Because Reddit is horrible. Everything about the way Reddit is designed obliterates any hope of reasonable discussion:
- Reddit segregates people into distinct forums of people who all agree with each other, inducing them to engage in groupthink and shift towards increasingly extreme views.
- It then establishes a set of "defaults" and entertainment subs and more or less forces multiple factions of increasingly radicalized people into them (otherwise they miss out on nice content), leading to a constant battle over the politics of the site, radicalizing people further, and drawing in people who just come at first to be entertained. It truly is, as PZ Meyers described it once, "a hate site with a thin veneer of entertainment".
- This process hooks you on the addictive joy of righteous indignation, further incentivizing conflict and de-incentivizing real discussion. This is why meta-subs have such a big draw.
- Upvotes and downvotes turn the comment section into a competition to control the message, and the way comments are organized buries thoughtful posts that came a bit late, after a period of reflection. It also emphasizes junk and fluff that is easy to process and hides effort posts.
Often when I'm browsing Hubski, I catch myself getting reflexively angry or defensive at someone who innocently disagrees with me, and I have to remind myself that conflict and emotion aren't conducive to thoughtful discussion, and that most Hubskians are awesome people and not trolls, bigots, or extremists at all. Are there other people who migrated from Reddit who can relate?