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r/whatisthisthing

For the identification of mysterious objects. For the identification of mysterious objects Founded 2010 · 3.2M members · links only

3.2M members. The best post we have captured here reached 8.2K upvotes, which works out to 3 per 1,000 members.

3peak upvotes per 1,000 members
3.2Mmembers
8.2Kbest post
2.5Kmost comments
552posts we track

Open r/whatisthisthing on Reddit ↗

What actually lands here

The mix of post types among everything we have captured. Posting a link where almost nothing but images lands is wasted effort, and this is the fastest way to see it.

65% 35%
Gallery 65% Image 35%

The topics it labels

Flairs are the community's own categories, and the closest thing a subreddit has to telling you what it wants.

Solved! 246 Solved ! 129 Open 85 Likely Solved! 34 Open ! 14 Solved 13 Likely Solved ! 13 F.A.T. 4 Likely Solved 1

What the ceiling looks like

The biggest posts we have captured here. Links go to the original on Reddit.

Strange scissors found in kitchen drawer found in Spanish airbnb

↑ 8.2K 💬 52 gallery 2026

Strange heavy metal rods received in random package

↑ 8K 💬 2.5K gallery 2026

Chili pepper with two slots in one side and one on the other

↑ 7K 💬 899 gallery 2026

Round heavy silver metal object (430g, 8.5cm diameter). Inner dial with numbers, outer dial with letters, both can be turned. Back can open to reveal…

↑ 6.5K 💬 260 gallery 2026

Object pointed into the tiger enclosure at Detroit Zoo

↑ 5.6K 💬 110 gallery 2026

What is this device hanging above the doors at Target?

↑ 5.6K 💬 509 image 2026

Red cylindrical item on mulch. Approximately 1/2-2/3" long. Size 8 ring for scale.

↑ 5.5K 💬 210 image 2026

Wierd suspicious looking camera installed across the street.

↑ 5.2K 💬 143 gallery 2026

In a display at an 1800s living history museum in Indiana - metal head on three legs

↑ 4.8K 💬 214 image 2026

What is this thing in my hotel shower in Spain?

↑ 4.8K 💬 231 gallery 2026

Communities its size

Within four times the member count either way, so the comparison is fair. Sorted by upside.

r/whatisthisthing, in numbers

Answered from the posts ViralHunt holds from this community, not from Reddit's own about page.

What is r/whatisthisthing?
r/whatisthisthing ("For the identification of mysterious objects") describes itself this way: For the identification of mysterious objects. It was founded in 2010 and has 3.2M members.
How many members does r/whatisthisthing have?
r/whatisthisthing has about 3.2M members. ViralHunt has tracked 552 of its posts; the biggest reached 8.2K upvotes, which is 3 per 1,000 members.
What is the most viral post on r/whatisthisthing?
"Strange scissors found in kitchen drawer found in Spanish airbnb" reached 8.2K upvotes and 52 comments in 2026, the highest score among the posts we hold from r/whatisthisthing.
What subreddits are similar to r/whatisthisthing?
Communities of a comparable size we track: r/PcBuild, r/ukraine, r/LosAngeles, r/LeopardsAteMyFace, r/okbuddycinephile, r/blackcats.
What kind of posts do best on r/whatisthisthing?
Of the posts we hold, 65% are gallery posts and 35% are image posts.
When is the best time to post on r/whatisthisthing?
Across 566 timestamped posts we hold, the slots whose posts averaged the highest score are Tuesday at 21:00 UTC (3.6K avg upvotes), Wednesday at 03:00 UTC (2.8K avg upvotes), Sunday at 11:00 UTC (2.1K avg upvotes). The busiest day is Sunday. For Reddit as a whole, see the best time to post on Reddit page.
How many upvotes does a post need to reach the top of r/whatisthisthing?
The 20th-best post we hold from r/whatisthisthing has 3.1K upvotes, so that is roughly the bar for the top twenty. We captured 158 posts from it in the last 30 days.

See what is climbing here before you write

ViralHunt tracks Reddit and eight other networks, records how every post grows, and puts what is taking off in front of your team in one list.

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Every figure here is what ViralHunt has captured from r/whatisthisthing, not everything the community has ever posted. We deliberately do not publish an average score: our sample is weighted toward a community's best posts, so an average would be flattering and wrong. Peak per 1,000 members is computed the same way for every community listed. See how we measure.