With millions of daily users, Reddit enjoys a fair amount of posts daily across different subreddits. Most communities thrive by getting content posted on them, with the members interacting with and upvoting such posts. New users may occasionally see the tag “OP” next to a comment in different communities. If you are among other Redditors for less than 30 days who are confused about the meaning of OP, this article is for you.
OP on Reddit means Original Poster. You can see other users in the comments refer to such person as the OP, meaning the person who made the post whose comments section you are in. Reddit also lets you know when the OP participates in the comments section by putting the “OP” tag next to his username when they post.
OP can also mean Overpowered. The meaning of course depends on the context.
Other Reddit acronyms, jargon and their meanings
AMA – AMA literally means Ask Me Anything. The basic meaning is that the OP has indicated their willingness to answer different questions asked by community members where the OP posted the AMA. However, AMA is also a subreddit, and it has featured various popular recipients like Barrack Obama. Likewise, other communities also host AMAs where they bring on important persons related to the community to host an AMA. For example, a community revolving around a TV show may bring up a popular star of the show to host an AMA.
Crosspost – A Crosspost describes when a user takes a post from a specific subreddit and (cross)posts it on another. When such a user crossposts the post, it will include an embed of the original post and other vital information regarding the original post.
This includes the original poster’s username, community, and karma score on the original post. As a result, other Redditors can find the content’s original source while giving more exposure to the original content and its community. As such, crossposting can help you develop your followers and community.
YOLO – This is an acronym for “You Only Live Once.” It was popularized by Drake about 10 years ago. The term has now become popular in stock and investing communities like Wall Street Bets. These communities use the term to describe a trader who goes all in on a stock. According to some users, a YOLO trade should be more than three digits and be about 98-100% of your account.
FTFY – this is another acronym that means “Fixed That For You”. It typically comes after a Redditor corrects another user’s post. The correction is commonly unnecessary and is primarily to make the initial comment funnier. However, some users occasionally used FTFY to address genuine grammar, spelling mistakes, or fact fixes.
MOASS – MOASS represents “Mother Of All Short Squeezes,” a probable allusion to the short-sellers from the January 2021 GameStop short-squeeze who lost billions on short-sell against the video game retailer. GME increased by about 850% at its peak, mostly due to hype that contained the term “MOASS.”
Diamond hands – Diamond hands is the expression that is used to describe stock and crypto traders who do not sell their stock or crypto assets during bearish market swings. The expression compares such an investor’s strength to withstand a big market swing with the diamond’s notorious strength. A common related mantra is that “a trader with diamond hands never sells.” On the flip side, Redditors refer to traders that sell their assets easily as traders with “paper hands.”
TL;DR – This relatively common expression literally means Too Long; Didn’t Read. As the name implies, it demonstrates that a particular post is of considerable length and that such a person did not read it because of its considerable length. However, this expression has also taken up a related meaning – a summary or a summarised version. An OP may include a TL;DR version under the lengthy post for users who did not read it because it was too long. Many users can also request a summarized version by commenting TL;DR.
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 greyed out.
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, you click on the + sign at the bottom of the relevant community’s homepage to begin. 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 posting. Here, you can add the necessary tags and flairs to your post before you finally click “post” to post it.