I disagree. There's no doubt, however, that a static reddit experience (e.g. one where you don't change your usage patterns over the years) will leave you bumme

I disagree. There's no doubt, however, that a static reddit experience (e.g. one where you don't change your usage patterns over the years) will leave you bummed, as you've been. If you continue to find the interesting subreddits -- and they're out there -- and cut the crap, you'll be fine! There as subreddits of essentially the same quality as HackerNews, for example, for many other subjects. Perhaps some subject areas are more lacking than others. On a non-subject basis, but simply for in-depth interesting reading, like reddit was back in the day, I recommend these subreddits: - r/truereddit - r/truetruereddit - r/foodforthought There's no doubt people are trying hard to keep things from getting worse (hence creating truetrue above on top of true). But if you remain part of the community I think you'll be surprised what an amazing ecosystems of subreddits have been created.