It’s hard to put my finger on the exact problems but it feels worse than the typical decline of large subs.
This thread posted today in response to the protest shows a lot of what I mean: https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/14cbtjv/who_here_is_in_favor_of_just_replacing_these_shit/
Mob mentality, selfishness, scapegoating, lack of critical thinking… It’s just so toxic compared to where it was even a year ago.
I’m excited at the prospect of building a more positive, welcoming place here to discuss the NBA.
The mods are largely to blame for what is happening to that place right now. If they stuck to the spirit of the protest by boycotting Reddit while it was closed, then it would only be a little toxic.
But nope, they had to create GDTs and post on other open subs. That put their credibility and sincerity under scrutiny, and the entire blackout pointless. Nobody’s buying their story that they weren’t threatened - everyone’s going to think that was the case and they’re selfish cowards. Any attempt to now close threads for being off topic would come off as them silencing backlash.
MMA was the way to try to do it, since they actually attempted to provide an alternative site for discussion to coincide with the blackout. NBA had absolutely no credibility by not adhering to their own call for action.