[iamdbtoo]

I think one point the author is missing (or maybe I missed it in my reading) is that large subreddits are mostly about consumption and that's what makes them less fun as a community. People post to r/pics for the chance their image, or a comment on the image, garners huge amounts of upvotes for clout on the site. In addition to volume, another reason they don't want people to submit their links is because users don't want the competition to be corrupted by corporate marketing departments.