At first it was all about presenting data in an original looking way. In the end it was about pushing political ideas in your throat using a plain bar graph. It was not about sharing something interesting you found but about taking advantage of a captive audience.
I have a different perspective because I actually became active on Reddit for a particular lapidary marketplace - not r/gemstones. but I saw r/gemstones go from a sub extolling the science and beauty of gemstones to a marketplace full of shady dealers trying to disguise their hawking of badly cut stones with sketchy origins. posts that often had to be removed by the mods when the OP wouldn’t take no for an answer.