How Reddit Profiles Work
A Reddit profile is a public page tied to a permanent username. It shows karma, the account creation date, and lists of the posts and comments the account has made. It deliberately does not show votes, saved items, subscriptions or anything identifying the person behind it.
Public versus hidden
| Public to anyone | Never public |
|---|---|
| Username and avatar | Email address and real name |
| Karma: post, comment, awardee, awarder | Upvote and downvote history |
| Account creation date | Saved and hidden posts |
| Posts and comments | Subreddit subscriptions |
| Verified and Gold status | Private messages and chats |
| Follower count | Who the followers are |
The four kinds of karma
Reddit shows one combined number on most profile views, but the account data holds four separate totals. The split says far more than the total does.
- Post karma, from submissions. Easy to accumulate quickly by reposting popular content.
- Comment karma, from replies. Slower to build and much harder to fake.
- Awardee karma, from awards received.
- Awarder karma, from awards given.
An account with high post karma and almost no comment karma has never really talked to anyone, which is a useful signal. The profile viewer splits them out for exactly this reason.
Username versus display name
These are two different things, and confusing them is the most common mistake people make when identifying a Reddit account.
- The username is permanent. It appears after u/, cannot be changed, and is the only reliable way to identify an account.
- The display name can change at any time, as often as the owner likes, and two accounts can share one.
Tips
- Read the cake day first. Account age changes how you should read everything else.
- Compare post and comment karma rather than looking at the total.
- Remember the subreddits on a profile are where the account has posted, not what it follows.
- If a profile will not load, it is not a privacy setting.
Common mistakes
- Treating total karma as a trust score. Post karma is cheap to farm; comment karma is not.
- Identifying someone by display name. It is not unique and can change tomorrow.
- Assuming the profile lists everything. It shows one sort order, capped at roughly 1,000 items.
- Expecting to see what someone upvoted. Vote history has been private since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
- What is on a Reddit profile?
- A username, avatar, karma totals, the account creation date, and tabs listing the account's public posts and comments. Some accounts also have a profile subreddit with followers.
- What is a cake day?
- The anniversary of the day the account was created. It is displayed publicly, which makes account age one of the easiest things to check about any Reddit user.
- Can I change my Reddit username?
- No. Reddit does not allow username changes after registration. You can change the display name shown on your profile, but the u/ name is permanent, which is why it is the reliable identifier.
- What is a profile subreddit?
- Every Reddit account has an associated u/ page that can behave like a small personal subreddit, with its own followers. The follower count is public; the list of followers is not.
- Does a Reddit profile show which subreddits someone follows?
- No. Subscriptions are private. The subreddits you can see on a profile are the ones the account has posted or commented in, which is a different thing.
See a real profile broken down, karma split and all.
View a Reddit profile