If that's true, then why do all the subreddits feel dead? Everything but the big default subreddits will have the same set of posts on their home page for weeks

If that's true, then why do all the subreddits feel dead? Everything but the big default subreddits will have the same set of posts on their home page for weeks, and the big ones seem filled with bot spam and manipulation. I'm going to consider the possibility that these numbers are advertising fraud, I won't levy an accusation but it certainly seems that way to me.