With millions of daily users, Reddit enjoys a fair amount of posts daily across different subreddits. Most communities thrive by having users post on them, with the members interacting with and upvoting such posts. A post could be a series of texts, a picture or video, a link, or a poll. Nevertheless, posts are what get Reddit running.
How long does it take posts to go live?
Posting on Reddit requires time, resources, and dedication. Many people go to extra lengths to ensure their posts are relevant and high-quality. As a result, users are interested in ensuring that their posts go live so that their efforts do not waste.
Typically, most posts appear immediately after posting them, depending on your internet connection speed. However, there are often exceptions that may delay the post or even prevent it from showing up. Here are some reasons why your post may not appear immediately or at all.
Bad internet connection
This may seem trivial, but it could be a reason your post does not go live immediately or at all. Depending on whether you are posting five paragraphs of text or 45MB of media, Reddit requires a stable internet connection to perform the functions you require of it.
As such, if your internet connection is unstable, it may be a while before your post goes live, more so if you are uploading large media content. You may confirm that your internet connection is stable before you panic that your post is nowhere to be found.
Low karma or new account
Having low karma or a new account may be why you cannot find your post after posting it. Some subreddits restrict the users who can post content on a subreddit. Commonly, users with very low karma or accounts that are still new are often restricted from making posts. As such, your post may be automatically deleted after it goes live.
The primary reason communities restrict postings this way is to prevent the group from being overrun by bots and throwaway accounts that are not interested in making any meaningful contribution.
Flouting a rule
You may also not find your post after you make it if it contravenes any community rules. Many communities have different rules that guide interaction with them. They are typically on the right-side rail on the community’s homepage for desktop users or in the window entitled “menu” in the mobile app.
If your post flouts any of the community’s rules, an automatic moderator may immediately take it down. As such, it is vital that you peruse a community’s rules about posting before you post your content to ensure it remains live.
Sorting by “Hot”
By default, most subreddits sort their content by hot. This sorting prioritizes posts with the most upvotes relative to the time of post. If you posted in a community with several posts with numerous upvotes, you might not find your post unless you sort the community by new.
Reddit is experiencing an issue
A rare reason your post may not be visible after you make it could be that Reddit is experiencing a downtime. You can confirm by checking Reddit’s status page to ensure the website is up and running regularly. Furthermore, if there is an issue with Reddit, you can follow along to see when the website will resolve it.
Suppose your post remains invisible, and you are sure it is not because of any of the above reasons. In that case, you may contact the mods of that particular community requesting an explanation. You can look for the moderators by checking the right-side panel for the Moderators section. Select the Message the mods option to send a request.
How to post on Reddit
Posting on Reddit is typically straightforward. Unlike other social media platforms, you post to specific communities to which you belong. As such, the first thing to do is identify the community you want to post to. Once you have found the community, click “create post” at the left-side railing on the subreddit’s homepage.
The first step on the old Reddit desktop website is to click on “submit text” to post text-based content. The location of the “submit text” box varies, but you will typically find it on the left-side rail of the community’s homepage. The variation is regarding how far down you may have to scroll to find it.
In the Create Post window, select what kind of content you intend to post. This may vary from text posts to media, sound, or polls. Different communities have their preferences regarding what members can post. On mobile apps, such types of content are grey and inaccessible.
Text posts require a title, while the body is discretionary. However, adding an exciting body is an excellent way to start a conversation and get your post attention. Likewise, media posts require a title and a video or photo that you can upload from your computer or mobile device.
If necessary, you may also tag your post with flairs to personalize or categorize it. Similarly, you may tag your post as NSFW or Spoiler to contextualize and help other users decide if they want to view the content.
Before clicking on “post,” ensure that your post does not break any community rules, as this will cause it to be automatically deleted after you post. Once you are certain of your post, you may click on “post.”
The steps are similar on a mobile app. However, to begin, you click on the + sign at the bottom of the relevant community’s homepage. This will pull up a window asking you to select what type of content you intend to post. After choosing the medium you prefer, fill the relevant boxes with the title and content you intend to post.
You click next after filling in the necessary content, and the page you enter is the last before you post the content. Here, you can add the necessary tags and flairs to your post before you finally click on “post” to post it.
