[Topgamer7]

I personally only really noticed that I did not like the "after dark" style reddits. But I would generally try to ignore anything political, and focus on like craft/hobby content, media (but not tabloid style), and things not a commentary.

Reddit (or socially generated sites) are really a mixed bag.

[tsunamifury]

I think what became interesting and I nailed down with others was any hobby forum became toxic and lost its utility in direct correlation with its popularity.

For the most part I pinned it down to casual engagement from non hobbyists introduced noise and anti information at scale.

For example in r/cars a site that talks about vehicles the vast majority of commenters do not own, comments become about the “simualacra” of having an exotic (comparing specs debating reviews etc). Where as Ferrari chat forum is about the utilitarian ins and outs of actually owning one (financing, maintence, dealer issues etc).

This seems to apply to all hobby forums when grow in popularity to the point where engagement rewards contributions from non hobbiests over real ones.

My final takeaway was that the nature of the internet being a simulation inherently rewards non real content over real. (Fake news is inherent to the internet) And karmic systems specifically reconstruct and enforce that simualacra.

[Teever]

An adjacent problem is when enthusiasts in hobby subreddits become a bit too enthusiastic about the hobby which sometimes develops into an unhealthy obsession that the community (un)wittingly becomes a part of.

I recently bought a pair of boots from a reputable brand. So I of course checked out the subreddit for the brand and while many posts are good and the community is receptive to questions but posts by weirdos with like a dozen+ pairs of $300+ boots dominate the discussion.

Can these people actually afford like $5000 worth of boots and all the accessories they come with it? Maybe. Maybe we’re all participating in their shopping addiction when they post pictures of their stairs covered in boots.

Either way there’s something unsettlingly unnatural about their posts, and I don’t mean in an astroturfing sort of way.

[tsunamifury]

This is a part of the simulacra due the karmic re enforcement and feedback.

The person is buying the 10th boot because of the feeling they get showing it off and getting karma on the forums.

This is crazy represented in watch forums where broadly in the real world no one cares an iota about watches but inside the forums it becomes insanity.

[chasd00]

> Either way there’s something unsettlingly unnatural about their posts, and I don’t mean in an astroturfing sort of way

the mentally ill are, well, mentally ill after all.