Comment Re:It's hard to draw an audience for laptop conten (Score 1) 26
It's not that reddit is completely useless, but I have found that since it doesn't generally take even the minimal effort of signing-up for a specific-purpose forum in order to start commenting, there's a lot of people suffering the low-knowledge stages of the Dunning-Kruger Effect weighing in with uninformed opinions on subjects that think they're contributing something meaningful. Because their account allows them access to virtually the whole site (as so few subforums are restricted and the nature of that restriction is all-or-nothing rather than read-only until approved to post) they feel comfortable and confident weighing-in even when they have nothing of value to add.
For technical forums elsewhere, where a forum might be dedicated to a particular subject, usually only those with an express interest will bother to sign up for an account in order to post. The majority of new accounts are people with questions to ask and they start out suitably abashed because they have a problem that's stumping them. Some enthusiasts or experts with real experience also sign up, and end up forming the early core of those providing good answers, and in time many of those who started out asking questions reach a point where they're skilled and experienced enough to provide answers.
But to maintain growth a site really wants as many users as it can get, so low-quality results are almost inevitable for a site to grow to the point that it seems self-sustaining. Many of the forums I've been on for niche topics are a labor of love for their owners rather than truly profitable.