That last message was posted by Dmitri himself. I intend on cooking something, what “something” is, I don’t know.Īre people coming alone or with friends? I’ve no friends :( (not really, but really) (Really.)ĭo we have a spreadsheet of food? People brought a lot of chips last time. We lost a kite last year, I think it’s in South America right now. On the Meetup message board, a cascade of anxious messages had accumulated:īring toys, but be aware that they might disappear. With such a large crowd had come a host of ancillary concerns: Would there be enough snacks? Would there be a lot of awkward silences? Would there be girls? This year, there were Meetups in Koprivnica and Auckland and London, but perhaps the biggest was in Central Park, which drew over 200 Redditors, many of whom had traveled sizable distances to be in attendance. It will not play your low-minded, traffic-whoring games.Įvery summer, for five brief hours, thousands of Redditors descend on cities across the world to celebrate Global Reddit Meetup Day, a chance for members to catch up on site gossip, discuss politics “IRL” (in real life), or just toss around a Frisbee and drink Hawaiian Punch.
As is the case with the Drudge Report, news organizations have taken to “baiting” Reddit-posting links to their articles in the hope that something will attract the interest of the “Reddit Army.” Thus far, Reddit has resisted these efforts. An article posted to the front page of Reddit can draw tens of millions of clicks, enough to crash some websites. In recent months, Reddit has emerged as a web power broker nonpareil. Marijuana, atheism, congressional corruption, and web rights are among their many interests. They are drawn by not only the diversity of the content but also the site’s remarkably unified political ethos, which is left-leaning, with a libertarian tack. Some 35 million users sign on to the site every month. According to, Reddit currently comprises approximately 144,000 active sub-forums, each of which is devoted to a different topic-New Jersey, for instance, or John Malkovich. He looked as if he were prepared for a date, and in a way, I suppose, he was.ĭmitri is a member of Reddit, the largest Internet message board in the world. The day was sweltering, and Dmitri, who has bushy black hair and spindly arms that hang approximately two inches too far past his hips, was dressed for the weather-white golf shirt, pressed khaki pants, highish white socks, and a pair of spotless New Balance trail runners. Two weeks ago, at about half past noon, a man I’ll call Dmitri stood in the Arthur Ross Pinetum, a mulchy basin in Central Park, watching a gaggle of grown men shoot each other with plastic guns. The lettered signs reference a popular subreddit group of the same name that has a collection of user-generated comic strips. Attendees at the Reddit Meetup in Central Park on June 23.