Reddit&#x27;s a neat idea, but I had to abandon it. Had just hit five years of daily participation on the site, too.<p>If we look past all the controversy and all the other reasons most people point at the site as a negative, it boils down to one thing in my mind:<p>Base cynicism.<p>There&#x27;s cynicism when someone else reposts something.<p>There&#x27;s cynicism over imaginary internet points.<p>There&#x27;s cynicism by, from, and to the moderators and site owners.<p>There&#x27;s cynicism every time something with a brand name gets mentioned (zOMG it&#x27;s an ad!)<p>There&#x27;s cynicism among communities.<p>It just goes on and on and on. Never-ending negativity. Everyone always assuming the worst of the other person (rather than trying to have an understanding discussion) and taking snarky potshots at them (and then hiding their comments by -1&#x27;s in a fit of pique, rather than any kind of thoughtful analysis of quality).<p>I&#x27;m quite happier (and not a little bit more productive) not participating anymore. Reddit is, IMO, the world&#x27;s greatest concentration of negative, irreverent, straight-up dickhead behavior in one convenient place.<p>(feh, word filter plugin went a little crazy there, sorry for the unreadable comment earlier)