How to Pick a Winner by Upvotes / Comment Score

Not every Reddit giveaway is a pure random draw from all comments. Sometimes the goal is to reward engagement — to recognize participants whose entries resonated with the community, generated discussion, or demonstrated genuine effort. In these cases, upvotes and comment scores become part of the entry criteria.

Running a giveaway where comment score plays a role introduces a new layer of complexity. How do you set a threshold that's fair? How do you filter out low-score comments without excluding genuine participants? And how do you do all of this without manually reading through hundreds of entries?

RDT Picker includes a comment score filter — also referred to as a minimum upvote threshold — that lets you set a floor for entry eligibility based on how many upvotes a comment has received. Only comments at or above your defined score are included in the draw. The rest are automatically excluded.

This guide covers everything you need to know: what comment scores are, how upvote-based filtering works, how to use the minimum score filter in RDT Picker, and the important rules and caveats you need to understand before running this type of giveaway.

What Is a Reddit Comment Score?

Every comment on Reddit has a score — a number that reflects the net difference between upvotes and downvotes it has received. A comment with 50 upvotes and 5 downvotes has a score of 45. A comment with 10 upvotes and 3 downvotes has a score of 7.

Comment scores are publicly visible beneath each comment in a thread. They fluctuate in real time as users interact with the post.

It's important to understand a key distinction upfront: comment score and post upvotes are not the same thing. When running a giveaway with score-based filtering, you're filtering based on the score of each individual comment in your giveaway thread — not on the score of the original post itself.

For example, if your giveaway post says "enter by commenting your answer below," each comment-entry will accumulate its own score as other Redditors upvote or downvote it. A minimum comment score filter of 5 would exclude all entries with a score below 5 — meaning only comments that at least 5 more people upvoted than downvoted would be eligible.

Why Use a Comment Score Filter in a Giveaway?

Using a minimum comment score threshold changes the nature of your giveaway from a pure random draw to a quality-filtered random draw. Here's when and why that can be the right call:

Rewarding genuine engagement. If your giveaway entry requires a thoughtful answer (e.g., "share your best tip for X topic"), requiring a minimum score of 5 or 10 ensures the eligible pool consists of entries the broader community found valuable.

Filtering spam and low-effort entries. Comments from bots, generic responses, and obvious copy-paste entries tend to accumulate near-zero or even negative scores. A minimum score filter naturally excludes a lot of low-quality entries without you manually reviewing them.

Encouraging community participation. When entrants know that community upvotes determine eligibility, they're incentivized to write better, more engaging entries — which benefits the quality of your entire thread.

Creating a two-stage merit filter. You can combine a score filter with a random draw, so entrants first need to earn community validation to become eligible, and then a winner is randomly selected from that qualified pool.

That said, comment score-based giveaways come with important caveats that you must understand before using this approach — covered in detail below.

For context on how giveaway rules and fairness intersect, this resource is a useful reference: Free Reddit Comment Picker – Pick Random Giveaway and Contest.

The Critical Rule: Comment Score Is Not the Same as "Upvote to Enter"

Before going further, this point deserves its own section — because conflating the two is the most common and most serious mistake in upvote-adjacent Reddit giveaways.

Reddit's rules explicitly prohibit vote manipulation. Asking users to upvote your post, asking them to upvote specific comments, or telling them that upvotes improve their chances of winning all violate Reddit's platform policies. This can result in your post being removed, your account being warned, or in repeat cases, a ban.

What is allowed: Setting a minimum comment score as a passive filter. This means you're not asking anyone to upvote anything — you're simply saying that entries with very low community reception won't be included in the draw. The upvotes or downvotes happen organically based on comment quality.

What is not allowed: Telling your audience to upvote entries they like, running a giveaway where "the most upvoted comment wins," or making upvotes a direct entry mechanism in any way.

The distinction is between using comment score as a passive eligibility threshold versus using it as a direct voting mechanism. The first is acceptable. The second violates Reddit's rules.

For a thorough breakdown of Reddit's promotion rules, see: Are Reddit Giveaways Allowed? Reddit's Promotion Rules Explained.

How the Minimum Comment Score Filter Works in RDT Picker

RDT Picker includes a minimum comment score setting that lets you define a numerical floor for entry eligibility. Here's how it works in practice:

When you enter your Reddit post URL and load comments, RDT Picker fetches each comment along with its current score. When you set a minimum score of, say, 5, the tool excludes all comments with a score below 5 from the eligible pool. Only comments at score 5 or above are considered valid entries.

You then run the random draw from that filtered pool — so the winner is still selected randomly, but only from among the comments the community found worth upvoting.

Step 1: Design Your Giveaway With Score-Based Eligibility in Mind

Before posting, decide on your minimum score threshold and be transparent about it in your giveaway post. Make clear that:

• Entry is by comment
• Comments must reach a minimum score of [X] to be eligible
• The winner will be randomly selected from eligible entries
• No one should solicit upvotes on behalf of their entry (this violates Reddit rules)

Being upfront about the score threshold sets expectations and protects you from disputes after the draw.

Step 2: Post Your Giveaway and Let It Collect Organic Scores

Give your giveaway post enough time to gather entries and for those entries to accumulate genuine, organic scores. The longer the post runs, the more time comments have to be seen and voted on by the community.

Avoid picking winners within the first few hours — early comments naturally accumulate more exposure and more score, which could skew your eligible pool toward early entrants simply because of timing.

Step 3: Load Your Post URL Into RDT Picker

Once your giveaway has run its course, navigate to RDT Picker and paste your Reddit post URL into the input field. The tool will fetch all comments along with their current scores.

Step 4: Set the Minimum Comment Score Threshold

Find the minimum score or minimum upvotes setting in RDT Picker. Enter your threshold number. If you set it to 10, comments with a score of 0 through 9 will be excluded from the eligible pool. Comments with a score of 10 or higher will be included.

Choosing the right threshold:

• Low threshold (1–3): Filters out only obviously bad or downvoted comments. Most genuine entries will qualify. Useful for large giveaways where you want broad participation with light quality filtering.
• Medium threshold (5–15): Creates a meaningful quality bar while still keeping a sizable eligible pool. Best for engagement-focused giveaways in active communities.
• High threshold (20+): Suitable only for very large posts in very active subreddits. Setting too high a threshold in a smaller community may leave you with very few eligible entries, or none at all.

Always consider your subreddit's typical comment scoring range before setting a threshold. In some smaller communities, a score of 5 is genuinely impressive — while in large subreddits, 5 might be near average.

Step 5: Combine With Other Filters as Needed

The minimum score filter pairs well with other RDT Picker settings:

• Duplicate entry filter: Even within your score-filtered pool, remove duplicate comments from the same user so each person has one entry.
• Keyword filter: Require that eligible comments include a specific entry phrase and meet the minimum score threshold.
• User exclusion list: Remove host, moderator, and ineligible accounts from the draw regardless of their comment scores.

Step 6: Run the Draw and Share Results

With your minimum score filter and any additional settings applied, click to run the draw. RDT Picker will randomly select a winner from only the eligible, score-qualified comments.

When announcing results, explain clearly how the filter worked: "The winner was randomly selected from entries that received at least [X] community upvotes." This transparency reinforces trust and prevents confusion.

For a fuller picture of how to announce and share results professionally, see: Random Comment Picker for Reddit Giveaways.

Potential Risks and How to Mitigate Them

Risk 1: Timing Bias Toward Early Comments

Comments posted early in the giveaway have more time to accumulate upvotes than comments posted near the deadline. If your post runs for 48 hours, an entry left in the first hour has far more upvote opportunity than one left in the final hour.

Mitigation: Set a low or moderate threshold, and state in your rules that the draw will happen at a specific time — giving all entries roughly equal time to accumulate score before the threshold is applied. Alternatively, state that you'll set the threshold based on the typical score range across all entries at draw time.

Risk 2: Popular Comments May Not Be the Best Entries

Upvotes reflect what the community finds entertaining or agreeable, not necessarily what's most relevant, creative, or on-topic for your giveaway. Popular humor often beats genuine thoughtful engagement.

Mitigation: Use the score filter as a quality floor rather than a quality ceiling. A low threshold (removing only the clearly bad or spammy entries) avoids this problem, while still filtering out noise.

Risk 3: Small Subreddits May Have Very Few Qualifying Entries

In low-traffic subreddits, even good comments may score only 1 or 2. A minimum threshold of 10 might leave you with an eligible pool of zero.

Mitigation: Research your subreddit's typical comment score distribution before setting your threshold. For small communities, a threshold of 2 or 3 may be more appropriate than one based on large-subreddit norms.

Risk 4: Score Manipulation Attempts

Even if you explicitly say not to solicit upvotes, determined entrants may try to share their comment outside Reddit to drive up votes artificially. This is rare but worth noting.

Mitigation: State clearly in your rules that any attempt to artificially inflate comment scores will result in disqualification. You can also monitor for sudden score spikes on specific comments that don't align with the post's overall engagement pattern.

When to Use a Score Filter — and When Not To

Use a score filter when:

• Your giveaway entry requires a thoughtful, creative, or substantive response
• You want the community to have some role in determining eligible entries
• Your subreddit is active enough that comments regularly accumulate meaningful scores
• You're willing to explain the scoring criteria transparently in your post

Avoid a score filter when:

• Your giveaway is a simple "comment to enter" draw where effort isn't part of the criteria
• Your subreddit is small and most comments score in the 1–3 range
• Your entry window is very short, and comments don't have time to accumulate organic scores
• You can't set a threshold that's fair given your post's traffic pattern

For pure random draws where fairness means equal chance for all, a score filter adds complexity without adding fairness. Use it only when community engagement quality is a legitimate part of your giveaway criteria.

To understand more about how RDT Picker's filtering suite works together, visit the About RDTPicker page.

Using Comment Score Alongside Other Giveaway Metrics

Comment score works best as one filter among several, not as the sole determinant of eligibility. Here are some effective combinations:

Score + Keyword: Entry requires a specific phrase AND a minimum score of 3. This ensures entries are both rule-compliant and have some community traction.

Score + Duplicate Filter: Each user gets one entry, and only their entry counts if it reaches the minimum score. If a user's single eligible comment doesn't hit the threshold, they're out — but they only ever had one shot anyway.

Score + Comment Length: Require that eligible entries include at least 50 characters AND have a score of 5+. This rewards substantive, well-received contributions.

Score + Time Window: Only count entries made within the first 24 hours and with a score of 10+. This rewards both timeliness and quality reception.

These combinations give you a rich filtering system that can be tailored to virtually any giveaway format while still concluding with a fair random draw from the qualified pool.

Learn more about setting up your full filter stack in: Reddit Comment Picker – Free Giveaways Online.

Final Thoughts

Adding a minimum comment score filter to your Reddit giveaway is a smart way to incorporate community feedback into your entry eligibility criteria — without turning the draw into a popularity contest or violating Reddit's rules against vote manipulation.

The key principles are: be transparent about your threshold upfront, never ask anyone to solicit upvotes on entries, choose a threshold appropriate for your subreddit's activity level, and combine the score filter with other settings like deduplication and keyword filtering for the cleanest possible draw.

RDT Picker makes all of this accessible in one free, no-signup tool. Load your post URL, set your minimum score, apply your additional filters, and run a draw that rewards both community engagement and fairness.

Ready to try it? Head to RDT Picker and run your next giveaway — for free, in seconds.