Thursday, May 29, 2014

Global reddit Meetup Day is coming up soon on Saturday, June 14th!

Here's a handy checklist to get ready for GrMD V
  1. find a meetup by searching a local subreddit near you!
    • you can also search them on reddit's meetup.com page or your favorite meetup site
  2. are you a photographer? Remember to take photos & videos!
    • you can upload them to /r/about
    • ...email your photos to redditmeetup@imgur.com
    • ...or upload them to imgur.com/t/redditmeetup
    • you can start uploading them on June 14th, 2014
  3. Have fun and remember to thank your local meetup organizers!
/r/brisbane
 Global reddit Meetup Day is an event to go out and have fun meeting new & interesting people. And everyone here at reddit is really excited for this year! We're looking forward to seeing all the meetup photos & videos you send in. Be sure to check out the video /r/LondonSocialClub made for GrMD 2013!
 Also, reddit is supporting the Reset the Net effort to help people encrypt and protect our privacy on the internet. Global reddit Service Day is also scheduled for this fall!
 Remember to submit the best group photos and videos to /r/about and it could be featured on our about page. So what are you waiting for
Global reddit Meetup Day is Saturday, June 14th.
here are just some of the many reddit meetups happening around the world! Don't see one NEAR YOU? Check your local subreddits now!
/r/Amsterdam /r/sanfrancisco /r/LondonSocialClub
/r/bangalore /r/memphis /r/Columbus
/r/moscow /r/Tampa /r/Disneyland
/r/bristol /r/tokyo /r/StLouis
/r/washingtondc /r/Atlanta /r/Louisville
/r/kansascity /r/auckland /r/vegas
/r/edmontonsocialclub /r/melbourne /r/zurich
/r/seattle /r/toronto /r/madisonwi
/r/Omaha /r/Dallas /r/Peterborough
/r/fredericton /r/SWFL /r/LosAngeles
/r/asheville /r/akron /r/UtahValley
/r/chicago /r/Durban, South Africa /r/SaltLakeCity
/r/brisbane /r/Liverpool /r/venturacounty
/r/houston /r/sydney /r/palmy
/r/argentina /r/oslo /r/fijian
/r/OrangeCounty /r/twincities /r/detroit
/r/LittleRock /r/frankfurt /r/newfoundland
/r/nyc /r/Oban /r/berlinsocialclub

Someone's going to Auckland, New Zealand!

 reddit asked you /r/wherewillpinwalego and the resounding answer was /r/Auckland! There was some amazing efforts and invitations by so many cities. I hope to visit all of you some day. A special shoutout to /r/argentina! They even edited their subreddit's CSS to link straight to the voting submissions page.
 Have fun and be sure to thank and help the event organizers—they are the awesomest redditors who help make GrMD happen!

Friday, May 16, 2014

Welcome to Jack, Scott, Jaleh, Sean, Rich, Zean, Matt, Will, & Lisa!

We’re very excited to welcome nine amazing people to the reddit team. As is the reddit tradition, we ask that each of the new admins introduce themselves to you in their own words:

Jack Lawson (/u/ajacksified), frontend engineer
Hello, redditors! I’m super excited to finally join reddit in San Francisco, after many years participating in the community. I’ll be working on improving the interface, adding features, and improving our frontend infrastructure so we can continue to be reliable and fast at the first two items. Besides writing javascript, I like to dabble in a variety of other languages, and I co-run the Lua and Vim meetup groups in San Francisco. I spend most of my time in /r/diy, /r/coffee, and /r/foodporn, and I’ve taken it on as my personal mission to turn everyone at reddit HQ into coffee snobs.

Scott Tomlinson (/u/sgtjamz), head of finance & accounting
Hola! Super excited to join reddit in SF. I’ll be getting reddit’s books in order and helping us reach profitability (so we get to keep doing this and get to give more money to charity). I’m a big fan of music and a lot of my favorite subreddits help me find and share new music (at least new to me). I love browsing /r/pics and /r/travel — as inspiration to visit new places — and /r/science, /r/iama, and /r/todayilearned to learn new random stuff. I was raised at a dog kennel, and I recently found out I have an identical twin brother who lives 5 minutes from me.


Jaleh Afshar (/u/jaleh), senior UX designer 
Hi reddit ^__^ I've been a lurker for several years and officially joined to participate in the 2011 Arbitrary Day gift exchange. In my new role here, I’ll be working with the engineering team on improving the user experience of redditgifts. I’ll also be contributing designs for reddit’s community involvement initiatives and upcoming products. Aside from UX, my other interests include drawing, pizza, clay modeling, real estate, tabletop & video gaming, and hanging out with my house rabbits. I am also addicted to starting businesses.


Sean Forsgren (/u/rhygaar), product manager
Hello, folks! It’s a tremendous pleasure to be joining the reddit team here in beautiful Salt Lake City. It’s been a winding road to land at redditgifts, which has included the military, lots of college, film & television, mobile apps, and game producing for a major game studio. I’m excited to help drive some new and exciting products designed to better serve redditors with new ways to expand on the reddit experience. I’m an avid gamer, beer brewer, consumer of numerous books, and viking enthusiast. My dream is to sail aboard a viking longship next year, and finally earn my axe. You can find me lurking and liking allover reddit as /u/rhygaar over in subreddits like /r/homebrewing, /r/planetside, and /r/beekeeping. Otherwise I’ll be working on my house, in my yard, or enjoying a beer and a burger anywhere the law allows.


Rich McKinley (/u/rrmckinley), full-stack software engineer
Hello! I recently left San Francisco for Utah to work on redditgifts and exchanges. I couldn’t be happier. I traded dodging syringes in the Tenderloin for a little Rocky Mountain living. I love riding the train and my bike to work every day. I love programming language theory and data models. My favorite subreddit is /r/haskell. I drink strange South American tea.

Zean Tsoi (/u/zeantsoi), full-stack developer
I am honored to be joining this incredibly accomplished team in our endeavor to spread joy via redditgifts. As a native Utahn who spent many years in the Bay Area, I am thrilled to see San Francisco’s spirit of ingenuity taking root – and flourishing – in Salt Lake City. Here’s a promise: if you keep an eye on redditgifts, you will be witness to some very amazing stuff. Outside of work, I play for the venerated Park City Haggis Rugby Club, lurk Stack Overflow for rep, and ponder the merits of Weekend at Bernie’s as a work of post-modern existentialism. Hello!


Matt Lee (/u/madlee), front-end engineer, ads
Hey everyone! I just moved to San Francisco from Pittsburgh, PA to join reddit as the new frontend engineer for our self-serve ad platform. My goal here is to make interacting with ads on reddit a better experience for redditors and advertisers alike.  In my spare time, I enjoy playing games, marathon-netflix-watching, drawing, participating in game jams, and spending time with my fantastic fiancĂ©e. I think I'm the tallest person that works here.  I also make a mean pizza.  Favorite subreddits include /r/javascript, /r/webdev, and /r/Pareidolia.


William Westendorf (/u/doubleUsquared), manager of client relations
Hi everyone! It's an absolute pleasure to be working for reddit. I found my way here by way of traditional publishing when I realized I was talking reddit as much as I was talking books. I'll be working to make the reddit advertising experience a positive one for everyone involved. You can find me in /r/cfb during the fall, /r/hockey through the winter, and when my teams aren't playing, I'll be enjoying a good read in /r/books.


Lisa Liebig (/u/sporkicide), community manager
Hi! I came out of lurking a few years ago and am now becoming a more permanent part of the site. I’ve put down my fingerprint kit in order to help make your redditing experience more pleasant. Besides dealing with your problems, my hobbies include games, cooking (specializing in alcoholic desserts), and costume making — I’m active in the /r/cosplay community, especially /r/StarWars. My cats try to help, mostly by sitting on pattern pieces. I post all over the site but lately have spent a lot of time in /r/gameofthrones explaining causes of death. Seems appropriate.

We're still hiring! If you’d like to work at reddit, check out /r/redditjobs for the latest open positions. None of this would be possible without the support of you, the reddit community, thank you for your continued support!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Only YOU Can Protect Net Neutrality

We believe that a free and open Internet can bring about a better world. To keep the Internet free and open, we call on communities, industries and countries to recognize these principles. We believe that they will help to bring about more creativity, more innovation and more open societies. 
- Preamble to The Declaration of Internet Freedom

As you may have seen from all the recent discussion around Net Neutrality, we find ourselves at a critical crossroads for the continued development of an open Internet. This Thursday, the FCC will be unveiling their “Open Internet” proposal. If we all want to protect universal access to the communications networks that we all depend on to connect with ideas, information, and each other, then we must stand up for our rights to connect and communicate. We must ensure that our representatives know how important the open Internet is, and that we demand nothing less that real Net Neutrality by having the FCC reclassify Internet Service Providers as Title II common carriers. What is a common carrier? A common carrier is a company “forced to offer service indiscriminately and on general terms.” Common carriers cannot engage in “individualized bargaining.” if we as society believe there should be basic and open access to certain entities -- telephone lines, trains, etc. -- then how can that NOT extend to the Internet?

If the Internet is important to you personally or professionally, please take some time to review the information below and consider joining reddit, large and small tech companies, venture capitalistsyoung entrepreneurs, musicians & artists, religious groups, teachers, parents, and everyday citizens and take a stand.

The reddit community has been working hard to protect Net Neutrality with advocacy groups, companies and concerned individuals, and we are seeing real results at the FCC and the government. Over last week, congressmen & even other FCC commissioners are asking the Chairman Tom Wheeler to not move ahead with the flawed “Open Internet” proposal. Now is the time for you to give voice to the great & open Internet. The rulemaking process can take upto a year so we need to be ready to protect Net Neutrality for the long haul.

It’s important to take action today and this week, but please know that protecting the Internet as we know it will be a constant and ongoing fight. 

Take Action

(Today only) Tell Congress: Don’t Sign the Cable Industry Letter Against Real Net Neutrality

Outside the US? You can still participate in this International action asking concerned citizens to "Say No to the Internet Slow Lane"

Call FCC - *please be courteous
1. Dial 888-225-5322
2. push 1, 4, 0
3. a person will answer.
4. they will ask for your name and address. you can just give them a zip code if you want.
5. "I'm calling to ask the FCC to reclassify Internet Service Providers as Title Two Common Carriers."
6. They'll ask if there is anything else you would like to add.
7. "No, Thank you for your time."
8. hang up.

Call Congress
Go to OpenCongress & type in your zipcode.
Pick up the phone and call each of the these folks. Believe it or not, someone will answer the phone, and phone calls make a difference.
Politely tell the congressional staff that picks up to "Have the FCC classify internet as a Title Two common carrier." Ask them to repeat what they wrote down.

You can also contact FCC & Congress at stoptheslowlane.com

Spread the word: Have a friend or family member that doesn't understand net neutrality?
Have them watch this informational video video: 11min; 4min; 2min; read this, or just look at this picture.

Join the May15th Day of Action to Save the Internet
Sign-up to join the rally Thursday morning at the FCC in DC
Sign the NoSlowLane petition
If your representatives who have signed on to the CPC letter supporting Net Neutrality, make sure to call and thank them.
If your senators have published a letter to the FCC supporting Net Neutrality, make sure to call and thank them.
Call the White House and make sure they know you support Net Neutrality
Show the world what the FCC's "slow lane" looks like and add the #StopTheSlowLane code to your site
Write a Letter to the Editor for your local paper
Join or support the protest outside the FCC in Washington, DC
Share your voice on Twitter. Suggested tweets:
We support #NetNeutrality and call on the @FCC to ensure companies large and small have equal access to the Internet
#NetNeutrality and an Open Internet is essential to maintaining a level playing-field for innovation. We call on the @FCC to protect it

Background

What is Network Neutrality? A Quick Non-Technical Explanation
How the FCC Makes Its Rules
Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know
Big Cable says broadband investment is flourishing, but their own data says it's falling
Why the tweaks to Chairman Wheeler's proposal reported last night just aren't good enough: Evaluating the FCC Chairman’s Revised Net Neutrality Proposal
3 Ways the FCC Chairman is Reversing the 2010 Rules
Why the new FCC Proposal on Net Neutrality is Disasterous for Startups, Consumers, and the Economy
Net Neutrality Legal Binary.  Explaining "Title II" vs Everything Else

Thank you to the reddit community and to all the groups, companies and individuals who have been working so hard to fight for Net Neutrality. Together we can protect Net Neutrality.

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

What's that, Lassie? The old defaults fell down a well?

It's time to shake up the defaults again! In the past we've just swapped out one subreddit for another, but this time we're going to try something different. Instead of twenty-five default subreddits, we're going to bump it up to fifty. You can look forward to a wider variety of topics and a frontpage that is much more fluid than today's frontpage.
As a reminder, the default subreddits are what people without an account see when they visit reddit.com, and the "starter set" of subscriptions when someone creates a new account. Most of the old default set was selected based on user activity and interest from years ago. reddit has grown and changed so much over the years that it's only fair to increase the number of subreddits so we can showcase newer subreddits that reflect the interests of the current userbase. This is sort of an experiment... we plan on changing the defaults more often, and we are always looking for great subreddits to potentially add to the list. So once again, without further ado, here are our new defaults!
/r/announcements /r/Art /r/AskReddit
/r/askscience /r/aww /r/blog
/r/books /r/creepy /r/dataisbeautiful
/r/DIY /r/Documentaries /r/EarthPorn
/r/explainlikeimfive /r/Fitness /r/food
/r/funny /r/Futurology /r/gadgets
/r/gaming /r/GetMotivated /r/gifs
/r/history /r/IAmA /r/InternetIsBeautiful
/r/Jokes /r/LifeProTips /r/listentothis
/r/mildlyinteresting /r/movies /r/Music
/r/news /r/nosleep /r/nottheonion
/r/oldschoolcool /r/personalfinance /r/philosophy
/r/photoshopbattles /r/pics /r/science
/r/Showerthoughts /r/space /r/sports
/r/television /r/tifu /r/todayilearned
/r/TwoXChromosomes /r/UpliftingNews /r/videos
/r/worldnews /r/writingprompts I fit just so!
Check out this multireddit to see what the frontpage looks like now.