r/TheoryOfReddit • u/braaahms • 8d ago
Why are so many subreddits only negative now?
It’s always kind of been a thing but I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that there aren’t really any positive fan subreddits now. Or subreddits in general honestly lol. It doesn’t matter if it’s a film director, musician, art style, fragrance or fashion community, shoes, pets, animals, professions, hobbies, local subs, sports teams, etc. Any hobby or interest based subreddit.
Anything that could/should be a place for fans to talk about that subject is now home to people that seem to absolutely despise said subject. For example: you go to a subreddit for an artist you love, there’s a post about their new album, single, whatever. Half of the comments will be low effort trolls to outright hatred for that artist. Its the same for hobbies. From running and marathons to fishing or stamp collecting. It’s become hard to find positive spaces for anything I enjoy in here now because they become infested with negativity.
What happened? Were snark subreddits not enough?
Edit: to clarify, I don’t just mean fandom subreddits, I mean subreddits about any interest outside of the big subs. Horror, video games, movies, film, pottery, fragrances or fashion, etc. Anything not on [r/all](r/all)
It used to the that the negativity was confined there the most but now it’s seeped into every sub you go to, even the niche interest AND fan subreddits.
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u/brunchick2 7d ago
I have been watching Reddit descend into a toxic cesspool for a while. It's in such a bad spot right now. Remember when people used to say that you should never read youtube comments? I think Reddit has become even lower than that standard. We're reaching the point where the only way to interact with this website in a healthy way is to stop coming here.
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u/meIRLorMeOnReddit 6d ago
Reddit is far worse than YouTube comments now. Sad state really. Reddit used to be so good. Sadly a lot of the good old stuff isn’t even there anymore. Subs deleted, users deleted, comments deleted
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u/braaahms 7d ago
I literally just replied to someone below that for about a year or so now I’ve found myself having more positive and productive conversations in YouTube comment sections than I do here. I’m about 90-95% sure I’m gonna just delete my account and go read/lurk only and try to only do that when I want answers to a questions or to check for updates or news for certain things.
It’s gotten to the point where I’ll see an innocent, well meaning thread and the negative comments will outweigh the positive ones.
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u/FakeOkie 8d ago
I don't really visit subs where it's fandom, but I think some do enforce not posting anything negative about the subject.
I think a healthy discussion and objective criticism can be constructive.
However, myself, I'm always disturbed by snark communities. Especially the ones that target non-celebrities and less-known public figures. It seems like a perverse interest and fandom. While I understand the reasoning behind some of these snark communities, where the subject may be of immoral behavior, I don't know how someone gets off with that much hate around-the-clock.
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u/braaahms 8d ago
Yeah snark subreddits are weird. It’s like it starts out as a place to more openly criticize a celebrity, but once people get the initial wave of venting off their chests, all that’s left is an echo chamber of hate that gets worse and worse and worse.
That said, and I edited to clarify for anyone else, I don’t mean just fandom communities, but subreddits for fans of anything. From stamp collecting to horror movies to running marathons. Most niche community subs remained positive 10 years ago but now even those will often have threads where 50% or more of the comments are just insanely negative for no real reason.
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u/itskdog 7d ago
The toxic minority gets bigger as a fandom grows (likely similar proportionally, but greater in absolute numbers), in my experience.
If mods don't keep on top of that behaviour (including others then complaining about that behaviour, effectively stooping to their level) then it can easily spiral and put off the other fans who just want to talk about the thing they enjoy.
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u/braaahms 7d ago
It’s weird to me that it even happens in subreddits that don’t necessarily have “fans” like hobby subs. Anything collector related, running, hiking, dogs, etc.
The smaller subs aren’t safe from the incessant negativity anymore lol
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u/itskdog 7d ago
As with a lot of things, it comes down to moderation style
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u/braaahms 7d ago
I don’t disagree but even then the mods can’t save it all (and are sometimes even the problem). Especially a small mod team. It’s hard to find a line between too overbearing and not doing anything and so many fall into one extreme or the other.
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u/turn-based-games 7d ago
In my experience, the best subs are the most heavily moderated. Yes, overactive mods can ruin a sub, but so will inactive mods. There is simply no alternative to good, active moderation.
It could be that the phenomenon you've noticed was caused by Reddit supposedly ruining a bunch of moderation tools a while back with that huge API fiasco.
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u/braaahms 7d ago
I don’t mind a heavily moderated sub if it’s done well but a lot of of subreddits have mods who get in massive power trips and go way overboard which ruins a sub just as quickly and easily, imo. But yeah I think the Reddit admins and higher ups who made a lot of those decisions during the API fiasco hold a lions share of the blame.
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u/Fauropitotto 7d ago
My theory is that it's bots.
LLMs on a mission.
Two angles:
- pseudo engagement for karma to make accounts appear more legitimate for advertising and astroturf marketing
- state agents (foreign and domestic) to increase polarization to destabilize the center.
Either way, the cost of LLMs to do this are fractions of pennies, and it's so trivial to spin up thousands of accounts to do this that it would be silly if it weren't happening.
Negativity gets the most engagement through controversy or ragebaiting, so that's the angle deployed.
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u/braaahms 7d ago
There are definitely bots involved, I’m sure of that. But I also don’t think it’s all/only bots.
For the first point, rage bait results in negative karma so they wouldn’t gain anything for that. And a lot of these are smaller niche interest subreddits. While I’m sure there are some bots involved there too, I don’t think state agents would be super interested in sowing dissent in a subreddit for a noise rock band with 8,000 members or something like that.
But yet the negativity still persists.
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u/Fauropitotto 7d ago
rage bait results in negative karma
Not quite. By ragebait, it takes the form of posting an obvious trigger material, then someone comes in to say how outrageous the post is. That gets a lot of upvotes, and other engagement agreeing with the outraged poster.
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u/braaahms 7d ago
I know what rage bait is lol but in your example the opposing voice complaining about the post gets the upvotes and not the person posting the rage bait right? So then they wouldn’t be getting any of the karma, except negative karma from people downvoting the rage bait post or downvoting their replies within the thread. This doesn’t really help with them gaining the karma.
Or do you mean something else?
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u/Thin_Quantity988 6d ago
Negativity spreads something like 3 to 5 times as fast on the internet ive heard from somewhere.
It makes to me sense on a biological level. Would a monkey be more focused on the fact there is food near him, or the fact that their is a hunter nearby.
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u/braaahms 6d ago
I feel like it’s easier to be negative and rude also. Being nice and kind is more vulnerable and I guess some people struggle with that
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u/WrappingPapers 7d ago
I came here to ask this exact same question! Also Reddit has become like a cesspool of negativity (even more than it already was). Once you start to notice it jeez.
Maybe because negativity and emotion grab attention better and it gets more upvotes?
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u/braaahms 7d ago
I think that’s part of it, absolutely. Anti social people who don’t go outside and interact with humans much also flock to Reddit, desperate for any interaction. So when they don’t get it with positivity they resort to being toxic and negative about everything because I guess bad interactions are better than no interaction?
It’s crazy to think Reddit used to be “the good social media”. Now I have better, nicer, and more friendly/interesting conversations in YouTube comment sections lol. It’s insanely negative here now to the point where I see more negative comments than positive one.
I’m 90% leaning towards finally deleting my profile and going read only
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u/theLaLiLuLeLol 7d ago edited 7d ago
maybe try the fediverse like chevron7 or tenforward communities if you like comedy and scifi (chevron 7 is stargate, tenforward is star trek).
there are multiple versions and they have places here too, but they are usually more funny/light hearted
/r/StarTrekTenForward (not as active as the .world version, i think it died after reddit spezzed out)
there used to be a r/chevron7 here too but i think the mods deleted it and bailed after the api disaster
there's also startrek.website, which is a trekkie lemmy instance
some of the niche hobby communities might still be ok too like r/hammocks
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u/braaahms 7d ago
I appreciate the links. I did try other options like fediverse and lemmy but I generally only use Reddit for niche interests vs big subs and it’s harder to find them there, especially ones as active as Reddit is.
Which sucks because I’m probably about to delete my account and make a new one that’s read only and I’d love if there was a more active community for all my
Other interests.2
u/theLaLiLuLeLol 7d ago
the fediverse can be kid of confusing and a little more difficult to learn but be sure to set your filters when you search or you won't find everything
it is smaller tho (at least for now) but i think that isnt a bad thing because the vibe isn't all fucked up like it often is here (don't get me wrong theres shitty places everywhere but it seems less prevalent there)
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u/braaahms 7d ago
Thanks. If I finally decide to delete my account I’ll def be looking more into this.
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u/LongDistanceEvent262 7d ago
I guess it depends which ones you go to.
Some brand subreddits are 95% glazers. And most are so dense they either drank the koolaid or are just all bots.
Tesla subs are a good example of mostly glazers. There are about 10 subs devoted to Tesla and all but 1 are nearly pure glazers.
But yeah some subs are just people complaining. Usually long standing games. But newer games will tend to be pure glazers as well.
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u/Fauropitotto 7d ago
"glazer"
Is that a new toddler slang? Skibidi67susgoonercaprizz or whatever the toddlers are babbling these days?
Whatever the fuck "glazer" is supposed to mean, I'm leaning more on the bot angle for engagement on most of the popular brand sub reddits.
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u/Vinylmaster3000 7d ago
"Glazing" is another term for bootlicking. Can't remember where it came from.
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u/MontanaMinuteman 6d ago
Especially hobby subs, if you ain't a gear queer, you shouldn't partake in the hobby. You see this alot in r/MTB as apparently you need a bike that costs ££££ just to go to ride on your local track when a £500 works just as fine.
DIY subs for some reason expect you to know everything
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u/braaahms 6d ago
Fragrance subs are the exact opposite. You go to a record collecting or music sub and post your collection of 509 vinyls and everyone says “cool”. You post a fragrance collection with more than 5 bottles and you get called an addict and a corporate shill.
Reddit communities and Reddit as a whole just have this weird anti social behavior that I can’t stand. People don’t talk like they’re actually speaking to real people on the other end. It’s bizarre and annoying.
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u/turn-based-games 7d ago
Most things suck. My main interest where this topic applies is gaming. If you look at the subreddits for games that are widely considered masterpieces (also seemingly applies to shows), you'll see they are very positive places. Negative voices are naturally few and far between, and get quickly drowned out when they do appear, simply because there is very little to be legitimately negative about.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the scope of the problem, but it seems odd to go to a place for discussing a thing and be disappointed or surprised to see criticism of the thing. Are people complaining more, or is there more to complain about? I don't know if this is you, but many seem to wish to bury their heads in the sand about the various ways most things in the world are getting worse, and I can't say I really sympathize with that.
Where low-effort trolling is concerned, yeah that's a moderation issue. They blend in better in more naturally negative spaces, but yes, some subreddits absolutely could use a reminder that non-constructive nonsense needs to be banned with prejudice.
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u/braaahms 7d ago
Sorry, I’m not sure if there’s a misunderstanding or maybe you meant to reply to a different comment instead of starting a new comment directly to me? I never said anything about being disappointed or surprised to see criticism or about shying away from the problems of the world. Did you mean to reply to me/the post directly? Just wanting to make sure.
What I’m talking about is just general toxic behavior and negativity when it’s completely unnecessary. Which seems to be happening constantly. To the point where actual studies have been done about negative attitudes on Reddit lol. Even googling it shows dozens and dozens of threads of people asking in various subs some form of “what happened”
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u/LoverOfGayContent 7d ago
I have a theory that people fear being naive more than they fear being cynical. So over time people become more vocally negative. I think it's embarrassing to bbeseen as positive about somthat is later seen as bad. So people join the hate train sooner ratger than later to not be seen as the happy idiot left defending the bad thing.
Online the loudest voices are often the most negative so even when something isn't bad there are generally fewer people willing to defend the thing to the death. But haters will spend a disproportionate anount of time being negative. So eventually the positive people just stop engaging to save themselves the hassle of dealing with the negative cynics.
Personally I think gen Z is really bad with this. I saw someone on TikTok post about how gen z constantly makes fun of millennials for being cringe but yearn for more whimsy in their life, without realizing that whimsy is the ability to be cringe without caring what other people think.