I started using reddit in 2009 and can agree that the quality was always lacking. The posts that made it to the top were the ones that were the lowest effort to

I started using reddit in 2009 and can agree that the quality was always lacking. The posts that made it to the top were the ones that were the lowest effort to consume which quickly get repetitive and boring. The comments were often equally low effort with memes and weak jokes rising to the top. This was especially infuriating in places like /r/askreddit where the only chance of seeing replies that weren't clear fabrications or jokes was to specifically ask for serious replies. There were really only 2 ways for a subreddit to be good. It either had to be small and relatively close-knit or it had to have rules against low effort content and solid moderation enforcing those rules. But since communities will naturally grow as people find them and because people hate when moderators remove their posts, Reddit ended up exactly where it was destined to.