Reddit: Difference between revisions
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== History == |
== History == |
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[[Image:Steve Huffman.jpg|thumb|right|Steve Huffman]] |
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Reddit was founded by [[Steve Huffman]] and [[Alexis Ohanian]] in 2005, then 22-year-old graduates of the [[University of Virginia]].<ref>{{cite news | last = Adams | first = Richard | title = reddit.com | publisher = [[The Guardian]] | date = 2005-12-08 | url = http://technology.guardian.co.uk/innovations/story/0,,1660870,00.html | accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> It received its initial funding from [[Y Combinator]]. The team expanded to include [[Christopher Slowe]] and [[Aaron Swartz]] in 2005. Aaron Swartz joined in late January 2006 as part of the company's merger with Swartz's Infogami.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://infogami.com/blog/introduction|title= Introducing Infogami |
Reddit was founded by [[Steve Huffman]] and [[Alexis Ohanian]] in 2005, then 22-year-old graduates of the [[University of Virginia]].<ref>{{cite news | last = Adams | first = Richard | title = reddit.com | publisher = [[The Guardian]] | date = 2005-12-08 | url = http://technology.guardian.co.uk/innovations/story/0,,1660870,00.html | accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> It received its initial funding from [[Y Combinator]]. The team expanded to include [[Christopher Slowe]] and [[Aaron Swartz]] in 2005. Aaron Swartz joined in late January 2006 as part of the company's merger with Swartz's Infogami.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://infogami.com/blog/introduction|title= Introducing Infogami |
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|last=Swartz | first=Aaron | authorlink=Aaron Swartz| publisher=Infogami | date=February 27, 2006 | accessdate= 2007-01-06}}</ref> The combined company was known as "not a bug". [[Condé Nast Publications]], owner of ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'', acquired not a bug on 31 October, 2006.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/31/breaking-news-conde-nastwired-acquires-reddit/ | title = Breaking news: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires reddit | publisher = [[TechCrunch]]|date=October 31, 2006|accessdate= 2007-01-06 | last=Arrington | first=Michael | authorlink=Michael Arrington}}</ref> |
|last=Swartz | first=Aaron | authorlink=Aaron Swartz| publisher=Infogami | date=February 27, 2006 | accessdate= 2007-01-06}}</ref> The combined company was known as "not a bug". [[Condé Nast Publications]], owner of ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'', acquired not a bug on 31 October, 2006.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/31/breaking-news-conde-nastwired-acquires-reddit/ | title = Breaking news: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires reddit | publisher = [[TechCrunch]]|date=October 31, 2006|accessdate= 2007-01-06 | last=Arrington | first=Michael | authorlink=Michael Arrington}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 23:03, 6 November 2008
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2008) |
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Screenshot reddit front page on June 11, 2008 | |
Type of site | News aggregation site |
|---|---|
| Owner | Condé Nast Publications |
| Created by | Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian |
| URL | www.reddit.com |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Free |
Reddit (also reddit) is a social news website on which users can post links to content on the web. Other users may then vote the posted links up or down, causing them to appear more or less prominently on the Reddit home page.
Overview
The site has discussion areas in which users may discuss the posted links and vote for or against others' comments. When there are enough votes against a given comment, it will not be displayed by default, although a reader can display it through a link or preference. Users who submit articles which other users like and subsequently "vote up" receive "karma" points as a reward for submitting interesting articles.
Reddit also includes several topical sections called "subreddits", which focus on specific topics, such as programming, science, "not safe for work", and politics. There are dozens of subreddits.[1]
The Reddit logo changes for various holidays and often for no reason, paying homage to Star Wars, classic video games, and geek culture in general. It often changes in response to major discussion subjects within the site or major news stories.
Although Reddit is not moderated by its owners, the Reddit developers have built a system to aid with curtailing spam, which works based on the "reports" of users.
History
Reddit was founded by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian in 2005, then 22-year-old graduates of the University of Virginia.[2] It received its initial funding from Y Combinator. The team expanded to include Christopher Slowe and Aaron Swartz in 2005. Aaron Swartz joined in late January 2006 as part of the company's merger with Swartz's Infogami.[3] The combined company was known as "not a bug". Condé Nast Publications, owner of Wired, acquired not a bug on 31 October, 2006.[4]
On June 18, 2008, Reddit became an open source project.[5] With the exception of the anti-spam/cheating portions, all of the code and libraries written for Reddit became freely available on another website dubbed "Fixxit".[6]
Reddit was named by Ohanian while browsing the University of Virginia's Alderman Library.[7] It is short for "read it", and is generally pronounced in the past tense, as in "I have read it."
Technology
Reddit was originally written in Lisp, but was rewritten in Python in 2005.[8] The reasons given for the switch were faster performance, wider access to code libraries, and greater development flexibility. The Python web framework that former Reddit employee Aaron Swartz developed to run the site, web.py, is now available as an open-source project.[9]
It now uses the Pylons web framework.[10]
Reddit is hosted on several Debian Linux servers running lighttpd, HaProxy, and paster.[11]
References
- ^ reddits
- ^ Adams, Richard (2005-12-08). "reddit.com". The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ Swartz, Aaron (February 27, 2006). "Introducing Infogami". Infogami. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (October 31, 2006). "Breaking news: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires reddit". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
- ^ Open source announcement on the Reddit blog
- ^ http://code.reddit.com/
- ^ "reddit nostalgia: whence came the name?," on Alexis Ohanian's blog
- ^ "On lisp" blog post by reddit moderator "spez," detailing the reasons for switching to python from lisp
- ^ Official web.py site
- ^ http://wiki.pylonshq.com/display/pylonscommunity/Sites+Using+Pylons
- ^ Netcraft report on reddit.com
External links
- Official site
- Fixxit (Reddit's code repository)
- think you've reddit all? - Alexis's blog (the logo artist).
- Interview with Reddit - Interview with Steve Huffman, co-founder of reddit.
- Interview with Reddit II - Interview with Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of reddit.
- Interview - Alexis Ohanian, reddit Co-Founder - Interview with Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of reddit.