If you controlled Reddit, what would you ban?
User T0pTomato posed that question in a thread, where it earned more than 12,000 responses.
Users vented all the things that annoyed them, from overused comments ("faith in humanity restored!") to celebrity worship (we get it, you love Bill Murray).
According to the site's top comments, here are 10 things that should be banned from Reddit, effective immediately.
[seealso slug="reddit-lingo-guide"]
1. Sob stories
Some stories are also a little too sad. Some suspect users make up tales to get attention.
2. Speaking when not spoken to
If someone on Reddit asks to speak to an astronaut, they want to speak to an astronaut, not just someone who's seen a photo of outer space. Some users act like (wannabe) know-it-alls, opining on subjects without firsthand knowledge.
3. Celeb worship/hatred
4. Ask Reddit (about this really niche topic)
One of the site's features is "Ask Reddit," where users can discuss random prompts. However, some people ask uber-specific questions hardly anyone knows/cares about. What's worse is when Redditors who don't know anything (see problem No. 2) try to chime in. Redditor OmarBromarMkVII posted an example:
"Irish Left-handed hookers of Reddit, what's your craziest story from work?"
"Not me, but my friend's teacher knew a guy who..."
5. *Cringe*
The term has been manipulated to death, thanks to threads like r/cringepics and human nature's proclivity for overusing words (see: "literally," "seriously," "epic," etc.).
6. Overexcited cake days
7. "Faith in humanity restored!"
Redditors are suckers for a happy story showcasing the good in society, which prompts them to exclaim their "faith in humanity" has been restored. But the phrase loses appeal when applied to every little good deed.
"I remember seeing a post where a guy gave an old lady an umbrella. Ok, that was nice of him, but did that man seriously restore the hopeless darkness of despair that plagues turmoil souls. No, so shut the f*ck up," writes Redditor facadesintheday.
The same thing goes for overused comments like "this," "that escalated quickly" and "this is why we can't have nice things."
TL;DR: People get overly excited about little things.
8. The same taste in books
The recurrences also happen with movies and music, which Reddit user FearLoathingHolland explained in the thread:
"The reason these movies and songs etc. keep returning so much has to do with how the voting system works. Everybody knows "Hurt" or Shawshank Redemption, and thus these will receive more upvotes as a larger part of the people know what you're talking about. This makes that these generally known and liked movies/songs/whatevers will appear more often."
TL;DR: Too many people like 1984.
9. Mob mentality
When you bring anonymous strangers together on the Internet, things can get nasty, fast. One person voices an opinion on a post and a hive of likeminded folks jumps on the bandwagon, upvoting or downvoting a post without question.
10. Reddit
"Everything.. Seriously, f*ck this place. Been here two + years and i still browse like 2 hours a day somehow. It's like fucking hotel california in here. I CAN NEVER LEAVE."
BONUS: The Beginner's Guide to Reddit [VIDEO]