What Does “OP” Mean Online, and How Do You Use It?

If you have been on a information board or Reddit recently, you may well observe individuals chatting about a person termed “the OP.” If you’re not absolutely sure who that is, read through on.

What It Signifies

“OP” stands for “original poster” or “original publish.” Though the two of these conditions are commonly employed on information boards and internet forums, they mean various matters.

The unique poster is the particular person who starts off a dialogue thread, discussion board matter, or Reddit post. They usually kick-start off a conversation or check with a issue. If they are inquiring for information about a distinct circumstance, they reply to the opinions or messages in that thread. When other people today refer to the human being who commenced the thread, they sort “OP” alternatively of their username.

The “original post” is the first one particular obvious when you open the thread created by the unique poster. This is the considerably less prevalent use of the two. This is applied when the post incorporates a good deal of information, these kinds of as “megathreads,” or guides that consist of numerous important one-way links, updates, and images.

“Opening” and “Overpowered”

The initialism OP also has two other usages you might see on line. In anime communities, OP can stand for “opening,” this means the opening credits at the begin of every episode.

Among gamers, OP stands for “overpowered.” This indicates a character, product, or something else in a match is perceived as too strong.

When typed in lowercase, “op” is the abbreviation for “opposition.” The plural type, “ops,” can also imply “operations.”

The Historical past of OP

OP can be traced back again to the early days of on-line concept boards in the 1990s and early ’00s. The very first definition of OP in the Urban Dictionary was designed in 2003. It states that it stands for “original poster.” Currently, it’s a frequent term on many websites that use a concept-board structure, like Reddit.

OP was often utilized in its place of an unique poster’s username. Considering that most accounts on message boards had been nameless, they consisted of obscure words, character names, quantities, and symbols. Also, these web-sites experienced no tagging or notification units, like message boards do now. OP was a significantly speedier and less difficult way to refer to the authentic poster.

In the early times of concept boards, the OP of a thread could also use the net acronym “ITT,” which stands for “in this thread,” in the title of their posts. Observing ITT in titles is a lot less widespread now, but the phrase is nonetheless in use on the net.

OP and Reddit

The acronym OP is commonly employed on Reddit, the biggest on line concept board. In Inquire Me Anything at all or AMA threads, persons are explained to to inquire the OP questions. Except the OP is a effectively-regarded general public figure, commenters will typically use the time period “OP” to refer to the man or woman currently being requested the inquiries.

Another utilization is when a poster shares a tale or private encounter. When the story is mentioned in the opinions, persons will generally refer to that poster as the OP. For instance, another person may possibly put up “If I had to walk as far as the OP did, I probably would’ve supplied up.”

Connected: What Does “AMA” Mean, and How Do You Use It?

OP on Social Media

OP is also a typical term on social media, especially Twitter. When a tweet has a extended chain of replies from multiple men and women, it will become a Twitter thread. Thus, “OP” refers to the particular person who sent the initial tweet.

Threads are common on Twitter for the reason that of the platform’s 280-character restrict. When persons want to sort longer tales or submit loads of shots, they separate them into many tweets. If a person stumbles upon an out-of-buy tweet in a thread, they’ll often look for the OP’s initial tweet.

How to Use OP on Community forums

OP is a colloquial term that doesn’t seriously belong in formal email messages. You really should only use it on social media or online concept boards.

Right here are a handful of methods you can use OP:

• “OP, remember to give us an update when you acquire the deal.”
• “The OP has a large amount of great nourishment information and facts.”
• “What’s your favourite match on the PS4, OP?”
• “I discover the OP’s tale intriguing, TBH.”

OP is just just one of the several acronyms you’ll see on the net. If you want to find out about a several much more, be confident to check out out what SMH and NSFW mean.

Related: What Does “NSFW” Necessarily mean, and How Do You Use It?