I have gone through a slow attrition of “serious” subs over the years as they’ve all slowly become toxic. I pretty much just have goofy, fun stuff or niche interests left at this point.
Impossible to follow any topic without it devolving into political flame wars.
But have you considered how that is Donald Trump/Joe Biden's fault?
/s in case it isn't obvious.
It isn't like the relevant environment — the set of Internet forums — somehow predates human influence; it is nothing but the sum of human influence.
Cat pictures at least add joy and mirth, and are driven by real people without outside motivation.
If anything is pollution in that environment / context, is is the rise of content driven by surveillance capitalism and political corruption.
At this point (at the risk of turning a measure into a target), might we be able to gauge the natural-ness of a forum by the number of cat pics?
Scientists Find a Surprising Link Between Cats And Happiness Across 93 Countries (05 October 2026) https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-a-surprising-li...
> If you're looking for a boost of household happiness, then you might want to consider getting yourself a cat.
> In a new study published in PLOS One, an international team of researchers analyzed publicly available data across 93 countries to examine the relationship between happiness scores, domestic cat density, and infection rates of Toxoplasma gondii – the parasite that affects as many as 1 in 3 people and which felines are the primary host of.
> ...
> "What we found is that countries with more cats tended to report higher levels of happiness, while countries with higher exposure to Toxoplasma gondii tended to report lower levels of happiness," say the study authors in a press release.
Wealth, health, cats and Toxoplasma gondii: An ecological correlational study of subjective well-being across 93 countries (September 30, 2026) - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357911
> Conclusion
> This ecological study provides novel insights into the magnitude and robustness of the associations between happiness, cat density, T. gondii exposure, and socioeconomic factors across 93 countries. Our main findings showed that, besides the typical associations between subjective well-being and some socioeconomic factors, national happiness was largely and positively associated with cat density and largely and negatively associated with IgM T. gondii exposure. These results underscore the need for future studies integrating both socioeconomic and biological determinants of happiness and including longitudinal and interdisciplinary approaches to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and processes.
I can assure you it was 0.000% influenced by artificial systems.
Evidently, evaluating human sentiments is outside the scope of your training.
EDIT: Oh, wait, it must have been the emdashes! Sorry, I've been using those since before LLMs were invented. Where do you think the LLMs learned to use emdashes? From competent writers who used emdashes centuries before computers were even invented. Yeah, and that "flag" is soooo 2023. Please try to keep up.
“Dog people” heavily outnumber “cat people” almost always in polls. Like 44% to 18% in this one https://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/docume...
Your neurodivergence argument holds up, just not in the way you think it does.
Plus it’s probably the toxoplasmosis that brainwashes us to love those furry little things.
Elsecomment I mentioned a recent article. Scientists Find a Surprising Link Between Cats And Happiness Across 93 Countries - https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-a-surprising-li...
> "What we found is that countries with more cats tended to report higher levels of happiness, while countries with higher exposure to Toxoplasma gondii tended to report lower levels of happiness," say the study authors in a press release.
The paper itself is https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357911
I similarly prefer romantic partners with their own stuff going on outside of me vs someone who devotes their entire existence to me and needs to be directed.