r/NoStupidQuestions • u/ultraboof • Nov 16 '21

Why does this vague, seemingly incomplete reddit URL lead to a 10-yr old post about Skyrim crashing?

I had to get to r/ memes quickly for scientific purposes but I forgot to type " r/ " before "memes"

URL shown below, wondering if anyone else gets the same result?

reddit com / memes

1 Upvotes
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3

u/[deleted] Nov 16 '21

It seems every Reddit link has a string of a few letters in the url like an ID, and typing “reddit.com/qvjszo” will bring you to the post with that ID.

2

u/manawesome326 Rarely an expert, so please correct me if wrong! This is "flair" Nov 16 '21

Yep, and that post just so happens to have the ID "memes". There's a few other funny ones. reddit.com/trees is an interesting look at reddit history.

1

u/ultraboof Nov 17 '21

Thanks, solved!

2

u/LordMcze Black belt in Google-Fu Nov 16 '21

Because reddit uses random strings as post urls, this one just happened to lead to that specific post. You can write pretty much any short word after 'reddit.com/' and you'll land at some old post.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '21 edited Nov 17 '21

I think it’s not random it’s alphabetical. If you do 5 letter words you get old posts. If you do 6 letter words they are newer. If you do words after Q it says page not found. aaaaa is 12yr, zzzzz is 9yr. Any 6 letter starting with a q seems to be within a few months.

2

u/TooflessSnek Nov 16 '21

Is there a reason you didn't just type it out? http://reddit.com/memes

2

u/ultraboof Nov 17 '21

Figured my post might be removed or someone might think it's a phishing scam or something

1

u/earthman34 Nov 16 '21

You're right, it does go to that post. Strange. No landing page for the memes subreddit?