I dunno having just 5% lost making a huge impact is kinda surprising.
Losing just 5% of your body weight in middle age can reduce inflammation, lower the risk of stroke and make your heart as healthy as if you had never gained weight, research suggests.
Like yeah no shit lose weight = healthy but I think the 5% marker is the more useful tidbit.
I mean astroturfing reddit was never new. It’s why /r/HailCorporate existed and tools tried to disenfranchise that sub so much.
It’s just 10 times worse because of the phenomenon you described. It also doesn’t help that reddit and walled garden social media killed traditional forums so you don’t have those to index anymore either. You either have SEO garbage sites trying to bombard you with ads and referral links, links to a walled garden you can’t actually see, or reddit posts.
It’s a cycle that’s bound to repeat, especially with AI. Because that’s how MBAs and snake oil salesmen get money, by ruining communal spaces.
I dunno if you told me “Hey if you’re 250 lbs and you lose 12.5 lbs your health will improve drastically” I’d say that’s pretty eye opening.
Different strokes for different folks though.