• Users of Reddit frequently ask questions or seek advice on the platform. Whole subreddits exist devoted to the practice.
• Some posts have gained viral attention, and users often attest that Reddit advice helped them in their situation.
• Because Reddit always anonymity, users often post more freely than on other platforms like Facebook, but this comes at the price of trustworthiness of information around sensitive topics such as medical or legal advice. 
• This story is part of the series: A beginner's guide to the internet. 

Have a problem that you want to pose to an anonymous internet audience? A specific question that no one in your life can help with? Or do you just want to read other people's drama? Then Reddit's ask and advice communities may be the place for you.

There are over 1.8 million subreddits, many of which allow users to ask questions and offer advice. As per the rest of Reddit, comments and posts are sorted through an upvote and downvote points system. The ask and advice communities have often gained notoriety and made headlines for their seemingly melodramatic content, but they can also be a place where real users get help for a whole host of different issues. Whether it's getting dating tips or identifying a mysterious object, Reddit is here to help. 

What are the Advice Subreddits?

For a range of advice requests, the most general advice subreddit is r/Advice. The subreddit "is a place where you can ask for advice on any subject" and currently has over 365,000 members. As a result, the posts can be eclectic — from "Is it okay for men to wear sports bras?" to "What can I do against the guy who constantly downvotes my posts and comments?" Posts gravitate towards relationships, but any issue is hypothetically allowed. 

However, many more subreddits exist for specific advice. One of the most notable is r/relationships, one of the many designated spaces for discussing interpersonal relationships. Many of the popular posts deal with serious issues, such as suicide and grief, but plenty of posts still discuss the everyday.

The phrase, "hit the gym, lawyer up, delete Facebook," has become a popular phrase which some people use to mock the perceived advice often given in relationship subreddits, however, update posts frequently thank users for their feedback.

Some more specific advice subreddits include:

• r/legaladvice: a place where users ask legal questions.
• r/JUSTNOMIL: a subreddit for users to share stories and ask for advice about their mother-in-laws.
• r/askwomenadvice: barring legal and medical advice, a space to ask women for advice.

What are Ask Subreddits?

Often overlapping with the advice subreddits, ask subreddits also allow users to ask questions. With 26 million members, r/AskReddit is a hugely popular destination — but only for open-ended questions. In any given week, users can exchange everything from pro-tips for the opposite sex to stories about crime-scene clean-ups. 

For specific requests, many more subreddits exist:

• r/AmItheAsshole: users share a story and then ask for a verdict of NTA (not the asshole), YTA (you're the asshole), NAH (no assholes here), or ESH (everyone sucks here).
• r/IsItBullshit: a place for fact-checking potentially misleading claims.
• r/explainlikeimfive: users ask for a complex issue to be simplified as if explaining it to a child.

Some posts are legendary. 

Reddit's ask and advice communities provide a varied range of content that is easy to spend hours delving into, but here are just a few posts to get started:

• "What tasty food would be distusting if eaten over rice?" Despite the typo in the title, one of the most entertaining r/AskReddit posts came when a user asked what food would taste terrible paired with rice. They then proceeded to make many of the suggested recipes, providing a rating for each one: jelly beans: 8/10. Jelly beans with rice: 4/10. Little too weird on the textures and not the best flavors either."
• "Me 18m with my Dad 46m, I'm afraid he's going to do something to the man who killed my mother." A young user posted in r/relationships, afraid of what his father would do after his mother was killed in a drunk driving accident. In an update post, he credits Reddit's advice for helping him convince his father to go to therapy.
• "[MA] Post-it notes left in apartment." A series of posts that got turned into a podcast began when a user kept finding mysterious post-it notes in their apartment. Initially concerned about a break-in or a stalking landlord, the user turned to r/legaladvice. However, one commenter suggested that the problem might be a carbon monoxide leak — which turned out to be exactly right. 

Things to keep in mind.

There are a few things to keep in mind when engaging with ask and advice subreddits:

• Adhere to the subreddit rules. Posts can easily be removed for not adhering to guidelines. These can vary considerably by subreddit: r/relationships insists users include age and gender in their post titles and a TL;DR (too long, didn't read) summary at the end, whereas r/relationship_advice does not.
• Be kind. Contrary to popular belief, many subreddits do not tolerate harmful content. There is a reason why the first rule of r/advice is "be nice." 
• Be specific. While identifying information can be omitted, the best posts are rarely generalized. 
• Be open to taking advice. It may seem obvious, but users who are perceived to be combative to suggestions are typically downvoted in the comment section. 

The Risks of Reddit.

One of Reddit's biggest draws is also a huge drawback. The anonymity the platform allows users means that people might feel freer to be more forthcoming, but also doesn't guarantee that who you're talking to knows what they're talking about. This can lead to huge risks in subreddits like r/STDs, where more than half of posts ask users for a diagnosis. There's the potential for misinformation to proliferate, as there's often few ways to check whether or not the person is a licensed medical professional or just a teenager with WebMD. 

 Plus, some of the posts asking for advice might be entirely fabricated.

In 2016, Reddit announced that text-only posts would be eligible for karma (Reddit's user points system) — which incentivized more outlandish content. Take one user who pretended that her mother-in-law had accused her of killing her unborn children through drug use and held a funeral for some creepy baby dolls. The moderators found that the posts were completely fake, deleted the posts and banned the user. However, not all fake posts are spotted so easily. 

Even if a post is sincere, there's still a chance that it won't just be kept to the confines of a few people on the subreddit of choice. Reddit is a huge website where advice and ask posts often reach the front page, so it's not uncommon to see phrases like "they ended up finding this post" on updates.

Outside of Reddit, the communities frequently attract the attention of the media and Twitter. There are even entire accounts dedicated to screenshotting posts — such as @redditships, which tweets relationship advice subreddit content to over 256,000 followers. Of course, the chances of a post going viral are slim — but still there. 

All in all, Reddit can still be a great place to ask burning questions, seek advice or gain insight into people's lives all over the world — with some caution. 

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• Reddit users shared hilarious stories of facts they learned way too late in life.
• One person mistakenly thought cheese grew on trees ... until they were "12 or 13."
• Someone else was in their 20s when they found out the Sistine Chapel wasn't called the "16th Chapel."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

We hope the old saying that you're "never too old to learn" is true, because if these Reddit users'stories are any indication, some things manage to slip through the cracks, no matter how smart you are — or how old.

From believing that cheese grew on bushes to misunderstanding how speed bumps function, here are 12 of the most hilarious facts Reddit users only learned at an embarrassingly late age ... and though Insider can't independently verify any of these tales, they do make for some wild reading.

"I thought ponies were baby horses."

Reddit user cal-gal's mistaken belief that ponies were baby horses is a common one, but as user stegasp clarified: "Ponies are small breeds of horses. Baby horses are called foals."

"My sister believed Mount Rushmore was a naturally occurring rock formation."

"This may seem too ridiculous to be true, but I assure you, it is...

Until she was in her mid-20s, my sister believed Mount Rushmore was a naturally occurring rock formation. Until somewhere in her teen years, she thought earlier Americans had used Mount Rushmore to select presidents, and was very concerned we had 'used up all the good ones.'"— Reddit user whimbrel.

For the curious, Mount Rushmore is a giant granite sculpture in South Dakota, designed by a man named Gutzon Borglum — read up on more facts about Mount Rushmore here.

"I didn't know narwhals were real until sophomore year of college."

Some people erroneously believe that narwhals are not real — but they are! Reddit user 1pptouch, who wrote the confession above, went on to explain: "I knew what they were, but I thought that they were like a mermaid or a sphinx."

"Thought Olivia Newton-John, Fig Newtons, and Newton's Laws were part of some sort of family business."

"I don't think I got that completely straightened out until middle school," Reddit user 2OQuestions, who posted the confession above, continued.

"I was convinced cheese grew on bushes till 12-13 years old."

"My brother is really proud of this," added Reddit user digdat0, the author of this confession.

"The piggy going to market isn't buying groceries."

As Reddit user mutedsilver explains, the popular nursery rhyme "This Little Piggy" by Mother Goose isn't really describing a cohort of talking pigs' trip to the marketplace.

"The first little piggy guess to market to be sold as meat; the second piggy stays home as breeding stock; the third piggy eats roast beef and other leftovers from the table to fatten him up; the fourth piggy has none, as you usually don't feed shortly before slaughter; the fifth one didn't sell, so it makes pig sounds (or cheers 'Oui!') all the way home."

"Thought the Sistine Chapel was called the '16th Chapel' until I was in my early 20s."

"Thought the Sistine Chapel was called the '16th Chapel' until I was in my early 20s. I just figured there were at least 15 other chapels that predated the famous 16th one."— Reddit user Hamburbler.

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took Michelangelo four years to complete, allegedly features a hidden message.

"Lemons and limes are not the same fruit."

"I always thought a lemon was ripe and a lime was not a lemon yet."— Reddit user somebrero.

"I didn't know pickles were just cucumbers in vinegar."

"I didn't know pickles were just cucumbers in vinegar until I was 19."— Reddit user ayala965.

"Arkansas is pronounced 'arkensaw' and not the way that it's spelled."

To be fair, Reddit user Bumbo_clot, who posted the above confession, said that they are "... not from the US though, so it's not so embarrassing."

"In my mid-30s [I] learned coffee cake was not coffee-flavored cake."

In the US coffee cake generally refers to a sweet cake meant to be eaten with coffee.

Reddit user 2OQuestions, who posted the confession above, explained: "I thought the name was 'breakfast cake' because my family had only eaten it at breakfast and I had only had it several times in my life. Whenever I saw it on a menu I avoided it. As a kid I just made the (reasonable) leap that coffee ice cream tasted like coffee, so coffee cake tasted like coffee. I don't like the taste of coffee."

The above response has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

"[I thought] going over [speed bumps] would slow your car down."

"I thought speed bumps on the road were supposed to slow you down. As in, you would drive over them at a normal speed, and going over them would slow your car down. I had been driving for about five years by the time someone corrected me..."— An anonymous Reddit user.

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• Twitter is testing a new feature that would show warnings below tweets from politicians and public figures that have been flagged as misleading by users, according to NBC News.
• Large, brightly colored labels would appear below tweets reported as "harmfully misleading," according to NBC.
• One version being considered would also rely on a points-based system to prevent trolls from taking over and encourage users to "contribute in good faith and act like a good neighbor."
• This latest experiment suggests Twitter will continue to rely on community input as it tries to fight misinformation.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Twitter is testing out new ways to warn users of misinformation posted by politicians and public figures that would rely on community input "like Wikipedia," according to NBC News.

The experimental feature would display large, brightly colored labels directly below tweets flagged by fact-checkers, journalists, and potentially other users as likely to be "harmfully misleading," according to a leaked demo seen by NBC. The labels would include a correction and an option for users to chime in with their own vote.

One version would also count those votes differently based on how many "points" a user has earned, which would be awarded to those who "contribute in good faith and act like a good neighbor," according to the demo.

While flagging content, users would be asked three questions, according to NBC: whether the tweet is "likely" or "unlikely" harmfully misleading, how many users out of 100 would agree with them, and why the tweet is misleading.

The points system and questions could be an effort to prevent trolls and partisans from trying to flag opinions they disagree with.

"We're exploring a number of ways to address misinformation and provide more context for Tweets on Twitter. This is a design mockup for one option that would involve community feedback. Misinformation is a critical issue and we will be testing many different ways to address it," a Twitter spokesperson told Business Insider in an emailed statement.

Twitter and other social media platforms have been struggling to combat the spread of misinformation on their platforms, especially when it comes to political content, and they're facing intense pressure to sort things out ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Twitter recently announced new rules banning "synthetic or manipulated" content that could cause harm, and said it would begin labeling various types of manipulated content beginning on March 5.

As social media platforms race to find effective solutions, Twitter has looked to users to a greater extent than companies like Facebook and YouTube. Last November, it put out a call for public feedback that the company said helped inform its new manipulated media policy. This latest experiment suggests that Twitter is continuing to take cues from Wikipedia, Reddit, and other online platforms where users play a significant role in moderating content. 

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• Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said TikTok is "fundamentally parasitic" at a panel discussion on Wednesday.
• He actively tells people not to install the app and calls it "spyware," he said.
• The US government is scrutinizing TikTok's handling of user data, and many government agencies have barred their staff from using it because of its Chinese roots.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The CEO of Reddit slammed TikTok, the short-form-video app that has taken Generation Z by storm, at an event on Wednesday.

TikTok is the newest big challenge to big American social-media companies like Facebook, and it's owned by the Chinese tech firm ByteDance. According to TechCrunch, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman disputed the idea that Silicon Valley could learn anything from TikTok.

"Maybe I'm going to regret this, but I can't even get to that level of thinking with them," Huffman said. "Because I look at that app as so fundamentally parasitic, that it's always listening, the fingerprinting technology they use is truly terrifying, and I could not bring myself to install an app like that on my phone."

"I actively tell people, 'Don't install that spyware on your phone,'" he added.

TikTok was not immediately available for comment on Huffman's remarks. In an October blog post, it said it stored US user data from TikTok in the US. 

TikTok's handling of user data has come under close investigation from the US government, and multiple government agencies have barred staff from using the app on the grounds that it could be feeding data back to the Chinese government.

A California student filed a class-action lawsuit against the company last year, alleging that the app made an account for her without her permission and started collecting her data.

Huffman was speaking at a panel discussion called Social 2030 and shared the stage with former Facebook policy chief Elliot Schrage and Sam Lessin, Facebook's former vice president of product.

Huffman is one of the few voices in Silicon Valley that has condemned TikTok in such strong terms. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said last month that he believed TikTok could overtake Instagram because it is driven by users displaying their "talent"— like learning choreographed dances — rather than social posturing.

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• Robinhood experienced its second straight daily outage during Tuesday's hectic trading session, prompting fresh backlash from clients online.
• Markets slipped as the day progressed and investors mulled the Federal Reserve's first emergency rate cut since the 2008 financial crisis.
• The discount brokerage said it experienced a "system-wide outage" during most of Monday's session after an infrastructure issue locked users out of their accounts. The error was restored by 11:54 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Robinhood said in a tweet.
• "Fool me twice, shame on me. I'm out," one Twitter user said.
• "If yesterday's catastrophe wasn't enough, this will seal the deal for sure," a Reddit user wrote on Tuesday morning.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Outraged Robinhood users are lambasting the discount brokerage amid its second straight daily outage.

Stocks dropped on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve issued its first emergency rate cut since the financial crisis. Yet Robinhood users were unable to cash out amid the intense price swings.

"Robinhood taking that whole 'disrupting' trade thing a little too literally," @Hipster_Trader tweeted Tuesday morning.

Robinhood said a "system-wide outage" took the platform offline for most of Monday trading. It stemmed from an infrastructure issue that prevented key systems from communicating with one another, a representative said. The error kept users from locking in gains during the biggest market rally since December 2018.

Tuesday's outage is related to the same infrastructure problem, a representative told Business Insider. While Monday's lockout arrived as equities gained, Tuesday's errors came during a sharp market reversal.

Robinhood announced in a tweet at 11:54 a.m. ET that services were "fully restored." By then, users online had torn into the brokerage and its troubled start to the month.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'm out," @QuintonThurmond wrote in a tweet at 9:57 a.m.

"The worst part is that the only functioning part of the app is being able to see how much money I'm losing/could be cashing out on..... it's like torture," a Redditor with the username mcpax wrote.

"Trying to liquidate so I can leave this mess behind and all I'm getting is a massive headache," bobbiscotti wrote in the Robinhood subreddit. "If yesterday's catastrophe wasn't enough, this will seal the deal for sure."

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The company said on Tuesday that no personal information was lost in the outage and that funds held in accounts were safe during the affected periods.

"We realize we let our customers down, and we're committed to improving their experience," a Robinhood representative said in a statement. The representative added that the brokerage was reaching out to customers with information about case-by-case compensation reviews and that affected clients may receive billing credits or other compensation.

While some threatened to take their investing business to rival brokerages, others looked to organize collective action against the company. A recently created Twitter account named Robinhood Class Action had nearly 5,800 followers as of Tuesday and encouraged people to file complaints with federal authorities over the outages.

The account has repeatedly linked to a Change.org petition calling for Robinhood to be banned from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The petition had 933 signatures as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

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• Reddit is one of the most popular websites in the world, so it's unsurprising that a subreddit about the coronavirus disease has more than 600,000 members.
• However, both the popular subreddit and coronavirus-related content has been left seemingly unchecked and unfiltered by Reddit moderators.
• Reddit's website doesn't display or prioritize any verified information from official health organizations, like the CDC and WHO, as other major platforms have done — including Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Amazon.
• Reddit has faced criticism before for the actions of its communities, particularly for a type of vigilante investigations common on the platform. Reddit users were held responsible for incorrectly identifying a 22-year-old college student as one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As millions flock to social platforms to find the latest on the coronavirus, Reddit is one of the last popular websites to hold out on providing and prioritizing verified information from health officials to its users.

Reddit users have already clamored to a number of coronavirus-related subreddits, including r/coronavirus, which has more than 600,000 members. However, information-hungry users are getting little help from the platform in directing them toward the most accurate and up-to-date news from official sources, such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Aside from Reddit, most major websites and platforms have enacted changes to ensure links to official health organizations have appeared at the top of search results for coronavirus-related queries. Reddit's lack of action raises concerns about what the platform is doing to prevent the proliferation of misinformation, an issue the Reddit community and its army of amateur sleuths have run into before— with serious consequences.

Nearly 100,000 people have contracted COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, which originated in China and has since spread to at least 86 countries. The resulting fear over contracting the illness has led to a global shortage in face masks, the cancellation of major conferences and events, and even an economic meltdown.

Social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok have all stuck notes and pop-up windows with links to the CDC and WHO at the top of search results, with many citing the move as a way to prevent the spread of misinformation. E-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, where many have went to stock up on face masks and hand sanitizer, have also implemented similar pop-ups and guidance on their websites.

Reddit declined to provide an on-the-record statement to Business Insider, but directed users to a blog post posted Monday that advertises the platform's ask-me-anything sessions with doctors and coronavirus experts.

Without any links to official coronavirus information, a Reddit search for the disease brings up a slew of posts across the platform citing sketchy sources, linking to unverified social media posts, and making bold — and potentially fear-mongering — claims. One coronavirus-related post— shared in r/popularopinion with nearly 40,000 upvotes — blatantly forwards a racist belief related to the disease.

Redditors have responded to the need for information by launching a network of subreddit for users to share and retrieve the latest news stories, reports, and headcounts of affected individuals. There's r/coronavirus, which has more than 600,000 members, and was reportedly the fastest-growing subreddit on the platform as of Thursday. There's also r/China_Flu and r/COVID19, which each have tens of thousands of members.

It appears that banner initially enacted a banner at the top of some of the biggest coronavirus subreddits with links to the CDC and WHO, as The Hill reported in early February. However, those banners have since disappeared from Reddit.

In an effort to provide accurate information, moderators have provided links to useful resources, and have implemented forum rules about not sharing sensationalized, unverified or unreliable sources. Some of these moderators are experts and PhD students, according to The Hill, and one said he spends "hours each day" removing misinformation from coronavirus subreddits.

However, these moderators told The Hill that Reddit is still "rife with coronavirus-related misinformation."

Nevertheless, these subreddits lack official oversight. In scrolling through posts in the popular forum, r/coronavirus, Business Insider found a number of claims about newly reported outbreaks and the number of deaths. That's not to mention the various discussion threads where Redditors can share opinions, and the moderator-run coronavirus Discord group, where its 10,000 members are free to share conspiracies, theories, and debate best safety tips.

A former r/Coronavirus moderator told Vice that Reddit's moderation system has been "inefficient" in preventing the spread of coronavirus misinformation.

At least two subreddits — r/wuhan_flu and r/coronavirusconspiracy— have been "quarantined" by Reddit for containing misinformation and "hoax content." The quarantine means these subreddits won't appear in users' search and recommendation results, and Redditors are required to explicitly opt in to view these communities' content.

A deep-dive into content on r/wuhan_flu, conducted by Vice, found that the page was full of "unvetted information, conspiracy theory, and paranoia." Users in the group have went as far as to accuse some moderators of the other coronavirus-related subreddits of being "Chinese Communist Party shills" who are censoring information.

As one of the top 20 most popular websites in the world, Reddit has been at the forefront of disseminating news. However, Reddit's prominence means the platform has the power to play a significant role in spreading misinformation if it doesn't take precautions to stifle it.

Perhaps the most well-known example of Reddit's power came in 2013 in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing. A group of Redditors-turned-amateur sleuths took it upon themselves to try to identify the suspects in the bombing, and zeroed in on a 22-year-old missing student after claiming he looked similar to photos of one suspect. Redditors and high-profile journalists were quick to share on social media the name of the student, Sunil Tripathi, who was later found dead and cleared of any wrongdoing. Reddit later issued a public apology to Tripathi's family

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• As anxieties surrounding the spread of the novel coronavirus worsen, some people are turning to Reddit for medical information.
• Redditors are posting across subreddits and listing their symptoms in an attempt to crowd-source diagnoses of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. 
• This method of diagnosis is unwise for a number of reasons, Dr. Sandra Kesh told Business Insider, including the fact that COVID-19 cannot be diagnosed by symptoms alone, but in the US, people have encountered test shortages. 
• Reddit, however, may be a useful resource, as it offers a platform for people to share their medical experiences. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread, some concerned individuals are trying to ease their health anxieties by consulting Reddit. 

A general search for "coronavirus" on the site reveals 36 posts from worried Redditors posting across a variety of subreddits, looking for the answer to one question: "Do I have coronavirus?"

Many of the posts come from people listing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new virus. These symptoms can also be caused by other illnesses, including the flu.

"I have gotten a pretty violent flu my symptoms match up near-perfectly to the symptoms of Coronavirus," one Redditor wrote in a post titled "Do you think I have Coronavirus?" in the r/Coronavirus subreddit. "Sore throat, Bad cough/when I breathe in too hard I cough really hard and painfully, bad fever, earaches (which i'm prone to getting whenever I am ill) and constant excruciating migraines." 

Turning to Reddit for a COVID-19 diagnosis or general medical advice is unwise, according to an infectious disease specialist.

While crowdsourcing can theoretically yield useful information, people without medical training are unlikely to be able to discern what's actually accurate. As a result, it's best to avoid turning to platforms like Reddit for medical diagnoses, according to Dr. Sandra Kesh, Deputy Medical Director and Infectious Disease Specialist at Westmed Medical Group.

"Someone reading the information on Reddit may incorrectly assume she does not have the infection and not seek appropriate medical care," Kesh told Insider. "On the other side, many may falsely believe they are infected and seek medical care, inadvertently overwhelming our health care resources in the process, and making it hard for health care providers to focus on those who are actually infected."

Attempts to receive a COVID-19 diagnosis online are particularly futile; there is no foolproof way to diagnose the illness based on symptoms alone because of the overlap with common viral infections.

Online forums need to take steps to address misinformation.

Because we're in the early stages of coronavirus spread, there is more unknown about the infection than is known — and in the absence of data, misinformation tends to spread, Kesh said. Accordingly, Reddit should be held accountable for critical health information disseminated on the platform. 

"I think Reddit, and other sources of information to the general public, have a responsibility to identify and dispel inaccurate information," she said. "At the very least, a prominent disclaimer should be posted to encourage anyone with suspected infection to seek information from a reliable medical source."

Online platforms, she said, also have a unique opportunity to become a legitimate avenue for public health information.

"Partnering with a reliable source of medical information (like the CDC) to provide a FAQ page might be a good way to provide their readers with a source of information they can depend on to be accurate," Kesh said. 

Reddit declined to provide an on-the-record statement to Business Insider, but a representative shared a blog post advertising the platform's ask-me-anything sessions with doctors and coronavirus experts.

Access to medical care and testing isn't universal. 

Kesh's advice for those who believed they are infected is to call their primary care doctor, who can figure out how to proceed. 

For those without insurance or a primary care physician, taking those first steps may be more difficult. 

Taking next steps to diagnose the illness is also proving to be difficult, as the United States is facing a shortage of coronavirus test kits. In a press briefing on Monday, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephan Hahn said nearly one million test kits would be ready by the end of the week — however, Vice President Mike Pence later admitted that the Trump administration would not be able to the deliver the intended one million tests in that time frame.

Subreddits like r/medical_advice and r/AskDocs make an effort to recruit verified medical professionals to answer questions for people.

The "Medical Advice" subreddit describes itself on the site as "made by healthcare professionals with the idea of assisting those who may not be able to afford regular healthcare costs by allowing them to ask questions on minor health issues." 

Those who are confirmed as legitimate medical professionals by the subreddit's moderators are flagged so readers can filter through responses more effectively.

However, Redditors have no way of confirming these credentials themselves — and the coronavirus arguably surpasses the designation of "minor health issues."

Not all Reddit posters are turning to online forums in lieu of healthcare providers. Some are using the platform to warn others about their medical experiences. 

On February 28, a 35-year-old man from Brooklyn posted in the r/nyc subreddit detailing what he described as "a very f----- situation" regarding coronavirus testing.  

After returning from a business trip to Japan, where at least 230 people have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the Redditor claimed to have begun exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19: fever, coughing, and body aches. He was admitted to the NYU Langone Health — Cobble Hill emergency department in Brooklyn and put in isolation. 

Tests for twenty other viruses, including five strains of the flu, came back negative.

After reviewing his test results, he says, the hospital called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and requested permission to perform COVID-19 testing. The CDC, however, denied the request on the grounds that he did not display the most life-threatening symptoms, like chest pain and shortness of breath.

Business Insider previously verified the paperwork from his hospital visit and reviewed a letter from the man's ER doctor, who said he was not a patient "of concern to have COVID-19."

"They discharged me, said I don't have Corona virus, since they didn't test me for it, and said I can ride the subway, return to work, do whatever I want," he wrote in the post. 

He added that he'd self-imposed a 14-day quarantine after consulting his primary care physician. 

Redditors immediately weighed in on the subject; the post has received over 8,000 upvotes on the Subreddit and received hundreds of comments. 

"Can't have confirmed cases if we don't test for them amirite?" one commenter wrote. 

"In case no one said it already, thanks for doing a self-quarantine. really appreciate it," another said. 

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• A Robinhood trader said he turned $5,000 into more than $123,000 in five days.
• A Redditor with the username SpeaksInBooleans said he netted the 2,400% return by buying VXX and SPY calls, which paid off when coronavirus fears and an oil shock spooked markets.
• "I got VERY lucky when oil tanked, and that tanked the market," he told Business Insider.
• The amateur investor said he would safely invest most of his windfall but might buy "a $100 bottle of scotch and nice pair of cowboy boots."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Robinhood trader said he turned $5,000 into more than $123,000 in five days.

A Redditor with the username SpeaksInBooleans netted the 2,400% return by purchasing call options on the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX), an exchange-traded note linked to the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX). The VIX, known as the "fear gauge" because it indicates expectations of market volatility, soared on Monday as fears about the coronavirus outbreak and the start of an oil-price war sparked a brutal market sell-off.

SpeaksInBooleans then invested a portion of his profits into calls on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500. The benchmark stock index rallied on Tuesday.

The amateur trader posted a screenshot of his massive windfall on the WallStreetBets subreddit on Tuesday. Business Insider reached out to learn more and confirmed his trades by reviewing screenshots of his Robinhood account.

The interview below has been lightly edited.

Theron Mohamed: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

SpeaksInBooleans: I'm male, I'm in my late 20s, and I live in Colorado. I work as a consultant in the technology sector. I've been investing for over 10 years; however, what I did over the past week was far from investing.

Mohamed: Walk us through the trades you made.

SpeaksInBooleans: On March 5, I bought $5,000 worth of $40 calls on the VXX with an expiry date of March 20. I sold them on March 9. Later that day, I bought $30,000 worth of SPY calls with an expiry date of March 13 and sold them on March 10.

Mohamed: What was your thought process?

SpeaksInBooleans: I bought the VXX calls because the VXX was near a 52-week low. I saw the market potentially becoming more volatile. I got VERY lucky when oil tanked, and that tanked the market. I was right for the wrong reason. My rationale on the SPY calls was that typically after a large drop Monday there is always at least a 2% recovery on Tuesday.

Mohamed: Did you worry about risking your VXX return by buying the SPY calls?

SpeaksInBooleans: I set aside most of my profits and only risked around $30,000 of my $100,000 in VXX profits on the SPY calls. I was happy with my return and wanted to lock in some of my gains. Never a bad move!

Mohamed: What do you intend to do with your return? Are you planning to buy anything fun?

SpeaksInBooleans: Firstly, set aside money for taxes in a high-yield savings account. Secondly, reinvest in a long-term position in the S&P 500 to supplement my retirement accounts.

As far as anything fun, I like to live below my means. Maybe a $100 bottle of scotch and nice pair of cowboy boots, but other than that, I'd rather grow it over the next few decades.

Mohamed: Do you think you'll be able to resist the temptation to buy calls again?

SpeaksInBooleans: I really would love to say I could risk $100,000 or more, but I don't see any real plays I want to make. And I got lucky on the last one, so that's a big nope, staying away from options. I'm smart enough to see a nearly 3,000% return isn't sustainable.

Mohamed: You said you got lucky and wouldn't even call what you did investing. How come?

SpeaksInBooleans: What I did wasn't investing. I 100% got lucky. I hate getting messages from people who say, "I want to be like you, teach me."

My advice is and always has been: Pay off debts, have an emergency fund, max out retirement, then you can decide how you want to spend your money.

I chose to use it to gamble in the stock market. I bought where I thought the VXX would end up because of coronavirus fears and because of the VXX 52-week low. I might not have been wrong, but the primary driver for my gains was the oil, and I didn't see that coming.

I honestly didn't expect to be selling my VXX calls this week — but I take gains when I can get them!

Mohamed: Do you have any advice for investors at this turbulent time? Should they play it safe in the next few weeks, or look for opportunities to profit from the volatility like you did?

SpeaksInBooleans: Disconnect emotions from decision-making that involves financials. This is not financial advice, but I don't think we have hit the bottom.

I'm personally waiting for a number I have in mind for the S&P 500 to buy an S&P 500 index fund and hold for the long term. The stock market may drop more. Fine. I'm not rebalancing my 401(k). I'm not rebalancing my IRA. I'm living below my means.

I've got plenty of time left on this Earth to make money hands-off, and I plan to. Hands-on money management is a great way to lose money quickly and is often the result of emotional decisions. I'm sure there are plenty of great opportunities, and I may participate in some on a small scale in the future. But for now, my luck has peaked.

Update: SpeaksInBooleans posted a screenshot on Wednesday showing $250,000 in his Robinhood account. He told Business Insider that he boosted his previous return by investing in SPY puts.

"What can I say, I couldn't help myself. And hell, if I gave it all back, my life won't change in the slightest," he said.

"I already invest for the long term in other areas," he added. "Anything else I can get on top of that is just frosting."

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• The coronavirus outbreak that originated in China has killed 6,500 people worldwide and infected more than 169,000, according to recent totals.
• The US has reported more than 3,800 cases and 69 deaths. 
• Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian bought billboards in Times Square over the weekend urging people to stay home and not spread the virus. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Reddit cofounder and venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian bought a billboard in Times Square, the heart of New York City tourism, on Saturday, urging people to stay home, Forbes reported. The worldwide death toll of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, that originated in Wuhan, China, is now more than 6,500, and the virus has infected more than 169,000 people.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared it a pandemic. The virus has disrupted travel worldwide, leading to flight cancellations, quarantines, and other breakdowns in movement. New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington state, among other US locations, have closed bars and restaurants except for takeout as experts warn about the importance of social distancing in slowing the spread of the virus. 

Ohanian told Forbes that the idea of advertising on a billboard like this "just kind of popped in my head." Here's what it looked like. 

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Times Square sees nearly 380,000 tourists on a typical day, with as many as 450,000 on a busy day.

Source: Times Square

On March 14, as COVID-19 spreads in New York, Times Square was much less crowded than usual.

Some people were still out to see Ohanian's billboard, though, which he bought through startup AdQuick.

His signs urged people to stay home and "flatten the curve" by not spreading the virus and overwhelming the medical system.

Source: Business Insider

"It was a deliberate approach to think what is one of the densest populations of people in the U.S. and on a normal day that would be Times Square," Ohanian told Forbes.

Source: Forbes

He also said he considered other phrases, including "Why are you even looking at this?" and "Why are you even in Times Square right now?".

Ohanian's VC firm, Initialized Capital, closed its office last week and will allow employees to work remotely for at least the next six to eight weeks.

• Facebook, Google, YouTube, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Twitter say they're working with one another and government health agencies to ensure people see accurate information about the novel coronavirus and COVID-19.
• The companies are hoping to combat fraudulent and harmful content on their platforms, according to a joint statement published on Facebook's website Monday.
• The coronavirus pandemic has caused a spike in intentionally false news and profiteering that's testing the industry's ability to crack down on harmful content.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Several of the world's largest social-media companies have announced they're working together to fight misinformation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and the COVID-19 disease, according to a joint statement published to Facebook's website on Monday.

Facebook, Google and its subsidiary YouTube, Microsoft and its subsidiary LinkedIn, Reddit, and Twitter all cosigned the statement.

"We're helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world," the statement said. "We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe."

Social-media companies are under immense pressure to crack down on rampant fake coronavirus cures, false testing methods, and other inaccurate or misleading claims that have spread across their platforms.

Facebook and Twitter have taken steps to ban content about the coronavirus that could cause harm— both platforms say they'll highlight government agency information under searches for coronavirus-related terms.

Google recently announced a 24-hour coronavirus incident-response team and said it would work to remove misinformation from search results and YouTube while also promoting accurate information from health agencies. On Sunday, Google's sister company Verily released an apparently half-finished website meant to direct Americans to testing locations after President Donald Trump announced it prematurely. 

But the sheer volume of intentionally false news, which the World Health Organization has called an "infodemic," is testing whether the industry is capable of effectively limiting the spread of misinformation.

Newsguard, which ranks websites by trustworthiness, said in early March that "health care hoax sites" had received more than 142 times as much social-media engagement in the past 90 days as the websites for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization combined.

Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others were already under fire from lawmakers and other critics who argued the companies weren't doing enough to stamp out harmful and misleading content in other contexts like violent extremist, cyberstalking, and political ads.

On Monday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it's easier for Facebook to "take a much harder line" in cases like a global health emergency, while Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, told employees in a memo that this was a pivotal moment for the company, according to Bloomberg. It remains to be seen how much the companies' aggressive efforts will make a difference in halting the spread of harmful coronavirus content.

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg says it's easier for Facebook to 'take a much harder line' on misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic

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• An Adweek report revealed that Reddit has experienced a recent surge in traffic amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
• People are turning to Reddit and other social media networks as a source of information about the pandemic but also as a means of finding online community.
• Reddit, along with companies like Google and Facebook, recently published a joint statement detailing their commitment to limiting the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As significant chunks of the worldwide population adopt social distancing measures, many are turning to online spaces to ease the lack of social contact.

A recent report from Adweek reveals that Reddit has experienced a "surge" in traffic. While the company did not provide Adweek with exact numbers, Reddit noted an increase in direct traffic to the site (not including search engine or referral traffic) as well as increased growth on the Reddit mobile application on iOS and Android. 

Reddit has been one of the social networks at the forefront of coronavirus discussion and information dissemination, sometimes doing too little to prevent the spread of misinformation.

The r/coronavirus subreddit, which Reddit promotes to users on its front page as a destination for coronavirus information, has essentially doubled in size in the past two weeks — the subreddit had approximately 600,000 users on March 6 and currently reports over 1.2 million. It is the second top-growing community on Reddit.

Adweek also reported that Reddit noted traffic increases of 20-50% on subreddits — individual forums and communities of interest on the site — related to business, finance, news, education, travel, and sports. That tracks given that much of online coronavirus chatter circles back to personal finance, school closures, and the cancelation of sports seasons. 

However, coronavirus is now pervasive in all corners of Reddit.

Teenagers who are stuck at home fire off memes about the virus on r/teenagers, the immensely popularr/AmItheAsshole has put a full ban on coronavirus posts, and locally specific subreddits like r/AskNYC or r/korea are full of posts and questions regarding the pandemic in their community.

Subreddits like r/AmateurBoxing, r/family, and r/starbucksbaristas dominate the site's list of up-and-coming communities, speaking to concerns like maintaining fitness at home, navigating bonds with family members as quarantine sets in, and the fears of service workers as their company prevents them from social distancing. 

As the pandemic drives people online for information and community, moderation is more important than ever. Reddit, along with Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Twitter, published a joint statement on Tuesday detailing their commitment to limiting the spread of misinformation about the virus. 

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• You can delete your Reddit account by navigating to the website on a desktop web browser.
• Even though deactivation is permanent, you'll have to delete your posting history as well to truly wipe your Reddit slate clean.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Reddit can be a great source of information, particularly during breaking and ongoing news events.

However, if your brain is ready for a break from Reddit, deactivating your account is a good — albeit permanent — solution.

Just be wary that for the cleanest separation from the site possible, you'll have to individually delete your posts and comments as well.

Here's how to go about deactivating your account.

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How to permanently delete your Reddit account 

1. Open Reddit in your web browser of choice on your Mac or PC.

2. If you aren't already signed in, enter your account credentials by clicking "Log in" in the top-right corner of the homepage. You'll be redirected back to the homepage once signed in.

3. An icon will be in the top-right corner that you may or may not have customized. Click the arrow next to the icon for a dropdown menu.

4. Under "My Stuff" select the "User Settings" option.

5. You'll be taken to the "Account" tab of settings. Scroll to the bottom and click "Deactivate Account," located in the bottom-right in red.

If you do forget to delete any objectionable posts or comments from your now deactivated Reddit account, fret not — your username will no longer be attached to the words. 

But remember this: screenshots live forever.

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• To find a user on Reddit, you can use the search bar at the top of the site.
• If you can't find the user you're looking for using the search bar, you can also use a workaround to go directly to their profile page.
• Once you find a Reddit user's profile page, you'll be able to see their full comment history, as well as send them a direct message.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Reddit is a massively popular social media site, centered around sharing links and photos. Reddit users, also known as "Redditors," tend to be devoted users of the website.

If you're a Redditor who finds a fellow Reddit user in the wild, be sure to grab their exact username.

Why? Because unlike some sites, Reddit doesn't have any sort of directory where you can find a specific user you're looking for.

Instead, you'll need to search for their exact username, or input it into a URL.

Here are two ways to find a user on Reddit, using an internet browser on your Mac or PC, and the mobile app for iPhone and Android devices.

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How to find a user on Reddit

Using the search bar

This works both on the desktop website and in the mobile app.

1. Navigate to Reddit.com using any internet browser, or the Reddit app.

2. Using the search bar at the top of the homepage, type in the exact username of who you're looking for, and search.

3. On the results page, look for the "Communities" or "Communities and Users" heading. Under it will be a list of users and subreddits that match your search. You're going to want to look for the one that starts with "u/" followed by the username you're looking for. So, if you're looking for a JohnDoe, you'll look for u/JohnDoe.

4. Click on that name to be brought to their profile. Here, you can see their comment and thread history, or send them a message.

This is the easiest way to find someone, but not all users show up when you search for them, even if you have the right name.

In this case, there's a workaround you can use.

Using a profile URL

For this, you'll need to be using an internet browser.

1. Open any internet browser and click or tap on the URL bar at the top of your browser window.

2. Every Reddit profile has a similar URL. Type in https://www.reddit.com/user/insertnamehere. Replace the "insertnamehere" with the exact username of the person you're trying to find. So, a user named JohnDoe would have "https://www.reddit.com/user/JohnDoe" as their URL.

3. Go to that URL, and you'll be brought to the profile of the user you're looking for. Here, you'll find their posting history, and you can message them.

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• How to deactivate your Twitter account on an iPhone, and delete the app

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• During his two presidential campaigns, Senator Bernie Sanders amassed a huge, meme-driven online following that rivals only Trump's as a national candidate, especially on platforms like Reddit and TikTok.
• The Sanders fandom, comprised largely of younger eligible voters and online socialism enthusiasts, is still there – but without a viable presidential candidate to rally behind, online leaders are shifting focus.
• Some "#Bernie2020" TikTokers are leaning away from politics now that he's out, while subreddits like "r/SandersForPresident" are supporting downticket candidates and considering forming a PAC.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When it came to online campaigning, Senator Bernie Sanders won the 2020 meme race. But his vast fandom on social media didn't translate to primary victory, and the Democratic Socialist announced he was suspending his campaign on Wednesday, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the only viable Democratic candidate. 

Despite having two unsuccessful presidential bids, Sanders' ideas and momentum, particularly among Gen Z and millennials, influenced the Democratic Party as a whole. Setting a new tone for progressive politics, the Vermont senator gave ideas like a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and tuition-free college more name recognition and support – or, as his young fans would call it, clout. 

The 78-year-old couldn't identify what an app was when The New York Times asked him about his own technological preferences, but compared to every other presidential candidate over the past five years, he had the biggest online following, or fandom – besides President Donald Trump.

The sway the two candidates have had in meme culture and on platforms like TikTok and Reddit are comparable, and Trump's online meme-makers and defenders definitively had a role in electing him president.

It's unclear what internet-driven Trump supporters would have done had he not won the 2016 election, but the leaders of online Sanders communities like "r/SandersForPresident" have a plan to mobilize the people behind the 50 million pageviews their forum got just last month, even if the candidate they fought for isn't in the race any longer. 

"Basically, we're going to focus on down ballot races, not the presidential race, and progressive policies-slash-ideas. We're gonna use what media power we have to guide the subreddit in that direction," Kevin Moore, director of operations for the "r/SandersForPresident" moderating team and previously a top Reddit social media manager, told Business Insider. 

"We've probably talked about that even like six months ago. You don't project that to the community like 'Hey, we're thinking about doing this,' because it's like a loser mentality. But that's been the plan for quite some time."

Sanders supporters are disproportionately represented on Reddit, where socialist communities are now pivoting down-ticket

Reddit is the 19th-most visited website on the internet as of August 2019, according to a report created by Amazon. Twitter, in comparison, is the 38th-most visited website. Reddit's users are two-thirds male and two-thirds under the age of 29, with more than half being US citizens. Overwhelmingly, its users favor either Sanders or Trump, based on the size of the dominant subreddits for each 2020 presidential candidate.

On "r/SandersForPresident," the largest Sanders subreddit, more than 510,000 users are subscribed to the forum's feed. According to Moore, the actual reach of the subreddit is much larger, with 6 million monthly active users. 

Besides just hosting dicussion about Sanders-related news, campaigning, and Democratic Socialist ideas in general, it was also a major fundraising platform for the candidate and it actively recruited members to volunteer for Sanders' campaign. Moore, who can spend up to five or six hours a day moderating, says based on his usual social media consulting fees, he gave $200,000 of his labor to the Sanders campaign via the subreddit. 

"Bernie obviously has a great deal of appeal to younger people, and Reddit has a user base that skews younger than, like, Facebook, per say," Moore said. "Combined with how Reddit works in general, it's easy for regular people like me or you to have a voice there. Quite frankly, the working class is on there."

The day that Sanders suspended his campaign, Reddit's unofficial drama historian, "r/SubredditDrama," cataloged how the platform reacted to the news as a whole. Both "r/SandersForPresident" and the second-largest Sanders subreddit, "r/OurPresident," briefly suspended posting and locked comment sections under announcement posts. 

In terms of immediate reactions, megathreads on non-specific political forums like "r/politics"devolved into controversy over whether Sanders supporters were going to rally behind Biden or not. 

But the moderators of "r/SandersForPresident" had planned to cast a wider net than just the 2020 presidential election for months, Moore told Business Insider, and the group is refocusing its efforts on down-ticket races for Democratic socialist candidates. It may even start a PAC, although "that is currently in the 'idea' phase."

"In my experience, what happens when you have a community large enough and have enough passion, which we undoubtedly have, is that they will in turn organize themselves and new behavior will emerge," Moore said. "Our job as moderators is to feed into the emergent behavior and help create structure that generates more of it. No doubt, it's not a happy day, but I'm not particularly worried about the subreddit or the progressive movement in general."

Many TikTok users can't vote yet, but the Gen Z-favored app was full of Sanders support that's now dwindling without his candidacy

While Redditors overwhelmingly favored Sanders among Democratic candidates, Reddit is far more skewed to a subset of the American population that's white and male than other social media platforms where pro-Sanders sentiment took hold. One of those is TikTok, and while the short-form video platform is stereotyped as a place for teenagers and children, it's biggest age demographic straddles the voting age, with 46% of its users falling between ages 16 and 24.

It's also, similar to Reddit, less engineered to serve you content that your friends suggest, via resharing tools. TikTok uses a complex algorithm to serve up a never-ending stream of videos tailored to your interests, including political bias, based on what types of videos you interact with the most. 

The number of Sanders supporters on TikTok is less quantifiable than Reddit, but popular trends like "#barbzforbernie" and memes like Twitch streamer Neekolul's "ok, boomer" TikTok– which features her wearing a "Bernie" t-shirt and using the hashtag "#bernie2020"– reflect a pro-meme, pro-Sanders environment on the app.

The "#barbzforbernie" creator, who pushed dual support for both Nicki Minaj and Sanders, made a TikTok in the wake of the Sanders' campaign. In TikTok meme fashion, it features his heartbroken expression juxtaposed over a screenshot of the Twitter Moment announcing the campaign's suspension, while "Pills N Potions" by Minaj plays.

"Bernie ended his campaign but that doesn't mean #barbzforbernie will ever stop supporting him, we all love you @bernie," the caption reads. 

But it's hard to imagine that viral figures who devoted their TikTok presences to Sanders have the pivot-potential like"r/SandersForPresident" to turn their prominence into a different type of political movement.

TikTok barely has the infrastructure to promote a legible conversation between users, opting instead for an environment focused on virality and self-expression over anything else, and most users on the platform have become adept at creating content catering to that mindset.  

Neekolul, for example, drew over 30 million views to her Sanders promotion, but in an interview with Kotaku, which profiled her rise to Twitch fame, she focused more on how that viral moment built her own brand, rather than made her into a Sanders-driven or socialist campaigner. 

"He's without a doubt motivated new generations of voters, and I think the covid-19 situation has definitely helped drive home the importance of his Medicare for All platform. It's a sad time for a lot of us supporters, but I think there's still hope for many of us who are younger to make a change with future elections," she wrote in an email to Kotaku after Sanders announced his campaign's suspension. 

There are dedicated socialist corners on TikTok, though, and some of them are already pushing the conversation forward. 26-year-old Democratic Socialist congressional candidate Joshua Collins has a dedicated pro-Sanders TikTok presence, and he's already posted videos asking his followers whether they'll vote for Biden. 

"So people wanna know how I feel about Bernie Sanders dropping out," he said in another TikTok. "The short answer? Unsurprised. People were risking their lives to go out and vote for this man. He couldn't have that on his conscience."

Collins, unlike Sanders, is a young candidate who actually uses the platforms, where Democratic Socialism is popular, to campaign for himself. He's the kind of future down-ticket candidate that "r/SandersForPresident" might decide to endorse in the coming days and weeks. He's also not nearly as popular on TikTok as people like Neekolul, but his ideal target audience is Washington state's 10th district, as opposed to Twitch's global audience. 

"The Democratic Party basically held his supporters and their families and their communities hostage, and rather than let his supporters continue contracting coronavirus just to vote for him, he dropped out," Collins continued on to say in his TikTok. "Do I think it was the right move? I don't know. Does it f---ing suck? Yeah. Am I dropping out? No. I'm in a state with all mail-in ballots and we have a really good chance of winning."

• Read more:
• Bernie Sanders is winning the 2020 meme race, but can internet fandom get him elected?
• Bernie Sanders vows to stay on upcoming ballots and continue to gather delegates so he can 'exert significant influence over the party platform'
• Bernie Sanders influenced US politics more than any other failed presidential candidate in the country's history
• Bernie Sanders just ended his presidential bid. Here's what we know about the finances of one of the least wealthy US senators, who's made $1.75 million in book royalties.

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• The only way to change your Reddit username is by creating a new account with a new username.
• If you create a new account, however, you'll have to start fresh with new posts and activity.
• Here's how to reinvent yourself on Reddit by changing your username when you start a fresh account.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As times change, you may end up feeling buyer's remorse toward your choice of Reddit username.

And while your Instagram and Twitter handles can be changed on any old whim, you remain committed to your Reddit username as long as you keep the account.

Fortunately, starting a new Reddit account is a simple process.

Here's how to reinvent yourself on Reddit with a new username by starting a fresh account. 

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How to change your Reddit username 

1. Navigate to Reddit in your preferred web browser on your Mac or PC.

2. Sign out of your existing account if you're still signed in by clicking the arrow by the icon in the top-right corner. Click "Log Out" at the bottom of the dropdown menu. 

3. Click "Sign up" in the top-right corner.

4. Enter your email address and click "Next."

5. Select your new username, choose a password, and click "Sign up" to finalize.

Reddit won't require you to verify your new account's email address, but it is recommended.

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• You can easily post on Reddit using the mobile app for Android or iPhone or the desktop website.
• The process for creating a post in the Reddit app on Android versus iPhone is essentially the same.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Reddit is a great tool for following the dialogue of rapidly-developing events.

If you're new to the website, and are ready to stop lurking and start contributing to the dialogue (or even spark some) here's how to comment and post on Reddit, for both its desktop and mobile platforms.

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Samsung Galaxy s10 (From $699.99 at Walmart)

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How to post on Reddit using a computer

1. Open your web browser of choice on your Mac or PC and go to the Reddit website.

2. If you haven't already, sign in to your Reddit account. You'll be directed back to the homepage.

3. Find the community, i.e. "subreddit," you want to post in. You can navigate there by entering the "reddit.com/r/subredditname" URL, or by searching for the subreddit using the search box at the top.

4. Click "Create Post," near the top of the subreddit's header.

5. Choose a title and compose your post. Click "Post" to submit.

How to post on Reddit using a mobile device

1. Open or download the Reddit app on your Android or iPhone.

2. Open the app, and sign in with your Reddit account credentials by tapping the profile icon in the top-left corner.

3. Navigate to the subreddit where you'd like to post. If you're subscribed to the subreddit, tap the icon at the bottom of circles and squares. Otherwise, search for the subreddit in the top search bar.

4. To create a post, tap the pencil icon in the bottom-center.

5. Tap the icon of the type of content you want to include.

6. Create a title for your post, and write or attach your multimedia content.

7. Finalize by tapping "Post" in the top-right corner.

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• How to change your Reddit username by creating a new account

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• You can create a quote block on Reddit for your next post in five easy steps.
• If you want to include a lengthy quote in a Reddit post, the quote block formatting tool will make your post more polished and easy to read.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Formatting hacks are a simple way to make your Reddit posts more effective.

One formatting trick that's easy to master is creating a quote block, so that a section of text stands slightly apart from the rest.

And in Reddit's crowded, opinion-packed forums, tweaks like the quote block are a great way to make your Reddit posts more polished, and readable, so you get more eyeballs and upvotes.

Although you can't use the block quote format when you post via Reddit's mobile app, you can easily throw a quote block into a post using Reddit's"Fancy Pants Editor" on your desktop.

Here's how to place a quote block in your next Reddit post in five simple steps. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article: 

Apple Macbook Pro (From $1,299.00 at Apple)

Lenovo IdeaPad 130 (From $469.99 at Walmart)

How to create a quote block on Reddit 

1. Open Reddit in your preferred browser on your Mac or PC. 

2. Sign in to your account if you haven't already, and open the composition area within your chosen subreddit to create your Reddit post.

3. After you've written the post, highlight the part you'd like to make a quote block.

4. Click "Quote Block." It will appear as a quote symbol toward the middle of the toolbar, above the posting composition area.

5. Make any final edits, and click "post."

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• How to post on Reddit using your computer or mobile device

• How to find a user on Reddit in 2 ways, and see their complete posting history

• How to change your Reddit username by creating a new account

• How to permanently delete your Reddit account and posting history

• How to open a link in a new tab on your Mac computer in 2 different ways

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• You can delete a Reddit post that you aren't proud of or that is simply irrelevant now by heading to your profile settings.
• You can delete posts using both the Reddit website and the mobile app, but the process will slightly vary for each.
• Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.

Perhaps your Reddit post in /r/neoliberal is getting downvoted en masse by the foot soldiers of the /r/swoletariat community.

Perhaps you realized your post unintentionally violated a subreddit's rules and you want to avoid getting perma-banned. 

Perhaps you simply "posted cringe," to put it in Generation Z-speak.

Whatever the reason, no one is perfect, and neither are your Reddit posts.

If you decide it's prudent to purge one of your Reddit musings from the web, here's how, on both the mobile and desktop platforms. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Apple)

Samsung Galaxy s10 (From $859.99 at Walmart)

Lenovo IdeaPad 130 (From $469.99 at Walmart)

Apple Macbook Pro (From $1,299.00 at Apple)

How to delete a Reddit post using a computer 

1. Open Reddit in your web browser of choice on your Mac or PC, and sign in by clicking "Log in" in the top-right corner.

2. An icon will be in the top-right corner that you may or may not have customized. Click the arrow next to the icon for a dropdown menu.

3. Select "My Profile," and from the options at the top select "Posts."

4. All your posts will be listed, sorted by most recent. Find the post you want to delete. Then, find the ellipses icon, next to "Edit Post." 

5. Click it, and select "Delete."

6. A pop-up will warn you that deleting a post can't be undone. Click "Delete Post" to finalize.

How to delete a Reddit post using a mobile device

1. Open the Reddit app on your iPhone or Android. If you haven't downloaded it already, you can find it as "Reddit" in your device's app store. 

2. Tap your profile icon to log in, if you haven't already. 

3. Navigate to "My profile" by tapping your user icon in the top-left corner, and then tap "My profile" under your username.

4. You'll automatically be taken to your posts. Scroll to the post you'd like to delete.

5. Tap the ellipses, or "..." symbol on the right side, just above the post's title.

6. Click "Delete post," indicated by the trashcan icon, and click "Delete" when you're prompted by Reddit.

Related coverage from Tech Reference:

• How to post on Reddit using your computer or mobile device

• How to find a user on Reddit in 2 ways, and see their complete posting history

• How to change your Reddit username by creating a new account

• How to permanently delete your Reddit account and posting history

• How to create a quote block on Reddit to make quotes stand out in a post

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• Alexis Ohanian is the cofounder of venture capital firm Initialized Capital and social media website Reddit.
• In his commencement address, Ohanian acknowledged that the virtual commencement was probably not what most graduates had imagined for their big day, and applauded their ability to adapt to new challenges as a crucial skill to develop during this time.
• He urged students to stay humble, use failures and setbacks as learning opportunities, and invest their time and energy into the people closest to them.
• Watch Ohanian's speech and read the full transcript below.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hello Blue Jays. Wait, Blue Jays? That is amazing. What a good mascot. Ca-Caw! I hope that's considered a formal greeting.

I'm Alexis Ohanian and I never expected to be here at a Johns Hopkins graduation. I grew up in Columbia, Maryland, but I knew better than to even consider applying back when I was going to college. But look at me now. Huh? How 'bout that? Getting an honorary PhD. Didn't even have to spend years working on it either. Worked out pretty well for me.

I feel very fortunate to be here in front of you all. And I know these are some unprecedented times and this is a very unique graduation ceremony. Basically just a really long Zoom session. But thankfully this will be enjoyed in the comfort of our own homes. You don't even need to wear pants. I'm not. (I am. I am, I promise.)

But anyway, growing up in the Baltimore region, I had so much respect for this university. And I know this is not the graduation you all were hoping for and it's just not the same, but it's your ability to adapt to the ruined dreams of your graduation that are the exact skills that you will need right now. So if that's any consolation, you know, I've got about five minutes to tell you everything you need to know in order to thrive amidst an unprecedented global pandemic and recession. Okay, I got this.

Look, I don't know what the future will be like. It is my job as co-founder of initialized capital to figure out where things are headed and invest in founders who are helping to build the future in order to help build what's next. And we don't know how long this will last. And we're pretty sure there are many parts of our society and our economy that will never be the same again. And so the best thing you can do right now is be adaptive. The strongest entrepreneurs all share the same quality, an ability to adapt to circumstances that you cannot control and focus your energy on changing the things and improving the areas you can. You can find opportunities to use this mindset every single day, regardless of whether or not you're an entrepreneur and in many ways I think this can be a great way to set the tone for your career now, outside of college.

Because frankly, failure, setbacks, disappointments, they're all going to be a part of your life. Up until this point, education (and clearly you all been really good at it—you're graduating from Johns Hopkins University)—up to this point, all of your education has been about not failing. It's been about trying to understand the rules of the game, figuring out whatever it takes to get that A, and then doing it. Scoring good grade after a good grade on tests after tests, semester after semester. That's how you got here—by avoiding failure. And yet there's no more syllabus, there's no more direction, there are no more finals, there is not going to be any more guidance. And failure is going to be a big part of life. Setbacks and disappointments are going to be a big part of your life.

And so the very best thing you can be doing right now is dig in and accept that and then use this new strength and exercise these muscles every day of your life, because you are in a very, very special group of graduates, right? You were among some of the elites in this country, and you have a responsibility. We all do.

You know, I really had no idea what I was doing when I graduated from college in 2005 and I co-founded Reddit right out of school. We managed to get acquired 16 months later and I thought it was a joke. I didn't know how it was possible, after only 16 months worth of work, we could be getting bought. And you know, I managed five years later to come back to Reddit even after we sold it, take it independent, and help lead the turnaround. And I had way more experience, way more understanding. And I'm so proud of the team that was willing to go into a situation where, at the time, it didn't seem like the most obvious or smartest thing to do. But they took a chance and they've helped Reddit have its renaissance and credit's all-in for that. But for all the time that I've spent answering people's questions about Reddit, telling them stories, no one's ever asked me about My Mobile Menu, or "mm-mmm," which is my clever little name for it.

That's because it was our first company and it was a total failure. We'd worked on it for about a year and a half. It was going to be a way to order food from your cell phone. This was back in 2004 when there were no smartphones and you'd never have to wait in line again and you would simply send a text and then the restaurants would get it. Yeah, a fax. Make your order and have it there waiting for you so you never had to wait in line again. That was our plan. That was our pitch. We worked on it for a year and a half of our lives and then were told it would never work. And those investors were actually right! As an entrepreneur, you'll get told things won't work. As a person out in the world, you'll have the door slammed in your face, you will face setbacks all the time.

And the reality is, those are learning opportunities. Those are chances to find progress where the world tried to throw you a roadblock. And I feel like in every circumstance that I have gotten into, I've been comforted by the fact that I know I don't know everything. None of us do. Anyone who acts like they do is just lying. We're all figuring out as we go along. And I'm grateful for the fact that I was given opportunities early on to be able to fail. Like, like My Mobile Menu. There is no Reddit without "Mm-mmm," and there is no me without those failures, without those setbacks.

And you know, frankly, just when I start to feel pretty good about myself and get a little cocky, uh, I roll over and I see my wife and you know, she's the greatest of all time. It's a, it's actually quite liberating, you know, to have such a successful partner and know that no matter how many billion dollar companies I start, I will never make the impact on the world that she has.

And there are a few people on the planet who ever will. And I hope all of you find partners who can make you feel that way, who can motivate you to be your best self. And I encourage you right now, start purging the people in your life, the friends, the acquaintances who are not making you better. Now, I know this, this, it probably shouldn't happen over a text message. Although if we were doing this all in person, in Baltimore, it might make for some awkward rides home. But at the end of the day, the people you spend your time with will have a disproportionate impact on your life and your well-being. And you should absolutely optimize for people who make you better. For people who teach you to be more patient, or whose qualities you admire, or uh, whose baking skills you wish to learn from.

Whatever those things are, those people have such a disproportionate effect on your happiness, on your overall outcome, that it's worth optimizing. Now we say this for co-founders all the time. It sort of goes without saying. If you're gonna start a company with someone, you should find someone whose skills complement yours and whose values align with yours. But I would put that same test to anyone in your life. And you know, frankly, you know, this is a time that would normally be really special for a lot of loved ones who were in the audience. Hopefully a lot of them are with you physically right now. If they're not, I hope they're tuning in. This is a time when, if we were all in person, I would implore you to go give them a great big hug and thank them, and tell them how much you love and appreciate them for supporting you all this way to this point. You know, those are the people who have made massive investments in you. And this is a very important milestone, not just for you, but for all of them. I know it's a little hard with social distancing, to be able to fully embrace all of them. But you better throw on a mask. Uh, make sure everyone's properly sanitized when the time comes. But seriously, a hug goes a long way. A note of appreciation goes a long way. These people care so much about this day in a way that you can't even comprehend. I know I couldn't have, and I look back on the photos of my own graduation with close family members who have since passed, and there are things I wish I could say to them now that I can't, that I wish I had said back in 2005 that I didn't.

And so I hope that you can learn from my own mistakes, from my own failures, whether it's "Mm-mmm," or not giving my mom an extra hug on graduation day. This perspective is so invaluable and I think that's the curse of it. I mean, I don't have a tremendous amount of life experience yet—I'm only... 38? No… 37? I don't know. 37—I do know, though, because of things that happened over the last decade of my life, I do know though how important these people are. And actually I'll always be grateful to Johns Hopkins. The hospital here actually spent a lot of time treating my mom when she was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma brain cancer. And I know that she got extra months, if not years of her life because of the work of doctors, nurses, health workers, in your hospital system. And I will always, always be grateful for that.

And frankly, it's the reason why I was so humbled and excited to be here for this. To be 21 and get that news when I did at a time when I had just graduated—was just founding Reddit, and I felt invulnerable—gave me a perspective that I carry to this day. It gave me a perspective that I reflect on when I see my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and I think about the world that she will inherit and how much of it I want to show her and how much more I feel like I need to do to improve it for her. It's wild, because even through this screen, I know it won't land in the way that it should, because that curse is that you won't really know until you've lived it and know it.

But trust me, trust me, any investment you make in the best people in your life right now will pay massive dividends. I'm talking longterm value creation. And it's going to be a long road. There's no sugar coating it. We don't know what society or this economy has in store for the next few years. And that is the job market—that is the world that you're going out into. And all of you obviously in the health care profession, I hope, will not be forgotten even as things returned to normal. Because we do have such a high appreciation for all of you. This world is going to be different, but there are still constant threads that will stay the same no matter what. No matter what changes technologically, no matter what changes economically, no matter what changes societally—those are the same things that we, as a species hundreds of thousands of years ago, when our little tribes weren't connected by follows, or up-votes, or likes, when our little tribes were just the people that we woke up with every morning and went to bed with every night and the people around us who we could walk to. And that's about it. If anything, I hope you can find a renewed appreciation for those people in your tribes, the ones closest to you, and the ones who have gotten you to this point, and who'll get you to all the places you want to go.

Again, graduates, I'm so grateful for this opportunity, and I wish you all, all the absolute the best. Thank you.

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• A Reddit user on a popular Wall Street subreddit claimed he turned an initial investment of $100,000 into $2.2 million between 2017 and 2020.
• Sharing his trading tale of profit on Reddit, he posted a screenshot showing what he said are his sizeable gains made over the past four years.
• His post, in the Wall Street Bets subreddit, which has 1.2 million users, gained 775 comments and more than 2,600 reactions, many from investors who wanted to know his secret.
• The user, known as "IKnowTheCodings," was happy to share a series of insights on his big market wins, including channeling a strategy used by investing legend Warren Buffett: buy and hold.
• Markets Insider has not independently verified the Redditor's claims about his market wins.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

An investor posting on a popular Reddit forum about trading claimed to have turned $100,000 into $2.2 million in four years.

The investor, going by the username "IKnowTheCodings" on Reddit, posted a screenshot of what he says were substantial market gains between 2016 and 2020 on Wednesday.

The story was first reported by Marketwatch on Wednesday.

His post, in the Wall Street Bets subreddit, which has 1.2 million users, garnered 775 comments and more than 2,600 reactions, many from investors who wanted to know his secret.

IKnowTheCodings was happy to share a series of insights on his big market wins, including channelling a strategy used by investing legend Warren Buffett: buy and hold.

Read more:A part-time real-estate investor quit his traditional job 5 years after snagging his first deal. He shares his no-hassle strategy that's allowed him to travel the world with his 6 kids.

The investor, who works in web development, encouraged other Redditors on his post to hold on to their winning stocks for "easy retirement money."

At first, he got wiped out after starting with $6,000 on the markets in 2008, but eventually put in more money and saw steady gains for eleven years, he said, adding that "buy and hold is a valid strategy."

Markets Insider has not independently verified the Redditor's claims about his market wins.

"Nearly every lesson you think you've learned will be the wrong lesson to apply at some point in the future," the user said in an interview with MarketWatch.

Read more:David Herro was the world's best international stock-picker for a decade straight. He breaks down 8 stocks he bet on after the coronavirus decimated markets — and 3 he sold.

Betting on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), he picked up 50,000 shares at about $11.50 two years ago. Today, he still holds 40,000 AMD shares. On his positions, his investment was up by more than a million dollars a couple of times, but dropped at the end of last year making him sell some shares to buy a house. 

"Hold your winners longer. This is harder with options," he told a fellow Redditor. When asked whether he was thinking of cashing out, he said: "Nah, gonna stay with it."

Currently, he is most excited about his positions in Norwegian Cruise Line (NC LH) and said that while other cruise and travel stocks would be good, Norwegian is his "favorite." His conviction picks at the moment are split between AMD and NCLH. 

"They have 18 months of liquidity," he said of his cruise-line stock. "If cruises aren't back by then there are a WHOLE lot of other businesses that will be going under in the meantime. I'm planning to hold until at least 40 and think it could be a year to a year and a half."

Read more:Bank of America says a new bubble may be forming in the stock market — and shares a cheap strategy for protection that is 'significantly' more profitable than during the past 10 years

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