bake a reddit cake last year. But cakes are meant to be sculpted into things like website mascots, bizarre towers, and erotica.

And we just recently saw a redditor bake a set of pixelized reddit alien cookies (you should also see the 1up & Super mushroom cookies). Frankly, we thought we'd seen it all.

We should have known something was going on when this fungi appeared on flickr:

Andrewinmelbourne's mushroom alien was the ideal first submission to mushroom.reddit, but it turns out mushrooms.reddit was already alive and growing (albeit in the moist darkness of the Internet's deepest crevices).

Then this appeared in my inbox, courtesy of krispykrackers; it can only be described as a McAlien.

Still no sightings of a bacon reddit alien. Hopefully we won't need to wait much longer.


Send in your homemade (edible or semi-edible) reddit alien pictures if you've got them. There's still time to carve that turkey carcass...

Winner Winner, Bacon Dinner!

Congratulations to russellnation for winning the 1st Annual Fight Tryptophan with Nitrates Fall Recipe Classic with a tasty recipe for "bacon wrapped water chestnuts". russellnation will be receiving a glorious gift box from our friends at BaconFreak.com.

Big thanks to everyone who shared a recipe! They all look delicious. If you didn't win, don't worry we have a lovely bacon-related parting gift for you: a brand new extra crispy BaconBuzz.com redesign.

Enjoy, and remember if you still have Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge they might be unsafe to eat, but a little danger sauce never hurts the taste.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

First kittens, soon human babies and professional sports teams!

Redditor Jessmuhkah added a cute new kitty to her family, and needed name ideas. Naturally, she turned to [ask]reddit for help (Bastion wasn't available). Reddit rose to the occassion and turned out several top shelf names including: Lil' Mow Mow, Meow Zedong, Morbo, Mister Scratchy Pants, Kitty hussein bacon, Mačka, and Dr. Tinycat.

Though Jessmuhkah ultimately settled on Nibbler, a non-reddited name, all is forgiven with the follow-up postings of adorable pictures and videos. Jessmuhkah, reddit expects continued kitty updates on thecutelist. And if you're sad that your favorite name was not chosen, then take control of own destiny and adopt a kitty and name it Lil' Mow Mow. We expect [pics]! There may be something to this naming kitties idea. Hmm. Developing...

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

In this period of worldwide uncertainty, we still have many reasons to give thanks. Namely, cured meats.

Once again, it's time to join appetites and elastic-waist pants around the dining table in celebration of the harvest. Just as Tisquantum instructed the hungry Pilgrims how to add eel to their meals of hardtack and corn, we need some noble redditors to instruct us in the best ways of adding bacon to this year's Thanksgiving meal.

In this spirit, we proudly present "BaconBuzz.com's Fight Tryptophan with Nitrates Fall Recipe Classic."

Post your best original Thanksgiving bacon recipe to this thread by Thursday 11/27 @ 12pm ET. On Saturday 11/29 @ 5pm ET (this gives you ample time to field test all the recipes with leftovers), the highest scoring recipe will win a special cornucopia of bacon goodies from our friends at BaconFreak.com.

This gift box provided by BaconFreak.com is quite a reward for the bacon lover. It's described simply: no fluff or BS, just the best Bacon Freak bacon.

So, as you count down the hours till feasting and football begin, fine-tune your visions for a hot-bacon-injected Turkey Day and share them here. Happy travels, parades, and feasts to all!

Kids, you still sit have to sit at the cardtable.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

the crowbar arrived at CERN, Freeman received it, world saved

Gaming.reddit, Fark, and a few physicists keep humanity safe for a little longer.

As scientists at CERN prepared to turn on the LHC for the first time, the gaming reddit community realized the significance of this historic scientific event: a resonance cascade and dimensional tear, followed by alien invasion.

One of our quick-thinking redditors suggested a plan to save mankind. We'd send CERN a crowbar. Just to be safe, we made it a wrecking bar, threw in a headcrab hat (for training purposes) and Fark donated a Half-life strategy guide to the cause.

Additionally, we found a physicist there who understood the magnitude of this project -- she's also responsible for the Large Hadron Rap, a subversive way for young people to learn about particle physics without knowing it.

She goes by Alpinekat and even tracked down Gordon to deliver the wrecking bar.

With the fate of the world in good hands (read: hands wielding a wrecking bar) we've got a slew of photos and videos that we'd like to see you get creative with. Our pals at Destructoid are concurrently announcing this great success -- let's honor it with some video-editing, YTMNDs, and photoshops.

Take a gander at all the photos. We're just showing you a couple so you're not overwhelmed with awesomeness. Update: Videos are now also online.



Cleverly, Gordon has protected his identity with the alias of Sandro Bonacini.
The 'headcrab zombie' pictured is Stefano Michelis, who has nobly volunteered his body to help train Mr. Freeman for the invasion.


BTW, happy birthday, Half Life.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

reintroducing gadgets.reddit (as redditgadgetguide.com) and aww.reddit (as thecutelist.com)

We just relaunched gadgets.reddit with a new domain and design: redditGadgetGuide.com. A bobblehead to whomever first can identify the font-style in the logo.


TheCuteList came into this world a couple weeks ago, but it didn't get the proper attention a site full of cute photos/movies deserves. Brace yourself for some heavy "aww." It's just the thing to boost morale during these troubling economic times. Natalie Portman understands.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Change you can click on

We rearranged our layout a bit today. We took the box that lists user-created reddits from the sidebar and turned it into a bar across the top. We think this makes the site easier to navigate and better highlights user-created reddits.

Studies have also shown that horizontal navigation systems increase usability by 300% while also being 4x more effective in preventing scurvy.

The drop-down menu on the left lists the reddits that make up your front page. You can customize this, of course. Simply click 'edit' at the bottom of the menu.

The rest of the reddits across the top will reorder themselves based on which ones you read most often. We're storing the order in a cookie in your browser, so you may have different reddits listed across the top at home than you will at work.

Enjoy!

PS - Alexis wrote one sentence of this post. See if you can guess which one.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

reddit wants your election day stories

At the end of last week's entry, we called on redditors to make their case (in fewer than 50 words) for a free Flip camera courtesy of our partners at WETA. As part of their Video Your Vote campaign with YouTube, they're looking for as many perspectives as possible on election day.

On top of the Internet exposure, the best content will air nationwide on "The NewsHour."

A redditor named Kodemage was the most convincing and he's got the Flip camera. He'll be sending updates throughout the day, first from the polling place he's working and later from the Obama rally @ Grant Park in Chicago. Here's the blog where he'll be posting all the video updates.



Have you got an election day story to tell? Leave a comment in this reddit thread.

Friday, October 31, 2008

welcome, erik - manager of community, slayer of trolls

Erik doesn't have an alien avatar yet, but he's the newest member of team reddit and the first whose sole job it is to please you, redditors. That's right, he's our new community manager, who'll be responsible for helping reddit-creators promote and grow their sites -- no matter how much bacon it takes.

He'll also be keeping abreast of noteworthy developments within communities (like sending wrecking bars to CERN, more on that next week) because as reddit has grown, it's much harder for the five of us to keep track of everything while still getting some work done.

As with all of our hires, he's a long-time redditor, who we first worked with on the YourWeek TV show. As an active member of ImprovEverywhere, you've no doubt seen his work before: the Best Buy project, need I say more?

You can find him posting as hueypriest, but send your reddit-domination plans to him at erik@reddit.com and we'll look into getting the sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.

Free Flip camera to document this historic U.S. election

We've just learned that our friends at WETA have a pair of Flip video cameras they'll give to redditors who want to document their election day. The best video collected nationwide will air on "The NewsHour" and other PBS election day coverage.

So, in < 50 words, email Erik why we should send you a Flip video camera to record your friends, family, neighbors, favorite alien, or whomever about why this election is important. For more info, go here: http://www.weta.org/videoyourvote

Thursday, October 23, 2008

reddit and The Independent

Today we're announcing a partnership with The Independent. They've taken advantage of our custom CSS and built a reddit for their readers.

We're particular excited because it means a new community -- one that speaks English much better than we do -- will be using reddit to determine the news that matters to them. All the reddit functionality is there, just with a new face and content chosen by their readership.

We hope this is the first of many partnerships. But the Independent has been a pleasure to work with. They've also promised us a case of Branston Pickle, which definitely helped.*

As the DNS changes propagate, you'll eventually see the Independent reddit showing up as now find it at http://reddit.independent.co.uk

And in the coming weeks, you'll also find voting buttons at the bottom of every Independent article.



That said, this new Independent reddit isn't limited to just Independent.co.uk articles -- their readership can submit interesting links from anywhere.

It's this kind of open mentality that really excited us about working with them. And the promise of Pickle.




*We're still entrenched in bitter negotiations about the exact quantity of HP sauce they're sending us.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

widgets get an upgrade and a firefox extension that will rock your world

We've benefited quite a bit from open-sourcing reddit back in June.

It's also given us a chance to give away a number of open-source shirts (not for sale) to developers who've significantly contributed to the project.

(dinosaur for scale)

One such redditor is chromakode, who developed an impressive Firefox extension called Socialite. Today, we're proudly announcing that we're hosting it at http://wwww.reddit.com/socialite

If you run Firefox and haven't used it yet, install it now and then return to this post.



With it, you'll have all the reddit functionality you crave right on the toolbar (submitting, voting, saving, and hiding) as well as see the clever headline, easily jump to the comments, and even try your luck with a random reddit link (turn that on in the preferences). Serendipity is "in" this autumn. Basically, this extension makes our bookmarklets and reddit toolbar (read: frame) look like a PDP-8 to its 64MB Quad core. Thanks, chromakode.

Our widget also now has in-place voting as an option. A nice epilogue for last week's major widget update. Get your vote on.

And at the risk of sounding like Ahab with his gold doubloon... a reddit bobblehead to the first person who emails me with a link to a site (spamblogs excluded) using this hot new button:

submit to reddit

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

New buttons and widgets

We have created a new set of buttons and widgets to make it easier for web publishers to get their content seen on reddit, and help their users find their best content on their own site.

We have added some new features to our old buttons to make it easier for publishers to make them fit better into their sites. For example, you can now set the colors on the buttons, and we have added a new text only button that you can fully style on your own if you want. We also added a bunch of new badges.

Also in this update are new widgets with a lot of additional configuration options. Again, we added the ability to do colors, as well as an unstyled version.

We also added the ability to get a list of articles from a particular domain, which should make it really easy for website publishers to put a list of their hottest articles on their own web pages, like this:



Enjoy!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

and now for something completely different - celeb gossip reddit

Today we wanted to trumpet a very different kind of reddit.


This is the first of what will hopefully be many radical transformations of the reddit platform. For those of you who believe the reddit front page just doesn't have enough Brangelina news, now there's WeHeartGossip. The site was designed by Callie Peck, who rocks CSS like it's a custom ESP KH-2 M-II.

You'll find all the familiar reddit functionality, but with hearts and skulls instead of up and down arrows. And a lot more pink.


The reddit alien never looked so Hollywood-chic.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

reddit goes shooting, presents a "congrats on the Series C" gift to digg

Steve and I, along with Justin and Emmett +1 of Justin.TV, went down to a local gun range here in San Francisco (yes, SF apparently has gun owners).

After shredding a few orange silhouettes on paper targets, we decided to try a new target. We just turned over the sheets and doodled some new ones -- the reddit alien was the first up. Beside it is the Justin.TV gorilla, although it ended up looking more like Homer Simpson.

We had an old pal, a Wired-turned-Digger, stop by our office today and we sent her away with a few gifts to celebrate the $28.7M in funding. Alternatively, they're also welcome to use the bobbleheads as targets on their next office retreat to the range.


Hopefully she appreciated our wall art here in the reddit terrarium.

Monday, October 06, 2008

the bacon has been shipped

I'm finishing up the designs for our winning reddits, but in the meantime, 2 pounds of bacon are being shipped to our winner.

Now this is a beautiful sight:
---

Your Order Number - #### was shipped on 10/6/2008
Shipped To - ##### #####
Product - Nueske Thick Sliced Applewood Smoked Bacon, Regular: 2 pounds
Quantity - 1
Shipped Via - FEDEX
We've also been trying to reach out to our other reddit creators (both from the contest and before) because we'd like to help these sites expand further. If you're interested, email feedback with the subject line "Wrestling with penguins."

We've got big plans to grow in a number of verticals...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

WeAreTheMusicMakers wins the raise a reddit contest, PalinProblem the runner-up, and Animation wins best design

One month after announcing this contest giving away $7,500 in prizes, we've seen a lot of new communities spring up. Opening up full CSS customization also ushered in a variety of fresh skins. Alas, they can't all be winners, but we're going to be working with you, reddit creators, to continue to grow your communities. Expect us to be hiring someone soon whose sole responsibility it is to help your reddit take over the world -- or galaxy, depending on how ambitious you are.

That said, here are the victors, who, from almost nothing, created and raised healthy reddit communities in just a month:

Winner (and recipient of the following)
WeAreTheMusicMakers.reddit
  • Macbook Air laser etched with the reddit logo
  • $1,500 Apple gift card
  • Stockpile of schwag (shirts, pins, and stickers) designed by me for their winning community
  • A reddit bobblehead and some bacon
Runner up
PalinProblem.reddit
  • 32 GB iPod touch laser etched with the reddit logo
  • $1,000 Apple gift card
  • Smaller stockpile of schwag (pins and stickers) designed by me for their community
  • A reddit bobblehead
The last prize was rather subjective, but we evaluated them based on quality of design [66%], originality [33%] and best use of the color orangered, RGB #FF4500 [1%].

Best design
Subanim.com (AKA Animation.reddit)
  • Wacom Intuos3 9x12 pen tablet
  • $500 Apple gift card
  • A reddit bobblehead

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

just a few days left until the raise a reddit contest ends - here's a peek at the leaders

Chris ran the numbers on the reddits that fell into the criteria for our raise a reddit contest and generated this list of current leaders. We've arranged them alphabetically so you have no idea who's actually winning, but all those listed have a little more motivation as the 29th approaches.  It's still quite close and with $7,500 in prizes at stake, it might be time to call in all those favors from your friends, family, and guildmates...

Monday, September 22, 2008

Want to work at reddit?

reddit is in the market for a new developer.

We are a team of five in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco and are looking for some programming talent.

The more of these traits you have, the better:


  • Know the web top-to-bottom. This means you should be familiar with Ajax/HTML/CSS -> TCP, and all the accompanying pains.
  • Unix/Linux knowledge. The site's down because we can't make any more sockets. Can you fix it?
  • A language geek. We use mostly Python, but also Erlang and C.
  • Database knowledge. We use PostgreSQL, but are always looking for a way out.
  • A reddit user. The biggest challenge we face is how to grow without hurting our community.
  • Have an engineering/CS degree.


If you are interested, please send a resume to jobs@reddit.com.

Cheers!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Avast! Ninjas beware!

It be Talk Like a Pirate Day, mateys!

With thanks to shumizzle for helping us with the translation, we are pleased t' be able t' be supportin' this most noble holiday! Yar!

(Also, for those of you who are native to the high seas, we'll be leaving this as an available "language" for the UI in your language preferences. Look for [pir].)

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Crowbar, headcrab, and Half-Life strategy guide shipped to CERN

While you've been busy trying to win $7500 in prizes, we here at reddit hq have been saving the world.

Well, that's not very fair; the idea to send CERN this crowbar wrecking bar came from you in the reddit community who voted up Mad_Gouki suggestion. We just understood the great importance of this mission.

And we weren't alone, along with support from all over the Internet, the good folks at Fark not only supported our cause, but sent us a Half Life strategy guide for the physicists at CERN to follow. One very, very quiet physicist in particular, actually.

After the initial order, a dandy paint job, we're ready to ship! Here are the photos from our office to prove it. We've been in touch with an intrepid physicist at the lab who goes by Alpinekat and will not stand idly by while Earth is conquered.

She may also take photos/video for us. Here are some shots from the reddit hq prior to shipping. Don't worry, we included a note: "Get this to Gordon Freeman. He'll know what to do."

This wrecking bar has been tested and will serve Gordon well. The alien will be keeping his.

The Half-Life strategy guide from Fark should ensure their survival.

Our in-house physicist, Dr. Chris Slowe, demonstrates the "Whack the headcrabbed-physicist game."
We trust they'll be practicing this at CERN.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

rss gets an update

For each link in the RSS feed, you'll now you'll find the number of comments, submitter, reddit it was submitted to, and a thumbnail (if one exists, but there's also a preference to turn that off.).

We've also given in to all the redditors asking for the headlines to link to the reddit comments page. Hard as it may be to believe, this was a relic from a time before comments existed; when we added comments, it just seemed reasonable to keep the status quo.

But since reddit comments (I'm proud to say) are often a great complement to -- or sometimes even more informative/entertaining than -- the content they're discussing, we ought to show them off. Naturally, you can still go directly to the submission by clicking on [link].

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

better know a reddit (and other communities like it)

With all this talk of user-created reddits, it seemed like a good time to publish this slick graph that Chris produced. Just a warning, the data are about a month old.

Chris used NodeBox to graph reddit similarity where the length of the edge gives how similar two communities are.

Download the full PDF. It's worth it. If you're still skeptical, here are some interesting snapshots we pulled out:

This should be a fun one for the Obama conspiracy theorists.

Just for our friend Joel, off in his own triangle.