@andre:
It's my mistake if it seemed like I was implying fanreddits don't have their place, but they're certainly not for me. I think my biggest point of contention is not that they exist and that they're popular, but that their growth in popularity coincides with the growth in casual, surface level engagement with media (which I have absolutely no problem with) over the more intensive and discussion based communities. There are lots of reasons and no one really to blame, I just think it's a shame. One Piece is one of the few things I would actually call myself a fan of, so I especially miss how bustling AP was back a decade ago, a. I might be viewing it with rose-tinted glasses, and b. I'm sure if I ever have kids my time to post and read posts here will lessen. I suspect we've lost lots of millenial members to life, and as a 29 year old, it's been catching up to me at a rapid pace.
Also, my big issue with the fanart on reddit is really the filtering. I wouldn't mind so much if the system for filtering flair was more robust and didn't make the experience of browsing reddit lesser. I understand that the nature (especially of popular one's) of reddit is the reason that art based submissions are so noticeable, but I think they could do more to make it more friendly for other people. I guess it doesn't help that Reddit has significant financial incentive to promote the least offensive content to the top. I don't have this problem in r/coffee, r/homebrewing, or r/history.
Oh no, I definitely didn't think you were implying anything bad. You just echoed a few thoughts I'd been having so I thought I'd put my two cents in. I definitely agree with the difference between reddit-style forums and older places like Arlong park. For most things, reddit is enough for me, but One Piece is one of the few hyperfixations where I'm in just a little too deep for that kind of thing. (Though there certainly are better moderated and more discussion-driven subreddits for other things I love.) As much as it sicks that reddit has drawn people away from older standalone forums like this one, I think there's still a lot to be said for how centralised it is, how you don't need to make a separate account for every little thing you want to discuss. It's convenient and streamlined, which definitely does matter to the younger generation, which just piles on with older fans having life get in the way, as you said.
Oh yeah, searching and filtering things in reddit is a nightmare, and the karma system's tendency to snowball can be a big detriment to the visibility any even slightly controversial opinion. I think it's also a big factor in that they're so limited in what they can pin and keep a megathread for, so every time there's a new announcement or a new bit of official media announced it becomes very wild west with everyone trying to get in their own individual post and comments section about it, and over the following weeks a steady trickle of "hey did you guys see…". There's no permanence to it so if you're on the pulse of a fanbase you're doomed to see the same news repeated again and again and again, and of course the deluge of reposts makes searching for something specific even harder. (although I've definitely chased the little dopamine hit of being the first to get a news post up and winning that karma, so I get the appeal of doing it)
You could do a lot worse than reddit and r/onepiece for discussion, but yeah, there's plenty of ways in which you could do at least a little bit better too.
awesome
