I think cesspool-ness is almost entirely dependent on community age and cohesion. The longer a service is around, and the more broad (less cohesive) its userba

I think cesspool-ness is almost entirely dependent on community age and cohesion. The longer a service is around, and the more broad (less cohesive) its userbase, the more likely it is garbage. Focused communities can last a long time. Broad communities flame out, particularly when user-interaction becomes the gauge of what's shown by default.