• ⁠Redditors have a groupthink: There is a consistent pattern of beliefs, whether ideological or cultural, that tend to be common across major subreddits. So when I’m saying “redditors,” I’m pointing out trends I see in the groupthink.
• ⁠Redditors love siege mentalities: They simultaneously crave affirmation from the masses for their beliefs and the feeling that they’re being wrongly persecuted by the masses for their beliefs. It’s the reason why “I’m probably gonna be downvoted for this, but…” comments are so popular, despite the opinion they express being neither controversial or brave. It’s also like how the admins are simultaneously crypto-communist SJW white knights and crypto-fascist alt-right disinfo shills; whatever ideology you are, the admins oppose it and are trying to silence you.
• ⁠Redditors love feeling smart: They always want to show off how they’re the smartest person in the room (or in the thread), and they love the feeling of having a special gnosis that the average person doesn’t have. They’re obsessed with calling people out and dropping some truth bombs to show how much smarter they are than everyone else. Even if it’s completely incorrect, anyone who makes a long-winded post saying “You’re wrong OP and here’s why” with bunch of links will be upvoted.
• ⁠Redditors jump to conclusions: This is especially common on news posts, where people base all their stances on an (often editorialized) title and rarely, if ever, bother to read the actual article. By the time someone cites the argument from the article, the most upvoted ones are probably completely unfounded.
• ⁠Redditors are cynical: Go to any news post, especially about politics, the environment, the economy, and the coronavirus pandemic, and people will bemoan how it is too late to do anything, the world is in a downward spiral, and some major disaster is lurking around every corner. There’s a general attitude that the more panicked or nihilistic you are, the more intelligence you appear.
• ⁠Redditors are contrarian: They like to view themselves as countercultural, above the petty influences of popular opinion, and choosing what they truly believe in. More often than not, they just end up clustering around a counter-mainstream, and they end up being like goths who shop solely at Hot Topic—all unique in the same way.
• ⁠Redditors are manichaean and dogmatic: There can be no neutral or nuanced stance on opinions on this site. Your side is God, the other side is the Devil. Everything can cleanly and neatly placed into one category or the other. Go onto r/freefolk and say “Season 8 was a dip in quality, but I still think Game of Thrones remained above-average television.” Any sign of contradiction with the groupthink, insufficient dedication, or acknowledgement of goodness on the other side is immediately reviled as secret sympathy for the other side.
• ⁠Redditors are pop culture conspiracy theorists: Building off the above point, something can’t just be good or bad, but there must be elaborate motives for doing so. Every piece of media has to have a hamfisted political agenda inside it, and if there isn’t one, people will dig around until they think they’ve found one. Game companies can’t just make products, they have to be made by either pure angels who love the fans or soulless corporate fat cats who want you to suffer. To go with r/freefolk again, they don’t believe that the finale was just poorly written. They believe that the showrunners intentionally sabotaged the ending so they could sign a deal with Disney to make a Star Wars trilogy, despite the timeline for that not making any sense at all.
• ⁠Redditors have always been at war with Eastasia: There’s a general sentiment that the zeitgeist at any given moment is how it always was or how it always will be. This is especially notable when it comes to opinions on TV shows, video games, and the like, where opinions change rapidly. How much has r/gaming gone back and forth between loving and hating studios like Bethesda or Ubisoft? How many r/prequelmemes posters shit on the sequel films while pretending like the prequels weren’t universally reviled for nearly two decades?
• ⁠Redditors fetishize consumerism: This applies to any hobby subreddit that centers around a consumer good (r/vinyl, r/gamecollecting, r/watches, etc.). Oftentimes, those who purchase the fanciest equipment are the most praised in the sub, and those who don’t (or can’t) are ridiculed as plebeians who aren’t dedicated enough.
• ⁠Redditors fetishize obscurity: This applies to any hobby subreddit that deals with things relating to personal taste or pop culture (music, literature, fictional lore, etc.). The ability to profess knowledge of the most obscure and esoteric thing possible is praised as being a superior member of the community.
• ⁠Redditors are not funny: Oftentimes, they believe that rote recitation of song lyrics, film/TV quotes, memes, and other bite-sized pop culture references are an adequate substitute for humor in any given scenario.