This page contains reference examples for posts and comments in online forums such as Reddit, including the following:
Cite a livestream (e.g., Reddit Public Access Network) that is not archived by its hosting platform and cannot be retrieved by any other means (i.e., recorded and made available online via another hosting site) as a personal communication.
1. Online forum post
Little, J. [j450n_l]. (2018, December 12). I'm the first person in the world with a neural-enabled prosthetic hand. Using an specialized prosthetic and a device implanted [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/AMA/comments/a5jxbe/im_the_first_person_in_the_world_with_a/
- Parenthetical citation: (Little, 2018)
- Narrative citation: Little (2018)
- When the real name of the author is known, provide it first, in inverted format, followed by the screen name in brackets, as in the example.
- When the real name of the author is not known, provide only the screen name without brackets.
- Provide the title of the post in the title position, up to the first 20 words.
- End with the site name (e.g., Reddit) and the URL of the post.
2. Online forum comment
Gates, B. [thisisbillgates]. (2017, February 27). Philanthropy is small as a part of the overall economy so it can’t do things like fund health care or [Comment on the online forum post I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Ask me anything.]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5whpqs/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/dea82mk/
haffy-1223. (2018, September 12). What do you think while on the launchpad about to launch? [Comment on the online forum post I’m NASA astronaut Scott Tingle. Ask me anything about adjusting to being back on Earth after my first spaceflight!]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9fagqy/im_nasa_astronaut_scott_tingle_ask_me_anything/e5v0027/
- Parenthetical citations: (Gates, 2017; haffy-1223, 2018)
- Narrative citations: Gates (2017) and haffy-1223 (2018)
- When the real name of the author is known, provide it first, in inverted format, followed by the screen name in brackets (as in the Gates example).
- When the real name of the author is not known, provide only the screen name without brackets (as in the haffy-1223 example).
- Provide up to the first 20 words of the comment; then write “Comment on the online forum post” and the full title of post on which the comment appeared (in italics and sentence case, enclosed within square brackets).
- End with the site name (e.g., Reddit) and the URL of the comment.
- To access the URL of the comment itself (rather than the URL of the whole post), select the date stamp of the comment and then copy and paste the resulting URL from your browser.
Online forum references are covered in Section 10.15 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition
This guidance has been revised from the 6th edition.