posted in Technology
Research: The whole Reddit has become more negative over time. Also, the longer the community exists, the more negative it get — and the longer a comment thread continues, the more negative it becomes
cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1336543/research-the-whole-reddit-has-become-more-negative-over-time-also-the-longer-the-communi
news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/08/does-vitriol-make-you-feel-special/Replying to @beep@piefed.world
I posted a small comment on Reddit for the first time in, oh, idk, years. It was in a thread about the book Dungeon Crawler Carl. My comment said, paraphrasing,
DCC is not a nihilistic book
Short and to the point. I received three replies, all of them antagonistic. The first one said,
You’re wrong, because DCC is not a nihilistic book.
Except weird and long-winded. The second one said,
your definition of nihilism is wrong. DCC is not a nihilistic book.
The third one was,
You’re being pedantic.
Aaaand last time I post a comment on reddit.
I’ve noticed this too. There seems to be someone to violently disagree on even the most benign points and chase the thread indefinitely. I’m sure they are pretty much all bots.
Yeah. Either assholes or engagement bots. That and censorship by mods is why Ieft.
(Rare preemptive /s) I have no idea what the fuck youre talking about because i know at least 3 people who regularly post on reddit so they cant be bots (/s, again)
Maybe it’s not a nihilistic book/series, but it does push readers into nihilism by steeping them in god awful writing.