It&#x27;s not, but it&#x27;s a comparison that helps clarify. I&#x27;ve been participating in online communities since 1994, I&#x27;ve seen the full range. I&#x27;ve watched, and participated in, epic flame wars on Usenet that went on for weeks. I&#x27;ve had people make death threats against me. I&#x27;ve seen legitimately mentally ill people spew all kinds of nonsense.<p>And in comparison to all of that I&#x27;d say reddit is worse. I like many things about reddit, it&#x27;s got plenty of good parts. But there are fundamental weaknesses in the design and administration of the site which mean that it&#x27;s difficult to avoid incredibly terrible interactions with assholes on a regular basis.