I keep wondering why the Internet got so damn stupid.
Part of it is deliberate enshittification and bots. That part isn’t even up for debate.
Part of it is just numbers. More people online means more people talking, which means a bigger pile of stupid gets dumped into the street.
But I think the real poison is Internet points.
Every like, every upvote, every little number beside your name becomes a marker of status. And if you want more status, you have to appeal to more people.So people keep widening the net, sanding off the edges, making everything easy to swallow.
And eventually you start appealing to the stupid.
I’ve spent 10 years experimenting with my own Reddit community, and I think there are some pretty simple ways to beat this stuff back:
1. **Disallow memes.** They’re low effort by definition, and low effort attracts stupidity like flies.
2. **Remove short comments.** If somebody can’t scrape together 20 characters, there’s a pretty good chance they haven’t scraped together much of a thought either.
3. **Demand attribution.** Either you made the thing or you credit whoever did. If somebody throws out information with no source at all, get rid of it.
4. **Retire repetitive posts.** If the same damn subject keeps getting dragged back onto the floor, eventually you ban new threads about it. We heard you. Move on.
5. **Require topical flair.** It’s a tiny barrier, but even a tiny barrier makes people stop for 2 seconds and THINK. If somebody can’t even apply the right flair, remove the post. They obviously didn’t bother reading the rules before barging through the door.
6. **Disallow gatekeeping.** Moderators and admins enforce the rules. Everybody else can knock it off with deciding who belongs, what counts, and what other people are allowed to enjoy.
I’ve used these rules on r/Sizz, and I think they’re a big reason the place has kept its quality since 2017 instead of slowly turning into sludge.
More importantly, they’ve been extremely good at filtering out the stupid.
If I launch nodebb.social, I’ll probably run it the same way.
And it's not because I want the place wrapped in velvet ropes, but because sometimes you need a damn screen door.
Chris Trottier
npub1e9…xmsz2
2026-09-19 17:22:36 UTC
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2026-09-19 17:22:36 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "I keep wondering why the Internet got so damn stupid.\n\nPart of it is deliberate enshittification and bots. That part isn’t even up for debate.\n\nPart of it is just numbers. More people online means more people talking, which means a bigger pile of stupid gets dumped into the street.\n\nBut I think the real poison is Internet points.\n\nEvery like, every upvote, every little number beside your name becomes a marker of status. And if you want more status, you have to appeal to more people.So people keep widening the net, sanding off the edges, making everything easy to swallow.\n\nAnd eventually you start appealing to the stupid.\n\nI’ve spent 10 years experimenting with my own Reddit community, and I think there are some pretty simple ways to beat this stuff back:\n\n1. **Disallow memes.** They’re low effort by definition, and low effort attracts stupidity like flies.\n\n2. **Remove short comments.** If somebody can’t scrape together 20 characters, there’s a pretty good chance they haven’t scraped together much of a thought either.\n\n3. **Demand attribution.** Either you made the thing or you credit whoever did. If somebody throws out information with no source at all, get rid of it.\n\n4. **Retire repetitive posts.** If the same damn subject keeps getting dragged back onto the floor, eventually you ban new threads about it. We heard you. Move on.\n\n5. **Require topical flair.** It’s a tiny barrier, but even a tiny barrier makes people stop for 2 seconds and THINK. If somebody can’t even apply the right flair, remove the post. They obviously didn’t bother reading the rules before barging through the door.\n\n6. **Disallow gatekeeping.** Moderators and admins enforce the rules. Everybody else can knock it off with deciding who belongs, what counts, and what other people are allowed to enjoy.\n\nI’ve used these rules on r/Sizz, and I think they’re a big reason the place has kept its quality since 2017 instead of slowly turning into sludge.\n\nMore importantly, they’ve been extremely good at filtering out the stupid.\n\nIf I launch nodebb.social, I’ll probably run it the same way.\n\nAnd it's not because I want the place wrapped in velvet ropes, but because sometimes you need a damn screen door.",
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