I'll say this. I've been unreasonable on Reddit as well as Hubski before. Hubski is the only aggregator that has led me to make an active effort to do better. Much like riding a motorcycle has made be a better driver, Hubski as made me a (slightly?) better participant in discussions on Reddit and other net forums in general. After well over half a decade on Reddit, to this day there is no part of its culture or mechanics that make me want to do better honestly. (And I do think that the differentiator at least in Hubski's case is a mixture of both mechanics and culture. The two are aligned here better than on a lot of other sites).

Agreed completely, here -- but I think it's all about where you want to look on Reddit. There are plenty of thought provoking, intelligent, wonderful subs on the site, you just have to dig past the defaults and shitty memes. I think it's also a great way to connect with like-minded people. When I get a new game that I like and want to find other fans of, I just type "reddit.com/r/whatevergameimplaying" and it usually pops up. That's a pretty cool thing -- that whatever it is you're thinking of, there's probably a community for it already.