Community Points on Reddit, waitlist open for testing

Reddit has launched the waitlist that officially kicks off the implementation of the Community Points project.

Community Points coming soon to Reddit

The waitlist has been opened on the official website. The form is very simple, asking the user for their details, and which subreddit they would like Community Points to be placed in, including whether they are a moderator, how many members they have, and why they think Community Points would be good for that group. 

The waitlist will allow a limited number of users to preview this feature. In particular, moderators are required to participate in what Reddit calls “a crypto experiment”.

How Community Points will work

Community Points will be used to empower communities by allowing creators to earn money. Creators will in turn be able to spend community points by adding new features. Creators will be able to show their accumulated points, which will demonstrate their reputation. They will also be used to vote. Subreddits will be able to create votes, and the voting system will give more weight to those with the most points. 

In Reddit’s view, they will also act as an incentive to post quality content and serve as a reward. Finally, they can be personalized with a name and symbol. 

Points on the blockchain

Community Points will be on the Ethereum blockchain. For the social network, this will ensure that the reputation of redditors will go far beyond Reddit, as it is tokenized on the blockchain. In addition, users will be able to see their points on the Vault, a real wallet inside the Reddit app. 

To increase the scalability of Ethereum, Reddit will rely on the Layer 2 Arbitrum.

Communities return to centre stage

Community Points will be used to put communities back at the centre of the web. Reddit tells this with an illustrated story: there was a time when the internet was a free place, then came places that looked like playgrounds but turned out to be prisons that trapped users. 

To become free again, we need the right tools that allow communities to regain their independence. Users must be free to express themselves, collaborate and decide their future. The last chapter of this little story reads:

“We believe in a new dawn for the Internet, where it can be free once again. We don’t have all the answers, but we believe together we can find a way”.

Community Points fit into this narrative and will serve to incentivize this change. Reddit explains: 

“Communities are the lifeblood of the Internet. But on today’s Internet, they are not in charge of their own destiny. Instead, they are controlled by the large platforms that hold all the power online. It is time for a change.

Community Points are the first step towards a different future for online communities. These tokens live on the blockchain, which means they are truly owned by the community. Over time, your community will benefit from even greater control and independence — on and off of Reddit”.

This is web 3.0 as well.