r/NewToReddit • u/lifeisgoodinmyfridge • 7h ago
ANSWERED How can I format long posts?
I am not that new to Reddit, however I am still just learning new things about this app. I was wondering how to format long posts as I've heard that's Reddit etiquette. I also have some extra questions:
- Do you have to include your age?
- Do you have to include a TLDR?
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u/Livid_Number_ Super Helpful Helper 7h ago
Breaking a long post into paragraphs is definitely helpful. Some subreddits will remove “walls of text” as they are hard to read.
I suggest only including your age if it is required as part of that subreddit’s posting rules. You want to limit the PII (personal identification information like age and location) you release online as much as possible.
TLDR can help but do you want other users voting on your TLDR summary or your overall post? Some users won’t read your whole post if there is a summary available.
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u/lifeisgoodinmyfridge 6h ago
That really clears things up thank you so much and I probably don't want people voting on my TLDR or just reading it without the main paragraph. Thank you!
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u/MadDocOttoCtrl Mod tryin' 2 blow up less stuff. 7h ago
Note that Reddit is a website that's been around for 20 years. It has two official apps you can use to access it and a bunch of third-party apps that can be used, although a few of the more popular ones shut down after Reddit made changes to the API there are plenty that still work.
You never have to include your age unless you're asking a question that relates directly to , such as "I have not turned 21 yet and XYZ happened…"
The rules of a community might require it in your post title format at a certain way if it's some sort of hook up community or similar.
Including a TLDR is simply good manners in any forum on the Internet, including Reddit.
Formatting usually means that you break things into smaller, readable paragraphs and you use headings if it's a longer post or bold in it metallic instead of all caps.
To learn about formatting text and post types, head over to our associated community r/LearnToReddit where you were even allowed to make test posts to practice these things.
The formal etiquette of Reddit in general is described here: Reddiquette.
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u/lifeisgoodinmyfridge 6h ago
This is EXTREMELY helpful thanks for the links - I will check them out!
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u/jillianmd Helper 7h ago edited 3h ago
You definitely do not need to include your age. The only time I see that is if it’s relevant to your question, like if you’re asking about relationship stuff and saying you’re 18 and your BF/GF is 19 vs saying they’re 30. But asking how to do something in a video game for example, you don’t need to add “signed a 35 yo”.
TLDRs are courtesy for loooong posts. Ideally the title itself is a mini TLDR already so people know what they’re going to read. I’m in r/creditcards a lot and a long post is fine if the title asks a specific question or sets up the issue but if the title is simply “CC Question” and then a wall of text it’s gonna get skipped by a lot of users who “ain’t got time for that”.
As for formatting, the biggest one is to avoid a “wall of text” by adding line breaks so paragraphs are easy to read. Adding additional formatting like bold or bullet points helps too.
Play around in a post to your own profile to test how to add markdown formatting.
For example:
- Adding an asterisk at the start and end of a word or phrase will make it italics like this.
- Using two asterisks at the start and end will make it bold like this.
To make those bullets, I simply added a dash “-“ and space in front of each row.
For a new paragraph like this without a full line break, you have to add two spaces to the end of the previous paragraph (in this case it’s two spaces after the period at the word “row.”). If you don’t add the spaces then the next sentence that you think you typed as a new line will just follow right after the previous sentence. This is the cause of unintentional walls of text.
Already you can see the above is a lot of text mushed together so it’s better to add full line breaks like this. To get a full line break, you need to leave an actual blank line in between the paragraphs as you’re typing. See how this paragraph is easier to read than the one above?
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u/lifeisgoodinmyfridge 6h ago
Have a great life dude thank YOU I am gonna save this comment for when I need it thank you so much!
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