This article is on Medium, which has a paywall. I’m a member, but not logged in. I was able to read it so it may depend on how many times you’ve read Medium articles.
One point he made that I found interesting was:
So, in light of all of this, should Reddit even exist? Is there really a point to a web forum in 2023? Aren’t we past all that?
He thinks we are. I never thought about it before. Maybe in the case of some Reddit subreddits and other forums, but I don’t think so in general. I’ve got a lot great information from forums.
It all depends how you use it, I guess. As a long-time Redditor I’m basically not paying any attention to the usernames in these threads, I’m just responding to whatever contents any given comment has, just like on Reddit. There’s nothing that forces me to click on your profile and read it and see what sorts of other things you’ve written, or even remember your name. For some this may breed “toxicity” but I rather like it myself - the contents are the important thing here, not the people. Maybe if I was tooting over in the microblogging stuff that would be different but I just don’t see myself engaging in that.
I actually worry somewhat that my own profile and username might be a bit too memorable. I would not want someone to upvote or downvote something I wrote based on who I am rather than what I said.