Reddit is a social media platform that boasts hundreds of millions of users and about 15 million monthly users. As a result, it may be slightly challenging to sort through countless posts to find specific information. Reddit has several functionalities that seek to make it easier to categorize content, and one of them is flair or tags.
A flair is a ‘tag’ that users can add to the content they post on Reddit, specifically within a subreddit. Flairs help users understand the category a particular post belongs to, helping them filter certain kinds of posts based on their preferences.
Users and moderators can also leverage Flairs to tag specific usernames. Typically, the user or moderator edits or forcefully adds the tag. The latter commonly happens when a user is banned or flagged as a con.
The Reddit flair system is an excellent way to include extra context in your post. If you’re a Reddit administrator, regular poster, or subreddit moderator, you can employ flairs to distinguish yourself from other users with user flair that appears next to your username.
Tagging a post
Naturally, there are several ways to add flairs to a post, depending on your platform. Here are some of the platforms and how you can add flairs to them:
Desktop website
New design
Tagging your post with flairs is easy on the Reddit desktop website. Once you have found the community you want to post in, click “create post” at the left-side railing on the subreddit’s homepage.
Select an appropriate title and text or image for your post in the Create Post window. After this, you can add the flair by clicking on the Flair drop-down menu and then choosing one of the available flair options. If the flair options are greyed out, you may be unable to add the flair yourself without a moderator. However, the post flair may be added automatically when you create the post in some cases.
Some communities commonly allow users to change specific flair text. As such, if the relevant subreddit enables this feature, you can do it by editing the text in the Edit Flair box right below the Reddit flair you have chosen. After selecting your preferred flair, click the apply button to add to your post.
Old design
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 see it.
After selecting it, fill the title and text box with the relevant information before scrolling down to find the flair option. The option is right below a “choose a flair” heading. Clicking on it will display several flair options. Simply click on the flair you prefer and click “submit” to post.
Mobile app
On the mobile app, adding flairs is also straightforward. After selecting the subreddit to which you want to post the content, click on the + sign at the bottom of the screen to add a post.
This will pull up a window asking you to select what type of content you intend to post. Not all types of content are permitted in different communities, and the window will categorize the types accordingly. After selecting 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 will see the option for flairs if your community allows them.
Click on the “add flair” text, which displays the available flairs you can use to personalize your post. Select the flair you prefer and click on apply. After applying it, you may post your content.
Adding flairs on usernames
While using flairs to categorize your posts is a common use for flairs, you can also add flairs to your username. Similar to post flairs, username flairs may be present or not, depending on the community.
Some communities restrict all username flairs, while others typically only allow moderators to add flairs. Because of this, you may need to go over the community’s rules to be sure you can add flairs.
If your relevant community’s moderator restricts user flairs and you want to message them, 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.
However, if your community permits individual user flairs, you add it by looking through the About Community area on the right-side rail. Here, you select the Edit button, visible next to the “User Flair Preview” text. The edit button on the new desktop site is represented as a pen icon. If you cannot find it, select the Community Options drop-down menu.
In the Select Flair menu, choose your user flair from the available list. Ensure that you select the “Show my user flair on this community” checkbox before you click on the “Apply” button to save the option.
The process is essentially the same on a mobile app. Using an iOS app as an example, you can add username flair by first going to the relevant community’s homepage. Here, click on the three-dot icon at the top right corner of your screen.
This would pop up a window at the bottom of your screen. Select “Change user flair” to begin the process on this window.
Similar to the desktop website, this would bring up a list of available flairs you can choose from. Likewise, check the “Show my user flair on this community” box after selecting your flair before applying it.
Selecting a flair that correctly categorizes your post is vital when considering flairs to apply, either on your post or your username. Many people rely on post tags to filter posts when they require information and can not go through a whole subreddit. Misusing flairs may send another user on a wild goose chase.