Over the past eight or so years, link-sharing website Reddit has risen from a computer programmer enclave to one of the most powerful communities on the Web. Today, Reddit receives more than 70 million unique visitors from 188 different countries – numbers that scream “mainstream.” Yet, Reddit remains a mystery for those who have not yet become addicted to it.
For this reason, many people still wonder what the heck Reddit is, and how the whole thing works. Well, wonder no longer. Earlier today, YouTube’s explainer extraordinaire CGPGrey released a video that sums up Reddit better than anything else I’ve ever seen, from the mystery of subreddits to the site’s all-important commenting feature.
Of course, once you’ve been on Reddit for a while, you would probably sum up the site like this:
Those of you who are just now getting into Reddit should also be aware of the Alien Blue iOS app, which is about as perfect as a mobile version of Reddit can get, as well as the variety of Reddit apps available for Android. Snagging the Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES) for your browser is also a good way to get even more out of Reddit.
Without further blathering, here’s CGPGrey’s “What is Reddit?” video:
Note: An earlier version of this article identified the Alien Blue app as “unofficially the official Reddit app,” based on this comment by Jeremy Edberg, Reddit’s first paid employee, who now runs site reliability for Netflix. Reddit’s team reached out to us to clarify that all Reddit apps and app developers are on “equal nation status,” and the company does not prefer one app over the other. We updated this article to avoid confusion (and because they asked us to really nicely). Still, Alien Blue is awesome, and iOS users should download it.
Image courtesy of Kyle Garrity/Flickr
A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through a server run by the VPN provider. Websites see the VPN server’s IP address instead of yours, and you can get around geo-blocks, censorship, and ISP throttling. The best VPN services are paid, but there are still a handful of free options that do the job well.
Most free VPNs come with a hidden cost, because running servers isn’t cheap and a company that doesn’t charge you has to make its money somewhere else. Many do so by logging your browsing activity and selling it to advertisers, while others flood you with ads and track you across apps.
A stocked computer cache may be convenient for logging into and out of go-to sites in seconds flat, but a major buildup of these tracking codes could significantly impact your PC’s performance. If you’ve noticed that your PC has been running rather slow of late, or you’re using a new browser and don’t know how to clear its cache, we’ve got you covered with the following guide.
If you’re looking to clean up your Gmail inbox, but you don’t want to delete anything permanently, then choosing the archive option is your best bet. Whenever you archive an email, it is removed from your inbox folder while still remaining accessible. Here’s how to access any emails you have archived previously, as well as how to move such messages back to your regular inbox for fast access.