Quality subreddits featuring positive content and/or longreads?

October 14, 2022 9:26 AM

I've allowed my Reddit feed to become filled with negative stuff by gradually subscribing to subreddits that highlight the worst in human behavior. (Why do I do this to myself?) I've unsubscribed from those that no longer bring me joy. But I'm here to ask you: Can you recommend quality subreddits full of positive vibes and/or longreads and/or interesting links and videos? Niche and obscure is fine (like /r/Mainstallation for nerdy Star Wars talk). Basically, I want my Reddit feed to look more like Metafilter and less like Reddit haha.

Aside from the fact that it focuses on negative stuff, /r/HobbyDrama is the sort of thing I'm after: nerdy deep dives and longreads.

Here are examples of subreddits that represent what I want:

/r/AskHistorians
/r/BestOfLegalAdvice
/r/CarolNotKaren
/r/DadsWhoDidNotWantPets
/r/DepthHub
/r/FoodForThought
/r/HobbyDrama
/r/HumansBeingBros
/r/MawInstallation
/r/TrueAskReddit
/r/victimlesspranks
/r/Wholesome

And here are subreddits that I've unsubscribed from due to their high levels of negative content:

/r/AssholeTax
/r/bullybackfire
/r/criticalblunder
/r/DontHelpJustFilm
/r/EntitledPeople
/r/ImTheMainCharacter
/r/InsaneParents
/r/JusticeNow (and /r/JusticePorn and /r/JusticeServed)
/r/NuclearRevenge
/r/ParentsAreFuckingDumb
/r/readanotherbook
/r/WeddingShaming

Basically, I'm looking to ditch subreddits that make fun of people and/or highlight the worst of human behavior. I want to replace them with subreddits that go beyond easy memes and TikTok shorts.

Any subject. Any viewpoint. Bonus points for promoting self (and world) improvement, longform content, and good discussions.

posted by jdroth to Computers & Internet (40 answers total)

My current favorite, a perfect curation of history, erudition, and dad jokes: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/
posted by missmobtown at 9:30 AM on October 14, 2022 [5 favorites]

/r/aww is reliably soft!
posted by humbug at 9:35 AM on October 14, 2022 [8 favorites]

r/BestOfRedditorUpdates
posted by jessica fletcher did it at 9:35 AM on October 14, 2022 [10 favorites]

You're already subscribed to most of what I would have suggested.

You might enjoy /r/blogsnark although I'm going back and forth between whether influencers as a whole resemble the worst in human behaviour. I don't think it's worse than hobbydrama though.

/r/interestingasfuck is sometimes interesting as fuck, sometimes only interesting to a certain demographic of 20 year old men. Not usually longreads though.
posted by quaking fajita at 9:36 AM on October 14, 2022

/r/electricians is my favorite subreddit. I’m not an electrician, but that place is full of good people showing off their beautiful wiring work. Also workplace safety advice, memes that are just barely comprehensible to me, and electrician inside jokes. Good stuff.
posted by mekily at 9:43 AM on October 14, 2022 [9 favorites]

I went through a similar purging process last year. Here are some of my favorites:
    /r/HumansBeingBros/
    /r/AnimalsBeingBros/
    /r/MadeMeSmile
    /r/MotivateMe
posted by davcoo at 9:48 AM on October 14, 2022 [7 favorites]

Approximately 50% of the posts on /r/tumblr will scratch your exact itch (or at least will give you a jumping off joint to go down some wikipedia hole).
posted by MiraK at 9:48 AM on October 14, 2022

/r/pixelart
/r/awwnverts
/r/weeviltime
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:09 AM on October 14, 2022

Hear me out: I subscribe to r/ThatLookedExpensive because I love the thrill of "Oh, no!!! Disaster!! Wait, I'm not responsible for it!!" The reliable thrill of "dodged a bullet today" is very energizing.

Similarly, the r/ATBGE is "Awful Taste But Great Execution" and it celebrates things that the poster wouldn't have done, but they can still admire the dedication & thoroughness of the creator. For example, "The Kinder Surprise Shitter" from yesterday.

The posts in r/CabinPorn are just pictures of lovely cabins, and it lets me daydream in little bites.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:14 AM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

I have NO idea how I ended up in this one, but r/SAR_Med_Chem/, "Structure Activity Relationships - The Backbone of Medicinal Chemistry". An example recent post title: "[20min read] Sometimes medications look like candy... - A look at Toxidromes, the list of symptoms that clue us in on the kind of overdose". I barely understand what I read, but I really appreciate the way it's written and sometimes do learn a thing.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:20 AM on October 14, 2022 [8 favorites]

I started playing Animal Crossing this past summer, and the subreddits are supportive, positive, and generous.

Do you have any niche interests? It's worth searching & checking out any subreddits.
posted by theora55 at 10:39 AM on October 14, 2022

r/upliftingnews
posted by saturdaymornings at 10:42 AM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

Just a heads up on r/BestofRedditorUpdates, it can have lots of uplifting stories but lately I've noticed a trend towards just "interesting stories that received an update" and some of those stories can get depressing and dark.
posted by Snuffman at 10:46 AM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

r/Pupliftingnews for the dog-specific variant (I don't read the comments for that sub though, so can't vouch for those)

Not sure it's quite what you're looking for but if you have the relevant interests, these subreddits are pretty informative and low on drama:

r/dogtraining
r/puppy101
r/sciencebasedparenting
/personalfinance

And a random fun one - r/doggydna has pictures of dogs and DNA tests showing their breed mixes. It's fun to guess what a mystery mix is.
posted by randomnity at 11:14 AM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

I spend a lot of time at r/daddit, because I'm a dad, but we regularly get non-dads posting to tell us that they love reading the sub because it's so positive and wholesome. Just a bunch of dads trying to be help each other be the best dads they can.
posted by Ragged Richard at 11:18 AM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

R/toolps. You know when your pet lays on their stomach with all their legs outstretched? That is called a “sploot”. r/toolps celebrates the “upside-down sploot”. Go see what I’m talking about and get an uplifting chuckle.
posted by pearlybob at 11:57 AM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

r/AskCulinary : All cooking, completely helpful and positive. I learn a lot here.
r/WhatIsThisThing : Play along like a trivia contest, or look at really interesting things and see interesting answers.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:27 PM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

Metaldetecting
posted by melodykramer at 12:56 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

/r/BlunderYears sounds like it would be negative on paper, but it's mostly people reminiscing about their childhoods. Recommend, depending on your taste for nostalgia.
posted by jy4m at 12:57 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

r/mycology is full of mushroom hunting nerds and has lots of love.
r/NonZeroDay is for people who are making big changes and post simple stuff like “I brushed my teeth today” and get tons of loving commiseration and encouragement.
r/animalsbeingderps
r/earthporn
r/cityporn
r/askscience
r/askhistorians
r/mademesmile
r/happycrowds
r/miniworlds
r/tropicalweather which is a well-moderated, knowledgeable, and mutually-supportive group.
posted by Silvery Fish at 1:00 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

I’ve found Admiral Cloudberg’s subreddit to be very interesting longreads. No, they’re not positive - he writes about aviation incidents and accidents, most of which resulted in at least some fatalities. But he does deep dives into what happened, why it happened, and what was learned from the event/what safety improvements were made, all while explaining everything clearly and treating the subjects with great respect. The comments sections are almost always worth reading, too.

The actual stories are links to Medium (or Imgur, if that’s your thing) - hope that’s not a dealbreaker - and there are discussions there and on Reddit.
posted by Rissa at 1:06 PM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

Thanks for asking this! My contributions:
Accidental Renaissance
Botanical Porn
DIY
Homestead
Visible Mending
posted by Eyelash at 1:26 PM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

I really love the Powerwashing sub. No longreads but very satisfying
posted by jebs at 1:49 PM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

r/hydrohomies is people being really positive about drinking water and showing off photos of particularly nice glasses of water. Sometimes they have lemon slices and/or ice.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:57 PM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. They're great.

@Rissa - Negativity isn't a dealbreaker in and of itself, especially in the context you describe. I'm looking to avoid negativity for its own sake: stuff like idiotsincars, fightporn, trumpcriticizestrump, etc. These are all interesting, no doubt, but they foster a "the world sucks" attitude that I don't like and drags me down. But stuff like aviation accidents, or gritty details of history, etc. are all fine. Negative, yes, but they're negative in a larger context. Does that make sense? (And I guess that's why I'll keep subscribing to /r/hobbydrama, which is one of my favorite subreddits. Be definition it covers negative stuff, but it does so in a longread format that teaches me a ton about things I never knew existed.)

Also, mad props to @Eyelash for recommending five quality subreddits, all of which I've never visited. (How is that possible?)
posted by jdroth at 3:18 PM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

r/WitchesVsPatriarchy is a very positive group. Also r/PenmanshipPorn for the most satisfying cursive swoops. They often refer to r/FountainPens as the friendliest place on the internet, but I confess I haven't subbed.
posted by unlapsing at 3:28 PM on October 14, 2022 [5 favorites]

Hope this list isn't too much - I try to filter for not being negative and for being at least mildly interesting (I know that is very subjective). Hopefully it will give one or two ideas.

ANIMALSBEINGBROS
ANIMALSBEINGDERPS
ASKSCIENCE
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
AWW
COZYPLACES
DATAISBEAUTIFUL
DECIDINGTOBEBETTER
DESIREPATHS
DOGS_GETTING_DOGS
EARTHPORN
GARDEN
GARDENING
GARDENINGUK
GARDENWILD
GETMOTIVATED
HIKING
IKEAHACKS
INTERIORDESIGN
IRELANDPICS
ITOOKAPICTURE
LEGO
LOTR
MADEMESMILE
MALELIVINGSPACE
MINDFULNESS
MOUNTAINEERING
NATUREISFUCKINGLIT
OLDSCHOOLCOOL
OUTDOORS
PHOTOGRAPHY
PICS
PRODUCTIVITY
RAREPUPPERS
ROOMPORN
SCRAMBLING
SELFCOMPASSION
SPACE
TOLKIENFANS
WALLPAPER
WETLANDERHUMOR
WOODWORKING
posted by Lucy_32 at 3:51 PM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

My current favorite is AmItheCloaca - a version of "Am I the Asshole" from the point of view of animals. And the comments are also from animals. It is often very silly.

A catharsis for the frustrated moral philosophercat in all of us, and a place to finally find out if you were wrong in a real-world argument that's been bothering you. Tell us about any non-violent animal-driven conflict you have experienced; give us both sides of the story, and find out if you're right, or you're the cloaca.

This is the sub to lay out an animal's actions and conflicts and get impartial judgement. Were you the cloaca in that situation or not?
posted by belladonna at 4:39 PM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

r/NewSkaters and r/OldSkaters are both pretty good. People trying stuff out and getting encouraged by others. r/MTB is pretty much the same but people really like to post action cam videos of them eating dirt which can be painful viewing at times.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:48 PM on October 14, 2022

/Old_Recipes and /VintageMenus are also neat if you like to think about what people used to eat
posted by belladonna at 5:06 PM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

r/obscuremedia is consistently one of the most interesting I subscribe to. Lost music videos, pilots for forgotten tv shows, rare live performances, that kind of thing
posted by mannequito at 5:44 PM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

InternetIsBeautiful is a subreddit for sharing awesome, usually minimal, and single-purpose websites and webtools.
posted by ReginaHart at 6:59 PM on October 14, 2022 [4 favorites]

I enjoy r/eatsandwiches which is just a lot of people posting pictures of delicious sandwiches and comments are pretty seriously dedicated to talking about how the sandwich looks delicious.
posted by rdnnyc at 8:06 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

I like explainlikeimfive for deep dives into random subjects. I also like unresolvedmysteries, although the subject matter is by nature depressing.

For pics, try earthporn, awwducational, and any of the million very specific animal subs. (Such as animalscrossingroads or curledfeetsies)
posted by elizabot at 9:00 AM on October 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

r/whatisthisthing sometimes comes up with really interesting things
posted by riddley at 10:14 PM on October 16, 2022

r/MadeMeSmile
posted by lunasol at 11:22 PM on October 19, 2022

/nextfuckinglevel is amazing, /oddlysatisfying is just as the name says, and I like /tonightsdinner. One that is funny but maybe no quite as positive is /therewasanattempt.
posted by blue shadows at 2:16 AM on October 23, 2022

Also /beamazed, /damnthatsinteresting, /interestingasfuck, /animalsbeinggeniuses, /todayilearned, /funnyanimals are all good.
posted by blue shadows at 2:27 AM on October 23, 2022

Contagious Laughter - random videos with people laughing that will probably make you laugh too
WhatIsThisThing - random objects, identified
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:35 PM on October 27, 2022

Mudlarking - finding cool old things along riverbanks
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:40 PM on October 27, 2022