New to Reddit, how do I get Karma?

So I've finally decided to check out Reddit.  A few topics, people say it's full of good stuff (and bad).

I'm trying to comment on a particular thread ("I never thought leopards would eat MY face"), but I keep getting the same bot comment in my messages "Hello (me). Unfortunately, due to spam bots spreading across Reddit, we have increased our karma requirements. Please get more karma to comment. Thanks!"

And when I look up how to get Karma, it says "make posts and comments that people like and upvote".  Huh?  Am I missing something?

Are you sure you really want to do that? There's only like 4 braincells in all of reddit, and 3 of them are devoted to naughty pictures, the last one gets divided between all the other topics. 

But to get karma, post in other threads, and repeat almost verbatim whatever idiotic argument is being made in that particular subreddit, because the nail that sticks out gets downvoted. To find said argument in whatever subreddit, read through and see which Internet personality that subreddit worships regardless of fact, every sub has at least one. Examples, r/smoking worships meathead, and anything he has ever said is gospel and anyone who goes against it or questions it will be shouted down and downvoted from the sub, while R/cooking worships Kenji Lopez and America's test kitchen, nevermind how bland and uninspired the recipes and food are. 

Reddit really is the most frightening hive mind I've ever come across.

Find a more niche subreddit that probably doesn't have the same Karma requirements - r/StarWarsCosplay for instance, instead of r/StarWars - and post a picture of yourself in costume. If you get deleted from that one, message a moderator and tell them you're real and they should be able to let it through. 

Start making comments on other more niche subreddits - r/StarWarsAhsoka, or r/ScionTC, and hope they get upvoted. 

just don't 

Go to r/nostupidquestions (or whatever it is) and just start answering questions on anything you even know a little bit about.

Also, local subreddits for your area generally don't have as strict a karma requirement.

Chime in on comments that are already posted.  Be the second or third person to reply.

But also, yeah.  Its a bit of a cesspool at times.

Hm so Reddit can be the cesspool I was warned about, got it.  And the restriction is from THAT particular topic, not Reddit in general, also got it.

Yeah so far I'm just reading posts in the topic mentioned, a GR Corolla thread and a Star Wars thread.  Probably not branch out any further.

EDIT I did see a local thread for Cincinnati when the Empire Strips Back burleque show got canceled and a few people had information on what happened.

Just do it the old fashioned way. How do you look in yoga pants?

In reply to Jerry :

I don't think it's as bad as some say. Some subs are definitely worse than others. Seems like you've got a good handle on it, staying in subreddits that are more relevant to you, versus having the algorithm feed them to you. 

Step 1: Unsubscribe to literally every default sub. It's brainrot. 

Step 2: Subscribe only to niche interest, local, and cat subs. r/projectcar is pretty okay. You'll do good in the cosplay ones too.

Step 3: berkeley karma, forget about karma, me and all my homies hate karma.

Step 4: Do not scroll popular or all. Stick to the small community stuff. 

In reply to slefain :

Being a digital native, I was inexcusably naive about how much nsfw content was on Reddit. Like it has to be 90% of reddit. I only use it on my phone, and I had the censor NSFW on in settings for the first 1-2 years. Then when I needed to see a thread that was NSFW because of blood, not anything inappropriate, I turned it off. And all of a sudden you type any 2 letter combination into the search bar and every auto-populated result is NSFW. 

Rule34 indeed. In fact, I'm sure there is a subreddit specifically for Rule34. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

Sound advice.  Next up, there's this new game called Candy Crush I heard was popular with the kiddos.  Also something called Angry Birds.

In reply to Jerry :

Before you know it, you'll have an urge to photograph your meal and share it with your acquaintances, but luckily an app is coming out soon just for that!

EchoTreeSix said:

In reply to Jerry :

I don't think it's as bad as some say. Some subs are definitely worse than others. Seems like you've got a good handle on it, staying in subreddits that are more relevant to you, versus having the algorithm feed them to you. 

Solid advice.  berkeley the algo

slefain said:

Just do it the old fashioned way. How do you look in yoga pants?

I don't have any, but my stormtrooper under-suit is very form-fitting if you really want to know.

I occasionally read /Trackdays (motorcycles) and /motorcycles.  They're both ... not great.  Trackdays is a lot of "how's my body position?" and "how does my tire wear look?" posts and everyone is an expert.  /motorcycles is lots of "bought my first bike" posts.  I learn the odd thing on /Trackdays and contribute when something pops up I actually know something about.

I learn a lot more from an old WERA forum.  Actual pros pop in once in a while.  Small team owners.  Vendors.  

If you really want karma my advice would be sort by new on the previously mentioned advice. The early bird gets the worm, so to speak. After you get a little karma then you won't be restricted. Be warned, reddit is currently very riled up at the moment. 

I only subscribe to a few subreddits. By and large, it seems like a lot of angry people who downvote and insult anything that is objectively true or good advice and not "all corporations are evil, ACAB, etc" type advice. 

I was downvoted into oblivion the other day for answering a question for someone asked about possible careers in the OKC area. She currently works at Walmart and is transferring but will still only make $17.68/hr. She has a BA in Liberal Arts. Many suggested moving to Dallas/Austin/Nashville/KC/St. Louis because there will be more opportunities. Apparently they didn't like that I pointed out at that pay rate she is going to a roommate(s) to afford living in a larger, more expensive city. And suggested with her degree, she should look into entry-level Marketing or PR jobs.

I found reddit through posts from the subreddit r/justrolledintotheshop. I actually found that subreddit on a Google search nearly a decade ago. Great subreddit btw. Like everyone has said, unsubscribe from r/all and the other major ones you automatically get when you create your account and find one's that are of interest.  If you are into motorcycles r/motorcycle is a better choice than r/motorcycles and r/calamariraceteam is better still. Also r/motorcyclegear is pretty good. The more niche subs tend to have fewer trolls and teens raking up mud constantly.  They tend to have none actually.  Conversations can be quite engaging. Edit: One thing, never EVER tell anyone your reddit username.