We can take a look at the comment count on major subreddits over time. Using the top 5 most commented listed on Subreddit Stats, and then using Social Rise to see comments per day (go down to "Graph of" and click "comments").

All except Starfield show comments cratering at the beginning of July, and they're not coming back. Obviously, Starfield is a special case given the release of the game. AITAH was also just starting to pick up and then had its jugular cut out. Across the board, there looks to be a 3 or 4 times reduction in comment rates.

Now, perhaps the site is still OK among the more niche subreddits. That'd take a lot longer to analyze. But it's clear the big traffic drivers are not pulling people in anymore.

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

While I overall agree this seems to be the case at first glance, I do notice that august there’s a huge drop that correlates with school starting up again. Probably need to compare to previous summers.

Edit: looks like it's still pretty huge even accounting for that

[–] frezik@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The graphs there go back to 2018. There aren't drops anywhere close to what we're seeing.

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Good to know, i was having trouble on mobile with it. Thanks!

I'm glad I left that site. They just view us all as little addicts and have lost any semblance of caring about what made reddit work in the first place.