I came to Reddit from Slashdot, like, a couple of months before the Digg exodus. It was cool to see it grow so quickly and become the hot new thing, but a lot of the more established users were quick to note the changes in culture. It probably took me those few months just to figure out how the UI worked. It was and is a website of mediocre design.
I always preferred Slashdot and its moderation system, but I’m far too much of a dilettante for its narrow range of conversation topics. I never cared for Digg. It felt too safe.
I know Eternal September brings problems but the large user base at Reddit made sure there was always fresh content and all kinds of weird subreddits. Too bad they went corporate.