Hey Reddit, These Subreddits Are Totally Default Worthy, Too

Reddit just changed its default subreddits for the first time since October 2011. As part of the new Reddit switcheroo, /r/politics and /r/atheism, two of the most controversial areas on the site, were booted off the links Reddit users see before they log in. Some Redditors worried that this was evidence the site is “going mainstream,” but CEO Yishan Wong responded that the change is to highlight subreddits that “show a lot of promise.”

These include /r/books, /r/earthporn, /r/explainlikeimfive, /r/television and /r/gifs, all of which were added to the new lineup. While those five subreddits are certainly worthy of more attention, there are hundreds of subreddits that fly under the radar despite being filled with front page-worthy material. Here are a few that deserve to be honored with a place on the navigation bar.

  • /r/gonecivil— Out of all the subreddits, /r/gonewild (link NSFW), where Redditors post naked self-portraits, probably receives the most coverage in mainstream news outlets. But /r/gonecivil is proof that modesty can be erotic and a strategically-placed snow cone or Skittles package can enhance even the most nubile body.
  • /r/powerwashingporn–You’ll need a shower after browsing the photos in this subreddit.
  • /r/colorizedhistory–Talented Redditors bring vintage photos to glowing life. Who knew young Charlie Chaplin and James Deen (link NSFW) look almost exactly alike?
  • /r/singularity–I once dreamed that my brain turned into Reddit. My frontal lobes were, of course, the front page and the cortical areas were the various defaults (especially /r/wtf), while some of the darker subreddits were tucked away into my amygdala. I felt unsettled for days afterward, but browsing through /r/singularity helped me accept my fate as part of the cat-snuggling, pizza-munching borg.
  • /r/Random_Acts_Of_Pizza–Speaking of pizza, every time someone derides Redditors as a mob of neck-bearded pedophiles who are paradoxically obsessed with vigilante justice, I want to send them to /r/Random_Acts_Of_Pizza, where Redditors buy pizza for strangers in need of some delicious mozzarella-smothered comfort. If you want to understand the impact a single Random Act of Pizza can have, read this comment by grateful user toxlab.
  • /u/Unidan–Unidan–AKA The Excited Biologist and former Redditor of the Day–is much loved for his detailed and humorous answers to other users’ questions about biology. His comments are so prolific and consistently informative that they deserve to be enshrined as a default subreddit. In fact, Unidan should get the spot of honor between the links to /r/random and /r/pics.