>The community gets to decide what’s popular This is false. The piece of the machine that really decides is reddit's algorithm and how people consume content.

>The community gets to decide what’s popular This is false. The piece of the machine that really decides is reddit's algorithm and how people consume content. It also doesn't take into account how communities can drastically change in an instant if a post gets brigaded. Suddenly it's not "your community" that's voting and deciding. What happens is the most easily digestible content that appeals to the most people gets upvoted the most. Saying "the community decides" is at best naive.