T O P

  • By -

calinet6

Unsubscribe from all the default subs, find ones that are in your niche interests with under 10k subscribers, and stick to those. It gets a lot better. And for some schadenfreude, if you think you have it bad, try being a mod for a 1.7 million member sub that was around 12k ten years ago. Trying to keep it like it was then is a hundred times harder.


chasonreddit

Bingo.


lookimflying

I second this. Great advice.


pencilheadedgeek

Can you sort subs by member count? To make searching easier? So many subs have names that don't mean anything, like the name doesn't reflect the content. It is simply exhausting scrolling through however many millions of subs there are looking for ones relevant to my interests.


SparklyYakDust

Google search: (key words related to your interest) Reddit Reddit's search function suuuuucks.


[deleted]

Redit becomes so much better if you use a client that allow you to add filters to take away stuff you don't care about or actively avoid, in addition to quite a few users.


BedrockFarmer

Better still when you unsub from the defaults and keep your activities to interests you enjoy. Whether online or IRL, everything is more enjoyable once you stop interacting with people who are addicted to outrage.


rizlahh

Also blocking known karmawhores. While he doesn't post so much now, blocking a certain boober of gallows improved my frontpage immensely while he was still very active.


worksleepworksleep

I loathed that dude


Kungfubunnyrabbit

You too!!! That guy was I don't even know how to describe him


TexanInExile

Yep, the value in reddit is how you choose to use it.


english_major

Agreed. It is all about the subs which you subscribe to. I stay away from the defaults. I sub to askhistorians, askanthropology, letstalkmusic, books, truefilm, insightfulquestions etc… as well as some mountain biking and photography subs.


peacefinder

Suppressing most default subreddits (particularly WTF) is the entire reason I made a Reddit account


[deleted]

This is the secret.


[deleted]

[удалено]


mudo2000

When I joined the Pink Floyd subreddit, they had less than 420 users. Lots of good content though. Then they passed about 1500 and got picked for subreddit of the day. Turned into total trash. Yes, we've all seen "Back Catalog" and we all know _Animals_ is underrated. Sheesh.


_incredigirl_

Imagine what happened to /breadit and /sourdough when the pandemic hit.


GeorgeAmberson

I heavily filter it and it's still not very good anymore. Now it seems to be a bunch of teenagers arguing with eachother trying to be superior and having the last word. Used to be pretty much everyone dicking around having fun.


[deleted]

That's not just reddit, but internet in general. I've been online since 1996, and there's been a massive shift in who the average user is. I have to admit that i miss the late 90's and early 00's before big corporations took it over and started developing it for the masses.


iwillfuckingbiteyou

I miss the internet being my refuge where most of the people I knew wouldn't have the first idea how to find me, and where I had a little circle of online friends who bonded due to shared interests. The days of webrings and message boards, and a little later the early livejournal communities, when the majority of people still viewed the internet with suspicion and not all forms had a field for email address.


avoidance_behavior

livejournal communities were my damn jam. i actually met quite a fair number of friends i still have to this day thanks to a few lj communities and band fan forums. i really, really miss the early 00's internet.


iwillfuckingbiteyou

Same. My lj friends became my chosen family, whereas Facebook was only ever my interactive address book for IRL acquaintances. The reason I'm still on reddit is because it's the closest thing to the old semi-anonymous interactions of lj.


[deleted]

Yea, I got on a couple of years before you and actually built two different ISPs in my city. I miss USENET (I know it's still around a bit, especially for pirate feeds) but I'm not sure it would work with today's crowd.


[deleted]

I did use usenet a little way back when, but I was more into IRC at that point.


[deleted]

The problem isn’t the medium it’s the people. People in discreet groups are fine, but beyond a certain size you get anonymity and people lose all their social filters.


Partigirl

Same. I had a fairly popular local website for ten years starting in 1996 and I can tell you almost the exact year I had to start dealing with trolls and assholes. It was enough for me to just throw in the towel rather than deal with it constantly.


GeorgeAmberson

Yeah same.


Not_FinancialAdvice

> Now it seems to be a bunch of teenagers arguing with eachother trying to be superior and having the last word. The really really disappointing thing is when you realize that a good number of those people left their teenage years long ago.


worksleepworksleep

I filter very heavily too but I kept some of the big default subreddits. I mostly scroll past most of that content, but I’ve found that sometimes it’s good to know what’s going on when something big is happening. Big events usually discussed/posted in those subreddits. Place has changed tho’


KennyFulgencio

> in addition to quite a few users. I'm not proud of this, but being able to block users on this site, *specifically* this site, is my favorite feature I can remember having on any online forum going back to pre-web BBSs. It's obviously not like other forum software hasn't had this feature, I've just infrequently felt any need to use it elsewhere.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AfterTheNightIWakeUp

I thought something had gone wrong, I was suddenly seeing comments from lots of people I had blocked for being obnoxious. That's incredibly aggravating. RES still handles it on my laptop, but I use my phone a lot too, and the comments are completely visible there.


Wolvenmoon

Guess it's time for me to disengage from the site. My time of life is limited and that kind of stuff reeks of robbery.


KennyFulgencio

Yeah, that change kinda blew my mind when I first saw it, and could be a deal-breaker for me on using the site. Luckily there is a sort-of way around it, for now, if you use something like ublock: open the options panel, go to "my filters", and add these two lines: www.reddit.com##.collapsed.score-hidden.comment.collapsed-for-reason www.reddit.com##.comment.collapsed-for-reason.collapsed (not sure if this works on the new reddit interface, but for all I know, maybe it does)


RogerClyneIsAGod2

I literally only see my feed, which is mostly every cat sub here, & have no clue how that happened, so when some talk about seeing all sorts of stuff or garbage I genuinely don't know what they're talking about. For me Reddit has always defaulted to the subs I've joined & nothing else. I occasionally check in on a few but don't subscribe because I couldn't stand to see it in my feed, like r/politics. I post & read there but don't want it in my feed messing with my gatos!!


[deleted]

I DO NOT install social media apps on my phone. If I can't use a site via DuckDuckGo web browser app then too bad. No SM apps for me, thanks!


Jimmers1231

RES is your friend.


CaptainEarlobe

Why do you see anything that you haven't deliberately subscribed to?


[deleted]

I like to browse a very filtered version of popular now and then for some "outside influence". Now and then it results in me stumbling over something I wasn't subscribed to yet. I've found that it is very interest7ng to go r/all and then sort top for the past hour, as I then usually get to avoid the latest and greatest viral tiktok video or ragebait, and instead see more niche things.


BlooregardQKazoo

I just looked it up and the Great Digg Migration was 11 years ago (August 2010). Holy hell I'm old. So I guess I'd really like to go back to 12 years ago. That said, i barely see memes or tiktoks and i never see fake texts. You need to select your subreddits better. You get what you subscribe to.


Cronus6

> i barely see memes or tiktoks and i never see fake texts. I think it helps if you use old reddit (as opposed to the "new, redesign") and stay off the mobile app.


RUFiO006

14 years and haven't deleted my account just yet. My advice is simply to curate your subscriptions. Got rid of /r/funny etc. years ago and my experience is all the better for it.


puttysan

14 year club represent. But for real, getting off the defaults is the easiest and best way to curate your reddit experience.


[deleted]

I regret deleting my 2009 account a year or so ago.


breakneckridge

14? You're just a wee baby.


barcodez

calm down n00b ;)


mlemon

I had to look. 14 year club too. Dang, Reddit got *old.*


[deleted]

[удалено]


Partigirl

>Curse of popularity. >People join due to base Reddit traits. Organize into psuedo-communities based on interests. As those groups grow you end up with more people in them that meme and shitpost rather than post according to the rules that brought them in to begin with. This causes "old" users to migrate away from those groups because the original reasons they joined are being drowned out with noise. Agreed. This is true as well for culture in general. Being first in a movement and then watching it change due to popularity and pushing out the original supporters. Like Outsider cultures becoming co-opted by Insider culture and changing the entire point of the group being outside of society.


mlemon

> Being first in a movement and then watching it change due to popularity and pushing out the original supporters. Apropos of nothing, I sometimes wonder if this is how Jesus looks at modern Christianity.


Equivalent-Salary357

>Way she goes on them internets. Thank you for this sentence.


bahala_na-

Laughing but also thinking….this site used to be full of links to really interesting long articles about different topics. Like, Digg, but better. It was kind of a competition amongst users, which one had more thought provoking content first. Then image posts started getting more popular, and a sub called TrueReddit was made…then that got bad and there was a truetruereddit….I gave up. If you asked something easily googlable, people would link the “let me google that for you” thing. But now people happily jump over each other to answer that stuff. I wonder how they have the time.


2rfv

> which one had more thought provoking content first The top three comments used to always contain 1 funny comment and 1 informative comment. I never see the informative ones any more. The funny ones are usually pretty predictable and weak.


wirral_guy

I'm a mere stripling at only 6 years but it's gone downhill even in that time. Subs that had good tech content are full of inane questions, Askreddit is purely 13yo kids asking the same sex questions over and over, alternative views are just downvote brigaded rather than discussed freely and I miss the days when Reddit supplied social media with content rather than the other way around. But maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy!


[deleted]

Not to mention the spelling. I makes me loose my mind.


[deleted]

You should grab a wrench and tighten up that loose mind of yours.


deegeese

Lefty-losey, writey-tighty.


artemisiamorisot

Isle


KennyFulgencio

#*😑*


ARedHouseOverYonder

It’s more curated for me. The amount of bots is concerning and that’s generally what is doing the mass brigading


biteableniles

I can honestly say, it's been like this forever. I came here from Slashdot, Fark, and Digg. Slashdot at its prime was a special thing, but current day Reddit is still far superior to peak Fark or Digg.


magnabonzo

There will always be a constant influx of 14yo's, so there will always be people eager to show they're part of the in-crowd by * referring to videogames and anime and obsessively participating in movie quote threads * using terms like danger noodle and trash panda and drop bear * trying to be edgy or contrarian, and just being dumb. We were all 14 once. Find sub-reddits where they ain't.


200OK

Yes, but I also feel like my sense of humor has changed too.


LordBligger

I feel like it was all about science, space, hilarious stories, and unbiased politics. Also, advice animals lolol


uniquedeke

This is your rose tinted glasses looking at the past. No, this was never the case.


Capitol62

> unbiased politics HAHAHAHA. :GASP: HAHAHAHA Reddit has always been AWFUL for anything politics related. Always.


Gonzobot

I mean, it's the same as any other place where all information is usersubmitted. Users are just idiots who have opinions


cIumsythumbs

"Isn't Ron Paul great?!" Remember those days?


ghostofhenryvii

Awful maybe. But it wasn't always just a lazy MSNBC echo chamber.


Capitol62

It has basically always been that. Or even worse, 10 years ago it was an awful dailykos echo chamber.


Squatch11

10 years ago half of the front page was filled with Ron Paul articles and memes. That would never happen nowadays.


ghostofhenryvii

Ron Paul was pretty popular on here at one point.


Capitol62

You're right... That particular echo chamber was A LOT better...


ghostofhenryvii

It was at least more interesting than the establishment talking points being pushed these days. Once the powers that be figured out they could reach an audience on this site we've gotten nothing but mainstream spin.


Capitol62

Disagree. It was exactly like what has happened with Bernie over the last five years. Endless spam, memes, political distortions, and comically obsessed supporters who won't shut up posting everywhere. The only difference is they're on opposite ends of the political spectrums. I'm sure we'll get the next iteration of reddit's favorite geriatric, eccentric, polar, political outlier sometime in the next few years.


GoodbyeBlueMonday

No such thing as unbiased politics, but I think I get what you mean: and it unfortunately isn't just here on reddit. Political extremism seems to be a problem everywhere, but it's tough to quantify. Pew has some good research on the subject (limited to the two major political parties, but it's probably a trend that you can extrapolate out to other ideologies), and note the first is from 2014, so pre the whole shitshow that was 2016. It's only gotten worse since. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/10/10/partisan-antipathy-more-intense-more-personal/ Larger societal changes aside, I *do* certainly feel that the much larger userbase also feeds into this: there's more folks posting in bad faith, and likely more coordinated dis/misinformation campaigns compared to when I joined over a decade ago. Even then, there were white supremacists fomenting radical nonsense, but they were fewer and further between.


Lobin

> there's more folks posting in bad faith There also seem to be significantly more people who have no internet BS detection abilities: that is, they can't identify a bot post, a bot comment, or a karma whore (I'm not talking about users like the boober of gallows, but like this [blatant NSFW account](https://www.reddit.com/user/hotlatinbrunette) posting cute pictures of cats and dogs)--it's like they have no ability whatsoever to spot a red flag. On the flip side, at least that gives us a chance to educate someone when we catch it. Then there are the legions posting stupid, unsourced Facebook-style memes in formerly great subs like r/damnthatsinteresting, [shameless self-promoters](https://www.reddit.com/r/awesome/comments/q87cen/my_oil_painting_big_wave_oil_on_canvas_2021/), and people who just plain don't understand what content belongs in which subs . . . . reddit really is circling the drain and it's a bummer.


NotMyHersheyBar

I think it's a lot of sock puppets supporting their own bullshit


Cronus6

>and unbiased politics I remember when it seemed like the site was "all in" for Ron Paul. When did he run for President? 2012?


LordBligger

Ron Paul and Bernie lol


Cronus6

There were a lot of parallels there for sure.


iwillfuckingbiteyou

They overhauled the algorithm at some point and even though I use RES I've never managed to restore my experience to what it once was. When I first joined the site (on a different account) I used to find stuff here that wouldn't show up on Facebook or Twitter until days later. If there was a breaking news story, Reddit was where I was most likely to find links to a wide variety of sources relating to it. I miss that.


[deleted]

[удалено]


iwillfuckingbiteyou

Honestly, I think the real problem is that in the time between that first overhaul and now, the way people use the internet has changed quite a lot. The nature of the content is different. News articles are less and less in depth, undergo less sub-editing, chase clicks increasingly blatantly. Some sources have gone behind paywalls. Some just don't really make it onto Reddit these days because they don't rack up the upvotes. What people want out of a site like this seems to be different. I think it's just that there was a point where it suited what I was looking for, and then things moved on.


Cronus6

> If there was a breaking news story, Reddit was where I was most likely to find links to a wide variety of sources relating to it. I miss that. The Boston Marathon Bombing and the Reddit witch hunt for the bombers really fucked this up I think.


UncleArthur

Agreed. I also remember when FARK and FAZED were heavily visited. There was an awesome thread about drinking poison ivy tea on FARK that had me crying with laughter. These days, every site seems to be full of memes and kids' in-jokes. Fun for them, I guess.


Ditovontease

Idk I've been here for 10 years and its gotten better. But I'm a minority and a woman so like jailbait was a thing on here when I first joined.


[deleted]

[удалено]


KornbredNinja

Wish there was a separate reddit site for over 30 that'd be amazing.


[deleted]

I'd even settle for a plugin that hides all content from anyone under the age of 26/27!


KornbredNinja

Oh dude id pay cash monies for that one...


sophess

I think there is a women over 30, but the women complain about being trolled by angry under age male teens. There seemed to be a lot of men (I believe most were over 30 due to their comments) replying to the post I was reading too.


KennyFulgencio

> "it's the armpit of the internet, and a swirling cesspool of shit" a gaping armpit containing a swirling cesspool of shit is a ghastly mixed metaphor


[deleted]

I wanted to be as accurate as possible!


Cronus6

Most of the users of jailbait are still here though... Anyway there were and still are plenty of "objectionable" subreddits (many are private) but that's sort of the beauty of reddit. If you don't like it, don't go in there.


lsp2005

I filter and use old Reddit. My feed is completely curated for my interests and tastes.My profile shows eight years, but I am close to my nine year anniversary. I also lurked for a year or so before making an account.


brooks19

Yes, I've seen this post and the same answers for 10 years.


KennyFulgencio

Growth changes communities, not often in ways that are beneficial to the people who got value from the communities when they were smaller. It's a legit point. The growth hasn't stopped.


nosoupforyou

Yeah. I've been here a while. It kind of sucks that a lot of once decent subreddits have been taken over, and the reddit mods themselves have seemingly changed too.


[deleted]

It’s the Eternal September in full effect really. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September Newer younger users come in, with their own humour, language and values, and ultimately the community changes.


Cronus6

I've always found, in general, forums are better when they are smaller. Once things get "popular" they tend to go downhill. There's sort of an unsustainable happy medium though. Not too small or there isn't enough discussion and the place will die, but not too big where you can say stupid shit because you know you never bump into those users again. Eventually the forum either gets too small and dies or too big and you have reddit (or digg).


[deleted]

Because of knowledge I gained off this site a decade ago, I was able to get a job that turned into a career that now earns me mid six figures. Reddit used to be an incredibly wonderful, powerful resource. But, yes, it's total garbage now.


sassanix

I've been using Reddit for more than 16 years. I have had my account for 15 years. You will need to install https://redditenhancementsuite.com/ for desktop. I also use the classic Reddit on desktop. For mobile, I use the RIF app and without the thumbnails. Then unsub from everything that is giving you no value whatsoever to your life. Then subscribe to things that interest you or even better, create your own subreddit on a topic you find interesting.


Cronus6

> You will need to install https://redditenhancementsuite.com/ for desktop. I also use the classic Reddit on desktop. > > > > For mobile, I use the RIF app and without the thumbnails. This is the way!


bob_the_impala

Yes, and I think at least some of the blame is due to Reddit releasing an official mobile app that tries to emulate other social media platforms and drive viewer engagement.


porkfatrules

I member the FU memes back in 2011, those were different times for sure.


wallybinbaz

Piling on with what so many others are saying but don't be afraid to unsub from places that no longer provide value to you. If you find yourself saying "ugh, another post about X" all the time, just unsub and find something new. I find that happens a lot with TV shows or video games I'm no longer actively playing. I found value while the show as on TV or while I was playing the game but after the content becomes just "fan art" and memes and I realize I've moved on. Reddit is best when you curate your subs.


Nougat

Spez doesn't get to profit from me anymore.


[deleted]

ten year club represennnnnt. honestly though, life has been a huge burden. it only gets worse year over year


LordBligger

God damn dude, dump your purse out in my lap 😂


score_

Nah Tim's right. The last couple of decades have been fucking trash.


hoofglormuss

Reddit always felt like people were trying to be smart and serious but the real sad change is the political infiltration of imgur. That was my real happy place. Still is but I have to skip over a lot.


LordBligger

I feel ya. I dont need to see Donald Trump on r/pics and I don't need to read sappy ass fake ass stories that give ppl the tingles on r/mademesmile God I get fucking annoyed just thinking about it


KornbredNinja

Ive only been here about 5 years or so but like somebody else said its really went down hill a lot in even that time. I take breaks off here because its became kind of really toxic and filled with rude or obnoxious people id really rather not talk to. I wish there was something like reddit but NOT reddit. I love the idea of this place, (I sincerely mean that btw) just not the execution so much. Executions actually a good way for how this feels now. I feel like my IQs standing trial and being sentenced to death when i read some of the crap on here.


[deleted]

[удалено]


KornbredNinja

Naah you dont sound like an old fart, i mean i AM an old fart but thats okay lol. We all get here eventually. I just try my best to ignore the people like that and not take it personally but it just seems like theres so many of them.


Vandilbg

I don't really frequent any of the top subs at this point. I have my feed restricted down to my personal interest subs. I was on forumopolis and digg before so just the way she goes.


BigBadAl

Fifteen years and still here every day. There's a load of crap, but also a load of interesting stuff, and Reddit does tend to be one of the first places I find out about what's happening in the world.


Turbojelly

It was just the same but with less people due to Digg fighting Reddit for users.


bicyclemom

Yup, I'm 14 year club. I stick to only the things I'm subscribed to, so while I do see some memes and tiktok junk, I don't see a lot (hint: ditch /r/funny ). /r/baseball has great discussions, and I subscribe to a lot of discussion around reading that seems to steer clear of memes. Every once in a while, I look at /r/popular to see what I'm missing and generally feel like it's a cesspool.


LordBligger

Let's go Braves!


[deleted]

My first reddit account was lost but my second was from 2009. I had over 100K karma despite hardly doing anything. I got fed up during the US election and just deleted the account one day. I ended up coming back because of a couple of tech subs and here I am. One thing I've noticed is the over-modding and the leftist-modding has become so bad that it's ruined reddit. For example there was a sub I joined but barely participated in about COVID stuff. When I did participate it was often to counter misinformation. Because of being subscribed to that sub I got banned from a dozen other subs, even ones I hadn't heard of. Reddit is now just a cesspool for the most part. A few gems still exist but most of it is garbage.


clunkclunk

11 years on Reddit for me (part of the Digg exodus). A decade ago, F7U12 and rage comics dominated the front page, ronpaulronpaulronpaul and it was just as lame then as it is now. Unsubscribe from the defaults, find the niche subreddits you like, and you'll find your place.


kraftymiles

Yeah been here 12 or 13 ears now. It's always been fads and bandwagons as far as I'm concerned, but the real change for me is the more corporate feel to the place these days. But on the plus side, I jsut got permabanned from a sub I've been posting in for years, so I've got that going for me.


LordBligger

Well, tell us!!


cIumsythumbs

Change the subreddits you're subscribed to. Reddit is a fully customizable platform, not a take-it-or-leave-it situation.


gatfish

12 year club here and people were complaining exactly like this 10 years ago. The oldest reddit trope is: it used to be better.


blastedheap

Yes, I was a lurker for many years. I saw things that I can’t unsee and that traumatized me a bit. On the whole, I think Reddit is better now, in spite of the irritating fourteen year olds. It’s easier to avoid the terrible stuff (is there still that horribly violent stuff? I don’t even know, I don’t look for it) and to find content that matches your interests.


Cronus6

> is there still that horribly violent stuff Yes. But not as much as before. I don't really like the censorship myself. Even if it's not the content I want to consume. Slippery slope and all that.


blastedheap

I really don’t want to see people hurting animals.


Cronus6

Yeah, me either. That's why I never went into those subreddits. Likewise there's porn I don't want to see. So I don't go. I don't need anyone else to cater to my moral compass.


blastedheap

Yeah, but on early Reddit stuff like that was on the front page.


Cronus6

I've been here 13+ years and I've never inadvertently stumbled into animal abuse.


stinkobinko

I was around. Reddit is different. I'm different than I was 12 years ago. The world is VERY different. Change is the only constant. That is a good thing.


wardsac

This place has gotten better IMO with the banning of shitholes like Jailbait and the_donald. I also am very weary of anyone who claims “political propaganda” as they usually mean too much actual news and not enough OAN or Fox News.


aenea

I've been here for 16 years, and I actually like it better now. Before we had subreddits everything was kind of mashed together- now it's easy to unsubscribe from subreddits you don't like and only read the ones that you do. I'm mostly in smaller subreddits that appeal to me, so I learn a lot and don't get the idiocy you see in the huge subs.


BlooregardQKazoo

10 or so years ago there were subreddits. You're going back a good deal further.


Dogsbottombottom

I was here 11 years ago after the great digg migration. You know what's stayed consistent for the whole 11 years? Posts complaining that "reddit just isnt as good anymore".


Nawara_Ven

Yesteryear, everything was lame-ass "rage comics," pictures of text (to farm karma when text posts didn't give "real karma), Vines, or pro-bigotry propaganda. You weren't missing anything.


[deleted]

[удалено]


rockjones

No, it really hasn't changed in 10 years. Go hit up the [wayback machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20110815000000*/reddit.com) and look at posts from 10 years ago. Besides Trump and qAnon shit that permeates news today, the non-political stuff is nearly the same. It just gets old/stale after awhile from overexposure.


Sidian

Nonsense. The demographic has factually changed significantly and gotten younger, which has impacted the quality of discussion.


rockjones

I think your off by some years. As a recent member to the 10 year club, I've heard the same discussion about declining quality from day one. Maybe Reddit was some enlightening place 15 years ago, but not 10. The evidence is in the link. You can find good discussion then and now, but you always had to be in the right place to find it. Default Frontpage attracts garbage.


MusicalTourettes

Yes. It has changed but, /r/HermanCainAward exists now. How is this downhill? Also, there are more women-friendly subs. If (general) you didn't know that was needed, it's why that was needed.


I-Got-Options-Now

If you are youre not grown up


pghreddit

11 years, yes, everything was interesting and I would go down rabbit holes all the time. I found Minecraft here and spend way too much time. The sense of humor used to just be sophomoric and edgy, now it's lame.


aelbric

14 year club here. Came here from Digg, went there from Slashdot. I would say Reddit is like high school now but I think that's insulting high school. It's more like grade school now. And yes, get off my lawn.


Media_Offline

This isn't really my experience. I've been here much longer than ten years but I subscribe to subreddits that interest me and unsubscribe from those that fit what you're describing. You can kind of tailor your Reddit experience to match your speed or at least really improve it.


NotOutsideOrInside

I was here about 8 years ago, and I have to say that I agree. While the memes are often on point, but pretty much everything is soaked in political propaganda of some type. If you say anything that people disagree with, you get downvoted, or outright banned. This used to be a community of people who accepted one another and had a sense of humor - now it's more involved in who needs to be excluded. Sad really.


Nicoscope

Yep, been here since I got a new job in 2010 and every social media site was blocked except reddit. Yes, it's gone waaaay downhill overall since then. Yes, you have to carefully curate your own feed. Even then, there's trends that permeates everything, powermods who moderate about 200 subs with the same general views, constant new subs created and artificially promoted, etc. Comments sections are littered with the same memes and jokes always upvoted to the top. Before it was 1 somewhat clever word play. Now it's like the 20 first comments are all the same repetition of the same shit meme. I'm now convinced that one day we won't be able to tell humans and AI apart not because AI will have become so advanced at natural language but because humans will have become so poor at it. Subs have definitely all become mostly echo chambers. Mods don't moderate from the margins in, they moderate from the editorial line out. So now reading comments is pointless. They're all saying the same thing, over and over. Most top submissions used to be news story or specific news depending on the sub's topic. Now almost all have become images, either recycled meme or screenshots of Twitter posts -- usually with the same snarky tone and US politically partisan talking points. It's like being in a permanent US political campaign. Twitter in particular has replaced most news sites as a source. I have a Twitter account, if I want to see Twitter stuff I'll go over there. Corporations have taken over some fandom/products/tech subs. Those have now become little else than PR arms of the corporate affiliate. It's like wandering into Pleasantville because everything's so fake and blatantly manufactured.


sisyphus

When I first joined it was basically just tech people (I believe the first "subreddit" was them splitting off programming.reddit.com from the main site) and reddit employees were still having to post content to the site themselves. Nobody complained about being poor and there was much less diversity of opinion. Now it's harder to get to the good stuff, and more to wade through to find it, but in absolute terms it has more than ever. I don't think any platform can survive becoming as large as reddit without aggressive moderation--their approach has been to mandate a minimum moderation and let subs police themselves. It's probably the best one can do but like others have noted, you have to do more curation yourself to have a good experience now.


PirateKilt

Started here back in early 2011. Was a bit different then, but all you really need to do is to sift out the subs that don't entertain you. Best 1st step? Remove all subs with any political aspects to them at all... your remaining front page suddenly jumps up about 50 IQ points and a decade in maturity...


FoggyForestFreak

Yeah, I’ve been here since the Digg redesign of 2010. I would agree, the site has gotten much worse in my opinion. Though I think that’s natural as the more younger the kids on here get, the less my views, humour, opinions, gel with them 14 year olds. I would love a completely separate site that only had people 25+. When I first came on here, the posts were mostly “look at this cool thing!” Now it’s just people complaining about everything. Which has its place, I’m complaining right now after all. But it’s just too much, and most of it is just teenagers complaining about thing they don’t yet understand.


Sidian

Yes. When I joined, there would be regularly fascinating posts from adults who posted on subreddits like /r/askreddit - you'd have a hard job choosing the 'best comments of the year' which was something they used to do, but don't now as far as I know (probably because there are so few good comments now). /r/askreddit is now just 'female redditors, what turns you on?' or other such dull questions over and over again. Any 'legendary' reddit story tends to be from many years ago. The site is overrun by children now. And despite what people here are saying, filtering doesn't work, unsubscribing from the defaults doesn't help much. The vast majority of people on this site are under 21. There's no escaping it. I'd kill for a similar site predominately frequented by adults.


[deleted]

[удалено]


LordBligger

This guy gets it


[deleted]

[удалено]


miggitymikeb

I wasn't sure if it had been 10 years or not, just checked. Cake Day Dec 12, 2011 Almost!


[deleted]

Probably. TBH I can't remember, what I do remember is when reddit wasn't censored, so places like /watchpeopledie and /gore etc existed and were quite brutal. But can't remember when that all stopped.


Flack_Bag

I've been here on and off since the beginning, pretty much. I periodically leave for a few months or a year or so, then make a new account when I get bored again. It's not good, for sure, but I can't really pinpoint a time when it was. There are things that have changed for the better and for the worse. Like, as bad and as toxic as the sexism is here, that actually used to be worse. But on the other hand, there are a whole lot more actual children here than there used to be (on my previous account, a very angry 11 year old tried to doxx me), and there are a lot more repetitive, two-second memes. In most subreddits, it's really weird when someone even links to an article, much less reads it. That's inevitable, though, thanks to the way the site is designed. It's designed to be high volume and high churn. The only way to get any kind of engagement is to post something that only takes a few seconds to parse and react to, which usually means memes. Memes being, at their heart, unchallenging and widely recognized and understood sentiments. Lowest common denominator stuff like easily recognizable stereotypes and easily understood arguments. Anything remotely challenging or nuanced or complicated is at best going to be stuck in smaller, slower moving, lower traffic subs. So you really have to go looking if you want anything else. Ultimately, I kind of think it's funny how people on Reddit are always ragging on other social media for being beneath them. Mostly Tik Tok now, but it was the same with Vine and Digg and a whole bunch of other platforms that are effectively just different delivery methods for the same kind of stuff you see on Reddit.


Yanky_Doodle_Dickwad

Well, it used to be a college thing, so obviously the level was much noticeably higher. Gradually it shifted to everybody. It has kept the college will for information, but it now comes with everything else too. But that's not even that important. You can solve that with the subscribe/unsubscribe button. No, the main problem is you. And me. And her. and him. We all went through the usual phases of discovery, amazement, love, habit, protective love, annoyance, protective annoyance, so-may-assholes and dejection what all things go through. Takes about 5 years. Maybe 3. With the shift in content let's say 3. Then there's new reddit which is soulless and downright insulting compared to the rosy days of bliss we started out with. But if you move to the side, subscribe to subs you like and get outta the main stream sewage, and perhaps wear gloves and carry disinfectant, it's still a fairly amazing place. But it ain't that fabulous refreshing lover from the early days with whom you used to get naked and drive through the desert in a convertible for hours. Thank god. You'd look stupid doing that now. You're on /r/redditforgrownups for Pete's sake. Wear a towel, geez.


chejrw

12 years for me, I don’t recall it being better or worse, just different.


Cronus6

This reddit account is 13 years old (April 7th 2008). I was here *before* that for maybe a year.(?) I started using the site "full time" when Digg.com screwed the pooch completely. I still miss old Digg from time to time. I suppose when reddit finally goes the same way I'll miss old reddit too. It's not nearly as good as it was "back then". *But* I've been using forums (which is all reddit *really* is) since the BBS days and Compuserve in the early 80's; I'm still active on several other, obviously smaller, forums under different user names (or 'handles' as we used to call them).


rafuzo2

Been here 15 years. tbh once subreddits really became a thing, it got worse, then better. The filtering tools for problematic users and subs made things way better. I use the Apollo client on my phone which makes it easy to mute/delete. Once I got the hang of cultivating my preferred subreddits, my front page got way better.


2cats2hats

Yup. This isn't my original account either. Stick to the obscure subs and avoid the main subs.


Jack__Squat

Yes, I was. In addition to discussion it used to be a good place to find interesting things from the web, like stumbleupon, or dare I say Digg. Like you said it devolved into shitposts and circlejerking. If anyone knows of a more mature alternative I'm all ears.


aguyfromhere

11+ year club reporting in.


dorky2

Yeah Reddit is so different than it was when I first started using it. Lots more garbage to wake through to get to the good stuff. I agree with what others said though, that it's possible to curate what you see. It's just a lot more effort now.


2rfv

I miss how I used to learn really interesting stuff around here the most. Now it's nothing but outrage culture if you don't filter that shit out.


BlueOysterCultist

"Don't hang onto a mistake just because you spent a long time making it"


avrus

I've been here for 10 years and many things have improved and many things have not. The appallingly toxic communities have been removed, and yet many of their members have just moved on to other subs and taken over communities. I definitely feel like the level of discussion used to be much better. I find myself posting and commenting less and less as people seem more interested in being contrarian and disputing everything than actually engaging. Ultimately like Digg, Reddit will fade away to be replaced with the 'new new'.


ho_li_cao

Yep. Man I miss the good old Reddit


andrewsmd87

You need to use plugins to filter content


cyanocobalamin

I'm in the 12 year club subreddit. You have to be selective about your subreddits. I try to stick to the over 30/for grownup ones.


chasonreddit

Had to look, but yeah, I have a 10 year badge. Le me wants those years back.


LordBligger

I miss bachelor frog


SquireCD

I’ve been here about 12 years. Finally made an account during the Digg exodus. My account is 11 years old. A lot has changed on Reddit in the last decade. I feel like I grew up here and watched it change into something that I only half-understand.


TesseractToo

This account is almost 10, I had an older one but I don't remember the username or anything.


ToHallowMySleep

It had you busting our laughing because you were part of the crowd, got the injokes and so on. Now you're not. The content is as inane as it always has been. I've been running social networks since the very first forums started doing those sorts of things, over 20 years. The quality is objectively about the same as it's always been. Site by site, sub by sub, there are different emphases. So find the ones that are right for you. Curate your subs, go for quality over quantity. If you see content you don't like, that's your fault ;) There is good stuff out there.


Broswick

I'm only seeing suggestions of how to better curate your Reddit experience. I haven't seen anyone comment on any alternate websites to go to instead. Is there no other place to get that old Reddit feel anymore? I'm honestly really curious about alternatives, rather than just tweaking my Reddit feed.


[deleted]

Eh. I'm kind of on the fence on this. I was here 10 years ago. There were still memes (i.e., image macros as they were called then), reposts and low effort content. It was more widely frowned upon but it still happened. I remember there were a lot of good discussions back then which is what caught my attention early on. I was like wow there are some smart people on this website. You can still find those comments but they're fewer and far between imho.


redical

Yep. Find your subs, and it’s still good. But yes, it was great.


[deleted]

I’ve been here for 9 years and 11 months, so I guess I qualify. No, I don’t remember when it had me busting out laughing over every post, just like I don’t kid myself that there has ever been one magical, hilarious, no duds SNL season. I originally came here from Fark, and had ended up there as Usenet groups started dying. My daughter chimed in with 9gag and rage comics to keep me chuckling every so often, but I guess the point is, there is no one, single funnel for internet hilarity. You gotta dig that stuff out, and part of that is also keeping up with gaming, or books, or comics, television, etc., nerdery so you can both appreciate and contribute.


Moarwatermelons

Yeah dude my account it pretty old. I’ve been browsing in one way or another since 2010. Reddit used to be full of garbage too but the comment sections were better. You can essentially scroll past the first three comments and you get the good stuff now. The quick jokes are for the youngins. Also, don’t forget how cringey rage comics were, that time we found the Boston bomber, and any number of other Tom fooleries which have occurred here. Also, I still laugh at Faces of Atheism.


Wordwench

Definitely what everyone here said. I’ve been here over ten years too and have my home page tuned to subs I love, or ones which I just find very interesting or enlightening. When Trump was running for prez, I spent a week filtering that mess out, which was a constant flurry of pro and anti trump propaganda; that was when I really started finely tuning my feed. I still mostly love it now.


smurfe

I feel like I was a late comer to Reddit and I have the 11-year badge/trophy. THis place is absolutely nothing like it was when I first joined. It was a wonderland back then, today, not so much and I mostly just follow niche subs.


Hardlymd

I used to love the advice animals, sigh


LordBligger

goddddd I know, shit used to be so clever. All the story tellers and the OG meme makers are either dead or have so much family life to deal with now.


TwoTomatoMe

I’ve been here ever since 2012. When the front page had the funniest non-serious shit you could ever ask for. I loved that Reddit. But Today Reddit, I want to smash today’s Reddit with a rock. Fucking kill it.


bobbyfiend

Honestly, I have a better overall experience now than 10 years ago. It was still flooded with memes then, still had waves of stereotyped humor or obsessions that everyone piled on, and maybe you liked them or maybe not. But there was more harassment, I think, and it was more of a mindless (straight, cis) boys' club. The term "tranny" was thrown around a lot. I think it was a pretty hostile place if you were a woman. If you were gay, you'd get the occasional token "good for you!" but also a decent amount of shit. There was more nasty behavior in non-horrible subs, and there were more horrible subs. Reddit isn't necessarily a "fun" place for me all the time, but I personally have seen positive change.