First it was Facebook, then Twitter. Is Reddit about to become rubbish too? | Hussein Kesvani

Reddit's IPO is worrying for users - big money has a nasty habit of ruining our favourite sites

Like many people who were laid off and house-bound during the Covid lockdowns, I spent an unfathomable amount of time learning an arcane skill that in no way would bolster my CV. Bookbinding was a hobby many of my friends and family were surprised I'd taken up - I wasn't particularly skilled with my hands, and until then my life had largely revolved around technology and the internet.

I spent hours learning complicated stitching techniques, the chemical composition of adhesives, and how to determine by touch where paper was made. All of my learning took place on a subreddit - a kind of bulletin board or forum on the website Reddit - called r/bookbinding, where a small online community of bookbinders would offer tips and advice on projects I was working on, completely free of charge. In my mind, it was as good as a pricey art school, providing a supportive, enthusiastic community that allowed me to learn the skill at my own pace - and without going bankrupt in the process.

Places like r/bookbinding are increasingly rare in the age of platform-based social media driven by clickbait, algorithmic recommendations and invasive advertising designed to keep us scrolling for ever. The internet used to be full of special-interest forums populated by anonymous users sustaining a niche community, but most have either shut down or are rarely used. It is on Reddit, which started life in 2005 as a link-sharing messaging board, where the last remnants of the forum culture of the old internet remain. But, as it prepares to make its stock market debut this week, opening itself up to corporate investment and further venture capital, such communities are at risk of going extinct entirely.

Hussein Kesvani is a journalist who writes on digital culture and politics