> Because Reddit is horrible. You're absolutely entitled to this opinion, but I don't think it's fair or accurate to lump a site that is composed of almost 10,000 communities into one category or descriptor. It seems to me that categorizing Reddit as an "it" is only applicable when referring to Reddit corporate or the Reddit administration. Reddit is many communities with millions of contributors. Take Yahoo Groups and give it a "front page" where you could access all the posts from the groups you subscribe to in one handy place and you'd have something very similar to Reddit - the difference being that most subreddits on Reddit are public posts and require no membership to view/comment. My point is that few would make the mistake of holding Yahoo Groups itself responsible for the culture of individual groups or say that "Yahoo Groups is horrible" because they disliked the content of individual groups. I'm not denying that what you describe in your post can happen and does happen frequently, especially in default subreddits subscribed to by large numbers of people. You'll find that kind of mob rule in practically any large public community on the internet and it's ugly. What I'm saying is that such interactions are not the only experience that Reddit has to offer and there are plenty of places to have quality discussion and respectful disagreements. The key is to seek out subreddits where that kind of culture is encouraged and actively moderated. If your front page on Reddit is made up of default subs, then yes, what you've described above is a pretty accurate description of the experience you're going to have. If you put some time and effort into subscribing to subreddits that favor quality content and interaction, your Reddit experience can be both enjoyable and rewarding. Edit: Hah...and in all of that I didn't actually answer your main question; shame on me. My answer is that I found myself self-censoring or not contributing at all in larger sudreddits because of the prevailing culture of those groups. In smaller and more fairly moderated subreddits, I found the opposite to be true. I contributed more frequently and generously, forged beneficial connections with other members, and was mindful of the feelings of those I was communicating with.
I don't think so, no, but now that you've mentioned it I'll check it out. I tend to gravitate towards hobby and interest subreddits versus ones that are political, social interest, or meme-based. I've found that the narrower the focus a sub has, the more people are likely to stay on track with the topic and have a genuine desire to engage in a positive way with other commenters. This can promote groupthink, as you've touched on in your original post, but that's not inevitable. People have always made connections through mutual interests and a desire to share the things that give them joy with others.
Yeah, even though I may have unconsciously fallen victim of the Reddit system, I still can't be hostile to it, since it has opened me up to amazing things, hobbies, creative works and philosophies/ mirrors to my inner workings Eg: fountain pens, calligraphy, wicked_edge straight razor shaving, INTJ, short scary stories, LGBT subs, minimalism, atheism (I know everyone in the world hates the atheism sub, but after 23 years of being a conservative fundamentalist Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I needed an outlet for my anger and frustration) Someone mentioned that INTJ had really good spelling and grammar compared to other subs, and maybe it's because of the mainstream-ness, here's to hubski ~ may it be civil and thoughtful ever into the bright and majestic day ~~
> I know everyone in the world hates the atheism sub, but after 23 years of being a conservative fundamentalist Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I needed an outlet for my anger and frustration I can appreciate that. When someone finds themselves in any kind of situation where they see a popular or long-held belief to be in error I think many people find themselves wanting to metaphorically run through the streets yelling "the emperor's new clothes are a lie! Don't you see?!" This applies to much more than atheism, too, though it's a very predictable kind of backlash when so much of the world's day-to-day workings are influenced by some form of religion or another. On one hand, the common perception of /r/atheism is pretty spot-on. It really is kind of a circlejerk, and I'm not sure that being involved with it for a long period of time is healthy. On the other hand, I think that having a place like that to rage and commiserate with others is an important aspect of transitioning to atheism from a lifetime of religious belief. When someone feels like they've been tricked by everyone around them, it's good to have others they can go to to be reassured that they're not crazy.