To think Reddit is more toxic than other forums?

[fernoll12]

My mam has a YouTube channel, so she's used to getting the odd negative comment. Recently she started asking for advice on Reddit, and she's genuinely surprised by how some people reply.

She's not someone who's easily offended or emotional. She's dealt with plenty of criticism over the years however she can't get over how normal it seems for people to be rude for no reason. Last week I heard her mumbling that this site is "f*cking rude" which surprised me as she rarely swears.

I find it surprising how a seemingly left-leaning website has so many toxic and judgmental people.

I've always found Reddit to be relatively strictly moderated.
What subreddits is she using, to ask for advice?

/r/AITA, /r/amiwrong and similar subs.

Is Reddit "left leaning"? I never knew.

I find it surprising that you consider Reddit ‘seemingly left-leaning’. It really isn’t. It’s a colossal site with thousands of forums and the kind of people she encounters will completely depend on what subreddits she’s in.

I also find it weird that you think judgement and toxicity are more surprising from one end of the political spectrum than another. Those aren’t politically driven things. They’re human traits that occur completely separately from political standpoints. I’m on the left myself and while I’ certainly have more in common politically with left-wing people, I don’t find them more, or less, rude than right-wing people. Calling someone a twat because you disagree with them is very much universal across the political divide and practised by the left, the right and everyone in between.

She'd probably get similar responses here tbh.

That’s exactly where you’d expect opposing opinions and antagonism.
Try the specialized subreddits and they are generally fine.

Those are literally subs where the intention is to ask for an unfiltered opinion from millions of strangers. They’re not going be full of nice people saying polite things.

I think it depends on the sub. The legal advice one is great, for example.

@fernoll12 then she could try mumsnet,

Depends on the sub. I belong to a great one about crocs and alligators as I like them.

Reddit can be a cesspit of people and ideas.

Lol good one!

AITA is a really unserious sub though - what's she doing there if not for pure entertainment? How many things does she think she's being an asshole about?
It's 99% made up - does she realise that? A lot of what is posted there gets tweaked and posted here as if it was genuine. Maybe educate her a bit?

I’ve used reddit for well over a decade and not had any horrible encounters but I choose the subs I participate in carefully, and spend some time looking at the general tone in replies for each sub I choose to join. I also look at the sub rules and search the sub for the answer to my question before posting, some have a FAQs list because very common questions can get asked many times a day so a FAQ is created.

I’ve seen some sarcastic snarky behaviour in subs like AITAH and AIO but I think they’re the reddit equivalent of AIBU here and I don’t use them.

I’ve noticed in some spice topic subs, occasionally some people who choose not to read the sub rules or the FAQs, can take offensive and accuse users of being rude when they asked a question and users direct them to the highlighted FAQ, they see it as a telling off and accuse people of being mean rather helpful.

I use the UK finance Reddit and everyone is charming and helpful. Sounds like she's using the equivalent of AIBU- basically inviting people to weigh in with strong opinions and antagonism.

Personally it depends what subreddit it is...i mean the ukmounjaro thread and plant threads i follow are lovely 🤣

I use Reddit an awful lot, it’s not even close to being as toxic as sites like Twitter or Mumsnet.

Depends. I kind of like it for a lot of things. There are many varied opinions and I don't like having an echo chamber.

It depends on the subreddit. The ones that I am on are really supportive and funny.

Been on Reddit a few years and never had any issues

Well there was speculation that Ghislaine Maxwell was a mod there!

I think the people of Reddit are much nicer than the people of MN sometimes, I like to go there for a break

I find the subs I'm in really well informed. And barely any snark at all.

Here however, is a hive of people spouting incorrect opinions as fact that they have read on social media.

Both I find entertaining for different reasons.

Mumsnet is far worse!

I got temporary banned from a particular sub today for being a bit rude. It’s heavily moderated…..