Thanks for elaborating! I think your suspicions are very right. There’s an amount of infuriating and inexplicable poweruser stuff happening that I think many are oblivious to. Whether it’s just the way that reposts have been like industrialized factory production lines. I thought I was a curmudgeon when I complained about reposts after the exodus from Digg to reddit, but what happens now makes that look like nothing in comparison.

I agree with your observation about the parallels between thedonald and WSB. Also reminiscent of 4chan - there’s something about shitposty shittiness that I think is a standard baseline for inorganic content and behavior that amasses the capability to mobilize people.

The reddit admins openly said they generated content in the early days to create the illusion of user activity. Smoke and mirrors is the unspoken characteristic of reddit. The platform always had an aire of fakeness since inception.

I remember that!!! Reddit founders apparently posted under multiple user names to get the site started. Unfortunately I can’t find articles now that talk about this but I wish I knew the original sources for this stuff.