Originally Posted by mineistaken

Reddit is based on luck and timing, I guess.
Not the best posts are on top, but those that were posted at the right moment to get the upvotes etc. Lets say you have top 10 posts. You can post something that is better than at least 5 of the top10, but it can be buried anyway. Or you can post something that is better than only 1 of those top10, but hit that top10 easily.

Luck + timing (with luck element also prominent here). You can master some tips about timing and naming and stuff, but luck will still be biggest factor.