AN UPVOTE FOR YOU SIR!

HUMORS USE AS AN
IDENTIFICATION TOOL ON REDDIT





Senior Thesis

Department of Communication & Media Studies

Stetson University








William Bohannon Mason

Spring 2014



i
Acknowledgments

My first thanks go out to my loving parents, without whom I would never be where I am,
or who am I am today. Thank you for always being there and believing in me. Second, I
would like to thank my girlfriend, Liz, without whom I would have never made it through
this process. Her talks helped guide me through the stress of this monumental
undertaking. I would be remised if I did not acknowledge the incredible advise and
consoling I received throughout my entire process by Dr. Mario Rodriguez. Our long and
oftentimes off topic conversations helped me frame my research in my mind, and allowed
me to have a sounding board for my developing ideas. I would like to thank Dr. Watts as
well, because without her structured deadlines, I may have been lost. Additionally, I was
lucky enough to be able to have a direct line of conversation with Dr. John Meyer, whose
help in understanding the tenants of his theory proved crucial to my understanding of the
functions of humor. And last but certainly not least I would like to pay a special thanks to
reddit user therealpersona, whose help in formatting my research data allowed me to
easily read through and code my data. It takes a village, they say, and I had one behind
me.



ii
Abstract

In this project I seek to examine the role of humor on the social news group, reddit, and
how the use of humor in the comments sections of posts is employed as an identification
tool, using Burkes definition of identification through consubstantiation. In order to do
this I employed a hybrid methodology utilizing elements from both the rhetorical and
qualitative research traditions to undertake a pragmatic online ethnography of the
comment sections of the top posts from the default subreddits. In my data collection I
examined the comment sections of 69 posts, combing through over 30,000 individual
comments. The data I collected through analysis of these comments allowed me to
answer my two research questions: RQ1: How is humor used on reddit as an
identification tool, are there any patterns to its use or function? RQ2: What do the
patterns in humor communication in the comments on the front page of reddit, if there are
any, have to say about the values of the reddit community? Through this research I
examined Meyers (2000) four rhetorical functions of humor and found that all humor,
regardless of function leads to identification, unifying this theory around a singular
function.




iii
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" #
ABSTRACT """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ##
I. INTRODUCTION """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" $
II. BACKGROUND """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" %
III. LITERATURE REVIEW """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" $$
"# $%&'( )*(+,)-).",)/+ ,0(/&1 ################################################################################################################### 22
$# 0%3/& ################################################################################################################################################################ 24
.# ,0(/&)(5 /- 0%3/& /&)6)+ ######################################################################################################################### 24
i. Relief Theory """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" #$
ii. Incongruity Theory """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" #%
iii. Superiority Theory """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" #&
*# -/%& &0(,/&)."7 -%+.,)/+5 /- 0%3/& ################################################################################################# 28
i. Identification """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" #'
ii. Clarification """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ()
iii. Enforcement """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" (#
iv. Differentiation """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ((
(# ./39%,(&:3(*)",(* ./33%+).",)/+ "+* 0%3/& ############################################################################ ;<
IV. METHODOLOGY """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" &'
"# 90)7/5/90)."7 -&"3(=/&' ######################################################################################################################## ;4
$# (,0+/6&"901 ################################################################################################################################################### ;>
.# (,0)."7 ./+5)*(&",)/+5 ############################################################################################################################## ;8
*# 3(,0/*5 ############################################################################################################################################################ <?
i. Karma, Upvotes & Downvotes """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" *(
ii. Research Questions """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" **
iii. Operationalization """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" **
iv. Sample """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" *$
v. Sorting Algorithm """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" *%
(# " $&)(- "5)*( #################################################################################################################################################### <@
V. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ()
"# 0%3/& .",(6/&)(5 /- %5( ########################################################################################################################### <>
i. Reference Identification Strings """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" *'
ii. Pun Strings """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" $(
iii. Clarification/Enforcement Strings """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" $$
iv. Humor Takeover Strings """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" $&
v. Shared Experience """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" %#
vi. Meta-humor Identification """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" %+
vii. Novelty Accounts and Username Humor """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" +)
viii. Trolling """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" +$
$# )+,(77(.,%"7)53 "5 " A"7%( ####################################################################################################################### >2
VI. CONCLUSION """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" )(
APPENDIX A REDDIT GLOSSARY """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" )*
REFERENCES """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" *(




1
I. Introduction

Imagine that you have entered a bar. Its later in the evening when you arrive.
When you get there you realize that many others had been there long before you arrived,
and they are all engaged in heated discussion. The scene is overwhelming at first for the
uninitiated, and with so many intense discussions surrounding you, it is hard to place
yourself in any single discussion, so you go up to the bar for a drink and are surprised by
what you see. At the bar is a very alien looking man polishing a glass, his nametag reads,
Snoo. A group of people furiously engaged in heated discussion sits next to you, you
finally get the courage to ask what all the fuss is about only to find out the conversation
had been going on for so long that no one was left who could retrace it all the way back
to the beginning for you; so you continue to observe. A hallway lined with doors at the
back of the bar catches your eye, so you walk over. The door closest to you reads
Whiskey, and the doors to each side of it read Beer and Wine, you walk down this
walk down the hall this pattern continues, Vodka, Rum, Tequila, a room for each
type of liquor at the bar. As you continue down the hall the labels on the doors become
more obscure: Chess, Movies, PlayStation the doors are as random as they are
numerous. Something else about the doors catches your eye, the fact that none of them
have a lock. You reach out and turn the handle, swinging the door to the room labeled
Beer open wide. You are taken aback as you walk inside a room that is almost identical
to the one you were in before, albeit slightly less crowded. As you mosey up to the bar
you notice there is something very familiar about the bartender as well and sure enough a
check of his nametag reveals your assumptions to be true, it reads Snoo. You order a beer
and lean against the bar, observing the goings on. Around the room there are many tables,



2
each of which seems strangely to have room for more people to sit down despite already
being bustling with activity. You watch as people walk from table to table, sitting down
and offering their two cents to a discussion before wandering to the next table hoping to
engage the crowd. After observing for a while, you finally garner up the courage to sit at
one of the tables. As you do, you quickly begin to familiarize yourself with the
conversation, and a wave of comfort washes over you as you dive into the conversation
yourself. You speak your position, adding something to the argument. Someone responds
to your comment, prompting an answer from you. As you speak up, someone comes to
the defense of his position, and someone else speaks up in agreement with your side. As
the discussion continues each person raises a point that adds something to your
understanding of this ongoing conversation, and you begin to feel like a part of the living
discussion. You check your watch and realize that you had been raptured in conversation
for hours, lost in the unending argument. You push away from the table, stretching to
reawaken your muscles as you walk out the door. On your way out of the bar you stop to
peek inside a few of the other rooms in the infinite hallway, inside each is a scene similar
to the one you had just emerged from, conversation still continuing rigorously despite the
late hour. As you step out into the after-midnight darkness, you glance back one more
time at the neon sign glowing above the bar Welcome to Reddit, the front page of the
Internet.
The sketch offered above is a take on Burkes parlor metaphor from his book The
Philosophy of Literary Form (1973, 110-111), which is an excellent allegory for the
interesting online community that is reddit. I, myself, have been a redditor the name
affectionately bestowed by users of the site onto themselves for nearly two years now.



3
It is a community that I have found to be as unique as it is interesting. It is a community
where one can do anything from interacting, to learning, to laughing.
The single line of text, test post please ignore is the content of one of the all
time highest scoring posts on the social news website, reddit.com. The funny thing is this
post was never meant to be seen, the posts author was antiquating him or herself with the
features of the website, posting to test its functionality. The reddit community, however,
found this to be incredibly amusing, finding humor in the authors perceived ignorance.
The top comment on the post in which author sarcastically declares: dont tell me what
to do! Upvote. The majority of the rest of the comments are some other irrelevant
humorous take. The post has been archived and locked as a piece of reddit history by the
sites administrators (hitherto referred to as either admins or mods, in concordance
with common Internet vernacular). The fact that the community found this post so
amusing is a testament to the unique brand of dry, geeky humor that is synonymous with
reddit culture and it is this aspect of that culture that I intend to investigate with my
research.
Humor is one of the most important tools that humans have in their
communicative toolbox. Humor allows people to bridge large communicative gaps
because there are a lot of aspects of it that speak universally, but there can also be aspects
of humor which are more specifically tied to a certain group. Either way, humor is a very
useful tool for people to use to help identify with one another. This is no less true within
the reddit community. This research seeks to find what patterns may exist in the ways in
which reddit users utilize humor as an identification tool. In a community so unique, it is



4
not out of the realm of consideration that there may be distinctive and interesting patterns
of humor that users use to identify with one another.
The purpose of this study is to investigate these patterns and identify them,
classifying the ways in which humor is used as an identification tool on reddit. From
these classifications I hope to be able to make statements about humors functionality on
reddit as well as its actualization within the medium. Furthermore I hope to be able to
make judgments of community values and the sense of humor in the community based on
my observations. My research is a combination of a Burkean rhetorical analysis
applying his theory of identification to reddit and an online ethnography, observing
slice of a vibrant and ongoing community. Reddit is an incredibly important ground for
online community research. The community is vast, with about six percent of all adult
U.S. Internet users on reddit (Herkewitz, 2013). The reddit community has also, for the
most part, remained unexamined in the communication discipline, making it a prime
candidate for study. Also pertinent to this studys importance is reddits opposition to
traditional marketing strategies (Prestige Marketing, 2012) that have made it a difficult
ground for marketers to gain traction in. By learning more about reddits unique culture,
specifically its sense of humor, marketers should be able to decipher how to appeal more
organically to their target markets on reddit.
I will begin with a more detailed discussion of reddit and its unique inner
workings. In my literature review I will begin with a discussion of Burkes contributions
to the ideas of identification, outlining his theory. I will then discuss the various theories
that have been applied in the past to humor communication, discussing why a singular
organizing theory may not be a possibility. From there I will turn my discussion to the



5
various rhetorical functions of humor itself, using the continuum defined by Meyer
(2000). I then close the literature review with a discussion of the effects that computer-
mediated communication brings to humor and the formation of humor online. After the
literature review, I outline my methods beginning with my philosophical framework,
followed by a discussion of the unique ethical considerations facing an online
ethnography, before explaining my actual methods. From there I will present my findings
and conclusions based on those findings.
II. Background

Reddit is a social media newsgroup whose slogan dubs it as the front page of the
Internet (Google Search: Reddit, 2013; Reddit Bing, 2013; Yahoo Reddit, 2013). As a
social media newsgroup, Reddit differs from other social networking mediums because
the content (posts) is generated (for the most part) by external media outlets and users of
other social media sites, and differs from traditional news sites in that the content is user
moderated (Wasike, 2011). Since its inception in June 2005, reddit has grown over the
years into an extremely active online community. Last month alone, the website had over
81 million unique visitors, hailing from over 180 countries all over the world (reddit
about, 2013).
On reddit, users are able to post virtually any type of content, be it links, photos,
videos, or even text posts to any one of the over 6000 active subreddits on the site.
Subreddits are the individual sub-communities on reddit that make up the community as a
whole. Subreddits are categorized based on specified interests and subjects. They range
from /r/aww which typically consists of pictures meant to provoke an aww reaction
(cute animals or babies, for example) to more serious topics such as /r/Anxiety where



6
users are able to discuss their experience with various anxiety disorders and offer each
other support. In addition each subreddit has its own set of rules regulating the types and
content of the posts on the subreddit, as well as other rules for participation unique to the
specific community.
When a user posts anything to reddit, be it a post or a comment, that post is
subject to community review in the form of upvotes and downvotes. An upvote is a vote
of approval for either a post or a comment on a post; a downvote is a vote of disapproval
for either a post or a comment on a post. Ideally, redditors are encouraged to upvote posts
and comments that contribute positively to and further the conversation on the site, while
downvoting off-topic or negative contributions. Based on the upvotes and downvotes that
a post receives, the user will receive karma. Karma refers to the point system that reddit
uses for posts and comments. There are two separate types of karma, link-karma which
refers to karma points generated from posting to subreddits, and comment-karma, which
refers to karma generated from comments made on posts. Text-only posts, known as
self-posts on reddit, are exempt from karma points. While these types of posts can
receive upvotes and downvotes, they do not count towards a users karma score. While
karma points hold no translatable real-world value, many redditors hold these, as they
call them, useless Internet points (fig. 1, next page) as a piece of social currency that
allows them to hold a sense of superiority over users with smaller karma point totals. In
addition to gaining karma, in instances of an especially good post or helpful comment,
users occasionally will gift the author with reddit gold (typically a months worth).
Reddit gold is a premium reddit membership program that offers the user extra features
that enhances ones reddit experience. The user is also gifted a reddit award, which



7
signifies their status as a reddit gold member on their user profile page. Reddit awards are
also given for insightful comments or
posts among other things, and when
users are awarded these trophies, which
are handed out by the sites admins
daily.
When posts achieve a high
number of upvotes relative to the rest
of the content of the day, they are
pushed to what is known as the front page of reddit. The front page of reddit refers to the
reddit.com homepage, it usually refers to the page as viewed by a logged out or new user
as it contains only content from what are known as the default subreddits. When a user
is logged in their front page may be different, based on the subreddits they have chosen
to subscribe to and unsubscribe from. The default subreddits list is composed of 22
subreddits, selected based on traffic, rate of subscriber increase, average number of
users online, and number of submissions/comments being posted. (blog.reddit.com,
2013) The subreddits on this list are rarely updated or changed; this summers change
was the first in over a year (blog.reddit.com, 2013). This list reflects a wide range of
topics ranging from /r/AdviceAnimals, which is a subreddit dedicated specifically to
memes (also known as the pictures with white lettering over them) to /r/WorldNews. The
variety of these subreddits helps best categorize the vast range of content posted to the
site.
+,-./0 $ 10234,5- 640 7/856 92-0 ,: ;,0<0= 2: 25
2338>9?,:4>056" +8/ :8>0@ 640 ,>2-,52/A #560/506
98,56: 2/0 586 B<8/64?0::B 26 2??"



8

Figure 2 A portrait of the ideal redditor as constructed by a redditor. (Source: Hivemind, 2013)
Being a good redditor means being a productive member of the community
(Reddiquette, 2013; fig. 2). In order to help assist with this Reddiquette was created.
Reddiquette is the informal expression of the values of many redditors, as written by
redditors themselves (Reddiquette, 2013). It is an editable wiki document that is
moderated by the sites admins. Reddiquette is divided into two simple sections please
do and please dont, the rhetoric of these statements suggesting these rules are
indefinite and are suggestions for more positive community interaction, rather than a
stringently defined set of rules. The document leads with a plead to please remember that
while you may only see a computer screen when you talk to other people online, it is
important to remember that there are other real humans at the other end. It encourages
users to think Would I say it to the other persons face? when posting content
(Reddiquette, 2013). Further adding, users should adhere to the same standards of
behavior online that [they] follow in real life (Reddiquette, 2013). The document also
outlines practices that are frowned upon on reddit such as trolling and reposting.



9
Trolling is a practice that can be harmful to the formation of online communities
because their purpose is to create discord. In Donaths (1998) book, Communities in
Cyberspace, the author offered perhaps the first academic definition of trolling,
describing it as a game [of] identity deception (Donath, 1998, p. 42) saying that a troll
attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the groups common interests and
concerns (p. 43). This definition, however, is limited. A troll is not simply one who
attempts to pass as something they are not, they do so in a manner that is disruptive, and
oftentimes offensive to the community as a whole and they do so in order to provoke
emotion and lure others into pointless and time consuming discussions (Shachaf &
Hara, 2010, Introduction, 2). For members of the trolling community this is often done
as a form of amusement, finding humor in the reactions of others.
Reposting content on reddit refers to taking posts or content from another user
and posting it elsewhere. This goes against the values of the reddit community because it
lessens the amount of new information on the site and is often met with a torrent of
downvotes and criticism. There are certain unwritten rules of reposting, such as it is
acceptable after a certain amount of time has passed (typically three months or so, long
enough for the community to forget the post in the first place) and special cases for
reposting such as x-posts. An x-post tag is added when a user takes a post from another
subreddit and posts it either to a subreddit of equal relevance or to a more relevant
subreddit. X-post is a user written tag that signals that the post is a special brand of repost
known as a cross post. Cross posts are generally viewed as acceptable within the
community as long as credit is given; however, if proper appropriation is not given the
user may be deemed a karmawhore. A Karmawhore is a derogatory term that is applied



10
to users who repost content (especially when they do so frequently), or post links that
pander to reddit hivemind voting patterns in an effort to gain Internet points
(TheoryOfReddit Glossary, 2013). This term can also be applied to users who frequently
comment in a pandering manner. In an effort to curb users who are known karmawhores,
a subreddit called /r/KarmaCourt was created. This community tries, in a formal
fashion, done however, with tongue firmly in cheek, the accused karmawhores before a
jury of their peers on reddit.
One concept that reddit seems to be particularly self-aware of is that of the reddit
hivemind (there is even a subreddit dedicated to the topic, /r/hivemind) also known as
the groupthink phenomenon on reddit. This
phenomenon was recently confirmed in a
study by Muchnik, Aral & Taylor (2013)
who examined the role of groupthink on
online communities such as reddit, and
found that it plays a significant role in the
way that users on the site made quality
judgments. Muchnik, et. al. (2013) found
that even a singular extra upvote very early in a post or comments life could impact the
ways that other users judged that content themselves. This tendency towards groupthink
on reddit is referred to somewhat lovingly as the reddit hivemind, and has resulted in a
general consensus on certain opinions and figures. For example, famous astrophysicist
Neil deGrasse Tyson (fig. 3) is beloved by the reddit community, to a degree that is
beyond criticism, silencing those who think otherwise. Karmawhores often will attempt
+,-./0 ( C0,? =0D/2::0 EA:85 ,: :8 989.?2/ 40 <2:
0;05 6./50= ,568 2 >0>0"



11
to pander to the reddit hivemind in an effort to achieve more upvotes, cheating and
manipulating the game of reddit (acting as Karma Chameleons, if you will). I hope to
find some evidence of this present in humor patterns that I hope to find in the comments.
III. Literature Review
A. Burke Identification Theory
When examining a site like reddit, where users are masked behind the anonymity
of an easily exchangeable username, it may be hard to see how a community could form.
But, as my experience with the site has taught me, many users do have a strong
identification with the reddit community even taking to calling themselves redditors.
So, in the absence of the ability to make initial judgments based on traditional factors
such as appearance, how does one create a sense of identification between anonymous
users? Kenneth Burkes theory of identification and consubstantiation is a useful lens for
shedding light on this relationship.
The idea behind Burkes theory is a simple one, that people identify with the ideas
and beliefs of others. Burke summarizes his theory in his book Rhetoric of Motives
(1969):
A is not identical with his colleague, B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A
is identified with B. Or he may identify himself with B even when their interests
are not joined, if he assumes that they are, or is persuaded to believe so. (20;
emphasis in original)
The message behind Burkes theory is clear, while person A is not the same as person B
(because we are each our own unique snowflake), persons A and B can be identified with
each other if they share a common interest or belief, or as Burke defines it substance,
(1969, p. 21) and that is can happen even if it is only perceived that there is a mutual



12
agreement on substance. When this situation exists, A and B become identified with one
another, becoming as Burke defines it, substantially one (1969, p. 21). The term
substance is one that Burke himself admits struggling with, calling it an abstruse
philosophic term (1969, p. 21) that has shifted in meaning based on its use. In the terms
of this theory, however, substance to the common sensations, concepts, images, ideas,
[and] attitudes (1969, p. 21) which allow for people to establish what Burke calls,
consubstantiality. Consubstantiality refers to the sharing of common substance; this is the
glue that creates identification between A and B. When individuals become substantially
one as Burke puts it, they are not den[ied] their distinctiveness (1969, p. 21) they are
able to still maintain their unique identities, they simply become identified through the
sharing of substance. Consubstantiality is deeper than simply sharing traits. For
illustration if you have two really tall people, lets for the sake of continuity refer to them
as A and B, they may share a similar aesthetic trait but that does not automatically mean
they are identified with one another. If A and B set out to have a conversation and they
both shared a love for basketball, then A and B could become identified with one another
based on that shared like.
The term identification itself is not as simple as saying that person A and B see
some shared interests and therefore share an identity. Identification represents the
dynamic social process by which identities are constructed, through which they guide us,
and by which they order our world (Scott, Corman & Cheney, 1998). This process is the
way in which we organize our world perspective. We learn our perspectives through the
interactions we have with others. Rhetoric, in its definition, is concerned with persuasive
language. Burke says identification is a necessary function of persuasion: you persuade



13
a man only insofar as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image,
attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his. (1969, p. 55; emphasis in original) The use
of this persuasive tactic can be seen in its application to humor. On reddit, we already
know there is a confirmed hivemind effect (Muchnik, et. al., 2013) so when people use
humor as a persuasive device its most effective application will come when it is
constructed to identify with the common sensations, concepts, images, ideas, [and]
attitudes of other users. The point being that these messages are accepted by the
community (read: identified with) when they share common ground with the majority of
the readers.
Just as where there is light there is dark, where there is good there is evil, where
there is identification there is division. Burkes theory recognizes the paradoxical,
mobis-strip like relationship between division and identification. As Burke says,
identification is compensatory to division, (1969, p. 22) when a person or group aligns
with one another, there will always be a side against which it is united. A statement,
belief, or even joke that unites one group can divide another, and by similar token a
statement, a belief or joke that is meant to divide can also unite. Burke uses the metaphor
of war, which he calls the ultimate disease of cooperation, (1969, p. 22) to describe this
paradoxical relationship. In war there is a group of individuals who identify with a certain
belief set, who set out against another group of united individuals who whose belief set is
in conflict with the other groups. Here we can see how even a single idea can
simultaneously unite and divide. This duality is not unique to Burkes ideals, as we will
see in a moment, Meyer (2000) also comments on the duality of humors function
especially as it relates to identification and division.



14
B. Humor
Humor, most scholars agree, arises out of incongruity (Gruner, 1978, 1997;
Baym, 1995; Miczo, Averbeck & Mariani, 2009) or as Oring (1992) calls it appropriate
incongruity (p. 1). Incongruities arise in situations where the norms are violated, an
accepted pattern is changed, or some other difference is noted that simultaneously close
enough to non-threatening but different enough to be surprising (Meyer, 2000). Theorists
such as Gruner (1997) further postulate that these incongruences must also be sudden for
them to be humorous; because these sudden shifts and incongruences may also provoke
feelings of apprehension or dismay, humorous messages often contain play frames, or
other types of devices which signal that is message is meant to be taken as fun rather
than literal (Miczo et al., 2009).
C. Theories of Humor Origin
There are three major theories that deal with the origins of humor, each tracing its
root to a different place. Meyer (2000) bases his rhetorical functions of humor out of all
three of these theories: the relief theory, the incongruity theory, and the superiority
theory. Each theory has its own merit and supporters, but Meyer (2000) tends to stray
from adopting a single theory as correct rather using them all together to show how his
four functions emerged from them. We will begin, like Meyer, with a brief overview of
each of these three theories.
i. Relief Theory
The relief theory of humor classifies humor as emerging from some sort of
tension dump. The theory contends, humor stems from the relief experienced when
tensions are engendered and removed from an individual (Meyer, 2000). The relief
theory does not require there to be any external source of tension relief, but rather the
relief can be completely internal (resulting in one chuckling to oneself). For example, one



15
might find humor in the tensions one experienced in a past embarrassing experience
because they can feel the relief of that tension being a past event. Meyer notes that this is
a humor theory employed often by communicators, especially in speech-giving situations.
A well-placed joke at the beginning of ones speech, for example, can help to defuse a
potentially tense situation (Meyer, 2000). Laughter, then, is a way in which we can
communally share a feeling of calm juxtaposed against a potentially tension filled
situation. The tension does not just have to come from the external or internal stressors
that exist outside the world of the joke, but rather it can be created through the joke itself.
Take for example the classic psych out or gotcha type of joke a teacher may use on a
nervous student: your grade on the last test was awful ly good. The teacher creates
tension within the context of the joke, only to release that tension to the relief and mirth
of the student.
ii. Incongruity Theory
As the name suggests, the incongruity theory of humor revolves around humor
emerging from situations of incongruence, situations in which an unexpected element is
added. For a situation to be funny, an accepted pattern is violated, or a difference is
noted close enough to the norm to be nonthreatening, but different enough for the norm
to be remarkable. It is this difference, neither too shocking nor too mundane, that
provokes humor in the mind of the receiver (Meyer, 2000). Unlike other theories, which
focus on humor and its physiological or emotional effects, the incongruity theory is far
more concerned with ones awareness and perception of reality (Meyer, 2000). In order
for one to recognize humor, one must be able to be aware of the fact that incongruences
are being created, which requires individuals to understand and interpret the normal
patterns of speech and behavior that are used in their culture and/or environment. Without



16
an understanding of what is normal, one cannot tell when something is different. For
example, a person who was colorblind would have a very difficult time understanding
any type of incongruences which may have emerged from differences in color (for
example, why it is mildly funny that in the flavoring world, raspberries are blue) because
they have no real platform from which to base differences in color.
One of the key elements to humor under the incongruity theory, other than the
ability to perceive instances in which there is an incongruity, is surprise. When we
combine elements of incongruity with the element of surprise we arrive at humor. It is not
simply enough for something to be out of the norm for it to be funny. We see this often in
pop culture, especially within the satirical realm. Looking at a show like Saturday Night
Live, for example, we often see the players
1
impersonating celebrity figures, especially
politicians. We see the humor arise when they place these known figures in surprising,
unusual situations, or have them behave in an incongruous manner. We laugh because we
see these figures operating far out of the norms, or even in a way that violates the norms,
that we expect of them. The same logic applies to why we laugh when a large defensive
lineman picks up a fumble and starts burling into the endzone, every jiggle of his fat is
funny because it is juxtaposed with the high level of athletic prowess that comes with
being an NFL player as well as the fact that it is surprising and not within the normal
course of events that we see a defensive lineman run with the ball. Moving off the theme
of obesity related humor we can also see this concept in action when we hear a joke to
which we already know the punch line. Why did the chicken cross the road? is now
almost an anti-joke because everyone already knows the eventual punch line to get to

1
What they call the cast members



17
the other side, which is thoroughly mundane. If we were to change the punch line to
something unexpected, such as to boldly go where no chicken has gone before we
suddenly have a surprise and incongruity that comes from using a non-traditional
response to the clichd joke.
iii. Superiority Theory
The superiority theory is one of the oldest approaches to humor theory, with roots
dating back as far as Plato and Aristotle (Monro, 1963; Martin, 2007). In Platos
Philebus, Plato wrote that laughter originates from malice; we laugh at the ridiculousness
in other people, and turn their misfortune into the subject of our delight (Martin, 2007).
Aristotle said that we laugh at what we find ugly, but not painful (Monro, 1963). In Book
II of Ciceros De oratore, Caesar offers continued discourse on Aristotles connections
between laughter and aggression, finding laughter to be restricted to matters either
disgraceful or deformed(Skinner, 2002, p. 154). The seventeenth-century philosopher
Thomas Hobbes is credited, however, with making some of the most significant early
advancements to the superiority theory (Monro, 1963).
Hobbes (1840), as quoted in Gruner (1997), viewed laughter as a sudden glory
arising from a sudden conception of some eminence in ourselves by comparison with the
infirmity of others or with our own formally (Gruner, 1997, p. 13). Therefore, humor
under this theory is believed to result from a sense of superiority derived from another
person or ones own past blunders and foolishness. It is important to concentrate on the
sudden aspect of the sudden glory. It is the newness and unexpectedness of the
occasion that gives rise to laughter; one does not, for example, laugh at a consistent
feeling of superiority.



18
Scottish philosopher Alexander Bain expanded upon Hobbes theory in two main
directions. First, Bain does not demand that we are directly aware of our own superiority
(Monro, 1963). This means that superiority can and does exist in humor even when we
are not directly aware of it. Second, Bain does not demand that a person is the object of
direction. Humor can, for example, target ideas or political institutions (Monro, 1963).
D. Four Rhetorical Functions of Humor
With at least a cursory understanding of the three major humor theories in place,
we can see that these three major theories cover many overlapping aspects of humor. You
may also realize, however, that no single theory seems to cover all the potentialities of
humor use; and on the flip side of the coin, it is conceivable to use any of the three
theories to explain many instances of humor, resulting in different interpretations of their
meaning and function. It is for this reason that Meyer (2000) chooses to expand on the
nature of humor beyond its theories of origin, to attempt to define humor based on its
rhetorical functionality. When studying humor, Meyer (2000) emphasizes its effects over
its origin because the effects of humor are so dependent on other variables that mediate
the humor (p. 316). There are a number of variables which go into the creation of the
effects of a humorous message, namely: familiarity, situationality, comprehension, and
surprise (Meyer, 2000). When examining the three theories there are definitely situations
where they seem particularly well versed in explaining the functionality of humor. Relief
humor theory, for example, may be an excellent lens for examining how anxious
individuals use humor to relieve their anxiety during stressful or tense situations. But a
difficulty arises when each seeks to explain all instances of humor (Meyer, 2000, p.
316). It is for this reason that Meyer (2000) devised his four rhetorical functions of
humor.



19
Meyers four humor functions - Identification, Clarification, Enforcement, and
Differentiation - operate along a continuum from humor that unites to humor that divides.
The scale also correlates with a pair of other factors: target persons position on the
issue (the issue that is addressed by the humor) and targets familiarity with the issue,
(Meyer, 2000, p. 318) moving from strong positive associations in both categories at one
end of the scale to a strong negative association as it relates to the position on the issue at
hand (while still maintaining a strong familiarity with the issue). This scale echoes the
duality held within Burkes identification theory, where unity requires division and
division requires unity, but we will return to that point later. Let us begin by sliding
across the scale and giving an overview of each of Meyers four functions.
i. Identification
As many scholars have noted (Gruner, 1995; Meyer, 2000; Morreall, 1987;
Monro, 1963) one of the most powerful functions that humor has is its ability to unite one
with the audience to which the humor was intended. This is essentially the main purpose
of humor that falls under the identification functionality. Communicators who wish to
bring their audience closer to them, thereby increasing their credibility (or potentially if
one wishes to use reddit related terminology, their karma scores), will tailor their
humorous messages so that the audience not only is familiar with the context of the
message but also agree with the position that the author of the message is portraying. A
fair example of this, as Meyer (2000) points out, would be strategic use of self-
deprecating humor. For example, I remember listening to an interview given by Carolina
Panthers kicker John Kasey back in 2004. The Carolina Panthers had come off a hard
fought loss in the Super Bowl the year before, which had culminated with Kasey kicking
the ball out of bounds on the kickoff (resulting in excellent field position for the Patriots,



20
which they utilized to help score the game winning field goal as time expired). When
asked if he had any regrets after that game he responded with a smile, yeah I guess I
regret spotting Brady those extra 45 yards. The humorous remark invok[ed] an issue
very familiar to the audience, as well as placing the target of the humor in a position of
sharing meaning or perspective on the issue (Meyer, 2000, p. 319). In one humorous
comment, Kasey simultaneously identifies with the audience in relation to his position on
his athletic gaffe, while also dismissing the notion that there is remaining tension
associated with it, making it clear that it is something that they can laugh with him about.
ii. Clarification
Clarification humor arises in situations where there is some need to clarify a
position, idea, or social norms. The stress that separates clarifications function from the
next function on the scale, enforcement, is that there is not a sense that whatever violation
(i.e. incongruity) has occurred needs to be immediately corrected or censured, but rather
points to the fact that it is humorous in its existence, which in turn clarifies what the
normal situation is that was violated. Humor can be a powerful tool when it comes to
making something more clear, as humorous lines tend to be more memorable (Meyer,
2000). In clarification humor, the audience maintains some degree of familiarity with the
subject, as well as a degree of agreement on the subject at hand, but the humor [found
within the message] serves to teach or clarify the socially expected behaviors relating to
the issue (Meyer, 2000, p. 319). This humor function stresses what the expected norm is
over the importance of the violation itself, which is benign (Meyer, 2000). The old
Tonight Show headline bit, is a great example of this humor function which comes to
mind. For those who have not watched Letterman or Leno, one of their favorite opening
bits involves pointing out the humor in poorly placed or typo-ed headlines from



21
newspapers. One specific instance of this that I remember was a headline that read
Missippis literacy program shows improvement. The humor in the headline comes
from (a) the violation of the norm that newspapers should have well-edited headlines that
are free of typos, as well as (b) the irony that results from the juxtaposition of the
misspelling with the improving literacy program. We laugh at the gap between the norm
and the actual, but no specific party is corrected or differentiated as [the headline]
seeks, presumably unintentionally, to unify receivers of such messages in mutual
enjoyment of a mild violation of normal messages or norms (Meyer, 2000, p. 320).
iii. Enforcement
Enforcement humor is similar to clarification humor in that there is an emphasis
which is placed on a violation of norms. Where enforcement humor differs is that it stress
that the violation is something in need of being corrected, which is indicated by
laughing at the person responsible for the humorous violation (Meyer, 2000, p. 321;
emphasis in original). Enforcement humor, while corrective, should not be thought of as
necessarily negative due to is critical nature, as in the end the purpose is still to engender
mirth (Meyer, 2000, p. 321). Enforcement humor will arise in situations in which the
audience maintains some familiarity with the subject/issue, yet there is also some
disagreement about perspective, which gives rise to the humor (Meyer, 2000, p. 320).
Ignorance is oftentimes at the heart of enforcement humor, take jumbled clichd
metaphors, for example; when someone takes a familiar phrase such as the pen is
mightier than the sword and misremembers/misspeaks it and says something along the
lines of the pen is mightier than the pencil we might laugh correctively at the
mistaken turn of phrase. The laughter in this case calls attention to the fact that the phrase
was misspoken and helps to enforce the correction of it in the speaking party.



22
iv. Differentiation
Differentiation humor or as I prefer to call it, divisive humor is humor that is
used to create a distinction between the communicator and the target of the message. The
rhetorical purpose being to separate the author/authors position from another. As we
know with Burkes identification theory, a communicator can simultaneously divide
themselves from one group while uniting and identifying themselves with another. This
holds very true with differentiation humor. Differentiation, as Meyer (2000) defines it, is
the harshest function of humor in rhetoric (p. 322). For differentiation humor to work,
there must be a correlation of strong familiarity with the subject being joked about as
well as a disagreement with that subject. For example, a joke given at the RNC that is
critical of Obama might get a large amount of laughter because (presumably) the
audience is both familiar with the subject, as well as disliking it. The same joke being
told at the DNC might divide the audience against the speaker because they disagree with
the premise of the joke which makes fun of a group which they like. So essentially
differentiation humor unites those who laugh by differentiating them from the
group/subject they are laughing at. For rhetors, the differentiation function of humor is
useful in making clear divisions and oppositions among opinions, people and groups
(Meyer, 2000, p. 323). While it is clear that there is a duality to unification and division
that is inherent to the differentiation function of humor, it is distinct in its direction at a
specified target which has been singled out as wrong. As Meyer (2000) states all uses of
humor to attack others would be categorized under the enforcement or differentiation
functions of humor (Meyer, 2000, p. 323). Therein lies Meyers main distinction that
separates identification and clarification from enforcement and differentiation:



23
Differentiation and enforcement humor show the violation, though laughable, to
be an unacceptable violation that needs to be focused on, corrected or avoided in
the future. Identification and clarification humor, on the other hand, show the
violation as a humorous exception to the normal, reassuring, relaxing state that is
expected and that, it is implied, will soon return undisturbed. Thus, the rhetorical
goal influences which key function of humor is applied. (Meyer, 2000, p. 325).
So essentially what separates these humor functions is whether or not the violation or
incongruity in question needs to be corrected.
E. Computer-Mediated Communication and Humor

Computer-mediated communication, or simply online communication, has many
effects on the way that humor is both produced and interpreted. Laineste (2013) points
out that Internet researchers have stressed that the Internet exists beyond simply being a
medium, but has created its own specific cultural context which requires Internet culture
to be examined as its own separate entity of communication. Baym conducted one of the
first studies on humor in online communities in 1995. This early study looked to show
how humor could form in communities without the typical nonverbal cues that are
associated with face-to-face communication (Baym, 1995). Baym (1995) found through
this study that the use of things such as punctuation, formatting, the extension of letters,
and repetition, acted as replacements for non-verbal cues in humor communication
online. Bayms study is somewhat limited in that it deals only with the positive effects of
online humor and not the negatives. Laineste (2013) notes that often times due to the lack
of non-verbal cues, other Internet users can interpret humorous comments on the Internet
as aggressive. Furthermore, because social cues that are normally present in face-to-face



24
communication are not present online, the potential meanings of any given statement
online are multiplied, and escape the control of the author (Laineste, 2013). This explains
why complex humor such as sarcasm and irony can often be misinterpreted online.
Cann, Zapata & Davis (2009) found that negative humor could come not only at
the social cost of the target, but also potentially at the social cost of the communicator.
Therefore, negative humor has the ability to carry with it social consequence. In
(Laineste, 2013), the author notes that Internet users do not feel motivated to display
social sensitivity due to the loose ties between them. Furthermore, Gruner mentions that
usually, everything else being equal, the more hostile the humor, the funnier (Gruner,
1997, p. 110). Based on these findings one could assume that because online the social
consequences are lowered (Cann et. al, 2009) and there is a lowered motivation to display
social sensitivity (Laineste, 2013), the scenario is ripe for more aggressive and hostile
humor. Following Gruners game theory of humor, if the goal is to win, by achieving
laugher, then online, one would likely shift towards more hostile and aggressive humor
because it is in most cases funnier. The same notion can be applied to the jokes
readers, who because they have lowered social consequences from preferring that type of
humor online, may be more likely to find the hostile and aggressive types of humor
funnier or they may be more accepting of them.
IV. Methodology
A. Philosophical Framework
In the process of any research study, both the researcher and the reader bring with
them a certain set of philosophical assumptions about a study and about how the world
works. These philosophical paradigms work as a basic set of beliefs that guide
interpretation and action (Creswell, 2013, p. 18) for both the researcher and the reader.



25
Because of this, it is important for me to make clear my own philosophical assumptions
before entering into a methodological discussion.
I have been a redditor (the term assigned by the reddit community to describe its
members) for about two years now. If asked to describe my level of involvement in the
community I would describe myself as an occasional participant. Most of the time I am
there simply to browse, but I will occasionally post comments and on even fewer
occasions will create posts. Early in my experience with reddit, I found myself fascinated
by the idea of karma points. These, as the reddit community often describes them,
meaningless Internet points had a mysterious pull on me and early in my reddit career
I found myself, for no particularly definable reason, seeking them out. Their acquisition
became something of a game to me, and there was a thrill akin to winning that
accompanied their receipt. Through informal observation I learned the types of post
structures that tended to get upvotes and from that I worked to tailor the content that I
posted to fit within that paradigm. I managed to amass a small but respectable karma
score before my interest in the meaningless Internet points waned. What remained,
however, were an interest in the communicative power that these meaningless karma
points seemed to hold over the reddit community as well as general interest in the
community as a whole.
As a college-aged, somewhat introverted, intelligent, Internet-savvy, geeky, male,
I am the ideal redditor according to Prestige Marketing (2012). This combined with my
prior experience in the field gives me a significant basis from which to hypothesize. I do,
however, realize that reddit is a very fluid community that can change week to week. For
this reason, I used my experience in the field as background information, rather than



26
relying on it exclusively to make judgments on my observations. I let my observations
stand on their own and tell their own stories before applying my prior observations and
beliefs. My prior experience with reddit has led me to form opinions on the community
and theorize about the way the culture works. I referenced this experience to help
understand what I observe in my research but I recognize my prior conceptions are the
result of informal observation, rather than the formalized observation I undertook.
Because of this I remained open to any new phenomenon that occur throughout my
observation. In order to do this I was very systematic and thorough in my approach. To
maintain researcher reflexivity I engaged in self-reflection on my findings and critically
analyzed any data that challenged my initial assumptions, and used that data to reflect on
other potential meanings.
Pragmatism focuses on the outcomes of the research rather than antecedent
conditions (Creswell, 2013, p. 28). Pragmatists are concerned with the pragmatic
theory of truth, that we can be sure about something if it has practical or real-world
consequences (Mitcham, 2005). Pragmatic research employs a rich mix of methods; it
chooses what is best for the particular situation rather than subscribing to any particular
set of data collection practices. Practicality and fluidity is key to a pragmatic philosophy.
Often for the pragmatist its is not uncommon to pull from multiple disciplines (Mitcham,
2005) as I have for my research, pulling relevant information from communication,
philosophy, computer science, psychology, and sociology. Throughout my informal
discovery process, I embraced the same type of pragmatic interpretive framework that I
intend to employ in this formalized research project. Reddit can be, like any community,
very fluid. The very nature of the sites construction allows for a democratically



27
generalized community perspective to become the reality of the community. This means
that the communitys preference is fluid, which requires a fluid research philosophy.
B. Ethnography
The word ethnography is derived from the words ethno (meaning people) and
graphy (meaning to describe) (Lindolf & Taylor, 2011), so to conduct ethnography at
its most basic roots is to write about culture. According to Creswell (2013), culture is a
multifaceted term that consists of behaviors, language, values (and the tension between
what individuals should do and what they actually do), and the products of that culture,
such as artifacts. There are two views of Internet culture that Hine (2000) mentions in the
book Virtual Ethnography. The first is that the Internet represents a space in which
culture is formed, meaning that the Internet is a culture in and of itself. The second view
is of the Internet as a cultural artifact, this view sees the Internet as a product of culture
rather than culture itself. For the purposes of this paper, I intend to view the Internet as a
culture in and of itself. This is because since Hines work on virtual ethnographies in
2000, there has been a seismic shift in the role that Internet plays. With the advent of
social media, the Internet has become the preferred medium of communication for many
individuals in the modern world. Because of this, virtual communities such as reddit have
taken on their own culture, complete with their own rules and values. The uniqueness of
online communities like that of reddit lead me to believe that the Internet and the
communities within it deserve to be studied as a culture in their own right.
In qualitative research, an ethnography is not associated with any single
framework, however the underlying goal of the research is typically the same: to describe
and interpret the observable relationships between social practices and systems of
meaning, based on firsthand experience and exploration of a particular cultural setting



28
(Lindlof & Taylor, 2011, p. 134). I have chosen to employ ethnographic methods because
I am looking to observe the relationship between humor communication on reddit and
karma points in posts and comments. An ethnographic study will allow me the freedom
to observe these relationships organically at a site that has yet to be fully explored within
the communication discipline.
C. Ethical Considerations
An online ethnography poses a unique set of ethical considerations. When one
argues that online interactions are sufficiently real enough to constitute an ethnography,
one must also assume that these online interactions are also real to the participants, and
encroaching on them can leave the participants feeling harmed or that their privacy has
been infringed upon (Hine, 2000). Because of this, one must consider the ethical
dimensions of online research. Hine (2000) recognizes that these ethics exist in somewhat
of a grey area (as most ethical considerations do) and some aspects of their debate are
quite controversial. Hine points to, for example, the question of reciprocity, or ownership
of online posts and data on sites like reddit. Are these posts best viewed as public
statements, which make them fair game for the researcher (Hine, 2000, p. 24), or are
they instead the property of their authors, not to be used for research without
permission? (p. 24) For a site such as reddit, where the entire concept is that of sharing
information, I believe it is fair to view the posts and comments as public information.
This is consistent with the ethical considerations as outlined by Lindlof and Taylor
(2011), who say that analysis of publicly available Internet archives does not constitute
human subjects research if the username is not recorded, and the researcher has easy
access to the archive (123). This, however, does not vacate other ethical considerations.



29
One other ethical controversy around online research is the use of usernames or
other identifying details in their research. Lindlof and Taylor (2011) expressed that
whenever you use identifying information you open your subjects up to the potential for
embarrassment, shame, or damage to their reputation. On reddit, online identities are
often shrouded in a perceived sense of anonymity due to the relative ease at which users
can create new accounts. In fact creating an account is so easy that many users will even
employ the use of throwaway or novelty accounts (Urbanski, 2013). While
Bergstrom (2011) points out in a case study on trolling on reddit, this veil of anonymity
may be more theory than practice (Bergstrom, 2011, Aims and Methods, 1). I tend to
side with Urbanskis (2013) perspective that this simplification of account making
guarantees a users anonymity as long as they are not candid with personal details with
others on the Internet (p. 13). That combined with the fact that Urbanski (2013)
demonstrated that usernames can be an integral part of humor formation on reddit, leads
me to side with him on the issue of username usage on the site. In the few cases in which
there may be some personal, identifying information that is offered within a quote that is
analytically relevant, a pseudonym may be employed on a case-by-case basis. While this
is an important compromise towards severing the traceable links between the
ethnographic text and the context with which readers can identify, the archival nature of
sites like reddit mean that verbatim quotations can potentially link a motivated reader
back to its original source. While the obvious solution would seem to be to avoid using
verbatim quotations altogether, Hine (2000) notes that this would provide a significant
challenge to the reporting conditions of discourse-based research (2000, p. 24).



30
Therefore Hine contends, while changing identifying information does not offer a perfect
solution, it does offer a situated compromise (2000, p. 24).
There is no singular, perfect code of ethics for online research because online
settings are diverse in both character and content (Hine, 2000). Because of this, the
ethnographer should discover what is considered sensitive in that online setting. For
example, on reddit, the multitude of subreddits allows for the general community to be
divided into many different groups with many different rules and expectations. While
certain subreddits are more fun loving (e.g. /r/funny) others are tailored to more sensitive
subjects (e.g. /r/Anxiety or /r/Depression) and because of this, I will need to be actively
aware of any potential ethical issues that may arise in my research and plan my solutions
based on what is appropriate in context (Hine, 2000).
The information I present will not place any participants at risk of criminal or
civil liability due to the relative anonymity that is fostered by the sites use of
usernames taking care to be sensitive with the information I have reported. The
research will be on a public forum observing public behavior and will not encroach on
any of the requirements listed. Because the content on reddit is all publically accessible
and there will be no usernames used in this research, there is no need for a consent form.
This is consistent with Lindlof & Taylors claim that unless content is marked
specifically as private or restricted from public view in some way it is fair game (2011, p.
122-123).
D. Methods
One of my first issues to tackle was picking a theory around which to organize my
research. My studies lead me to realize that no single theory I encountered was entirely
prepared to cover every instance of it that I might encounter, especially in the developing



31
realm of humor online. Realizing that humor requires a flexible methodology for study, I
decided to lean on Meyers Humor as a double-edged sword (2000) and its discussion on
the four rhetorical functions of humor. Meyer recognizes that humor is a subject that is
difficult to analyze (2000) and that each of the three main theories used in humor
research superiority theory, incongruity theory, and relief theory have problems
explaining rhetorical applications of humor within their all-inclusive definitions. To
rectify this problem Meyer focuses on the actual enactment of humor and its
functionality, classifying it into four basic functions: identification, clarification,
enforcement and differentiation. These definitions of humors rhetorical functions proved
useful in informing my analysis, and in helping to discern patterns of its use within the
community.
Humor can be a very persuasive rhetorical device. A good joke can defuse a tense
situation, and sway others opinion of you in an instant. A good sense of humor, research
has demonstrated, is one of the most desirable traits in ones personality (Meyer, 2000).
With the importance of humors persuasive nature understood, it is easy to see how it can
be used as a unifying device. When a comedian tells a joke and the audience laughs that
comedian is establishing, as Burke would call it, consubstantiality. Humors persuasive
nature makes it an excellent rhetorical candidate for study under Burkes theory.
Identification theory applies to reddit and this study, because when commenters
on reddit respond to a post they are creating a connection based on shared ideas, or even
acknowledgement that they found something to be humorous. In my experience with
reddit I have noticed there is a strong sense of identification on reddit, with users donning
the term redditor to describe their membership within the community. Humor is a large



32
part of how that identity is formed in the sense of community because of its strong
propensity to create consubstantiality.
i. Karma, Upvotes & Downvotes
It is not just the comments, however, that can be analyzed in terms of creating
consubstantiality but the actual upvotes and downvotes that go into forming karma
scores. On reddit, it is not uncommon for there to be a large number of both upvotes and
downvotes on posts and comments. The top post at the time of composition, for example,
has 9203 upvotes compared to 6010 downvotes, resulting in a karma score of 3225.
While this may have the outward appearance of dissent and a lack of common
identification Burke says division is as essential to identification as good as to evil, they
are nothing without the other. Even in disagreement, confronting each other as parry and
thrust, can be said to cooperate in the building of an overall form (Burke, 1989, p.
182). The formation of a community identity does not have to center around a singular
ideology, but can be formed around a willingness to allow division of ideology. Doug
Urbanski explains the connection between karma points and Burkes theory in his paper
Upvoting the Audience (2013):
Karma itself poses as a complimentary form of expressing Burkean identification
between users The higher amount of upvotes can signify a quantifiable, if a bit
abstract, amount of identification between users. The converse can be said about
downvotes It is perhaps an unusual sense of consubstantiality, however, as,
unless all upvoting users provide comments to reveal themselves as upvoting
users, the original poster has no idea with whom they are achieving this
consubstantiality. Regardless, the high karma scores imbue [a] sense of
interconnectedness and ultimately acceptance. (p. 48-49)



33
ii. Research Questions
With the idea in mind that all upvotes, and by Burkean logic downvotes, are
signs of identification, it is not hard for one to make the leap that all forms of humor on
reddit could potentially create identification, irrespective of their rhetorical functions. It is
with that thought in mind that I formed the two questions that guided my research:
RQ1: How is humor used on reddit as an identification tool, are there any
patterns to its use or function?
RQ2: What do the patterns in humor communication in the comments on the
front page of reddit, if there are any, have to say about the values of the
reddit community?
iii. Operationalization
With my newly revised research questions in place, my next problem to solve was
attempting to find an operationalizable definition of humor to use in my research. The
question How do you plan to determine whether there was humor in a post or not? was
one of the most commonly posed by people who read my proposal. One of the major
issues with finding a methodologically useful definition of humor is that the term lends
itself to subjectivity. What is humorous varies greatly depending on any number of
factors, including timing, delivery, context, and audience. Dr. Davis admits to her
struggles in answering this same question in her essay Communications and Humor in
The Primer of Humor Research (Raskin, 2008). Dr. Davis traces through a number of
different theories regarding humor, pointing to the gaps in each that prevent it from being
a truly all-inclusive definition. What Dr. Davis eventually settles on is a definition based
in humors inherent subjectivity:



34
Humor is any sudden episode of joy or elation associated with a new discovery
that is self-rated as funny Given that all interpretations by humans are
ultimately subjective and self-directed, this definition extends to any discovery in
its broadest sense, as it becomes conscious in one individuals mind and causes
that person to believe she or he has experienced the essence of humor. Such joy is
created intrinsically, but may manifest itself outwardly in smiles or laughter and is
very much affected by a persons environment as well as the larger cultural
contexts. (Raskin, 2008, p. 547; emphasis not in original)
This definition embraces the amoebic nature of humor, and is the definition I will lean on
throughout my own data discovery period. I may or may not find everything that was
intended to be humorous myself, but in instances where humors presence may not be
readily detectable to me I will look back to how the users identify with the comment, do
they acknowledge the humor? Do they clarify its presence (through outright declaration
or by use of humor signals such as lol)? Does the users username offer any hints of
humor? By looking at the comments in response as contextual clues, I hope to fill any
lapses in my detection of humorous intent.
iv. Sample
With an operational definition of humor in place, my attention was turned to my
sample size, which after reflection seemed to be a bit too much. The original intention
was to sample the entire comments section of the top five posts on the front page of
reddit for a month long period. The problem with this is that often the most popular posts
on reddit can have upwards of over 2000 comments each. Assuming that it would take a
minimum of 10 seconds to read and code each individual comment it would have taken
me over two straight weeks of reading and coding, 24 hours a day without sleep, to make



35
it through all the data. It was clear that I needed to cull my data somehow. In order to do
this I relied on the sorting methods already in place by the sites framework to sort the
comments on those posts by Best, which is one of the sorting options available through
the site. On reddit, one can sort comments in a number of different ways, top, best, new,
controversial, and hot; by default the comments are sorted by best. The difference
between best and top is subtle but important. According to the reddit blog, the top
sorting option simply lists the comment threads in order of highest scoring. This can be
an issue because reddit is heavily biased toward comments posted early the reason for
this bias is once a comment gets a few upvotes, its moved to the top (reddit blog, 2009).
v. Sorting Algorithm
The introduction of the best sorting algorithm in 2009 was aimed at correcting
this issue. The best sorting algorithm treats the vote count as a statistical sampling of a
hypothetical full vote by everyone, much as in an opinion poll. It uses this to calculate
a provisional raking that it is 95% sure it will get to (reddit blog, 2009) so essentially it
removes time from the equation and predicts which posts would be deemed highest
quality based on the community vote. I decided to cull my data by collecting the best
three to five comment threads, also known as the comments and their string of direct
replies, from the aforementioned top three to five posts. The reasoning behind the range
was upon pulling the data for all 69 (there was one post that was accidentally scraped
twice, likely due to collecting data one evening and then the next morning) posts, I
quickly realized I had more data than I needed and in the interest of time constraints
needed to shrink my sample size, once again. During my coding process I restricted my
data collection to comments with more than 10 votes (either upvoted or downvoted;
unless they were part of a string which will be addressed in the analysis) These posts



36
are representative of the posts that create the most consubstantiality between the users.
On the flip side of the coin, I also paid attention to those comments which are below
threshold, or those comments that have a negative karma score below a certain number,
in order to see what redditors agree on is not an acceptable comment. The data collection
then occurred over a 14-day period.
When analyzing my data I relied closely on the rhetorical functions of humor as
defined by Meyer (2000). I used multiple passes on each thread for coding, beginning
with an open coding process that was aimed at first uncovering any patterns, free from
any theoretical restraint. The open-coding process proved to reveal a number of
interesting avenues for analysis, and my secondary or axial coding, focused on coding
for those patterns and values that arose during my process. In a third pass through I found
it useful to utilize Meyers (2000) four rhetorical functions to see how humors function
played a role in the various forms and patterns of humor that I noticed through my coding
process, which proved instrumental in helping to connect the dots within my analysis.
E. A Brief Aside
Before continuing with analysis, there is a brief aside I feel I should mention here
as it was a first hand example of the altruistic community which I have come to believe
reddit to be over my two years within it. As I was doing my coding for this thesis, I
realized it was very hard to read through my data in the format in which I had it (PDF).
With this quandary in mind, my first and only thought was to take to the
/r/TheoryOfReddit subreddit page to ask other researchers for advice; I was rewarded for
my precociousness. After first gaining some further background on my research
intentions and aims, a user by the username therealpersona stepped up to the plate and
came to my aid.



37
Using a webcrawler that he had built, therealpersona took the links I had scraped
in my data gathering period and had it scrape data such as the post title, upvotes and
downvotes (for both the posts and comments), the comments themselves, the IDs and
parent IDs for the comments (which made them infinitely more easy to read as the
comments sections of reddit can grow like a family tree, making them hard to parse
through), and each post/comments authors, into a .csv file which was easily opened in
Excel. The formatting that therealpersona provided made my coding and analysis far
more easy, and allowed me to add in some researcher created analytics, such as the
controversy ratio (upvotes divided by downvotes) that I created which was useful in
helping to interpret which posts were most divisive in terms of their reception by the
community. Furthermore, when I had some initial questions, such as how to read the
comment and post IDs he was quick to answer and help clarify the formatting. The
craziest part of this whole anecdote was that at no point did therealpersona ask for any
sort of compensation in return for his help, doing it purely for the enrichment of one of
his fellow redditors. This one personal example truly illustrates in my mind the sense of
community with strangers, which is characteristic of the open source culture of reddit.
V. Findings and Analysis

A. Humor Categories of Use

During my study of reddit, there was a definite pattern of form of humor that
became apparent. I have dubbed this pattern as a string. A humor string on reddit is
when three or more separate individuals contribute to a humorous exchange by offering
their own take on the joke or the events at hand. These strings are demonstration of how
humor, in all of its forms, can be an identifying rhetorical device as it relies on people



38
taking sides. With humor, people will either identify with the humor and laugh or
otherwise participate in the act of joking, or will be divided from the communicator and
either admonish him/her or have some other type of negative reaction. It was with that
view in mind that I examined humor on reddit and the results as you will see tend to point
towards all successful humor, whatever the goal or function of that humor may be, leads
to some form of identification. The propensity towards these strings on reddit is a
signifier of this being the case, especially as we can see these posts being voted on, either
up or down, is in fact a form of identification in and of itself. When we see others further
stepping in, in a participatory role, it further fosters that sense of consubstantiality within
the community.
I will start by walking through each of the four major string categories that I
found: Reference Identification Strings, Pun Strings, Enforcement Strings, and Humor
Takeover Strings. From there, I will continue with the other categories of humor that I
noticed through my coding process such as shared experience and how identification can
create a transference of experience from embarrassing/depressing to comic or the
prominent function of meta humor, which is humor about the reddit community itself; a
relatively common experience within this highly self-referential community. Along those
same lines, username based humor is a common theme within the comment sections as
people use that all important identifier, ones own name, and turn that into an opportunity
to further or create a joke. Finally, in a strong example of how humor can simultaneously
divide and unite, along the lines of Burkes mobis strip-like vision of identification, I
encountered a couple of interesting examples of trolling which help bring the circle of



39
identification-division fully back around. But first we will start the circle with an
examination of the large role of the reference on reddit.
i. Reference Identification Strings

On reddit, references abound. They can be found in virtually every posts
comments that I examined. Popular culture tends to be the subject of these references, as
it is something that is commonly identifiable because of the inherent nature of popular
culture. Sometimes these references are humorous in and of themselves, for example
when a user by the handle zenicaone
2
snarkily quotes South Park in order to help drive
home his point in reference to another users comment: [quoting the comment he is
responding to] Russia has the right to police all former soviet states // yup and we all
know that being world policeman is USAs job // Russia took r jooooob! (166 upvotes,
96 downvotes, 70 karma points) (Canadian Prime Minister). The comment, which
contains some potentially divisive political leanings, offers two paths for humorous
identification, through the political point made through a humorous reference to the
perceived position of the United States in the worldwide political landscape, and through
the humorous reference that /u/zenicaone evokes. Other times, these references tend to
side more with Gruners definition of wit which he differentiates from humor (1978).
Essentially Gruners distinction was that wit equated with some sort of defined sense of
intellectual superiority, which was derived from either understanding a high level pun or
reference (Gruner, 1978). So while some of these references might not necessarily be
humorous, they are witty in their demonstration of mental acumen for connecting

2
From this point forward users will be identified using the reddit username structure,
meaning zenicaone would be referred to as /u/zenicaone, its a gender neutral user



40
seemingly unrelated things. When this happens it can foster a sense of consubstantiality
between individuals who get the reference.
Oftentimes, when a reference has a high level of identification with other users on
the site it will lead to what I have defined as a reference string. Reference strings are
when many users contribute to furthering a reference made by a commenter. Users foster
a sense of identification with one another as they share the substance that is knowledge
and love for that particular reference, oftentimes contributing their own takes on the
reference or even other unrelated to the conversation related references to the same
subject. The following example is a good sketch of how these strings tend to manifest
themselves:

tallen1974 5229 2473 2756 A year ago, I bought my beautiful
wife a necklace from Simple
Diversions on Etsy. It was a wire
bird's nest. Since her nickname is
Bird, I thought it was appropriate. She
loved it, which was awesome but not
the point of this story. Today, I
received a package in the mail from
Simple Diversions. I was confused,
since I didn't remember ordering
anything. I opened it to find this card
and a small box. I was touched by the
gesture of kindness. She didn't have to
do that, but she chose to send it. Made
my week, and my wife's week as well.
A simple act of kindness can get a lot
of mileage and takes very little effort.
Thank you. It meant a lot to both of
us. Check out her stuff, everyone.
She's what we call "good people.
cy_sperling 2607 727 1880 &gt; Since her nickname is Bird

Are you married to Dee Reynolds?



41
petrichorrr 701 143 558 Oh god, that scene where she's eating
the cheese steak like a bird is forever
etched into my mind.
cy_sperling 343 63 280 She had the hunger for human meat.
petrichorrr 263 57 206 WE GOT THE HUNGER, DEE.
PatchesDaHamstr 196 34 162 Ohhhhh I really wanted to eat that
guy, Charlie...
Mantis_Toboggan
_MD_
51 8 43 Don't talk to me about the hunger
Dee, I know all about the hunger!
Thisisitforn 19 5 14 Send it back, tell her wrong color, try
again
drich16 166 24 142 Does it make us racists if we don't
want to eat the black guy, though?
Pale_Horse_forwar
d
44 8 36 Well shit, Charlie, now it does!
8bitOrchid 151 21 130 I' m gonna have a really hard time if
we're both cannibals *and* we're
racists.
mrdude817 103 13 90 Cannibalism? Racism? Dee, that's not
for us. You know? Those are the
decisions that are best left to the suits
in Washington. Okay? We're just here
to eat some dude.
Gradual__russian 3 1 2 What show?
cheezefriez 4 1 3 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
(Surprise gift)
The comment thread begins with the OP (original poster; the term that users
ascribe to the posts author) expanding on his post (which was a picture of a letter)
explaining the story behind it. This is often common as users wish to hear the backstories
that go with these more personal experience posts. But /u/cy_sperling saw the
opportunity to drop a reference to a humorous television show, Its Always Sunny in
Philadelphia. One of the main characters on the show, Dee Reynolds, was granted the
nickname Bird by other character on the show because of how her appearance
somewhat resembles that of a bird. cy_sperlings reference received a comparatively
higher controversy score (a metric I devised which is a ratio of the comments



42
upvotes/downvotes) (3.5 vs. 2.1) and had a large number of upvotes (2607) suggesting
that this reference was heavily identified with. In response to the well placed reference a
reference string emerged as users contribute to it, and in the process further specialize the
reference making it less universally identifiable, but furthering a stronger sense of
consubstantiality by the group of voters/readers who are following the thread. We see
this as more specific quotes from the show may receive fewer upvotes than the initial
reference, 2607 vs. 51, 44, etc. yet they also have less controversy as their of upvotes to
downvotes is much higher. For example while the original reference received a 3.5 ratio
score, /u/8bitOrchilds humorous paraphrase from an episode of the show I'm gonna
have a really hard time if we're both cannibals and we're racists. (151 upvotes, 21
downvotes, 130 karma score)(Surprise Gift) received much less controversy, and
conversely fostered stronger consubstantiality, with a ratio score of 7.2 more than double
the original reference. Additionally, as we will return to later, not everyone is going to
understand every reference because not everyone has seen every show on the planet,
when a user asks for some clarification of the reference, there is often some explanation
given as is the case in this example, thereby fostering a sense of consubstantiality.
ii. Pun Strings

One other humor string that is fairly common on reddit is the pun string. A pun
string is derived from Gruners game of wits (Gruner, 1978) in which intellectual
partners engage in a tete-a-tete attempting to score the most witty remark between them.
On reddit this humor game often manifests itself in the form of pun strings where users
attempt to offer their best take on a particular pun. In this example from a post titled
Russia laughing at their errors in the closing ceremonies, which referred to Russias



43
nod to their own mistakes when a ring failed to light up during the opening ceremony of
the 2014 Sochi Olympics, we see a humorous pun string emerge in identification with the
post:
DSTFU 5047 2928 2119 Looks like they're putin up with their
mistakes.
ThinkWithPortals24 2570 1349 1221 You really weren't Stalin with that pun.
lymos 2059 996 1063 looks like you are Lenin him a hand with
it..
IAMA_dragon-AMA 5306 2907 2399 communism
Average_Nice_Guy 1201 411 790 Thank you for your addition.
MoistMartin 709 308 401 It's no less worthless than all the
recycled puns.
SpaceDetective 377 210 167 That's just your opinion, MaoistMartin.
KommandantVideo 374 166 208 We really need to be Putin Assad our
differences... Syriasly
BarrelRydr 510 125 385 If puns are what the people want, then
so-ve-it
Trippze 12 1 11 that's actually a good one.
methshin 40 21 19 Give him Marx for trying.
DodgerBlueNLakerGold 673 227 446 These puns are Sochizi
nathanl1192 192 144 48 Let's stop before they luge their novelty.
EddyGonad 208 69 139 C-C-C-COMMUNISM BREAKER!!!
ryanwithlions 5 0 5 Sorry, this is not one of the 40 approved
puns.
Jack-the-ripper 8 1 7 Man I'm Russian to think of a good one
TVlistings 132 46 86 I wanted to see [Russian
puns](http://imgur.com/b7O9mmO) ,
alaskan native.
-o0_0o- 19 4 15 Alaskan puns Palin comparison.
hideserttech 3 1 2 cant you see them from your backyard?
Tiberius666 5 1 4 Top Marx for those puns.
absurd_ruffian 209 158 51 These bad puns are gonna leave a few
Marx on my psyche.
(Russia laughing at their errors in the closing ceremonies)
/u/DSTFU begins the string by utilizing Putins name as a pun, in which he
identifies with the posts content showing that he is aware of the substance behind it.
/u/ThinkWithPortals24s response You really werent Stalin with that pun (2570
upvotes, 1349 downvotes, 1221 karma score) which not only identifies with the subject



44
matter of the pun itself but identifies with the humor form by, infact being a pun, helps
create a string which is brought into full bloom by a third participant /u/lymos who
chimes in with looks like you are Lenin him a hand with it (2059 upvotes, 996
downvotes, 1063 karma score). /u/lymos comment creates a string which other users
gleefully join in, to varying degrees of success. As Gruner (1978) points out the pun
oftentimes might issue a groan, rather than a laugh. This is assuredly the case with what
users like /u/MoistMartin express when he says Its no less worthless than all the
recycled puns (709 upvotes, 308 downvotes, 401 karma score), which speaks more to
his condemnation of the unoriginality of the puns rather than puns themselves. Or when
/u/absurd_ruffian closes the string with a fairly controversial pun These bad puns are
gonna leave a few Marx on my psyche (209 upvotes, 158 downvotes, 51 karma score;
controversy ratio 1.32) this was the third Marx pun in the thread so the joke had worn
thin with many users, nonetheless they also may have been conflicted in the fact they
identified with the message the pun communicated, which was that it was a string of bad
puns. Nevertheless pun strings are an excellent example of humors ability to create
consubstantiality between individuals because of their participatory nature. They allow
many users to offer slightly different takes on a general theme, and thus foster
consubstantiality and identification between users.
iii. Clarification/Enforcement Strings

As Meyer (2000) pointed out humor can be used to enforce or clarify the values
of a community or group. This is also very true of reddit. Redditors tend to have low
patience for mistakes, and tendency not only to be quick with a response to them but
there is also a notable tendency to pile on a violator. One common theme that evoked



45
the clarification/enforcement string styles was that of grammatical mistakes. I have
combined the two functions here into one because it is oftentimes difficult to tell how
serious users are being with their corrective humor. On one hand pointing out a
grammatical mistake by poking fun at it can be viewed as clarification, similar to how we
might laugh at a newspaper typo. But on the other, and I think perhaps more heavy hand,
there seems to be a strong sense of grammar nazism on reddit. For that portion of the
population their humor may be more enforcing in nature, resulting in the immediate
correction of the mistake. This can be seen in a number of these posts, as the initial
mistake maker has a tendency to make edits to their comments sometimes even getting
upset at the communities glee in the face of their ignorance. /u/GoodGuyAnusDestroyer
provides us with a colorful example of this, Lets just say I would suck on those utters
until the milk was gone. // EDIT: I know I made a mistake after the 200 fucking
responses I received telling me that its udder. Ill suck on both so fuck you (262
upvotes, 100 downvotes, 162 karma score)(11 Jobs that). Here a large number of
users obviously identified with the fact that he had made an easy mistake and informed
him of it, and in his eyes this was enforcement humor that he didnt exactly take well.
/u/GoodGuyAnusDestroyers reaction to the enforcement humor as a result of his
language error is not necessarily the norm. This example from the post Science fair
project findings are 100% accurate is far more consistent with both the reaction from the
commenter being corrected, and with the joking nature of the comments in response:



46
juanLegTapDance 664 157 507 Me in 3rd Grade: Dad I want to make a solar
powered cars.

Dad: Yea, you're making a volcano. We already
have Vinegar and Baking Soda.

Edit: grammar, 3th to 3rd. I was debating if it was
grade 3 or 4, my brain did a mash up.
JTownTX 890 169 721 THIRTH?!
Tin_Whiskers 426 74 352 It's a secret, advanced grade between 2th and 5nd.
Eaglezzz 162 25 137 THE THIRTH AND A HEIF GRADE?!
classic__schmosby 50 5 45 Schwon, Schto, Schto and haLf...
funky_ch-pimp 22 3 19 scheven, schfourteen, schfourteenteen.
WizardGoosherous 69 15 54 My brain hurts when I try to pronounce '5nd'
Bob_A_Ganoosh 24 9 15 I'd like to know how you're getting past 2th,
because I can't.
meatbrick 30 7 23 Twoth. This isn't hard people, keep up.
programmar 26 5 21 I tried to read that aloud and something broke in
my brain.
wuzizname 74 15 59 You do thirth grade after third grade. It's exactly
like third grade except instead of math you do
more finger painting and the teacher... talks.. a
lot... slower. Also, free helmets!
QuickStopRandal 15 2 13 third, thirth, tree

How do you count?
e42343 54 8 46 [Ten, Teen,
Teeen](http://i.imgur.com/muAGh41.jpg)
sinisterskrilla 3 0 3 Sheesh this is pure gold, sheeeesh, sheeeeeeesh.

Teen Teeeeeeen I can't stop laughing about this
hahaa I've never thought of how funny and
confusing it would be if numbers worked that
way. This is hilarious and just as funny if not
funnier without any context. Thanks for sharing
this one!
(Science fair project findings are 100% accurate)
In this example /u/juanLegTapDance makes the initial mistake in his comment
typing 3th instead of 3
rd
, and the reddit community leapt on him, causing him to correct
his mistake and post an edit acknowledging the change. /u/ITownTX loudly points out
the mistake in the initial response THIRTH?! (890 upvotes, 169 downvotes, 721 karma



47
score). The all caps of the response suggest a high degree of indignation and a loudly
voiced complaint, one which as the high amount of identification (5.26 controversy
score) demonstrates is shared by the majority of the comments readers. From this point
forward the string humor begins to manifest itself as commenters have fun with the idea
of a thirth grade. The response by /u/Tin_Whiskers shifts the tone from harsh to playful,
Its a secret, advanced grade between 2th and 5nd (426 upvotes, 74 downvotes, 352
karma score). This is the tone that the rest of the string adopts. It is not possible to record
when exactly /u/juanLegTapDance made his edit to his initial comment, Edit: grammar,
3th to 3
rd
. I was debating if it was grade 3 or 4, my brain did a mashup, but it is possible
that his easy going attitude and willingness to admit his mistake may have impacted the
harshness of the corrective humor adopted by the rest of the commenters. Either way we
see users identifying with both the fact that a mistake was made and the need for it to be
corrected. Furthermore we see users in turn identify with the jokes that are being made in
an effort to force a correction.
iv. Humor Takeover Strings

The last string pattern that I noticed was somewhat of a slippery category to, well,
categorize because it seemed to leak into all other functions of humor on the site. I went
through a number of ideas for the name of this category as I went through my coding
process, jumping from piggyback identification, to humor hijacking, to what I eventually
settled on, humor takeover. On reddit, the propensity towards the utilization of humor as
a rhetorical device is extremely strong, so much so that it can often derail, or at least
cause deviation from, serious conversation. Essentially what is happening within a
humor takeover string is the humorous comment becomes so strongly identified with



48
that it becomes the subject of conversation, capable of shifting the tone and content of
conversation from serious to comical in an instant.
In the following example, the topic of the original post was a serious /r/worldnews
topic. News had recently broken that the Egyptian government had resigned, a subject
which taken a backseat to the other major worldwide events that had been going on at the
time as /u/savramescu points out, I havent followed on Egypt lately since Ukraine and
Venezuela kept hitting the front pages (1824 upvotes, 498 downvotes, 1326 karma
score)(Egyptian government has resigned). The subject of the majority of the posts
comments was the serious discussion of the events going on in Egypt and their
ramifications, that is until a couple of users contributed to flipping the tone of
conversation:

i_am_that_human 3264 1098 2166 Let me predict what will happen next.
Field Marshal Sisi will win the next
election and become president. But
within a year the Egyptians will be out
on Tahrir square crying for his head.
Rinse and repeat...Ramses II is rolling
in his grave
Veefy 2340 532 1808 Rolling in his case in the Cairo
museum
KimJongIlSungla
sses
4881 2154 2727 They see me rolling

They hatin'

Patrollin'

Tryin'a catch me riding Xerxes
nadsaeae 730 184 546 Holy crap, that flo.
unclonedd3 528 213 315 http://imgur.com/wYJGwAZ
jdscarface 285 52 233 They should give her a TV show,
because that worked so well for the



49
Geico caveman.
beaglemaster 128 33 95 They made a tv show?
herennius 66 13 53 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u
hFIijFD9kg
PannaLogic 165 21 144 There's porn with her lookalike.
thaencyder 312 23 289 Now that's Progressive.
hoksy 16 3 13 http://www.xnxx.com/video6845233/c
hloe_reese_carter_-
_americas_favorite_commercials_gon
e_porn
Peanut_Buster 67 6 61 Alright you've peaked my interest.

[OKAY!!](http://i.imgur.com/tM559Y
q.jpg)
FappyTheDwarf 16 3 13 Gotta link for us?
olbldngts 81 24 57 do you have a link..for science...
swSephy 4 0 4 You can't just say that and not give us
a link. :(
Cradd710 3 0 3 ... source?
picflute 3 0 3 Shocker
andersonb47 3 0 3 *Ahem*

...Well?
bfrady15 6 1 5 I'm going to come back later to see
how this develops
The_R3medy 2 0 2 Um, so, link?
AdonisChrist 12 0 12 Skipping through that it wasn't all
so bad.
HUMOROUSGO
AT
37 15 22 O man I forgot about that. Flo might
be able to pull it off though, she is
easier to fap to than the cavemen.
Ordinary_Fella 43 14 29 Try harder
YouGuysINeverC
ry
3 1 2 "More Flo man, than Progressive
commercials" - Childish Gambino,
centipede.
Mesolimbic 3 0 3 Like the Nile
Drock865 243 49 194 Xerxses was Persian.
KimJongIlSungla
sses
427 75 352 Shhh. And from a totally different
time period. Don't ruin the joke.
DreamerGeek 97 11 86 Scissored his way back in time.



50
singasux 8 2 6 [Scissor'me Timbers.](http://tnation.t-
nation.com/forum_images/7/f/7fe33-
Scissor.jpg)

EDIT:NSFW
iia 2 0 2 Scissor me timbers!
Doshegotab00ty 2 0 2 Scissor me timbers!
Evan12203 3 0 3 I'm fairly certain that 'totally different
time period' in this instance is
*several* thousand years.
KimJongIlSungla
sses
2 0 2 Yup, totally different.
crecentfresh 3 0 3 Nah I'm pretty sure all the men and
women from history times lived
together.
oldscotch 30 8 22 Forget it, he's rolling.
(The Egyptian government has resigned)

/u/i_am_that_humans response triggers the eventual roll (yes, pun completely
intended) into a humorous tone by presenting us with a humorous image of the former
pharaoh Ramses II, widely regarded to be the greatest and most powerful pharaoh in
Egyptian history, rolling in his grave. In response, somewhat winkingly, /u/Veefy
corrects /u/i_am_that_humans comment humorously referencing the fact that Ramses
sarcophagus is actually on display in the Cairo museum. But the humorous takeover
doesnt hit full stride until in yet another display of the rhetorical power of humorous
references - /u/KimJongIlSunglasses latched on to the rolling aspect of the previous
two comments to reference a song by rapper Chamellionaire, Ridin, and completed the
shift in conversational tone to the humorous frame while garnering a high amount of
upvote and comment identification in the process. From this point all bets were off and
users jumped in to contribute, /u/nadsaeaes response Holy crap, that flo (730 upvotes,
184 downvotes, 546 karma score) opened the door for /u/unclonedd3 to identify with the
word flo allowing him to reference the popular Progressive insurance spokeswoman,



51
Flo, further shifting the frame of the conversation into the comic and away from the
serious frame that it had been in previously. Even as /u/Drock865 attempted to deflate the
humor created by /u/KimJongIlSunglasses reference, and potentially shift the discussion
back into a more serious frame by correcting him on a factual basis, Xerxes was
Persian (243 upvotes, 49 downvotes, 194 karma score) the participants in the
conversation refused to yield their newly comic frame. As /u/KimJongIlSunglasses
returns to the discussion to quiet his dissenter, in a comment that received nearly twice
the amount of upvotes, Shhh. And from a totally different time period. Don't ruin the
joke (427 upvotes, 75 downvotes, 352 karma score). The fact that /u/DreamerGeek then
responds with a humorous South Park reference which other users then either identify
with or further contribute to cements the conversational path in the comic frame, meaning
that humor had successfully taken over the tone of what was previously a serious
conversation through humors powerful identifying qualities.
The humor takeover string category is one that is reflected in a number of the
instances of the other three categories as well. In fact, it was present within each of the
three examples that I presented. This potentially speaks volumes about the power that
humor has within the reddit community; as well as potentially speaking to it being a
preferred mode of discussion on the site. While in my data collection I saw this happen
occasionally with more serious discussion, it was far more common that humor would
change the direction of a conversations flow. It also raises some interesting questions
about the frame through which most users view the site, comic or serious, which is
especially interesting as we head into our next category.
v. Shared Experience




52
One of the driving factors of the reddit community is the fact that users are
willing to share things with the community. This comes in the form of advice, links,
pictures, etc. but sometimes can also come in the form of shared experience. Humor, in
its deepest roots is derived from tragedy, the Divine Comedies for example, are works
of tragedy. There is an old saying that tragedy plus time equals comedy. The saying is
derived from a quote taken from an interview with comedian Steve Allen, the founder of
the Tonight Show, in 1957:
When I explained to a friend recently that the subject matter of most comedy is
tragic (drunkenness, overweight, financial problems, accidents, etc.) he said, Do
you mean to tell me that the dreadful events of the day are a fit subject for
humorous comment? The answer is No, but they will be pretty soon.
Man jokes about the things that depress him, but he usually waits till a certain
amount of time has passed. It must have been a tragedy when Judge Crater
disappeared, but everybody jokes about it now. I guess you can make a
mathematical formula out of it. Tragedy plus time equals comedy. (Quote
Investigator, 2013)
What Steve Allen points to are not necessarily all instances of tragic events, but rather
identifiable foibles, annoyances, problems, and even traditionally tragic events that when
identified with by the audience, with the added element of time, lead to a form of humor
through that identification. So more accurately the quote should read, tragedy plus
identification plus time equals comedy. With a new lens in place, and a broad definition
of tragedy, we can see this formula play out on reddit. In a post by /u/Bierrr entitled I
used to work in a music store, many many years ago. This does remind me of all the



53
people humming and hoping you would know what they meant the author identifies
with having had to deal with the annoyance of customers who may know only a small bit
of a title or may know it as that book, by that guy, or other experiences where the
worker is put in the unenviable position of having to deal with a customer who is not sure
what it is that they actually want. In the posts replies many users take to sharing their
own experiences with similar customers in the comments:

marmosetohmarmoset 303 80 223 I used to work at a used book store.
This kind of thing is absurdly
common. We'd also get stuff like
"Hey, do you have that book they
talked about on NPR a couple weeks
ago?"

We were a really old-fashioned kind
of shop that didn't have a
computerized inventory (or really any
formal inventory). Everything was
organized into genres and
alphabetized by author and title, but
often finding stuff just relied on our
memory. So oddly, telling me what
the cover looked like actually was
sort of helpful!

My favorite encounter was this one
woman who came in and asked
something like: "Do you have
"droop"?"

me: "Pardon me?"

Her: "Do you have the book "droop"?
...or "droom"? Something like that?"

me: "I'm not sure, do you know the
author?"

"no"



54

"Ok, well do you know the genre?"

"fiction. Or non-ficiton. One of
those."

It went on like that for a while. She
didn't know the real title of the book.
She didn't know the author. She didn't
know what genre (mystery, scifi,
romance, etc) is was. She wasn't sure
if it was fiction or non fiction. She
didn't even know what the book
looked like. I'm really not sure why
she wanted this book. After searching
through pretty much every book in
the store and giving her a few
suggestions, I finally conceded to her
that I just couldn't find it. She then
complained about she can never find
anything good in this store and didn't
think she'd be back. Good riddance.
scaevola 172 37 135 You took me right back to my
bookstore days. Why are you
desperate to find something when
you don't know what it is? My
coworker listened to NPR heavily
just so he would know what people
were talking about. The best was the
time when I found the book that this
lady was looking for based on her
description of the npr story. Then she
was like "no that's not it" but couldn't
tell me why it wasn't it. It was it.
crowingzero 380 67 313 I'm a librarian, and we have a running
joke every time someone complains
about not being able to find a section
that one day we're just going to
rearrange the entire library not by
subject or call number, but by color
coding.

"Yes sir, all of the blue books are on
the 4th floor"

I'm sure bookstore employees have



55
similar ways.
JeremyR22 195 36 159 &gt; I'm sure bookstore employees
have similar ways.

If you want to get an evil stare from
my mother (who runs a bookshop)
you just have to say to her:

"I don't know what it's called and I
don't know who wrote it, *but*....."
speakeazy 141 34 107 Oh god, I work in a book store and I
feel for your mother. "I don't have a
title or author, *but* it's *definitely*
fiction and the cover was white or off
white or gray. Romance? Mystery?
Sci Fi? Those are all considered
fiction?! It was on *the news* (???)
last week. My sister was telling me
about seeing it on there. Or maybe it
was my sister in law..." Commence
life story, and frustration when I have
no idea even where to start helping
them.
agtk 149 29 120 Some of these stories would get so
ridiculous, but the amazing part about
it was when they'd give you a
seemingly random piece of
information about the book, and all of
a sudden you know exactly what
they're talking about. It was always
fun to win the *no title, no author*
challenge.
speakeazy 128 27 101 I love winning those challenges! It's
so frustrating though when you spend
the twenty minutes on them and
somehow produce the right book
despite their lack of information, and
then they get upset when they realize
books are more expensive in stores
than online. "I'll just get it on



56
Amazon." AMAZON DIDN'T
WASTE A HALF HOUR TRYING
TO DECIPHER YOUR
RAMBLINGS! Oh well :(
(I used to work in a music store, many many years ago. This does remind me of all the
people humming and hoping you would know what they meant)

As these examples show, users not only identify with the post but are able to share, and
laugh with each other about their pained experiences. They all share in their annoyance
with the customer who doesnt seem to know just what it is he wants, but they also all
humorously identify with stories of as /u/speakeasy says, winning those challenges.
The inter-user identification between /u/JeremyR22 and /u/speakeasy is particularly
interesting as /u/speakeasy not only identifies with the experience himself, sharing his
pain (Oh god, I work in a book store and I feel for your mother), but also goes into a
personal anecdote of his own in which he mocks a customer for expressing the same level
of ignorance. Through their shared experience and identification with each other they are
able to go through a communicative function of humor that I call, comic transcendence.
This is when through the process of identification through a shared tragic (again, using
a broad definition of the term) event, with the added element of time (so that its still not
in the heat of the moment) leads to the ability for one to laugh at those tragic experiences
because they have the relief that they are not the only ones who went through such
events. This is an incredibly powerful function of humor and identification and is worthy
of further study.
vi. Meta-humor Identification

As I have already covered, reddit is a community that loves its references. It
makes sense then that that community would also have the tendency towards self-
referential humor or meta humor about the site and community, as well as many inside



57
jokes which emerge from any of the numerous subreddits that make up the fringes of the
reddit community. Many times the jokes are, in a way self-deprecating, as the people
making them are making them about a community in which they participate, for example
in response to a pun string /u/LookandLearn23 comments, how many times can
redditors re word the same puns weve[sic] seen all week? (562 upvotes, 140 downvotes,
and 422 karma score)(Russia Laughing at) and as we can see by the relative
difference between up and downvotes many users tend to agree with the observational
quip about the sites propensity for the repetitive. Or in this example, /u/BagOCrisps
jokes about the perceived ignorance of many redditors towards Chinese politics,
ITT[sic]
3
Redditors still think its still 1989 in China (451 upvotes, 108 downvotes, 343
karma score)(Chinese man first to sue). Or even /u/DreamerGeeks criticism of the
fickleness of the reddit hivemind, I can flip a coin and have equal chances of seeing
reddit bitch that we do too much, or too little policing. Meanwhile, I, going to guess
everyone expects us to provide the proverbial stick for political maneuvering with Russia.
Fucking hypocrites (223 upvotes, 90 downvotes, 133 karma score)(Canadian Prime
Minister). Through these examples we can see that the community identifies with the
observations made by these commenters, reflecting that they have observed similar
patterns. This type of humor can serve as a clarification or enforcement function
depending on how you view it, but they also foster identification because inherent to
these comments are sides which the readers must take, and thereby identify.
But self deprecation is far from the only form of meta-humor displayed on the
site. The subreddit system on reddit, as I have already mentioned is extremely vast with

<
ITT = In this thread



58
communities surrounding the most specific, mundane, and sometimes even weird
subreddits popping up everywhere. From /r/onetruegod which is a subreddit dedicated to
the satiric worship of the film actor, Nic Cage to /r/DogTalk where all users post as if
they are speaking like a barking dog GrrrrRUFF!, BARK BARK BARK BARK, etc.
the niche communities of reddit are often the subject of metahumor on reddit. One
common way that users tend to reference this phenomenon through humor is pointing out
a subreddit in which a post would comically fit. Take the following as an example,
/u/AtomSmashingMachine makes the comical observation, Is there a never-ending chain
of mailmen delivering mail to other mailmen?(214 upvotes, 40 downvotes, 174 karma
score)(11 Jobs That) to which /u/koala_punter replies, /r/showerthoughts(14
upvotes, 2 downvotes, 12 karma score). This reply echoes both the knowedge of that
specific community as well as the identification with /u/AtomSmashingMachines line of
logic which is reminiscent of the kind of off the wall thinking one might engage in in the
shower.
There is yet another form of meta-humor identification that tends to take place on
reddit, and that is when some communicative form that is unique to a specific community
comes to surface outside that community. In the following example from a post He
made his bed and ofcourse[sic] he had to lay in it we see a user bring just such humor
into the mix as he identifies with the content of the post itself, corgis:

TH3SHAKE 428 63 365 [Reminds me of
this](http://i.imgur.com/fYQHu9v.jpg?1)
ONE_ANUS_FO
R_ALL
149 59 90 Hh tht's nt xctly wht my frst thght ws..
http://i.imgur.com/u6yTUZc.jpg
DaGeek247 65 12 53 What happened to your vowels?
ONE_ANUS_FO
R_ALL
101 16 85 It's how peiple type in
/r/animalswithoutnecks



59
hoopstick 48 5 43 I just don't *get* most people.
BigGulpsHuh7 6 1 5 Its because thats how you sound when you
scrunch up your neck. If you dont think
that's funny then fack you!
hoopstick 6 2 4 Well I'll be damned. That's great!
iSpccn 23 9 14 [Jesus
Christ.](http://i.imgur.com/a6DVqVR.gif)

My inner Grammar Nazi cannot handle that
place.
bodompizza 5 0 5 The longer I'm on this website the more
abstract threads I learn about.... This is a
weird weird place
DrAnalCucumber 5 1 4 /r/Fifthworldgonewild
kino650 6 2 4 That's so weird... Even weirder how he
typed like that outside of the subreddit.
Lochcelious 5 0 5 Like advertisement to help promote
awareness of the sub, plus being true to the
subreddit is funny too. Surely you know of
our Lord and Savior, Nicolas Cage?
hijomaffections 5 1 4 reddit molded
GimmeAnotherOn
e
10 7 3 thy lst thr ncks.
snoop_dolphin 29 6 23 are you really so fucking cheap that you
don't buy a single vowel?
celerious84 7 0 7 If you know the answer, why bother?
MostPopularPeng
uin
4 0 4 I never understand why anyone would buy
vowels!! I know that once in a while it
helps, but seriously if u buy 4 vowels thats
1000 dollars!!!
Whovian91 29 4 25 Crgs n bch
down_vote_magn
et
4 1 3 /r/AnimalsWithoutNecks/
mackenenzie 5 1 4 /r/animalswithoutnecks makes an
appearance... my Reddit experience is
complete.
LoafingAround 2 0 2 [because I came here to post a link to the
scene............... and already have the link in
my
clipboard.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9teG5MC9Mr0)
(He made his bed and ofcourse[sic] he had to lay in it)



60
In this example /u/ONE_ANUS_FOR_ALL references a unique subreddit
/r/animalswithoutnecks, Hh tht's nt xctly wht my frst thght ws.. (149 upvotes, 59
downvotes, 90 karma score) looking at this example without any idea of context one
might be very confused and not understand the humorous reference, just as
/u/DaGeek247 and /u/hoopstick initially point out. But when /u/BigGulpsHuh7 steps in to
clarify the meaning of the reference, Its because thats[sic] how you sound when you
scrunch up your neck. If you dont[sic] think that's funny then fack [sic] you! (6
upvotes, 1 downvote, 5 karma score) the reference becomes clear and others join in and
participate, newly identifying with the community. This propensity towards inclusion of
the intellectually curious is something we will touch on more later.
vii. Novelty Accounts and Username Humor

A name is as big a part of ones identity as any. In the real world it has roots that
express familial and geographic connections, as well as even racial or cultural identity.
On a site like reddit, where users create names for themselves, ones username can be an
active act of expression of identity. As Urbanski (2013) noted there is a definite presence
of what he and the reddit community call novelty accounts who utilize their
usernames as a signifier for their content or the frame of a joke. For example, the top
comment in one the posts I collected, entitled, Approaching O'Hare, the Chicago skyline
shadow reects off Lake Michigan, under the clouds was by a user with a particularly
overt novelty name /u/Your_Post_As_A_Movie. As his name suggests
/u/Your_Post_As_A_Movie takes a post and turns it into a movie poster, to the delight of
other users, in the example I found /u/Your_Post_As_A_Movie took /u/spaceguytxs
picture of the Chicago skyline being reflected in lake Michigan and transformed it into a



61
poster for the highly anticipated Batman vs Superman movie. His comment was
incredibly well received garnering 947 upvotes to only 149 downvotes, indicating that a
number of users identified with either his username identity or the reference that he
made.

/u/spaceguytxs original submission and the comment posted by
/u/Your_Post_As_A_Movie (Approaching OHare)

Some novelty accounts garner a more voracious fanbase than others, for example
/u/AWildSketchAppeared is very well known within the reddit community. To receive a
response from him/her is considered a great honor within the community; as
/u/Fudgeismyname pointed out in a comment that was heavily identified with after
receiving a comment/sketch from /u/AWildSketchAppeared This is an honor (207
upvotes, 84 downvotes, 123 karma score)(TIL that the Looney Toons).
/u/AWildSketchAppeareds shtick is that he will come in to a comments section and
sketch what are funny visual elements that are created by ones comment. In the example
that I collected, /u/AllegraGeller sparks the humorous imagery by stating that Bill Cosby
clawed his way out of a jello cocoon like an uruk-hai (4932 upvotes, 2081 downvotes,



62
2851 karma score)( TIL that the Looney Toons). This imagery sparks a short thread
of reference identification which culminates in the appearance of
/u/AWildSketchAppeareds post:


/u/AWildSketchAppeareds sketch (TIL that the Looney Toons)
Funnily enough, /u/AWildSketchAppeared actually misread the original imagery
himself and joked about it in an edit on the comment with his sketch, oops read cocoon
as coconut. whatever. (2028 upvotes, 434 downvotes, 1594 karma score) )( TIL that
the Looney Toons). /u/AWildSketchAppeareds posts all exhibit a degree of
consubstantiality with the person he is responding to because he is illustrating the
imagery they in fact created, while others then in turn identify with
/u/AWildSketchAppeared because his imagery either matches what they had in their own
minds or was simply is so funny that they identify with the humorous tone of the image.
Either way /u/AWildSketchAppeareds posts often cause a decent amount of stir and are
generally very well received.



63
Yet novelty accounts are not the only usernames that can spark humor. In a post
titled Mexicos biggest drug Lord Joaquin el chapo Guzman has been captured a user
leaped on the opportunity to utilize his username for the purposes of a joke. The user who
surreptitiously had donned the moniker /u/El_Chapo chimed in with a reply to the post
Jokes on you, Im actually here on Reddit
4
, chumps (7780 upvotes, 4588 downvotes,
3192 karma score)(Mexicos biggest drug lord). The comment was among the
highest scoring of the comments that I collected, and even became gilded meaning that
a user gifted /u/El_Chapo reddit gold for his contributions. One might immediately think
that this must have been a novelty account created specifically for the purposes of making
a joke in this setting, and one might be thinking like a redditor if they did. However, as
/u/SomeFakeInternetName points out in the thread Redditor for 1 year, 3 months. Its
probably legit (200 upvotes, 73 downvotes, 127 karma score) (Mexicos biggest drug
lord), dually pointing out that the user had been a longtime member of the
community, and thus had likely not created the name simply for the purposes of the one-
off joke, while simultaneously identifying with the comic frame /u/El_Chapo created by
jokingly suggesting that he is probably legit. This infact, led to further identification
from /u/El_Chapo who responded by saying Im legit as fuck, typing this on a keyboard
made from solid gold with baby rhino horn accents throughout (449 upvotes, 95
downvotes, 354 karma score) (Mexicos biggest drug lord) continuing the comic
framework that he created with his username.
While each of these three users in the examples I provided utilized their username
to create humor in different ways, they are all linked by a common thread: the use of a

4
BCB(DE.FGHI JGKLM G NOP IQ G JOMPGKL FLRL NS TGHOPGDOUOVW RLXXOPY ZFOTF OM
HCRHIMLQCDDS DLQP DIZLRTGML NLTGCML PFGP OM FIZ OP OM MHLDDLX GTTIRXOVW PI PFL MOPL#



64
username to help signify the presence of humor and create a comic framework that is
more easily identified with. Username based humor is somewhat common on reddit, and
it speaks to the creativity of its users, who will use any means necessary to help
broadcast/signal their humor.
viii. Trolling

The final form of humor that I chose to categorize is perhaps also the most
controversial of all humor forms on reddit, trolling. On reddit, the troll tends to manifest
himself in one of two ways: downvote trolls and deceptive trolls.
a. Downvote Trolls
There is the traditional, broadly negative, troll that can be defined as a downvote troll.
These represent individuals who employ extremely divisive humor forms in order to
garner as much negative reception as possible. These trolls find humor in the negative
attention of others as well as within the strong reactions that sometimes accompany their
comments. These are typically the trolls that people think of when they think of trolling.
The humor these trolls employ divides them from the general reddit community, but in
turn unites them with other trolls who employ similar tactics. Furthermore, it actually
serves to unite the community against the troll so in that respect it is also an identifying
tool. During my data collection I ran across one identifiable downvote troll,
/u/Cant_tell_if_troll. Tame by downvote troll accounts, /u/Cant_tell_if_troll appeared in
two separate posts that I collected, both times receiving copious downvotes for his posts.
In the vein of username humor, he cleverly mocks those who wonder whether he is for
real with his posts or whether he is simply trolling. Below are the two examples that I
collected of his work:



65

Cant_tell_if_troll 31 66 -35 Reddit WOULD take a simple picture of a dog
picture and turn it into a video game circlejerk
fest.



I hope this isn't how you pick up the female
species.
KaribouLouDied 8 0 8 Well you do stick to you name. So i'll give you
props for that.
(Puppy Party)

Cant_tell_if_troll Thu Feb 27 22:02:42 EST
2014
26 52 -26 lol you got
downvoted

haha @ you
pleasesayplease Thu Feb 27 22:05:31 EST
2014
28 12 16 &gt; lol you
got
downvoted
&gt; haha
@ you
(So this exists. Horse head squirrel feeder)
In both of these instances /u/Cant_tell_if_troll employs the differentiation
function of humor or as I would describe, divisive humor to put down those around
him. In the first example a highly upvoted conversation had randomly broken out about a
popular MMORPG rather out of place on a post about cute puppies (once again we see
the power of the reference on reddit). Rather than letting the conversation continue
peacefully, /u/Cant_tell_if_troll interjects his own brand of humor and criticizes them
not only for their circlejerk[sic] fest
5
but also makes a joke about their ability to pick
up women. While most users were divided by this humor, indicated by its high negative

[
On reddit, the term circle jerk does not carry the same sexual meaning that it carries in
the real world. Rather a circle jerk on reddit refers to the positive feedback loop that
can occur when ideas and beliefs are reinforced within a group or subcultures enclosed
space(Circle jerk, knowyourmeme.com)




66
karma score (-35), one user took to comment in reply acknowledging that he may have
been kidding based on his username. In the second instance /u/Cant_tell_if_troll makes a
more pointed divisive joke as he does the Internet equivalent of pointing at someone
and laughing for their error. His comment lol you got downvoted // haha @ you (26
upvotes, 52 downvotes, -26 karma score) is reminiscent of playground bulling and is
attempt to display superiority over another. Whether this was an actual attempt at
bullying or simply /u/Cant_tell_if_troll playing the role of a downvote troll, as his name
suggests, is open for debate, but the divisive nature of his humor indicates reddits
attitude towards this type of troll.
b. Deceptive Trolls
The other type of troll on reddit also employs divisive humor, but perhaps in a
less malicious light. These deceptive trolls align closely with Donaths (1998) definition
of trolling as game [of] identity deception (42). For the deceptive troll, the goal is not
to garner downvotes but rather deceive others into believing they are legitimately
representing themselves. Preying on the tendency of many users to believe anything they
see on the Internet that sounds intelligent, these users misrepresent facts or other events
to deceive those around them. In doing so, they divide the community into those who
realize that the troll is full of it, and those who fall prey to the ruse. Further than that, they
divide those who do realize the fact the user is trolling into those who think the troll is
funny and those who are angry at being deceived.
In my data collection I encountered one excellent example of this type of trolling.
In a post titled Youre playing a dangerous game, Costco! the OP, /u/NotoriousKLM,
makes a humorous observation about vinegar being stocked next to baking soda. Fairly
quickly, the conversation turns to the old Internet trope of Coke and Mentos. It is at this



67
point that our troll, /u/hey_there_delilah, makes its appearance. Going under the guise of
a chemist he posts a response that, on the surface, sounds fairly legitimate to an
uninformed reader:
hey_there_delilah 1853 1635 218 Chemist here. The coke and Mentos trick
doesn't work anymore. The key ingredient
in causing that reaction was an ingredient
called asparatic acid and it was used as a
preservative. It wasn't just coke either, it
was pretty much any soft drink you could
think of!

Anyway, the big soda companies have
replaced asparatic acid with an alternative
called TBE (in 2010 I think?) It's cheaper,
it does the same thing, and it doesn't cause
a mess when you mix it with Mentos. So
unfortunately for prospective Youtube
celebrities, Coke + Mentos just won't cause
a reaction anymore!

This doesn't mean you should be drinking
soft drinks and eating Mentos at the same
time though, just to be on the safe side.
Most newer bottles should be harmless but
who knows, they may have changed it back
when I wasn't looking! If you really want
to find out, go put a coke in the bathtub and
drop a Mentos into it. Don't get your carpet
stained or your stomach ruptured.

EDIT: I am being downvoted and
slandered by paid shills from asparatic acid
manufacturers who wish for soda
companies to resume using their inferior
and less cost-effective chemical as their
primary preservative. My prestigious
discovery of TBE stands in the way of their
selfish and malicious intentions. Do not be
fooled people!
(Youre playing a dangerous game Costco!)
/u/hey_there_delilah first attempts to establish credibility by announcing his
credentials as a chemist. /u/hey_there_delilah then begins to rattle off facts that once



68
again sound rather convincing, however as /u/Requiem20 points out, I was a chemical
engineering major and a current biochemist. He is literally just throwing out glossary
terms in random succession in a way that makes a valid sentence (35 upvotes, 4
downvotes, 31 karma score). Furthermore, /u/hey_there_delilah was quickly outed as a
troll by a number of users including /u/tinyroom, who takes to making a public service
announcement:
tinyr
oom
692 137 555 Public Service Announcement: This account is posting in
various subreddits, claiming:

* "Dermatologist here."

* "I have an M.D in psychiatry"

* "My Ph.D thesis was on family structures in prehistoric
civilizations"

* "I have a Master of Social Sciences in Youth
Counselling and a Ph.D in Historical Public Health"

* "Kinesiologist here."

* "Nutritionist here."

* "My Ph.D thesis was on mammalian parenthood"

* "Linguist here."

* "As a vetinary assistant"

* "My graduate thesis was on Ancient Roman
architecture."

* "I can give an explanation as an optometrist."

* "Biologist here."

* "Neuroscientist here"

* "as a Christian who doesn't believe in evolution"




69
* "As a Muslim, I am constantly appalled at the behavior
of American Christians."

* "As a Buddhist"

* "Atheist here."

All at the tender young age of 15:

* "I'm 15, I'm going to be the proud daddy of a little boy
soon"

* "As a teenager, I find this to be offensive."

* "I'm still a kid m8. My parents and teachers are
responsible for me until I turn 18."

And, not only does this person have multiple
qualifications and multiple professions, they also have
multiple genders and ages!

* "As a large man myself"

* "Short man here."

* "As a man with a small penis"

* "I am an confident and attractive gamer girl"

* "But yeah, men right? My husband is completely
makeup oblivious too."

* "Speaking to you young'uns as a older lady [...] Honey.
Let me talk to you as mother to daughter."

(All available in their user history!)


credits:
[Algernon_Asimov](http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/com
ments/1zal7w/another_snake_this_thing_fell_through_m
y_uncles/cfrzkd5)

And now "A Chemist"
(Youre playing a dangerous game Costco!)




70
This announcement was heavily upvoted as it cleared the deception up for the
laymen who may have been tempted to believe that /u/hey_there_delilah had, in fact,
been telling the truth. The high amount of relative identification between the upvotes and
downvotes suggests that the community is appreciative of being let in on the fact that this
is a joke and should be taken within that frame. While /u/hey_there_delilahs initial
comments controversy ratio (1.13) suggests that there was a great deal of dissent on as to
the reception of his deceptive humor form, but the comments suggest otherwise.
/u/UlyssessSKrunk for example, found the troll to be hilarious, I am being downvoted
and slandered by paid shills from aspartic acid manufacturers // Funniest thing Ive
heard from a troll ever (48 upvotes, 10 downvotes, 38 karma score) or /u/nykse who
said, This is the funniest thing Ive seen on here, I love this guy (15 upvotes, 1
downvote, 14 karma score). It is obvious that a number of users on the site identify with
the humorous frame of /u/hey_there_delilahs deception, while there are others, like
/u/Odusei who obviously took some offense to the act of trolling, Frequent redditor here
/u/hey_there_delilah is a troll and usually full of shit. He/she claims to be everything
from a chemist to a historian. // Dont believe his lies (577 upvotes, 132 downvotes, 445
karma score). What was particularly interesting about this troll however was what
happened after his initial post, when a second user /u/leotes joined in the act of deception,
not only identifying with the humor form but participating in it as well:



71
leontes 1108 182 926 hah. Chemist here as well. Obviously you are not
aware of a recent events in the oblate spheroid mint
market. True enough that TBE replaced asparatic acid
in pretty much all sodas. The gum arabic in Mentos
was replaced with the artificial E414 substitute which
reacts with TBE the same way that the spheroid
imperfections did with asparatic acid back a few years
ago.

Rest assured! Reaction is back on and we will be
drenching our comrades with rocket powered sodas for
many years ahead, hopefully. ^^my
^^/u/hey_there_delilah ^^strategy ^^fight ^^nonsense
^^with ^^nonsense
(Youre playing a dangerous game Costco!)
The result of this was a - as /u/WJHuett deftly puts it, Chemist fight! (1117 upvotes,
163 downvotes, 954 karma score). The back and forth exchange between the two fake
chemists received a lot of positive identification, especially as the veil of deception had
been, for the most part, lifted, thus lessening the divisive nature of the humor. Had the
community not pointed to /u/hey_there_delilahs deception it may have gone unnoticed,
and the laughter would have been shared only by the select few that knew that he was
deceiving others with the his facts, which is reflective of this type of trollings origin in
superiority theory.
B. Intellectualism as a value

One major common thread that I noticed as I read through all the humor on reddit
is that the site has a strong propensity to value intellectualism. Whether that is
represented through the enforcement/clarification strings, where users pile on to point out
any grammatical, or other type of mistake that a user may make in a comment. Whether
benign teasing or indicative of a need to immediately change, it reflects that the reddit
community values those who demonstrate some level of intellectualism, especially within
their humor. The common presence of pun strings demonstrates this value as well. As



72
previously mentioned, these strings fall under what Gruner (1976) defined as a game of
wits in which users match intellects to try and out joke one another. The tendency
towards the use of reference-based humor reflects this value as well, because in order for
a user to understand the wide array of references that are employed on the site, they must
not only have an expansive working knowledge of popular culture, but of the culture of
reddit as well. Even the divisive trolling of /u/hey_there_delilah reflects this value, as at
the root of the joke he/she is poking fun at the propensity for Internet users to believe
anything that sounds remotely credible on the Internet, enforcing a value that a user
should seek true understanding through research of their own.
On the same grounds, the community is open an accepting of the intellectually
curious for example, in response to a humorous DRINK YOUR OVALTINE reference,
/u/timfrombriz admits to not understanding where the reference comes from (implying
that he would like an explaination), Aulstralian here. Do not understand (58 upvotes,
16 downvotes, 42 karma score)(600 year old). In fashion with nearly every other
recorded incident of similar curiosity, /u/timfrombriz received an explanation:
eaglebtc 284 38 246 It's a reference to a favorite American
cult classic Holiday movie, "A
Christmas Story." The film is
narrated by and told from the
perspective of Ralph, the 8-year old
lead character.

One of the more hilarious subplots
involves him listening to an encoded
message being broadcast to "secret
agents" on his favorite nighttime radio
broadcast. The announcer tells the
kids that they'll need to save up their
~~cereal box tops~~ Ovaltine lids and
send away for a secret decoder ring!




73
For weeks, he ~~cuts off the tops of
his cereal boxes~~ saves the lids from
his Ovaltine containers and sends it
all away in an envelope. Several
weeks later, the ring arrives and he is
as excited as can be that he can
FINALLY decode the message. The
broadcast starts, the message is read
back one letter at a time. He writes
this down and he begins to transcribe
and decode it furiously. The audience
figures out that it's a simple
cryptograph long before he does.

The message reads:

BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR
OVALTINE

Realizing this as an advertisement for
a powdered breakfast shake (it is
usually reconstituted with milk), he
gets angry that he has wasted so much
time and yells, "Son of a bitch!"
(600 year old Voynich manuscript partially decoded by University of Bedfordshire
professor)
The detail of the explanation is not necessarily the norm but the desire to foster
consubstantiality with others through explanation of references is. This and other
incidents like it suggest that the reddit community is very receptive to the intellectually
curious, but ignorant and is very willing to help foster identification when the opportunity
arises. It is very indicative of the type welcoming community reddit can be, at least for
those with a head on their shoulders.
VI. Conclusion

As we return to the bar we entered at the beginning of this paper, we enter far
more confident in our ability to participate in the humorous discussions on reddit. This
time you enter no longer overwhelmed by the vastness of the conversational expanse but



74
rather empowered by an understanding of humors usage within the scene. As you mosey
up to the bar you pass through a number of ongoing conversations, stopping to contribute
a relevant reference, or a clever pun before moving on to the next conversation. As you
enter your final conversation before the bar, you make a comment that causes the entire
group to laugh and one random stranger flips you a gold coin, saying good one.
Enjoying your gilded status you lean against the bar and order a drink, before turning
back to absorb how far you have come. Snoo
6
, slides the drink over to you and as you sip
and slide comfortably into your seat, another stranger pulls up and the never ending
conversation begins again.
In examining the usage of humor on reddit, I have found evidence indicative of
my original guiding ideology that all humor, regardless of form or function, leads to
some sort of identification, even if that identification is through the process of division.
This development in humor theory is potentially groundbreaking uniting all rhetorical
functions of humor around a singular purpose, identification with others.
So why focus on humor out of all the various rhetorical strategies that one can
employ? What makes humor so powerful? To examine this question we can delve into
the very thing that makes us human, consciousness. Consciousness is a slippery term to
define, debated by physicists, psychologists, and philosophers. Modern science, as world-
renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku documents in his book The Future of the
Mind (2014) is beginning to approach an understanding of human consciousness. In his
book, Kaku defines this human level of consciousness thusly: Human consciousness is a
specific form of consciousness that creates a model of the world and then simulates it in

6
At this point its not spoiling anything, Snoo is the name of the reddit alien that makes
up the various logos of the site.



75
time, by evaluating the past to simulate the future. This requires mediating and evaluating
many feedback loops in order to make a decision to achieve a goal (p. 46). This
definition emphasizes the human tendency to examine their model of the world as it
relates to time, allowing one to mentally project many possible futures in order to
determine an outcome or decision. Humors function relies on this idea of human
consciousness. The reason things are funny is because of our ability to reason based on
time. When someone leads us up to a joke we begin calculating, consciously or
unconsciously, the possible outcomes. When we are then confronted with a surprising
conclusion that we had not thought of before we laugh at its novelty, as Kaku writes, the
essence of humor is when our simulation of the future is suddenly disrupted in surprising
ways (p. 50). Therefore, under this definition, humor is an essential function of human
consciousness, it is a game we play with our and others consciousnesss. This is why
humor is such a powerful device when it comes to identifying people with each other,
because it is based out of a universalism that makes us human. McLuhans famous
phrase, the medium is the message, really applies here because it is not the content of
the humor that matters but rather the humor itself. Demonstrating humor and
participating with others in the exchange of humor unites us as humankind in our ability
to play with our consciousness, which makes us who we are. We are, as Dutch cultural
theorist Johan Huizinga dubs us, men at play (1938) and our consciousnesss are our
playground. Humor is a form of play in which every human has the ability to participate,
and this is why it is such a powerful rhetorical device.
Further research into humor usage on reddit should focus on a more in-depth,
content analysis of the humor that is employed within the categories that I have found.



76
Such research could lead to, not only further insights on the values contained within these
messages, but also to what are and what are not effective humor usages on the site.
Furthermore, this research should focus more on the most controversial comments in
order to see what values divide the reddit hivemind. Additionally, I think that it would
be an interesting thread to investigate the individuals behind the humor. It would be
interesting to see whether or not individuals did in fact feel more comfortable expressing
themselves in a community shrouded in relative anonymity, allowing them to take greater
social risk with the types of jokes they chose to employ. Beyond that there are
innumerable other potential opportunities for future research. The karma points on reddit
are an especially interesting example of social currency, and it would be interesting to see
what happens when people interact with a quantitatively viewable form of social currency
attached to their interactions.
reddits position within the landscape of Internet culture is only growing as the
site becomes more popularized in the media. In 2012 the site had over 400 million unique
page views, in 2013 that number almost doubled to 731 million (Grant, 2013). That
increased activity in no doubt had to do with the increased visibility of the site in popular
media. In 2013 one major story that grasped the medias attention regarding the site was
after the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013. News of the bombings quickly
spread across the Internet almost instantly after the events unfolded, but perhaps no
community responded the same way the reddit community did. There was a consorted
effort between a large number of redditors to piece through all the available photographic
evidence in an effort to try and uncover the identity of the bomber. The hunt was widely
popularized in the media, however in the end the man the community pegged as the



77
bomber turned out to be an innocent bystander. Tragic ending notwithstanding, the events
demonstrated the power of a social network like reddit to unite people together to do big
things. Like Twitter with the events in Egypt, reddit has a similar power to unite people
around a cause. So, while this research may have focused on the lighter side of reddit,
one would be remised to not consider it as a serious piece of the Internet landscape,
capable of uniting large groups of people over a common cause; they may just get to
know each other with funny cat photos first.




78
Appendix A reddit Glossary
(From - http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/wiki/glossary)

Below is the entire glossary that is presented on /r/TheoryOfReddit it is a wiki document,
meaning that it is open source and that redditors have contributed to the form and
function of this living document. The documents was created because when new users
started using Reddit they can find the lingo used to be somewhat alienating. This list aims
to fix that. (reddit glossary, 2014)


Alt - Alternative user account.
AMA - Ask Me Anything. Also a subreddit.
AMAA - Ask Me Almost Anything
At a [0-10] - "Being at a [0-10]" signifies the highness of the person that smoked
marijuana with 0 being sober and 10 being blown into space. Mostly used in subreddits
like /r/trees. Example: "I wrote this at a solid [7]"
Benned - A perversion of the word "banned" used by SRS mods. see "SRS"
Brave or So Brave - A sarcastic expression used to dismiss a comment or patronize
someone for falling in line with popular opinions.
Brony - A male fan of My Little Pony.
Cakeday - The day a user joined reddit. Like a birthday. It displays a small icon next to
the username.
Circlejerk - A group of people with similar beliefs that self-validate each other, suppress
opposing opinions, do not consider that alternate opinions exist, or consider themselves,
their opinion, or their group exclusive/superior. Derivatives: /r/circlejerk: a parody
subreddit that considers the majority of Reddit a circlejerk. Circlejerker(s): someone (or a
group) from /r/circlejerk, or less commonly, a group that is a circlejerk.
Crosspost - Indicates that the post was also posted on another subreddit where OP
recognized it.
Ctrl-F - Indicates that the user was searching for this specific reference in a thread.
DAE - Does Anyone Else - An appeal to a common feeling/situation/dilemma. Also a
subreddit
Defaults - The twenty subreddits that appear on the Front Page to users who are not
logged in. Reddit users are automatically subscribed when they create a new account.
These subreddits are chosen by having the highest activity on reddit. You can find
them here (the first 20)



79
EDIT - Indicates someone has changed their comment after first posting it. Usually
followed by additional text, responses to subsequent comments, or explanations of why
they edited their comment and what they changed.
ELI5 - Explain like I'm 5 (years old) - A request to explain something in simple terms
(also a subreddit).
Ent - Pot smoker. The term originally comes from the the giant walking trees in Lord Of
The Rings (Trees mean pot). Mostly used in /r/trees aka "home of the ents".
ETA - Edited to add: see edit.
F7U12 - Shorthand for FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU. Usually refers to the popular
subreddit focused on rage-comics.
Fap Masturbate.
Flair - The images or text that appears next to usernames in certain subreddits. Usually
customizable.
[FIXED] - A remix of an original post, often with the effort of making the post more
relevant/close to the truth.
Forever alone Someone with no significant other (often abbreviated as SO) and (often)
little-to-no social skills, and perhaps also simply unattractive. There is some kind of
meme-face associated to this.
FTA - From The Article
FTFY - Fixed That For You - A small edit of a previous comment that changes the
meaning in a (sometimes) fundamental and (almost always) humorous way.
GW - Gone Wild - A NSFW subreddit which features explicit or sexually suggestive
photos of redditors. Amateur (self) photography only.
Hivemind - A collective - usually refering to the reddit hivemind.
IAMA - I Am A - Also a subreddit in which famous or uncommon people get interviewed
by the reddit community. It featured guests like President Obama, Snoop Dogg, Neil
deGrasse Tyson, Scientists of the Mars Curiosity Rover Mission and many more.
IMO - "In My Opinion".
IMHO - "In My Humble (Honest) Opinion".
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly.
ITT - "In This Thread".
Karma - The point system Reddit uses. If people upvote on of your posts you get link-
karma, if they upvote one of your comments you get comment-karma. The opposite when
they downvote. Self-posts (submissions in "text" mode) don't bring you karma. You can
see a total of your karma on your overview page (when you click your username) and it



80
broken down in to comment and link karma if you use the RES extension. Karma is
practically completly use- and worthless. The only practical use it has on reddit is
removing a rate-timer for posts in subreddits in which you got a specific amount of karma
(you can post faster), and for wiki pages if the mods set a subreddit-karma limit. There
are several sites that provide karma statistics like karmawhores.net
Karmawhore - A pejorative term for someone who reposts links (especially if they do it
often), or posts links which pander to reddit hivemind voting patterns in an effort to gain
internet points. May also refer to a user who comments extremely frequently or in a
pandering way (also for internet points). There also is the website karmawhores.net
Meta-subs or meta-reddits - Subreddits oriented around talking about reddit itself.
Subreddit content comes primarily (or exclusively) from www.reddit.com. There
is /r/MetaHub /r/TheoryOfReddit and more
MIC - More In Comments.
Mod - Moderator of a subreddit. They have the power to remove comments and posts,
among other things.
MRA - Men's Rights Activist - Member of a social movement that is focused on
addressing discrimination against men in areas such as reproductive rights, divorce
settlements, domestic violence laws, and sexual harassment laws. Members of this group
have been known to fight with members of other social justice groups.
Neckbeard - A derogatory term used to describe the prototypical reddit user. Term comes
from the percieved poor hygiene of redditors, and failure to shave the facial hair off of
their necks for weeks and months at a time. generally someone is called a neckbeard
when they (hypocritically) judge other people for their faults, but do not see any faults of
their own.
Ninjaedit - Refers to the asterisk that indicates edited comments. If a comment is edited
quickly enough after submission, the asterisk will not appear, removing any evidence that
an edit ever happened, thus "ninjaedit". May also refer to comments that provide no
indication that they were edited, despite the presence of an asterisk. These comments are
looked down upon because they can make threads confusing to read.
Novelty account - An account usually used for humorous purposes, often repeating
variations on a joke related to the name. Eg user "Shittywatercolor" paints watercolors of
various topics that arise in threads.
NSFW Not Safe For Work Usually a warning of a link to a sexual image/video or
gory content. People can also tag their posts to be nsfw by clicking "nsfw->yes" below
the posted link.
NSFL Not Safe For Life Usually a warning of a link to extreme gore.
OP - Original Poster. The person who made the submission that is now being commented
upon.



81
Orangered - The color of the envelope icon when a you have a unread reply/message. To
have an orangered is to have unread messages waiting.
Power user - A user with a high karma score whose username is recognizable to a large
group of people on reddit. Often very frequent posters and may be karmawhores.
Pun thread - A series of comments that make puns (often of lesser and lesser quality)
that are related to a theme of the original post.
Reddit switcharoo - An old comedy method and trope on reddit, in which users will often
facetiously put forward an interpretation of the original post that is coherent, but not
intended, e.g. switching two elements in the post. example: someone posts a picture of a
dog licking a person's face with the caption "I wasn't expecting that". The "switcharoo"
might be someone commenting that "They also weren't expecting the human to react that
way."
Reddiquette - Refers to the rules of Reddit, the rules of a specific subreddit, or less
commonly to unwritten guidelines of conduct followed by typical Redditors.
Relevant username - Used when a comment has a coincidental relation to the name of
the account that posted it.
Repost - Posting an image or link that has already appeared on reddit (usually the same
subreddit) for a second (or more) time in an attempt to gain internet points. Usually
comes up when the previous post was recent and well-received. The word repost is
generally used to denote disapproval, and often sets off a debate on the validity of
reposting in the context of user-voting (ie if reposted content is upvoted then people want
to see it).
RES - "Reddit Enhancement Suite" - A browser addon dedicated to improve the reddit
experience.
RTFA - Read the fucking article.
Shadow-ban - A site-wide ban on a user that the user is not notified of. This is usually
the result of breaking reddit's rules. The user is unaware of the ban because their posts
will still show up for them, but nobody else will see the user's activity. You can see if a
person is shadowbanned if their overview page is an error page. Peoply thinking they're
falsly shadowbanned may read this
Shitpost - A post that lacks any real value. Usually ascribed to circlejerk posts or posts
that are overly stupid, boring, sensationalistic, or lame.
Sockpuppet - Reddit specific definition: An alternate account (see "alt") used by a
redditor to speak in a voice other than that of the creator's recognized user name.
Sockpuppets differ from ordinary alts in that they may be used to express controversial or
negative opinions, rant, or troll. In some cases, a sockpuppet may be shared amongst a
group of users, for such purposes as moderation, vote brigading or trolling. All alt's are
not sockpuppets, but all sockpuppets are alts. A sockpuppet is basically a straw man.



82
Spamfilter - The system that filters out posts likely to be spam in subreddits. Mods can
choose to approve them, if not they won't show up.
SRD - Subreddit drama. Usually refers to the subreddit, /r/subredditdrama, but can also
(very rarely) refer to the actual drama its self.
SRS - Shit Reddit Says - A meta-sub centered around social justice issues and making
fun of the behavior of Reddit users. Controversial opinions and moderation policies make
SRS a hot spot for drama.
Sub - An individual subreddit.
That's the joke or thatsthejoke.jpg - Indicates a commenter has just pointed out the
humor in a joke, especially if the source of the humor is obvious.
THIS - Indicates you agree with or want to draw attention to a comment. Often
downvoted.
TIL - Today, I learned...
TL;DR - Too Long; Didn't Read - After a wall of text a commenter may include a shorter
description of what they wrote about, sometimes humourously. Also sometimes inserted
by another commentator to explain an article or previous comment.
Trees - Pot in general. Also a subreddit for pot smokers who refer to themselves as
"ents."
Whoooosh. - Indicates that a joke has gone over someone's head.
WIP - Work in progress.
X-post - Indicates something that has been posted in multiple subreddits.





83

References

Baym, N. (1995). The performance of humor in computer-mediated
communication. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,1(2),

ben_smith_123. Puppy Party reddit. reddit, Inc., 2014. Web. 1 March 2014

Bergstrom, K. (2011). "Don't feed the troll": Shutting down debate about community
expectations on reddit.com. First Monday, 16(8).
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5210%2Ffm.v16i8.3498

Bierrr. I used to work in a music store, many many years ago. This does remind me of
all the people humming and hoping you would know what they meant reddit.
reddit, Inc., 2014. Web. 26 February 2014

Blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: New Default Subreddits? omgomgomg.
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