Reddit got too mainstream for its own good. The company desperately wants to become the new social media (think Facebook or Twitter), but many users are standing in the way, making the change from a discussion website to a social media website slow. What made me and many others use Reddit in the first place is that it didn't really matter who you are and what's your political and religious background, the only thing that mattered is what you are saying in that particular thread in a particular subreddit. Now politics and controversies can be seen in all subreddits, people are using the platform just to post selfies of themselves, and with the addition of the "profile" feature, there is an insentive to make a name for yourself there.
So yeah, while a lot of people, including me, hate the changes, it is obviously better for the business, as it attracts a wider range of users. But still, I'm starting to use Reddit less and less, and relying on RSS and HN to get my daily dose of tech news and discussions.
Do you know of any federated/distributed alternatives to reddit? Although, maybe the argument is we don't actually need a social media platform at all just RSS.
https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy
Littr seems to be federated too:
That's about it for federated Reddit alternatives, at least that I can find. And I don't think the federated aspect has caught on yet for either.