Claims Reddit is dead, then proceeds to say Reddit is not actually dead, and admits they are just looking for attention. That's so Reddit!

The Reddit of a decade ago is long dead. As is the Reddit of 5 years ago. As is the Reddit of a couple years ago.

Reddit has always been ever changing. The users change. The popular topics change. The drama changes. The rules change. The inside jokes change. The discourse changes. The site itself changes.

If I were throwing out random poorly supported theories that make sense to me (and maybe only me): I bet the site is doing fine, even by real metrics. It's just that the demographics have shifted, leaving "older" accounts feeling a bit out of place.

While I'm confident that bots and AI are pumping the numbers, my assumption is that Reddit is now focusing on new/different markets with potential for lots of growth, like users in regions outside of "The Western World". For example, the past few times I've gone over and looked, the front page is full of posts from subs catering to people in India. Even in less regional subs, if you look at comments and submissions, it's clear that more and more users are from places like Southeast Asia, China, India, etc.

So, when the topics and humor and discourse and design and everything else start veering towards a new demographic, and particularly when it's a demographic that you're not part of and have limited familiarity with, I totally understand why it feels like the place is dying to someone especially if they are from USA, Canada, and places like that.