How I fixed Reddit

I’ve been on reddit.com since 2008 (deleted my first account because I was going to “quit reddit” over some bullshit in 2012) and have seen this site slowly change over time and it has become unbearable.

I am aware this sounds like a “ReDdIt SuCkS yOu GuIsE!” circlejerk, but I’m not just complaining: I’ve found a fix.

The story

At first (around 2008) I basically tried to absorb as many subreddits as I could as there was so much to learn from others. Over time, I had over 300 subs that I was following, but I tended to only visit a handful of subs, which meant that all the tiny subs I was following never showed up on my personalized frontpage, so I ended up culling 250 of them so I could better focus on the subs that really interested me. When I started school I had to cull even more subs because, as we all know, reddit is a huge time-waster, so I was left with a subreddit or 10, that I really liked. During this time I started using /r/popular as a SFW alternative to /r/all, because I didn’t want to be the guy that was watching porn at school. Turns out you can filter up to 100 subreddits on /r/all, but /r/popular does not provide this functionality.

The fix

Cue Reddit Enhancement Suite. It has had a filter option for years, but I never noticed it or when I did I though “why would anyone filter anything?" But now that I’m getting sick of reddit’s bullshit this filter option is saving my mental health.

Things I filter

Types

I filter a sub if the sub is targeting bullshit that is going to cause bullshit drama, i.e. /r/politics having a shitfit over something inconsequential, because that all they do. If a sub does not target bullshit, but a user has posted bullshit (e.g. Ivanka Trump holding some object on /r/photoshopbattles) I just filter the user.

Categories:

political bullshit, usually the American variety, but that’s only because the USA is a giant focal point of this site. Examples: ABoringDystopia, Bad_Cop_No_Donut, donaldtrump, InfowarriorRides, SelfAwarewolves, SandersForPresident, TopMindsOfReddit, LeopardsAteMyFace

LGBT. A person’s sexuality is simply not interesting about a person. I don’t hate you, I just think your subs are uninteresting. Examples: lgbt, me_irlgbt, lgballt, gay_irl, gaybros, bi_irl, bisexual

Sports. I just don’t care about sports in general. Examples: nba, formula1, golf, baseball, reddevils

Other bullshit, subs that have a negative subject in general. Example: antiMLM, Chonkers, awfuleverything, cringe, gatekeeping, im14andthisisdeep, justneckbeardthings, NoahGetTheBoat, notliketheothergirls, peopleofwalmart, ProRevenge

Note: This sadly only works on desktop, but since that’s where I spend most of my Reddit days it works for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Closing words

I know that my categories can be construed as a fragile white redditor not being able to handle a widdle bit of USA powitics, but I’ve been confronted by this shit for more than a decade and nothing changes. Fuck, I’ve seen pictures of people basically making the same calls for improvement in the 1930s. The USA isn’t going to change jack shit. Since nothing will be changed, why should I be continuously be confronted with it?

Constantly being confronted with things I can not change (mostly because I’m Dutch, so I basically have 0 political power in the USA) will only fuck up my mind, and for what? Because of some subreddit that may shame my inaction (which I’ve blocked anyway, so I won’t see it anyway)? Fuck no.

PS: I’m aware that some people may use the subs I named to subscribe to them. More power to you! I unironically hope you’ll enjoy those subreddits; I simply didn’t.