Reddit Has Become the Internet's Strip Mall

4 months ago

Reddit's 2023 API changes led to the loss of third-party apps and power users who moderated and curated content.
Post-IPO, Reddit shifted focus to engagement metrics favoring outrage, repetitive questions, and rage bait over quality discussions.
Subreddits have become homogenized, with top comments often being unoriginal or from bots.
Bots on Reddit farm karma, push political narratives, manipulate recommendations, and generate low-quality AI content.
Reddit relies on unpaid moderators while generating $800M+ in revenue, showing little regard for their contributions.
Reddit's search functionality remains poor, forcing users to rely on Google searches with 'reddit' appended.
User data and contributions are used as training data, treating users as products rather than customers.
Alternatives like Discord, Lemmy, niche forums, and Mastodon exist but face a collective action problem.
Reddit in 2025 is described as a 'zombie platform,' surviving on inertia rather than value.
The future of Reddit is uncertain, with questions about whether new users will engage or turn to AI like ChatGPT.

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