With millions of members and countless pages of comments and links, Reddit is unwieldy—even for skilled veterans of the social news site. That’s why the most experienced redditors rely on tools to keep everything organized.
On Wednesday, redditors listed the Reddit optimization tools they use the most. Each plugin mentioned takes one click to install and—best of all—is absolutely free.
Here are redditors’ own picks for a smoother Reddit experience.
1) Reddit Check
Reposts are considered by many users to be a cardinal sin. If people are allowed to simply post links that proved to be popular in the past, they could readily abuse Reddit’s karma system.
Most of the time, Reddit warns you and nullifies your post when you’re about to repost a link. But why waste the time and energy posting? Reddit Check identifies whether the URL has previously been posted—right there in your Chrome browser window. (Using Firefox instead? Try Redditrepost.)
This plugin takes repost checks a step further. If the URL in question would be a repost, Mostly Harmless takes you to the original post on Reddit to let you vote and comment on it. And that’s just one of the things this plugin does. It also protects your Reddit browsing privacy, integrates Reddit mail with your desktop, and supports every language Google Chrome supports.
As touted in our Beginner’s Guide to Reddit, this multi-browser plugin does wonders for your Reddit dashboard. It lets you save comments and links for later, helps you navigate winding comment threads, adds keyboard shortcuts, and most addictingly, makes Reddit an infinite scrolling experience.
These are just a few of the suite’s dozens of helpful additions. The longer you use the service, the more you’ll discover that you can’t live without.
For the redditor who can’t escape and doesn’t want to, there’s this plugin. Reddit Companion updates you on incoming mail and replies to your comments even if you’re in another browser window busy doing something else. You’ll never miss a thing on Reddit, but you’ll have to kiss distraction-free single-tasking goodbye.
“Really, anyone who spends any time on reddit should have two extensions installed. Reddit Enhancement Suite and reddit companion,” autobots wrote.
Photo by Jeff Keacher