Reddit? Is that another acronym like AITA? I really don’t care for people who spread acronyms like it makes them something special.
Spell things out – no matter HOW common YOU think they are in your corner of the planet!
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LOL. Oh Ken. Have you not heard of Reddit?
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But otherwise, your average working class Boston resident suffers. Those 40+ listing groups weren’t doing anyone any favors. Enjoy less competition.
I’ve seen the word in passing, but haven’t a clue (or clew) as to what it is. Not knowing has yet to impact my life…
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It’s one of the top 20 most visited websites in the world (right behind Amazon and Windows Live). Back when it started it was mostly cat memes and scientific articles. Now it’s cat memes and a “subreddit” for any topic you can possibly imagine.
The subreddit for airbnb (reddit.com/r/airbnb) is entertaining, but you’ll be trolled by communists saying you’re part of the capitalist machine. lol.
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We’ve referenced it here many times, even in this thread. It’s just a forum, or rather a collection of forums. Topic areas are called sub-reddits. It’s very well known and has been around over 10 years. (now people can come along and correct me)
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Yeah, but, Ken …you wouldn’t have asked for Facebook to be explained, would you? (Hint, it is not a Book full of faces …)
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@KenH It’s like a library of forums. There is really something for everyone. Some people enjoy some of the subreddits as entertainment value but just as many are informational.
Since we bought this big old house I’ve gone to different subreddits for free advice from professionals for everything from plumbing to plastering to gardening. For my personal interests I like the subreddits for rare books, cordwaining, leathercraft, artisan videos, printmaking, art documentaries and rollerblading.
As a professional I contribute to the Occupational Therapy subreddit as I have 20+ years experience and it’s mostly younguns trying to decide if they want to do it, trying to get into school or just starting their professional careers and it feels good to ‘give back’.
And I like some fun ones like ‘no stupid questions’ and ‘explain like I’m five’ and enjoy contributing to those too. ‘Funny sad’ and ‘BoneAppleTea’ are good for a giggle.
There’s a page for my city and for my state and they are indispensable during weather or traffic events. They are also good for local happenings and local history information.
It’s not overstimulating or hard to navigate like Facebook, you don’t have to make friends and you can go directly to the topics you’re interested in.
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Anyone is free to use acronyms like AITA if they want to, certainly, but know that its use will exclude people here who don’t know what it is. We’ve explained that this forum is NOT reddit. It is populated by folks of all ages and cultures. If you want to argue the point and mock or demean folks like @KenH for not knowing, it says that you’re surely more invested in showing how hip and net-culture-savvy you than actually getting an answer to the question you posted. So, in response to the question, Am I The Asshole, I’m now more inclined to say, “yeah, I’m starting to think you are.”
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@CatskillsGrrl This is odd for me because I don’t think I’ve ever disagreed with you before 
I didn’t get that anyone was mocking @KenH. If anything, he was mocking something that he freely admitted not knowing anything about. If I don’t know what an acronym stands for, then I ask so that I can learn. Demeaning the person who used it doesn’t help anything and doesn’t spread knowledge.
As is reddit. In fact, there is far more diversity on reddit because it’s not only airbnb hosts.
Though my favorite subreddit, right now, is plumbing and I’ve gotten indispensable step-by-step advice on plumbing renovations from a lot of guys who actually seem somewhat similar to Ken. E.g. there is every type of person on reddit, even grouchy know it alls, but, damn, they know their plumbing 
(and they give good advice for free!)
I really think you might have the wrong idea about reddit. I would never consider myself hip or net-culture-savvy. I don’t facebook or anything even. It sounds like you aren’t very familiar with it and I find it shocking that you’d criticize someone purely based on a reference to it.
Ken could have just asked, “what’s AITA?” and “what’s reddit?”. I’m sure Ken is not all-knowing and we can’t tiptoe around him hoping that we only mention things that he already knows. Talk about demeaning.
Edit to add: I hate to sound all “net savvy” in the 21st century here. But it’s easy enough to put an acronym in the Google (is that safe to mention?) search bar and it will tell right away what it stands for. I’m not a fan of willfully not knowing stuff 
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Reddit and this forum are two completely different ecosystems. Many people here can’t even figure out how to edit their response or find the FLAG button. They are here because they are trying to earn a living or supplement their income on Airbnb and they need help or answers. Many struggle with English. If you think they know what AITA means I just can’t explain it any clearer than I already have. If you think the burden is on THEM to google it rather than ask for clarity or to answer the question, then I just have to throw up my hands.
The mature response to simply reminding users that acronyms are not universally understood at a glance - especially when its use was the nut of the whole question in the subject line is: “Of course, yes. It means this.”
The fact that more than one person here did not know what it meant proves my point. Either write in a way that is inclusive or don’t, but have the graciousness to accept the simple common sense truth that acronyms like Am I The Asshole will not be understood by all.
It’s also unusual for me to disagree with you but acronyms are used here all the time that people don’t know the meaning of. Some are related to the topic like STR, OTA or IB. Others like FWIW, ICYMI are common but not always known. Recently FWP and FIGJAM were used and questioned. A search of the word “acronym” on the forum finds multiple posts where people don’t know acronyms. I think this is the first time it’s been suggested that acronyms shouldn’t be used in the name of being more inclusive.
It’s interesting to think the burden is on those who know more to simplify their posts rather than those who don’t know to find out, even if it means just asking. By that standard I should quit using my normal vocabulary that includes words that I’ve been told people didn’t know and which they had to look up.
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Yeah, I had to google those!
To actually be fair, AITA is almost exclusively a Reddit term, so if you don’t go there, you don’t know it.
So then you ask what it means or you google it.
I’m really sorry to have started a flame war. Frankly I used the term because I didn’t want to spell out a**hole here, thinking people would get offended. Please let’s stop.
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I had to look up FWP and FIGJAM, too. And now I forget what they are.
It took me a long time to figure out other abbrevs/acronyms used here (STR, IB, OH, SO, BDC). I don’t tend to use those things in my own writing/texting. I’ve used a few here on the forum, but I agree that they’re not ideal.
I see nothing wrong in just spelling things out. As @CatskillsGrrl said, this is international, and the participants are of all ages. Participants are always entering the conversation for the first time, too. I’m in favor of clarity.
But then it’s not a huge thing. And I hope we can all just get past whatever angst we feel about it.
But, but, but…
Okay. Your point of view is valid. I definitely want to be clear and I have a lot of experience doing so in my teaching career. With many English Language Learners in my classes I had many instances of my students not understanding many of my idioms. Once a Brazilian student raised his hand and said "miss, I don’t know this word, ‘ah-kah.’ " I had used “aka” for also known as on the overhead projector during my lecture. My reply was “I don’t know the word ah-kah either. I know the word caca though.”
Laugh out loud.
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I don’t have any angst about it but I personally value learning new things and that is exactly the benefit of an international forum of all ages - lots of new stuff to learn
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