Reddit is made of user-created communities you can join or start
Reddit describes itself as a network of communities that its users create, run and populate. Within those communities you can post, comment, vote, discuss, learn, debate, support others and connect with people who share your interests, and Reddit encourages you to find or even create a community of your own.
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Reddit is a vast network of communities that are created, run, and populated by you, the Reddit users.
Through these communities, you can post, comment, vote, discuss, learn, debate, support, and connect with people who share your interests, and we encourage you to find—or even create—your home on Reddit.
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This introduction describes what users can do; it does not itself grant or limit any specific permission. Account and content terms are in other Reddit agreements that were not supplied with this page.
Account & Service Control · Restriction or exception
Moderators enforce community rules; Reddit admins enforce these platform-wide rules
Reddit has two layers of rules. Each community is shaped by its own community rules, which some users enforce as moderators, and informally by members' upvotes, downvotes and discussions. Beneath those are these platform-wide Reddit Rules, which apply to everyone on Reddit and are enforced by Reddit itself ("the admins"). You are asked to follow the rules of the communities you take part in and not to interfere with communities you are not a member of.
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Some of these users help manage the community as moderators.
The culture of each community is shaped explicitly, by the community rules enforced by moderators, and implicitly, by the upvotes, downvotes, and discussions of its community members.
Please abide by the rules of communities in which you participate and do not interfere with those in which you are not a member.
Below the rules governing each community are the platform-wide rules that apply to everyone on Reddit. These rules are enforced by us, the admins.
Qualifications & exceptions
The request to follow community rules and not interfere with other communities is phrased as "Please abide", and the page does not attach a specific penalty to it here; Rule 2 separately makes abiding by community rules a platform rule.
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The page does not say how a conflict between a community's own rules and these platform-wide rules is resolved, or what counts as interfering with a community you are not a member of.
Account & Service Control · Restriction or exception
No community should be used as a weapon; respect others' privacy and safety
Reddit accepts that not every community will suit you and that you may find some unrelatable or even offensive. But it says no community should be used as a weapon: communities should create a sense of belonging for their members, not try to diminish it for others. Everyone on Reddit should have an expectation of privacy and safety, so you are asked to respect the privacy and safety of others.
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While not every community may be for you (and you may find some unrelatable or even offensive), no community should be used as a weapon.
Communities should create a sense of belonging for their members, not try to diminish it for others.
Likewise, everyone on Reddit should have an expectation of privacy and safety, so please respect the privacy and safety of others.
Qualifications & exceptions
Finding a community offensive is acknowledged as something that can happen; the stated line is using a community as a weapon or to diminish belonging for others, not merely being offensive.
This passage is phrased as expectations ("should", "please"); the specific prohibitions and the enforcement actions appear in the numbered rules and the Enforcement section.
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The page does not define what using a community "as a weapon" means.
Account & Service Control · Restriction or exception
You are asked to follow the spirit of the rules, not only their wording
Reddit says it and its communities can only exist if everyone operates by a shared set of rules, and asks you to abide by not just the letter of these rules but their spirit as well.
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Reddit and its communities are only what we make of them together, and can only exist if we operate by a shared set of rules.
We ask that you abide by not just the letter of these rules, but the spirit as well.
Qualifications & exceptions
This is phrased as a request ("We ask that you"), not as a separate rule with its own penalty.
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The page does not explain how Reddit decides what the spirit of a rule requires.
The page's in-page menu lists a "Revisions" entry, but the supplied text contains no revisions section and no effective or last-updated date, so this analysis cannot say when these rules took effect or how changes to them are announced.
Account & Service Control · Restriction or exception
Rule 1: everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying and threats of violence
Rule 1 ("Remember the human") says Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people, and that everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying and threats of violence. In practice, harassing or bullying other users, threatening violence, or attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups breaks this platform-wide rule.
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Remember the human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people.
Everyone has a right to use Reddit free of [harassment, bullying](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043071072), and threats of [violence](https://www.reddithelp.com/en/categories/rules-reporting/account-and-community-restrictions/do-not-post-violent-content).
Qualifications & exceptions
This part of Rule 1 does not name a specific penalty; the Enforcement section lists the range of actions Reddit may take, from asking you to stop to suspending accounts.
Not stated here
The linked help-center article defining harassment and bullying, and the one on violent content, was not supplied with this page, so its detailed definitions and examples are not part of this analysis.
The page does not define "marginalized or vulnerable groups".
Account & Service Control · Company practice
Rule 1: communities and users that incite violence or promote identity-based hate will be banned
Under Rule 1, communities and users that incite violence, or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability, will be banned. Unlike most of the page, this sentence states the consequence directly: a ban, applying both to individual users and to whole communities.
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Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on [identity or vulnerability](https://www.reddithelp.com/en/categories/rules-reporting/account-and-community-restrictions/promoting-hate-based-identity-or) will be banned.
Qualifications & exceptions
The stated ban applies to inciting violence or promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability; it is not stated as the automatic penalty for every Rule 1 breach.
Not stated here
The linked help-center article defining promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability was not supplied with this page, so its detailed definitions and examples are not part of this analysis.
The page does not say whether a ban under this rule is temporary or permanent, or whether it can be appealed.
Account & Service Control · Restriction or exception
Rule 2: follow community rules, participate authentically, and do not spam or disrupt communities
Rule 2 requires you to abide by community rules and to participate authentically in communities where you have a personal interest. You must not spam or engage in disruptive behaviors that interfere with Reddit communities; content manipulation is expressly included as a disruptive behavior. The introduction adds that you should not interfere with communities you are not a member of.
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Abide by community rules. Participate authentically in communities where you have a personal interest, and do not [spam](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/articles/360043504051) or engage in [disruptive behaviors](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/articles/360043066412) (including content manipulation) that interfere with Reddit communities.
Please abide by the rules of communities in which you participate and do not interfere with those in which you are not a member.
Qualifications & exceptions
The ban on disruptive behaviors covers behaviors "that interfere with Reddit communities"; content manipulation is named as one included example.
Not stated here
The linked help-center article defining spam, and the one on disruptive behaviors, was not supplied with this page, so its detailed definitions and examples are not part of this analysis.
The page does not define "content manipulation" or say what makes participation authentic beyond having a personal interest in the community.
Account & Service Control · Restriction or exception
Rule 5: you need not use your real name, but must not intentionally mislead or deceptively impersonate
Rule 5 ("Be authentic") says you do not have to use your real name. What you must not do is intentionally mislead others, or impersonate an individual or entity in a deceptive manner.
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Be authentic. You don't have to use your real name, but [do not intentionally mislead others](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/articles/41180423371156) or [impersonate](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/articles/360043075032) an individual or entity in a deceptive manner.
Qualifications & exceptions
Using a name other than your real name is expressly allowed.
The misleading ban is limited to intentional misleading, and the impersonation ban to impersonation "in a deceptive manner".
Not stated here
The linked help-center article defining intentionally misleading others, and the one on impersonation, was not supplied with this page, so its detailed definitions and examples are not part of this analysis.
The page does not say whether non-deceptive uses such as clearly labeled parody fall outside the impersonation ban; it only limits the ban to deceptive impersonation.
Account & Service Control · Company practice
Enforcement against users ranges from a polite request to account suspension and content removal
Reddit says it enforces these rules in a variety of ways, including but not limited to: asking you nicely to stop, asking you less nicely, temporarily or permanently suspending accounts, removing privileges from or adding restrictions to accounts, and removing content.
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We have a variety of ways of enforcing our rules, including, but not limited to
Asking you nicely to knock it off
Asking you less nicely
Temporary or permanent suspension of accounts
Removal of privileges from, or adding restrictions to, accounts
Removal of content
Qualifications & exceptions
The list is expressly non-exhaustive ("including, but not limited to"), so Reddit may use other enforcement methods.
Not stated here
This page does not say which action applies to which violation, whether you are notified, or how to appeal; other Reddit documents that were not supplied may cover this.
Account & Service Control · Company practice
Enforcement against communities includes NSFW tags, quarantining and banning
Reddit's enforcement methods also reach whole communities: Reddit may add restrictions to communities, such as adding NSFW tags or quarantining them, and may ban Reddit communities.
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We have a variety of ways of enforcing our rules, including, but not limited to
Adding restrictions to Reddit communities, such as adding NSFW tags or
Quarantining
Banning of Reddit communities
Qualifications & exceptions
These are listed among enforcement methods "including, but not limited to"; the list is not exhaustive.
Not stated here
The linked help-center article explaining quarantining was not supplied, so what a quarantine changes for members and visitors is not part of this analysis.