Snark subreddits
[8] A snark subreddit for influencer Trisha Paytas, r/Trishyland, was created in October 2021, soon after her exit from her collaborative podcast with Ethan Klein, Frenemies.
Posts often revolve around the family's fundamentalist Baptist beliefs, their promotion of purity culture, and members' negative experiences growing up or interacting with Christian fundamentalism.
In April 2024, members from the subreddit posited that the Lotts' then-youngest son, Boone, was suffering from jaundice, lethargy, and severe sunburn and contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families about their concerns.
[16] For The Guardian, Katy Kelleher wrote that, despite occasional commentary on snark subreddits about "the expectations that are placed upon women living in 21st-century America", "snarkers" are typically "just mean".
[7] Emily Courter of Business Insider wrote that users of r/Blogsnark sometimes expressed admiration for influencers, but that the subjects of its posts were "often heavily criticized and arguably even trolled, which leads to concerns that these spaces have gone too far".
[5] Business Insider also faced online controversy in late 2023 for posting a story about the underwear brand Parade in a snark subreddit from their Reddit account.
Molly McAleer, a cofounder of HelloGiggles, stated that snark subreddits about female influencers were "less about accountability and more about bullying, often over their target's appearance".
[9] Annie Rauwerda wrote for Input that, because "gossip triggers the brain’s reward circuitry", there could be "positive, pro-social outcomes of shared snark", but that it had the potential to "go too far".
[6] Alex Sujong Laughlin of Defector wrote that snark subreddits were "a newer expression of a basic fan impulse" which revolves around the belief that "influencers don't deserve the fame, money, or opportunities they have" rather than "a quirk of latter-day celebrity".
[18] Sophie Hayssen of Mother Jones wrote that subreddits like r/FundieSnarkUncensored could "play a key role in helping [ex-fundamentalists] reexamine their past beliefs", but that they could sometimes "go too far, moving from critique to bullying".
