For much of The Internet reddit is the gateway to everything interesting going on in the world.

網路上大多人將reddit視為通往世界各地所有有趣新鮮事的門戶

Checking reddit.com is like reading the daily newspaper except that reddit is timely, interactive, personalized, participatory, horrifyingly absorbing at times, ...and basically, "good."

瀏覽reddit的網站跟看報紙很像，只是reddit的資訊更即時、具有互動性、個人化、有參與性、有時候詭異地特別吸引人...總之基本上來說，還不錯

The way it works is that people submit links to reddit (blog posts or images or videos) and other people vote those links up or down.

它運作的方式為人們傳連結上去(部落格、圖片或是影片)，接著其他人再投票決定那些好或不好

It's a simple idea but it makes reddit into a list of the best stuff that people are reading or watching on The Internet right now.

這點子很簡單，但這讓reddit變成人們公認為現在最好用的網頁之一

The name is a contraction of 'Read It' as in: I already read it on Reddit, which if you spend significant time on the site, is what you'll say to everyone who tries to show you anything. It's a kind of awesome curse.

reddit的名字為"Read it" 精簡來的，意思是我已經在reddit上"read it"(讀過了)，而其實如果你花了許多時間在這裡瀏覽，你可能就會對想跟你分享任何事情的人說這句話，這也是個滿酷的小詛咒

Because there are no editors on reddit, you never know what you're going to find but you can bet it's going to be funny or interesting or enraging because thousands of other people have already voted that it's something to see.

因為在reddit沒有正式固定的編輯群，你永遠不知道你會探索到什麼新鮮事，但能確定的是你看到的東西一定十分好玩、有趣或是讓你氣得直跳腳，因為已經有超過一千人替你投票覺得這東西該不該看了

Think of it this way: if Google is where you go to search for things, then reddit is where you go to see the things that people have found.

這樣說吧，如果Google是你搜尋資料的地方，那麼reddit就是讓你看別人已經找好的資料的地方

But reddit is not just one list of stuff: reddit is a beautiful fractal with sections, called subreddits.

但是reddit上的東西可不只一種，reddit還有很多如碎花般不同的種類，叫做subreddits

If you just like politics or programming or funny image captions or sports or world news there are subreddits that list only that stuff.

如果只對政治、程式設計、有趣的小圖片、運動或是世界新聞有興趣，reddit也有專屬這些種類的subreddits

And there's going to be a subreddit for your city or country or region.

上面還有針對你住的城市、國家、甚至地區性的subreddit

Love a TV show that ended years ago? There's a subreddit where people are still talking about it as though it just aired.

或是你有喜歡哪部在幾年前就出完的電視劇嗎？在它專屬的subreddit上還有人們在談論它，好像這部才剛開始播而已

Tech geeks have their technology and flag geeks have their vexillology and -- and on the off chance you're interested in something the doesn't yet exist, just press a button and a new subreddit is born.

沉迷於科技及國旗的人有專屬科技及旗幟學的區域，萬一上面真的沒有你感到興趣的地方，你只要按個鈕，新的subreddit就跑出來了

And each subreddit works just like the main page: a constantly updating list of interesting stuff according to the people interested in that stuff.

而且每個subreddit就跟首頁一樣，會根據網友的興趣喜好持續更新不同有趣的事物

And when a subreddit grows large, it can be terrifyingly good at this: for example AWW, a section devoted to adorableness, is a GLOBAL 24-HOUR-A-DAY BATTLE TO FIND THE CUTEST IMAGES EVER!

當一個subreddit聲勢越來越大時，頁面更新會快得很可怕，像是「噢～」，一個專屬可愛動物的討論區，成為了一場二十四小時不眠不休的全球性競賽，只為了找出一張最可愛的動物照片

Turns out if you give people with baby animal photos a place to have their baby animal photos compete, the result is the highest density of cuteness human civilization has yet created.

結果證明如果你給這些有可愛動物圖片的人們一個可以比較那些照片的地方，人類史上密度最高的可愛動物區就會接著誕生

But without editors running the site, how does that sorting process work?

但如果沒有編輯去管理這個網站，這種資料整理的方式該怎麼運作呢？

There's no time to get into the code, but you can think of it like this:

解釋那些程式太耗時了，但你可以這麼想：

Links people sumbit are balloons floating up and down the list.

人們放上去的連結很像飛上飛下的氣球

When someone votes up a link it adds a bit of helium and a down votes sucks out little bit of helium.

當人們投票覺得這連結不錯，就會加一點氦氣進去，若投票覺得不好，就吸一點氦氣出來

Periodically reddit puts weights on all of the balloons -- giving newer links that show up later a chance to compete against the ones that have been around longer.

reddit還會定期為所有氣球加點氦氣，讓新來的氣球有機會跟其他舊氣球競爭

This method is shockingly good at sorting stuff, be it international politics or pictures of computer setups.

這方法對於管理各式主題來說意外的好用，像是國際政治或是跟電腦配件相關的圖片

Of course, when a website covers the whole of human endeavor things get weird: like subreddits for only photos of birds... with arms or only photos of Hitler... with socks and then there are always the other kinds of photos humans like to look at and sometimes collections of horrifying things that cannot be unseen.

理所當然的，如果一個網站囊括了全人類的文明，那上面一定也會有奇怪的東西出現，像是專門放那種有手的...鳥，或是穿襪子的...希特勒的subreddit，當然還有放是人都愛看的某種圖片，以及很嚇人但不得不分享的事物

So yeah, this has taken a turn for the worse. But remember reddit can be weird not because reddit is weird but because humans are weird.

所以呃，這讓整個reddit的感覺變糟了，不過記住，reddit會如此詭異的原因不是因為它本身很奇怪，而是因為人類本身就很奇怪了

And the great thing about reddit is that it changes to suit you: as you join subreddits you like and leave those you don't the main page becomes *yours*: listing all the best stuff from all the subreddits you follow and leaving out stuff from the ones you don't.

有件關於reddit挺棒的事就是它十分客製化，當你參與了你喜歡的subreddits跟不去管那些你沒興趣的，整個首頁就變成是「你的」了，只會列出你有興趣的subreddits而不是那些你沒興趣的

So reddit is a lot like life: it is what you make it.

所以reddit也滿像人的一生：你的所有由你決定

But links are only the tip of the redditberg, because people can discuss the links and this is where the true heart of reddit lies.

但這些連結對於reddit來說還只是冰山一角，因為當人們討論這些連結時，reddit的核心價值才算出現

Most forums on the Internet are hideous, but reddit ain't your grandma's bulletin board.

大多一般網路論壇的外觀真的不怎麼好看，而reddit可不是你奶奶會用的那種老舊佈告欄

Just as that baloon sort method finds the best links there's some math that's more complicated (and less explainable) that finds the most interesting comments in a discussion and brings them to the top.

就像氣球原理能找出人氣最高的連結，還有一些更複雜(也比較難解釋)的方法讓討論區最受歡迎的留言能往上浮起來

And reddit displays comments in a way that encourages back-and-forth discussions. Unlike some *other* comment systems.

reddit展示這些留言的方式能夠鼓勵人們不停地去討論，不像「某些」留言系統

This sorting and threading means that the discussion of a link on reddit is always more interesting than the link itself.

這種連貫的統整方法讓連結下的討論比連結本身還有趣許多

So there are subreddits that are nothing *but* discussion: such as Change My View for debates or Ask A Scientist where experts answer questions, or there's 'IamA' where people say what they are "I am a fireman" or "I am an Escort" or "I am a prison guard" and answer questions from the comments.

所以也有只有「討論」的subreddits，像是「挑戰我的想法吧」的辯論區、「看看科學家怎麼說」讓專家回答問題的地方，或是「我是一個...」讓各種職業的人介紹自己的地方，例如「我是個消防員」、「我是保鏢」或「我是監獄警衛」，並回答其他人的問題

And because people on reddit are anonymous, discussions are way more interesting and open than if people were forced to use their real names.

而且因為在reddit上人們是匿名的，這些討論會比被迫用真名留言的還更有趣及開放

Though, with anonymity you'll find that not everyone's private thoughts exposed are beautiful.

雖然使用匿名的方式會讓你發現原來不是每個人內心的想法都如此美麗

And sometimes it can be uncomfortable to see what the faceless group thinks about a topic.

而且當看到某個匿名的團體在討論一個話題時，可能還會感到不舒服

But luckily reddit has a way to deal with comments you think are unhelpful.

但幸運的是reddit有辦法讓你對付那些你覺得一點幫助都沒有的留言

And despite people who act badly it's clear that reddit can only exist because the majority of people, even when anonymous, are good.

而儘管有那些行為不檢點的人，很明顯的reddit能存在的原因就是因為大部分的人即使匿名還是十分友善的

But this anonymity isn't required however, so you'll also find Actors and Authors, Presidents and prime ministers all on reddit answering questions from the community.

但匿名不是強制的，所以你也會看到一些演員、作家、總統或是首相在reddit上回答討論區裡的問題

And reddit really is a community with it's own culture and history and that increasingly has an effect on the physical world with things like: meeting up in person and raising money for charity and defending the Internet and helping a family be with their sick child and holding the word's largest secret santa and sending teachers the supplies they need.

而reddit真的是有著自己文化歷史的一個群體，這也漸漸影響我們實際的世界，像是和某個人見面、為慈善團體募款、保衛這網際網路、幫助一個家庭陪伴家裡生病的孩子、扮成世界上最厲害的聖誕老人，以及贈送物資給需要它們的老師

With its rapid-fire democracy and shocking quick reactions, reddit can sometimes makes you feel more like a citizen of the Internet than a citizen of your own country.

有了這種如野火蔓延般的民主群體以及快得離譜的留言回應，reddit有時候可以讓你覺得自己比較像是網路上的市民，而不是你自己國家的

But in the end it's hard to understand reddit without just jumping in and commenting and voting, which you really should.

但結論是，如果連點進去連結而且留言投票這些事都沒試過(你應該去試試看)，你還是很難真正了解reddit的

Once you get the hang of the place, you'll wonder how you ever Internetted without it.

一旦你被這地方吸引了，你就會開始好奇你在這之前是怎麼上網查資料的

P.S. If you are already a user of reddit and love the site, you should consider buying some reddit gold to support it.

備註：如果你已經是reddit的用戶而且很愛這網站的話，你應該考慮買一些reddit gold來支持它們

I was surprised to learn while making this video that despite its increasing popularity reddit still isn't profitable.

我感到滿訝異的，在做這影片時我發現雖然reddit越來越受歡迎，但它其實還無法營利

If, like me, you use reddit *all day* it's more than worth a couple of bucks a month.

如果你像我一樣「整天」用reddit，那麼一個月付個幾塊錢比起來根本不算什麼了