> the top comments are invariably hilarious,

Sadly that is all that reddit is, now. Have a serious question? Expect multiple top replies to be some sort of [un]funny joke answer.

It's a wasteland and devalues the platform when everyone competes for Internet Points.

/r/aviation is just one example of being full of this crap.

Oddly enough, I don't see it as much in gaming subreddits, even the more generic ones.