I don't know if there is something with redditors or the internet itself, but early on in this I got the feeling that the text was trying to entertain me rather than asking a real question.
Maybe the karma points subconsciously incentives people to write profusely detailed situations before hit Send. Almost impossible to believe.
There are forums outside of reddit almost dedicated to do exactly that (post fake stories on reddit). Honestly, the posts (not this one, I think this is actually real) are sometimes so outlandish and "baity", yet reddit almost always fall for it. There's this bizarre pattern of always suggesting divorce, calling the cops or other very... "reddit" advice that comes off as unadjusted.
And while the posts might be fake, the disturbing thing is that the comments/advices usually are not.
As a userbase increases, the lowest common denominator falls.
I don't have any estimates on the rates of change, but consider how huge Reddit and some of the default subs are, and how half of those people are below-average intelligence(Carlin quote?).
I'm not at all surprised to see dumb shit on big subs, or to see people lying on the internet for imaginary points. I just moderate my expectations based on where I happen to be at a given time.
Reddit's is kind of infamous for posts from people in insane relationships. (There's even a rumor that Grimes posted there while dating Elon, but that's unconfirmed so I won't link it here.)
There's a ton of fake stories posted to reddit. Some of them are creative writing projects. Others are pretty clearly "push-polling" certain political/social themes to generate outrage. The bad ones are pretty obvious, yet most of the comments slurp them up. Most people just aren't very critical of the things that they read.
it's more than subconscious. It happens fairly often that people on Reddit fabricate stories for karma. Sometimes it's because it's their job, i.e. farms that generate accounts with a large amount of karma with the purpose of selling them
I think about this too. It's got a conflict ("he's doing something I don't want him to do"), it's weird enough to be eye catching but not weird enough to be unbelievable, serious enough to warrant concern but not so serious that it isn't funny to read and think about, and comes with an explicit invitation to engage. It's got relatable themes (loneliness, male hobby obsession, finding fulfillment outside the drudgery of work) and has an easy entrypoint for engagement.
I'm not saying this is fake, especially since it wouldn't really matter either way, but it's interesting to think about. I remember reading something about people who fake advice column letters. There's a real art to the best ones.
Maybe the karma points subconsciously incentives people to write profusely detailed situations before hit Send. Almost impossible to believe.