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I know this is somewhat strange, however I'm trying to properly cite a quotation from a comment on Reddit.

I'm quoting Edward Snowden from an AMA that he did about 9 months ago. The specific quote for those interested is “Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”

In the references list (APA format), how would I cite this?

This is a direct link to the comment that the quote was taken from: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/36ru89/just_days_left_to_kill_mass_surveillance_under/crglgh2

This is my best guess at how to cite this:

Reddit. (2015). Just days left to kill mass surveillance under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. We are Edward Snowden and the ACLU's Jameel Jafer. AUA. Retrieved February 20, 2016 from https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/36ru89/just_days_left_to_kill_mass_surveillance_under/crglgh2

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    Proper citation fully depends on the desired/required publication style.
    – Aleksandr Blekh
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 4:17
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    This should be APA format, sorry I left that out.
    – Ficertyn
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 4:19

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I believe that your best guess is pretty close to the right answer. According to the APA Style (6th ed.), you should list as much information as possible for non-periodical publications, which you have done well. I think that your resource falls under category "Nonperiodical Web Document or Report", as described on this page of the Purdue OWL's APA Formatting and Style Guide.

However, on the second thought, it seems that a more correct option to use would be APA's electronic sources guidelines for "Online Forum or Discussion Board Posting". Not only Reddit better fits this category, but it also allows you to specify the author of the quote you are citing. Therefore, the optimal citation in question, in my opinion, should be as follows (note that I took liberty to remove date of retrieval as the link you provide is a permalink and, thus, pretty stable):

Snowden, E. (2015). Just days left to kill mass surveillance under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. We are Edward Snowden and the ACLU's Jameel Jafer. AUA. Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/36ru89/just_days_left_to_kill_mass_surveillance_under/crglgh2

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    +1 for explicitly mentioning the author in the first place. I would also suggest adding a link to an archive.org copy of the page in case this exact AMA will become unavailable in the future.
    – svavil
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 9:06
  • @svavil: Thanks. Good suggestion about archive.org, even though, as far as I know, APA is silent about possibility of using multiple URLs.
    – Aleksandr Blekh
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 10:07
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    I really appreciate the help with this. I think because comments are able to be edited or deleted on Reddit, even months or years later (and happens somewhat regularly, that including the date of retrieval would make sense.
    – Ficertyn
    Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 14:00
  • @UnSined: It's my pleasure. Glad I could help. I agree with your point on potentially temporary status of comments on Reddit.
    – Aleksandr Blekh
    Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 22:05
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Citing quotes is not always necessary, particularly when Snowden has said this many times in TV/Magazine interviews. As official as that Reddit AMA was, I would either just quote without referencing where he said it, or reference the quote in something that gets archived in a library like one of his Time Magazine interviews, or a BBC interview, etc.

This is all under the assumption that the quote itself is whats most important, not that it was said on Reddit.

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    I had a hard time finding this particular quote outside of the Reddit AMA, which is why I opted to use it. I would have preferred to reference it from a more reliable source.
    – Ficertyn
    Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 13:57

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