LogFAQs > #980359865

Reddit heavily rewards lowest common denominator opinions and thoughts. You typically wont get a lot of upvotes for saying something new or challenging because that doesn't make the upvoter feel smart. That's why the things that get upvotes are things that reinforce ingroup identity, recycled puns, pop culture references, and "the most well known factoid about x"

Like on the Presidents subreddit, the thing that gets upvotes is not discussion of some underpublicized atrocity they committed or some program they advocated that's had underrated positive effects throughout history. It's "Teddy Roosevelt was badass, did you know he got shot during a speech and kept talking!"

It's "I recognize that" culture made into a website.