Not quite. Sometimes it depends on where in Reddit do you roam around that you can get an actual discussion and exchanging of ideas without throwing in pointless memes and inside jokes that only Redditors will get.

I do agree with you on the upvotes/down votes having a competitive nature, especially in those threads that unless if you switch the comments sorting from top/best to new, chances are your opinion on things wouldn't be heard. Either you have to be lucky to be an early commenter before the thread blows up to be front page worthy, be a well known poster of some sort, or say something rather mind blowing for your post to get attention.

There are subreddits and threads that don't have the upvote/downvote system influence how the comments are sorted out (only one that comes to mind is the Check out My Blog sticky at /r/blogging).

However the issue of having reasonable discussions is not limited to Reddit. I have frequented a well known forum in the past before calling it quits because that place is nothing more than screaming fans that feel the need to orgasm over their favorite celebrity, tv show, what have you. Nothing wrong with being a fan but they have taken their fandoms so seriously where being contrary will either get you slammed by other posters or warned by the mods or admins. Some of the topics seem normal such as said celebrity's taste of fashion and their acting abilities but there are those that go far as to title their love for that person's style as wanting to have sex with their hair.

Positivity is promoted throughout that forum. Nothing wrong with keeping positive but that mentality didn't leave much room for balanced discussion. They were usually found in the smaller sub-forums that didn't garner as much traffic. I tried to start and engage in discussion of things that was beyond the blind worship but often times it wouldn't pan out.

I joined that forum not understanding fandom and quit that forum still not understanding it. Mind you, I thought shipping dealt with mailing things (plus shipping and handling) until someone pointed out it dealt with fans pitting characters together as couples.

I have been lurking here for the past few hours. With the variety of discussion going on, I think I'm going to like it here.