There is a huge number of so-called "Karma Farm Bots" on reddit. Their only existence is spamming popular subreddits with reposts to farm Karma-points.
The end-goal for the people operating these bots is to sell them later. Reddit accounts can go for quite some money depending on comment karma, post karma and account age.
Big subreddits are flooded with low-quality and often off-topic reposts by these bots. And the problem is: Users upvote them over and over again which really hurts to see.
It harms the overall quality of the site a lot and makes some previously good subreddits unusable after bot-operators find them.
It's a similar problem as with karma farm bots but instead, it's real people coming from low-quality networks like Facebook or Instagram. They repost every crap they see in the most low-effort way possible (low quality, often uncropped screenshots). And it's usually off-topic as well.
They destroy the site as much as karma farm bots do.
Moderators of communities are a big problem because many seem unable to use their power responsibly.
Examples of misuse are:
And that's a real problem. Let's take r/pics: A few people have control over what 24 million people can see.
Probably the most prominent moderator is u/GallowBoob. Just take a look at his feed and you will understand the problem.
He's also confirmed to apply shady practices abusing his mod powers. Posts that uncover these get removed under dubious circumstances even on communities u/GallowBoob isn't a moderator of.
As we can see, moderators cannot be trusted. They are manipulating reddit to their advantage and pushing agenda affecting dozens of millions of people.
This post sums it up pretty good:
After the giant investment of Chinese firm Tencent Chinese interfering is also suspected.
And now to the users itself. The voting system is reddits big strength over other platforms but also its problem.
In optimal circumstances, posts or comments with interesting content are being upvoted to gain attention and posts with off-topic or low-effort content is being downvoted to quickly disappear.
Unfortunately, redditors seem to misunderstand the purpose of the downvote button.
The downvote button is not an opinion button!
This is also part of the reddiquette:
If you think something contributes to conversation, upvote it. If you think it does not contribute to the subreddit it is posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it.
[...]
Don't Downvote an otherwise acceptable post because you don't personally like it. Think before you downvote and take a moment to ensure you're downvoting someone because they are not contributing to the community dialogue or discussion. If you simply take a moment to stop, think and examine your reasons for downvoting, rather than doing so out of an emotional reaction, you will ensure that your downvotes are given for good reasons.
Reddiquette as of 8. April 2020
Having discussions is really hard because everyone uses the downvote button as an opinion button.
That's why redditors are creating a bubble around them and just circlejerking over their opinion over and over again.
A big circlejerk is multi-level-marketing. Many Reddit users are emotionally driven and unable to think differentiated. For them, every MLM is a pyramid scheme. If you try to explain to them that this is not the case you are being downvoted to hell. Even though it was a civilized discussion based on hard facts.
All in all, there's so much wrong with reddit that I'm finally completely fed up with it. I did like the platform a few years ago but I'm now trying to get away from it as much as possible.
This comment sums it up very good as well:
Reddit is such a giant place. I stumble upon new, interesting subreddits with hundreds of thousands of followers on a weekly base, even though I already use the platform for years.
I actually had to update this article within 5 hours of finishing it, because I found two more interesting subreddits.
Related: 5 Reasons Reddit Is A Crappy Platform That Doesn't Deserve Your Attention
The subreddits marked with a ★ are my personal favorites. They are more than worth checking out. Especially r/wellthatsucks never disappoints with great content and an amazing mod team that keeps the sub from getting flooded with reposts (like what happened to many other previously good subs).
The 11' 8" bridge in Durham, NC, also known as the "canopener," this old railroad trestle has a real hunger for any tall truck or RV that strays too close.
Fun, 4chan related content.
Videos that suddenly end in chaos, often hilariously.
Awful Taste But Great Execution For everything that displays quality craftsmanship in the least elegant way possible. All things gaudy, tacky, overdone, and otherwise tasteless. Work done so well, you won't know whether to love it or hate it.
Unintentional cases of racism.
Swastikas in places you don't expect them to be.
Changing the meaning of a sentence by obstruction.
That time you were able to get someplace you shouldn't have been just by looking the part and acting confident.
This subreddit is for gifs of animals with text over them.
Gifs/Video/Pics of your everyday occurrence in Russia or the surrounding areas.
Yes, that's a thing.
Design that lets come profit first.
AskReddit, Ouija-style, one letter at a time.
A subreddit for screencaps of people who failed to see The Onion's articles as satire.
A subreddit that makes you say, "Aww! Ooh? What the fuck?!"
This is a subreddit dedicated to instances of Beetlejuicing. Beetlejuicing is when one user posts a comment or thread on Reddit, and another user with a username relevant to that parent comment or thread responds.
For animated gifs and similar formats, that get better the longer you watch them.
Giving another meaning to memes.
For sentences never before written, found in the wild.
A very bizarre subreddit.
The friendlier part of reddit. Have a fun conversation about anything that is on your mind. Ask a question or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.
Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices that have failed catastrophically during operation.
Cars filled with garbage.
A safe space for lovers of aquatic chairs. (Also bizarre)
r/Colorization is a subreddit that is dedicated to sharing black and white photos that you have colorized. Colorization can be very time-consuming but the results are often amazing.
A subreddit for gifs put together in a relevant manner.
So bad, it's ascended
Picture based reference guides for anything and everything. If it seems like something someone might print, physically post, and reference then it is a good link for this sub.
Everywhere cozy.
MAY THE COMIC SANS AND LENS FLARES FLOW UNFILTERED
Where front-end developers come post their witty visual CSS puns.
Keep It Cursed
Here is a place to post all of your images of absurd receipts from CVS.
Badly designed stuff.
Dogs wearing goggles
Dark and disturbing stock photos.
Memes that imitate and exaggerate the degradation of an image.
When too much happens at once.
Ever try fixing things on your own? Didn't come out the way they were supposed to? Do you stand there questioning your whole life? If so, post your results here to DiWHY (Pronounced DEE EYE WHY, DIwhY. It helps if you don't think of it as an acronym), where shitty projects from r/DIY live prosperously.
Phuck ups in english of any kind!
Comparison pictures.
A subreddit for you to share the stupidity of people online and IRL.
Ironic.
If it's a problem you can only have if you have money we'll feel bad for you. Then we'll feel guilty for having enough money to have the same problem.
For all of the interesting, funny, or otherwise unusual things you see on Google Maps!
The realm of the most anti-climactic short stories from 4chan.
Blatant advertising exposed.
History in memes.
You know in games or movies when you find a odd little secret that someone in production left unnoticed for the few in the audience that would look for it or happen to stumble upon it? This is the place to share those things you find in real life.
SUBREDDIT BANNED
A sub featuring exclusive content of hilariously ironic signs that will leave you laughing in your seat!
Elements of a culture or system of behavior that are passed from one member of the species Homo sapiens to another by utilizing a worldwide network of silicon machines that transmit electrical data to each other, each of which consists of an arrangement of pixels accompanied by locutions, the formermost of which deteriorates with each successive iteration while the latter increases exponentially in vernacular complexity.
₲̨̡͚̥̭̦̤̮̄ͫ͟‹‹⁄··⁄‹ˆ∏⁄∏⁄·ˆ⁄·⁄·€⁄ˆ⁄·‚ˆ‹· ÔӋ̸̱̫͖͚̗͙̤ͯ͊̉̓̐͌͌̀͢ͅt̠̦̽ͦͪ̅́ͨ̿̀͡Ô‹⁄ÒÔÔ·ˆ⁄·⁄·€⁄⁄·⁄·€⁄ˆ⁄·‚ˆ‹· ṭ͇̄̾̓̿͢͡⁄Ò··⁄‹ˆØ∏Ô·‹‹⁄··⁄‹ˆØ‹‹‹⁄ ⁄r̨̘̮̥̜͍̗̎͒̀̾ͩ̉̚⁄̹̞̞̬̭̱ͭͣ̈́ͣͩ͗̐̆̀͟͞Ò̶̧͉̘͆͐̂̓̇ͤͭ́͜Ø∏⁄∏⁄·
Ironic Signs. A sub featuring exclusive content of hilariously ironic signs that will leave you laughing in your seat! Subscribe now so you don't miss out on all the action, and be a part of the fun!
It's hard to remember.
When two posts are in the perfect order.
A subreddit for Linux enthusiasts.
All about the original "Lookin' Good Susan" meme popularized by /r/bonehurtingjuice. All posts have to have something to do with Lookin Good Susan. Sub is not active anymore but awesome to look through all the older posts.
For posting screenshots of people forgetting what sub they're on or people misinterpreting the purpose of the sub they're on.
r/MemeEconomy is a place where individuals can buy, sell, share, make, and invest in memes freely. You'll also get updates on the market, and be able to collaborate with other fellow meme traders.
Subreddit for people that enjoy mechanical keyboards, headphones, and fountain pens to post pictures of their set up and converse about all things keyboards, headphones, and pens.
Another classic.
A place to post the most midly infuriating things!
A place to share pictures and videos (or whatever) of mild vandalism that is either funny or mindful (or whatever).
Only the best pics of mirrors for sale.
Like murdered by words, except via a crosspost
Nearly impossible feats of achievement, those with a great degree of difficulty or incredible odds.
One of the most entertaining subs.
Another interpretation of things.
TODO - Write description for sub
For true stories that are so mind-blowingly ridiculous that you could have sworn they were from The Onion.
Comparing the past and present through photography.
Dangerous workplace
For those little things that are inexplicitly satisfying.
Like AskOuija, but one word at a time.
Pictures of things that are recognizable as other objects.
A subreddit for things that, surprisingly or satisfyingly, fit perfectly into each other.
Here you will find content by good camera operators who keep a proper recording angle, have good control & perception of keeping the object(s) well in frame.
Dedicated to humor and jokes relating to programmers and programming.
Give a man a gif and he will meme all day, teach a man to REACT and he will be as a GOD.
yurp
Reddit greentext, without the green.
This subreddit is devoted to sharing gifs and videos of robots that are useless or just don't do their job quite right.
Ever see a stock photo that just made you stop and say, wtf? Or a stock photo that's so bad that it cant ever possibly be sold?
A place for the shittiest, most mocking "pro-tips" you can think of. Whether you want to let us know how glue can help out your hair or the quickest way to clog a public toilet, we're the place to post.
Poke fun at nasty software.
Non-instruments that sound like music.
A place to share many of the Split-Depth GIFS, you know the ones with the 3D effect by using white lines.
The worlds biggest starterpack resource.
Logos edited cleanly to seem like the original but read as something else.
Funny pics, gifs and vids of startled cats.
Post pictures of cars with terrible mods.
When there is just a little too much detail...
"Suspiciously" used quotation marks.
You can take care and decide the fate of a real plant.
For information that is technically true, but far from the expected answer.
Videos and gifs of expensive mistakes, catastrophes, or disasters.
Do you ever wish for things without thinking through them first? Do you ever struggle with finding the downsides of your hopes and dreams? Well, whatever the case may be TheMonkeysPaw is at your service!
Theory of Reddit is a mildly navel-gazing space for inquiring into what makes Reddit communities work and what we in a community can do to help make it better. This subreddit should focus on data, issues, solutions, or strategies that could be reasonably addressed or implemented by users and moderators, not admins.
Showcasing notices from imperious middle managers, owners, landlords, school administrators, mean bosses, and overall pedants. Bonus points for misspellings, exclamation marks, threats over petty bullshit.
And they said math has no real world applications.
This can't be a coincidence.
Thanks, I hate it.
The tires are out to get us.
Two or more Redditors unexpectedly in the same place at the same time.
An Unethical Life Pro Tip (or ULPT) is a tip that improves your life in a meaningful way, perhaps at the expense of others and/or with questionable legality.
(Un)fortunate Ad Placement.
People dying - but on the inside.
For everything that happens in everyday life that makes you say "well, that sucks"
A subreddit dedicated to the tools that take a beating.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? The best place to learn what NOT to do.
Greentext, but wholesome.
A subreddit about people who miss the joke/satire.
A place to share World War II photographs.
Youtube Haiku: Any almost poetic video under 14 seconds.
