One of the Internet's most powerful capabilities is connecting people. And nowhere is this better seen than communities focusing on niche subjects. Reddit, a social media platform that functions as an amalgamation of fora, is one of the best examples, others being Wikipedia and StackOverflow. People are the best sources of information, and passionate communities are able to help each other.
Originally, I truly appreciated the power of Reddit as a tool to answer technical questions, back when I was having computer issues seven-ish years ago at this point. Rather quickly, I found groups of people with similar interests helping overcome issues. Quickly, this spiraled into a daily use pattern as a social media platform, not just a how-to guide. I still used it for the later though. It was just an all-in-one for me for six or so years by now. Reddit also was the only platform to survive my social media purge that came a couple years after that point.
You may or may not have heard about some controversy regarding Reddit APIs recently. I won't go into too much detail about that, since there is much reporting available. And I see this as the end for my last social media platform. By harming the moderators of their communities, Reddit did irreversible damage. Those are unpaid volunteers that are passionate users. They kept the communities civil and prevented them from devolving into a cesspool of chaos and hate. A few of my favorite subreddits have shut down in protest. And without them, Reddit's lost my interest as well. If what I want isn't there, I won't be coming back. Rather simple, really.
It's sad when almost overnight one of my favorite websites withered and died on the vine. Although, perhaps there's a silver lining too. Time to go back to reading real news sources and supporting proper journalism.
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