Killing community

The author argues that social media run on a venture capital growth model inevitably degrades online communities, using a village-versus-train-station analogy. Villages can absorb a slow trickle or brief influx of strangers, but sustained large growth leaves everyone a stranger, replacing shared values with laws and tribalism. The essay says Reddit would be better for communities if it stopped growing or shrank a bit, though the author notes that growth is what its business model requires.