The Toxic Culture of Reddit
After spending some time getting to know the inner workings of Reddit, I came to the only logical conclusion one can realistically come to: Reddit is a cesspool of toxicity. There aren’t many places online that will readily admit this openly. Google searches of negative views of Reddit unfortunately and very idiosyncratically, turn up mostly, other Reddit posts. How can a community critique and improve itself if it doesn’t do so objectively? Perhaps people are afraid of the backlash that would result from the army of trolls and bullies who reside inside the confines of the Reddit kingdom. Of course, not all of Reddit’s individual fiefdoms (subreddits) are toxic, but they all contain an aspect of toxicity that permeates throughout the entire kingdom and sometimes outside of it.
The Troll Under the Bridge
We’ve all heard of the troll that hides under a bridge only to pop out and bother travelers. Reddit is the very bridge that houses that troll. In fact, it houses millions of trolls. They all lurk in all of the various subreddits. Over the years, I have read and contributed to a few of the Reddit communities relating to New York City, particularly AskNYC and NYC. I tended to notice quite a few of the same people commenting and contributing regularly. Particularly, one such character comes to mind that really stands out. This person would lurk and comment on nearly every AskNYC post and whatever the topic or question, would recommend the many wonders of Bay Ridge. In observing this person, it became evident that there was something particularly off about him, psychologically speaking. Perhaps he was lonely, perhaps he was autistic. Whatever his condition may have been, he did not warrant the sort of treatment he endured. People would tease and berate him mercilessly about his Bay Ridge recommendations so much so that he switched screennames/handles a few times. Often, he would return and many people knew immediately who he was because of, as you already guessed it, his Bay Ridge recommendations. Now I don’t know whatever became of him, but this sort of teasing and bullying is endemic on Reddit.
Explosive Toxicity
Reddit exploded into the offline public lexicon earlier this year when it was responsible for collective mob justice against Wall Street. As I wrote in an earlier article, The Gamestop Saga, users of the popular subreddit WallStreetBets banded together to exact mob justice on hedge fund Melvin Capital for short selling shares of video game retailer Gamestop.
If one takes the time to observe the types of comments posted on WallStreetBets, one would see toxicity that has reached stratospheric levels. The typical behavior begins with some frat’y and bro’y commentary. But the conversation often devolves into users consistently making sexist, misogynistic, and vile comments of “their wives’ boyfriends” enjoying their stock trading losses. Any semblance of sophisticated humor is largely absent here.
The trolls are in wide open view and there is little if any oversight on such threads. Since Reddit generates revenue through advertising, it doesn’t mind the traffic generated by WallStreetBets and thus does little to curb its toxic environment. This lack of oversight has had real world consequences. Forget hedge funds such as Melvin Capital, how many people’s retirement portfolios have suffered from Reddit users’ mob justice and market manipulation? Economists will research the extent of the effect of Reddit’s retail trader-activists for years to come.
Communities That Flourish versus Communities That Rot
Nary a day goes by without hearing on the news about the internet being used as a force for good. Perhaps someone was separated at birth and they used Facebook to reconnect with their long lost relative. Or perhaps through the power of the online community banding together, some violent criminal was apprehended. We’ve all heard such stories. Such communities are those that flourish. They foster and spread positivity.
With that naïve view in mind, I personally turned to Reddit, when my sister’s car was stolen in April of 2021 off the streets of Fulham in London. I posted on a couple of subreddits relating to London pleading for any help or advice. I was met with largely positive and compassionate responses. But there emerged one user that began to berate me with expletives and comments such as “sh-t happens” and “let the police and insurance handle it” and a couple others joined in. I was merely turning to the community to assist with advice in a situation myself nor my family had ever been in. After being berated by this user and a couple others, I prudently deleted the posts because of this annoying and obnoxious user. However, this user began stalking my profile and other posts to reply with obnoxious and hurtful comments in other unrelated subreddits. I asked that he politely stop, yet he persisted. I became fearful of this deranged lunatic troll and decided to not only delete the all my posts but also to delete my account. This guy was exhibiting sociopathic tendencies and who knows what he may have done to me or my family. And these sorts of attacks and behaviors are rampant throughout all of Reddit’s communities.
Frontier Justice
The experience with the deranged lunatic led to researching what sort of repercussions there are for Reddit users who engage in malicious behavior. I’ve noticed that on dating apps particularly, there is functionality to report suspicious, or potentially dangerous users, rightly so. Reddit offers no such functionality. Clicking the “report user” button brings you to a help page that is of no help at all. There is no functionality to report this sort of behavior.
Reddit itself knows the sort of people it attracts. I posit that the lack of reporting functionality is because users (trolls/bullies) would report each other all the time, simply as a joke, or as a way to bully others.
The only user-based jurisprudence that exists is the “like” and “dislike” buttons which are used for and against users. Perhaps they say something truly heinous and are downvoted. However, some communities exist within Reddit where hideous and heinous comments are welcome. These communities are the most openly toxic of Reddit and are best left unnamed so as to not give them further credence or more of an audience.
The operators of each subreddit post rules of what users must do in order to post on that subreddit and for that post to remain. However, operators rarely apply their rules uniformly or quantitatively. For example, I once saw a user post on the “Unpopular Opinion” subreddit. The unpopular opinion in question was regarding a fairly popular video game series. The user’s argument was seemingly valid, well thought out, and logically expressed. A few users posted some responses and the post was going well, only for the subreddit’s operators to delete the post. Since I had commented on the thread, I was able to message the user that posted. He informed me that the ops told him he didn’t “engage” with the other Reddit users. Yet, as I have observed on other posts on the same Unpopular Opinion subreddit, posters rarely engage with other Reddit users. So, the ops apply the rules arbitrarily without any sort of consistency. This is by far one of the greatest sources of toxicity on Reddit aside from trolls and bullies. The operators use their power as a bully pulpit to drive their own personal agenda and views.
War, What Is It Good For?
What’s really the use of being on Reddit anyhow? Sitting around reading users’ comments and engaging in petty spats online does very little for people. Does sitting around drinking beer and eating chips do much for an athlete?
I often think of purpose. What is the ultimate goal of one’s actions? It seems that Reddit is a way to spend, or more specifically, waste time. Successful people know that time is a valuable commodity, perhaps the most valuable commodity of all. I can think of no truly successful people who sit around on Reddit all day making obnoxious comments against other users. Certainly, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates don’t waste their time with such petty nonsense. It is often cited that Gates is a voracious reader, but of books and other educational material, not of internet comments.
Some people have engaged with the Reddit community in its AMA or “Ask Me Anything” events. As Medium writer Tracy Chou notes in her article, the conversations often devolve into “cesspits of toxicity” which do very little to advance public discourse. Ms. Chou notes, “It is clear that Reddit does not care to make even the most basic fixes to check the metastasis of the hate on their platform.” There is very little purpose for successful people to engage with Reddit as a platform because of its toxicity. The lack of regulatory interest on behalf of Reddit and its communities does little to drive civil public discourse.
What to Expect?
Now I have no doubt that this Medium post will inevitably find its way onto Reddit where it will be picked apart and criticized. I have no fear of that. I welcome challenge and debate. As long as it is done in a civilized manner without malicious or violent intent. And of course, as a Medium writer myself, I welcome the attention and views! I would be curious to hear about people’s experiences with Reddit and its communities.
If you find my writing helpful and would like to support my endeavors feel free to become a member of mine and get access to ALL of my articles on Medium and other articles for the price of a cup of coffee a month.
Become a member here.