[siegecraft]

I don't have specific examples as I am not a regular reader of lit, but I can comment on "it doesn't look to my eyes notably different from reddit." The anonymity, lack of up/downvotes, non-hierarchial layout, lack of moderation, and heavy focus on images creates a very different experience from reddit. Some say this leads to better and more organic discussions (I agree for the most part), but I think they're only going to be as good as their community. Anyway, there's no reason you can't use them both.

> specific comments that wouldn't have been made without benefit of anonymity

Open any thread and you will find tons of examples, no reason to post them here. But I expect you meant specific comments that are valuable and insightful? Probably a matter of taste. On reddit it is at least much easier to find highly-rated comments, which is a plus for voting.

[michaelmrose]

I opened many threads and see zero examples of discussion that couldn't have happened here on or Reddit. The only things I see which couldn't be posted here are offensive and worthless. Can you post a single example?

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

You see many examples of comments, I'm sure, that look like they could happen anywhere.

And you continue to believe that, right up until you see a comment just like them, that gets someone banned from reddit. And then you're irate, and you wonder why you were banned. But you can't even get much explanation, because having been banned from reddit, they've taken the one way you might use to demand the explanation.

But even that's not the full picture. Sometimes there are people whose "contrariness" is a bit higher than other people's. And they refuse to participate in places where they aren't allowed to say whatever they want, even if pretty much all the time they'd never say anything that would get them banned. Are those people more interesting than others? Who knows, you'll never find their stuff on reddit.

I think in the legal world, you call this over-moderation a "chilling effect". You don't have to censor everyone, it turns out, if you can scare or bully them into self-censoring.

Eventually, I think, everyone sees what we're talking about. It's just by the time it's so overt that even you can't deny it anymore, there won't be much anyone can do about it.

[pseg134]

They’re easy to miss when you are trying not to see them.

[malfist]

Feel free to provide an example of what we're missing