Reddit used to be a great platform to discuss some topic and get different points of few in a friendly but factual manner. However, slowly it seems like the platform has become a lot more like Facebook, where it's been invaded by toxic people that are constantly looking for opportunities to shit and hate on others.
The change has been gradual so I really didn't notice it creep up on me. It's become super evident now having used Kbin and others for a week or so where people generally seem to be more friendly again and willing to actually discuss things in a usually civil way.
The difference is stark too. Today I replied to a comment saying that I hope things turn out better for them and wound up in a weird comment chain about how people were apparently insensitive for wanting to get a basic haircut that they for some reason couldn't afford themselves. Meanwhile, Kbin and the Fediverse feels like a refreshing place to actually converse with people once you get past the clunk and figure it out.
I think Reddit may well have reached that main stream social media saturation point where it very objectively now sucks. It happened originally with the internet itself thanks to the rise of the smartphone and this is just another iteration of it. I feel like Spez might as well get that bag at this point because they've ruined what used to be the platform people went to for social media without the bullshit, without algorithms to drive "engagement" and to avoid the toxic culture that has prevailed.
Thanks for reading my rant.
Its a blend of critical mass and the userbase. Some Reddit subs have subscriber counts in the millions, you're inevitably going to reach a lot of eyes on your comment if you post in the right thread and not get drowned out. Additionally, high quality comments and positive discussions take a lot of energy and thought to write out, while low effort brigading, trolling and regurgitating sarcastic jokes are quick and easy to do.
The larger subs have a high amount of low effort trolling, where the good answers tend to get lost in the noise of funny jokes. The smaller subs often have a high level of autism and people that take their passions way too seriously. They can get triggered over differing opinions or nit pick a misplaced comma for way longer than reasonable. Good positive discussions still exist, I think just due to the sheer size of Reddit now it just gets a bit hard to fight through the noise before getting downvoted into oblivion.
Right now on Lemmy, we've managed to escape the bots, jokers and trolls of the masses and are reaching crowds of techy headed first adopters that are much more willing to grow the community and are used to forums and threads. It's a wonderful thing to be a part of and something that's become quite rare on Reddit. It's very refreshing to be able to just comment and know the commenter will see your answer and even reply. This makes it much easier to put some effort in rather than chuck out a cheap joke for some upvotes.
Great take on it and exactly what I'm noticing too.
The barrier of entry to the Fediverse is currently working like a filter for these muppets and the longer it stays like that the better imo.
It's a gate* worth keeping in my opinion. Either you want to join badly enough that you learn something new and become the kind of person worth conversing with, or you don't ...and you stay away. It doesn't feel great to admit that's the case but .... I mean at some point it's worth expressing.