This repository contains the code behind the analysis in the "Characterizing Reddit Participation of Users who Engage in the QAnon Conspiracy Theories" paper (CSCW '22). The data are located here.
- Input data can be found in the inputFiles folder.
- Output files can be found in the outputFiles folder.
pip install -r requirements.txt
2,099,875 unique submissions
from 13,182 unique Q-users
50,002 unique subreddits
from October 28. 2016 to January 23rd, 2021
using the Pushshift API (psaw)
| Column | Data Type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| subreddit | object | subreddit name where submission is located |
| id | object | submission id |
| score | int64 | number of upvotes for submission |
| numReplies | int64 | count of comments |
| author | object | submission author's Reddit username |
| title | object | submission title |
| text | object | submission selftext, if no text then link post |
| is_self | bool | indication of text-only submission |
| domain | object | url link domain, if no url then submission permalink domain |
| url | object | full url link for submission, if no url then submission permalink |
| permalink | object | submission permalink |
| date_created | datetime64[ns] | submission creation date-time group (UTC) |
| type | object | submission or comment |
| subreddit | id | score | numReplies | author | title | text | is_self | domain | url | permalink | upvote_ratio | date_created | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | greatawakening | 8xuv4i | 1 | 14 | 879f283b831c13474e219e88663d95b0763cca9b | I’ve been writing “Trump Lives Here” on my $20’s after seeing the stamp idea advertised, but seeing this posted again gave me a better idea...going to start writing #QANON or #GreatAwakening on all my bills now! | nan | False | i.redd.it | https://i.redd.it/h3mbbxvxq7911.jpg | /r/greatawakening/comments/8xuv4i/ive_been_writing_trump_lives_here_on_my_20s_after/ | -1 | 2018-07-11 00:27:24 |
| 1 | greatawakening | 8ydw3e | 1 | 13 | 879f283b831c13474e219e88663d95b0763cca9b | Trying to take him seriously but... | nan | False | i.redd.it | https://i.redd.it/62gaw0th4l911.jpg | /r/greatawakening/comments/8ydw3e/trying_to_take_him_seriously_but/ | -1 | 2018-07-12 21:26:32 |
10,831,922 unique comments
from 11,210 unique Q-users
36,947 unique subreddits
from October 28. 2016 to January 23rd, 2021
using the Pushshift API (psaw)
| Column | Data Type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| id | object | comment id |
| link_id | object | submission id the comment is in response to |
| parent_id | object | parent comment id |
| author | object | comment author's Reddit username |
| subreddit | object | subreddit name where comment is located |
| body | object | body of the comment |
| date_created | datetime64[ns] | comment creation date-time group (UTC) |
| id | link_id | parent_id | author | subreddit | body | date_created | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | e0mztbn | t3_8qy7gp | t3_8qy7gp | 182c774799aac38a84f5117fc59cde99b0df19af | greatawakening | My account is new because i lost my password to my last account | 2018-06-14 02:17:37 |
| 1 | e0n0e9q | t3_8qy9wy | t3_8qy9wy | 182c774799aac38a84f5117fc59cde99b0df19af | greatawakening | new account only because i lost the password to my old account. you can see my post history at JaM0k3 if you doubt my authenticity and genuine concern | 2018-06-14 02:28:21 |
13,182 users
QAnon-enthusiastic = 3,506 users
QAnon-interested = 9,676 users
User status:
Active = 11,014 users
DNE = 1,624 users
Is_suspended = 544 users
| Column | Data Type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| QAuthor | object | Q-users (authors of submissions in the 19 identified subreddits from the 2018 QAnon ban |
| isUQ | int64 | 0 = QAnon-interested, 1 = QAnon-enthusiastic |
| status | object | Active, DNE, Is_suspended = user account status derived from Reddit API Metadata (as of June, 2021) |
| QAuthor | isUQ | status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | aa65b7dd5d5fa660d058e094669f884bf7d52299 | 0 | Active |
| 1 | 2b1505f289338751829dfa129c0b52d145c9eceb | 1 | Active |
12,987 unique subreddits
| Column | Data Type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| subreddit | object | subreddit name that contains 2+ QAnon-enthusiastic (excludes user profile wikis) |
| numSubscribers | float64 | count of subreddit subscribers (as of June, 2021 or earlier loss of unrestricted subreddit access) |
| status | object | subreddit access: unrestricted, quarantined, or private, and banned (as of June, 2021) |
| allModNames | object | moderator Reddit usernames (as of June, 2021) |
| allMods | int64 | count of moderators (as of June, 2021) |
| qModNames | object | Q-user moderator Reddit usernames (as of June, 2021) |
| qMods | float64 | count of Q-user moderators (as of June, 2021) |
| top_qModNames | object | QAnon-enthusiastic moderator Reddit usernames (as of June, 2021) |
| top_qMods | float64 | count of QAnon-enthusiastic moderators (as of June, 2021) |
| firstPostSubmission | object | date_created for earliest submission |
| lastPostSubmission | object | date_created for latest submission |
| firstPostComment | object | date_created for earliest comment |
| lastPostComment | object | date_created for latest comment |
| qModsRatio | float64 | qMods / allMods (as of June, 2021) |
| top_qModsRatio | float64 | top_qMods / allMods (as of June, 2021) |
| activePreBanOnly | int64 | 1 = subreddit's last submission or comment is 2018-09-12 or earlier, 0 = active post-2018 QAnon ban |
| activePreQ | int64 | 1 = subreddit's first submission or comment is before 2017-10-28, 0 = not active pre- first Q drop |
| activePostBan | int64 | 1 = subreddit's last submission or comment is after 2018-09-12, 0 = acrtive pre-2018 QAnon ban |
| qAuth | int64 | count of Q-user submission authors |
| top_qAuth | int64 | count of QAnon-enthusiastic submission authors |
| qSubmissions | int64 | count of Q-user submissions |
| top_qSubmissions | int64 | count of QAnon-enthusiastic submissions |
| nonTop_qSubmissions | int64 | count of QAnon-interested submissions |
| qComments | float64 | count of Q-user comments |
| top_qComments | float64 | count of QAnon-enthusiastic comments |
| nonTop_qComments | float64 | count of QAnon-interested comments |
| top_qPercent | float64 | (top_qAuth / 3506) * 100) |
| qPercent | float64 | (qAuth / 13182 * 100) |
| Monthly Average Total Authors | float64 | average number of total subreddit submission authors per month (between 2018-03-12 and 2019-03-12) |
| Monthly Average Total Submissions | float64 | average number of total subreddit submissions per month (between 2018-03-12 and 2019-03-12) |
| Monthly Average UQ Authors | float64 | average number of QAnon-enthusiastic subreddit submission authors per month (between 2018-03-12 and 2019-03-12) |
| Monthly Average UQ Submissions | float64 | average number of QAnon-enthusiastic subreddit submissions per month (between 2018-03-12 and 2019-03-12) |
| Monthly Average QAnon Authors | float64 | average number of Q-user subreddit submission authors per month (between 2018-03-12 and 2019-03-12) |
| Monthly Average QAnon Submissions | float64 | average number of Q-user subreddit submissions per month (between 2018-03-12 and 2019-03-12) |
| % UQ Submissions | float64 | (Monthly Average UQ Submissions / Monthly Average Total Submissions) * 100 |
| % UQ Authors | float64 | (Monthly Average UQ Authors / Monthly Average Total Authors) * 100 |
| % QAnon Submissions | float64 | (Monthly Average QAnon Submissions / Monthly Average Total Submissions) * 100 |
| % QAnon Authors | float64 | (Monthly Average QAnon Authors / Monthly Average Total Authors) * 100 |
| subreddit | numSubscribers | status | allModNames | allMods | qModNames | qMods | top_qModNames | top_qMods | firstPostSubmission | lastPostSubmission | firstPostComment | lastPostComment | qModsRatio | top_qModsRatio | activePreBanOnly | activePreQ | activePostBan | qAuth | top_qAuth | qSubmissions | top_qSubmissions | nonTop_qSubmissions | qComments | top_qComments | nonTop_qComments | top_qPercent | qPercent | Monthly Average Total Authors | Monthly Average Total Submissions | Monthly Average UQ Authors | Monthly Average UQ Submissions | Monthly Average QAnon Authors | Monthly Average QAnon Submissions | % UQ Submissions | % UQ Authors | % QAnon Submissions | % QAnon Authors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Watches | 1.52524e+06 | public | ['f1c355408b78fd88ebc13aade4c9a7924005c2ab','e8ba168935c0aaf4c836f754134ab7ce2af1cb78','3d24107f83da2c1b164f9ef6056534c411a014c5','4761651055cbc095f958408c130db085207d94f0','2f3685e3246480acf62db4fa47134136abb72fa8','e91b7152b521a4c2ee38d40b4269db6ed3a4a864','733a3079682a418d3ac0a0082a1c73c82426ab64','f07a25e26c9be732c6a8e0baeb259de0012db9c0','5324eebc18306707d97d9a20cf7ab0d333a852f6','1a2ab94f2a57af66faaf6c6cc1c2aedfbf7adeaf','1bfb0b9d4f7209ceeb0fd8a41032dc03dc270d55','beb0c1ef7acd0d2c116eb53afe5e9c6466268087','b6b4b8c71fbbf8e56cbffdaa2909cbe4d23c6e25'] | 13 | [] | 0 | [] | 0 | 2016-12-07 03:21:16 | 2020-11-27 19:24:49 | 2016-11-26 13:24:54 | 2021-01-22 18:22:43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 58 | 10 | 219 | 99 | 120 | 1681 | 244 | 1437 | 0.29 | 0.44 | 2881.38 | 5911.85 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 3.75 | 6 | 0.0405965 | 0.0416466 | 0.101491 | 0.130146 |
| 1 | MMA | 1.51845e+06 | public | ['69e403df92bb49af60d5046c0be60f1a46bfd53d','db2bc6d4901d4b045b6106f6d8fa05d39d7299bc','e6a27fb7e49c024a93e255f6aebf7d050286d555','662214643ba4236170bdd0930c3960aec957eccc','346dc08bbb0aba36e747eed2c60f71ed2421b801','42af3024c512b1570e9b18d14e489ea1aabc5289','ad60ae7a9dd74661af165743cc541e9a643d5653','9e165e1ea288ea76cc543606b60158297f53189c','8b1895f2ab3dd2937e57df3dfbd0a0f2722d22a6','a811e14d7aca9db33a0741e9b3ac224674a3678d','814f2b241069c14efd6505e3e6608fd6bd0e5837','20753b7f572e0d6a003037e751fc755fc2a69e7b','9ad716f0c5f5346b6bd5f9d25028f581a202f5d6','86294814dcd22c5c6ec366f986261825204f7d3b','e735ba8c261225c06427c4141ae52e3ccd63d069','64c14242cc4aba563a93ad72c2d27caa94c3f5d4','5c547518bd4db19ca4d04acbf7801e2d803bf3eb','19ec300a4b3eb3a65a7091dfec4618fe02a53caa','67d7a0de2ae09727ef61f0720e40125e555dd56a','8955818d50a9bcc9bca0877413fb030ba9452e3a'] | 20 | [] | 0 | [] | 0 | 2016-11-01 05:51:55 | 2021-01-03 00:43:44 | 2016-10-28 00:39:15 | 2021-01-23 08:16:57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 97 | 29 | 371 | 99 | 272 | 18910 | 2808 | 16102 | 0.83 | 0.74 | 1840.46 | 4953.46 | 2.91667 | 4.75 | 6.38462 | 9.92308 | 0.0958925 | 0.158475 | 0.200326 | 0.346903 |
915 unique sampled subreddits
| Column | Data Type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| subreddit | object | sampled subreddit name |
| Codes | object | qualitative codes for listed subreddit (n of 24) |
| Final Topic Clusters | object | label common theme for listed subreddit (n of 9) |
| Final Relation Clusters | object | label of relationship to QAnon narrative (n of 6) |
| subreddit | Codes | Final Topic Clusters | Final Relation Clusters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2070vids | ['unrelated'] | ['unrelated'] | ['unrelated'] |
| 1 | 3Dprinting | ['unrelated'] | ['unrelated'] | ['unrelated'] |
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - QAnon-QAnon narrative.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - related-aligned-the unseen or unknown (1).csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - related-aligned-unconstricted behavior.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - related-misaligned-constricted behavior.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - related-misaligned-politics - Trump opposing.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - related-neutral-current events.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - related-neutral-politics - Trump alignment unknown.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - sympathetic-politics - Trump supporting.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - sympathetic-the unseen or unknown.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - sympathetic-unconstricted behavior.csv
RQ3_Labelling Results_RQ3-Submission Labelling Results - unrelated-unrelated.csv
1,571 unique sampled submissions
across 11 combinations of 6 relation labels and 9 topic labels
coding for 7 harmful content labels
| Column | Data Type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| subreddit | object | sampled subreddit name |
| title | object | submission title |
| text | object | submission selftext |
| date_created | object | submission creation date-time group (UTC) |
| url | object | full url link for submission, if no url then submission permalink |
| Reconcile Code1 | object | qualitative codes for listed submission (n of 7) |
| Reconcile Code2 | object | qualitative codes for listed submission (n of 7) |
| Reconcile Code3 | object | qualitative codes for listed submission (n of 7) |
| Reconcile Code4 | object | qualitative codes for listed submission (n of 7) |
| Source | object | if applicable: Source inaccessible, Youtube news commentary, Mischaracterization of fact |
| subreddit | title | text | date_created | url | Reconcile Code1 | Reconcile Code2 | Reconcile Code3 | Reconcile Code4 | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | tulsi | "Why I’m asking Tom Perez to resign | Under the leadership of Tom Perez, the DNC has kowtowed to billionaires, caused a debacle in Iowa, and undermined the voter’s trust in our elections. The American people are understandably feeling confused and disheartened by a process that should be empowering" | 2020-02-09 22:36:14 | https://www.tulsi2020.com/petition/tom-perez | Negative Interaction | nan | nan | nan | Source inaccessible |
| 1 | JusticeVsGOP | Trump’s alleged attempts to force Ukraine to meddle in 2020 election being investigated | nan | 2019-09-09 23:14:30 | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ukraine-2020-election-house-committee-impeachment-a9098126.html?utm_source=reddit.com | Unrelated | Low-quality Source | nan | nan | nan |