Despite how off-putting its name might seem, the Thanks, I Hate It subreddit has been around since 2018 and amassed an impressive 1.7 million members. The community receives a wide variety of content, from gross food pairings to cringey tattoos, but one thing is clear: members will never run out of images to share.
To learn more about this community, we got in touch with one of the moderators on Reddit, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. They noted that none of the current mods have been around since the group was formed, but they believe that the intent of this subreddit was "to show those things that are insignificant but can really bother someone in an annoying way."
"For example, a new home is built, and everything is symmetrical, except there is a random extra window somewhere that throws off the symmetry, or something you see that mildly disturbs you, it gives you that weird tingle up your spine with a scrunched face when you see it," the moderator shared. "While the 'hate' aspect is mainly hyperbolic, nowadays I think that intent has been blurred a bit and many people just post things they don't like that don't quite illicit that same feeling as the intent."
We also asked the moderator how they would describe the content that's shared in Thanks, I Hate It.
"I think [it] varies, different people interpret the meaning of the sub differently," they noted. "While I don't think a lot of stuff fits with the original meaning, the sub is mostly meant to be led by the users for the most part, with mods just having a guiding hand, so things don't get out of control."
"One of the key things is for people to be sharing things they actually experience, not just something they saw on the internet somewhere and screen shot, or a meme someone shared somewhere else," the mod added.
So what are the members of this subreddit like? "For the most part, they are chill. It's a sharing website, it's not really something anyone should be taking too seriously, especially a sub like this one," the moderator told Bored Panda.
However, they noted that they do need to do a considerable amount of moderating because many people ignore the community's rules. "There are a lot of posts in a sub with this many users, and we are volunteers who have real lives going on outside of reddit, so it can be hard to make sure everything runs totally smooth," they continued. "But we get a good amount of help from regular users who flag things that are super out of line with the rules either in content, or because they know it's been posted before, so that helps with a lot of things."
"We have rules that people need to follow, and when they are clearly not followed, then we will remove the posts," the moderator says. "We do have some limits on stuff that is allowed to be posted, mostly to keep the sub civil with good quality posts over quantity of posts."
"We don't want people posting things just for shock value, so anything super NSFW, or gross for the sake of being gross, or anything that is just going to be controversial like politics or religion," they continued. "If you want to argue about those things because of a different of opinion, go to a sub meant for that because it's not here. This is meant to be light hearted and funny; anger and actual hate have no place here."
Finally, the moderator shared a message for the group's members. "Thanks to our users for their help and for taking part in the sub, but also, for the few users who get bent out of shape for their posts being taken down, it's not personal," they noted. "We don't have a vendetta against you, we aren't on some power trip, and Reddit karma is meaningless in the real world."
Many of the images you’ll find on this are like train wrecks. You know that they’re terrible, but you just can’t look away. And if you’re wondering why these images are so captivating, while simultaneously being upsetting, just remember how many people love watching trashy reality TV, eating McDonald’s or listening to bands like Journey. We know it’s bad, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun!
I personally am a huge fan of reality television. I grew up watching The Bachelor and every variation of The Real Housewives with my mother, and I still can’t help but enjoy the drama today (even though I’m well aware of how produced it all is). So why are we drawn to things that we love to hate?
According to Verywell Mind, many of us do find joy in hate-watching content. And one of the common reasons for this is because we love talking about it! Hate-watching Love is Blind with your best friends is a blast because you all get to discuss which contestants are your favorites and who’s there “for the right reasons.” This can bring us closer to our friends and allow us to bond over who we all despise.
Another reason why you might derive pleasure from hate-watching content is because it makes you feel better about yourself. Even if you’re single and haven’t gone on a date in months, you might feel great about your situation after watching hopeless romantics make complete fools of themselves on national television. Or better yet, you might feel validated in your choice to stop dating for a while after seeing multiple unfaithful men get dragged on TV.
We all love to believe that we would never behave like the contestants we’re watching or that we would know exactly what to do in their position. And it is easy to think that from the comfort of your own couch with a mouthful of popcorn!
Sometimes we even hate-watch content to feel nostalgic. Perhaps you got hooked on the first season of The Bachelor over 20 years ago, and now, you just can’t stop watching because it’s tradition! This is the same reason why we watch terrible remakes of our favorite shows and films, even though we know they’ll never live up to the originals. Nostalgia is a very powerful tool.
You might also find yourself hate-watching, or hate-scrolling, because you have a morbid curiosity. Whether you want to see TikTok videos about a lifestyle that’s completely different from your own or YouTube vlogs about people who you consider to be hot messes, it can be hard to look away. You may have a secret desire to know what their lives are really like, or you might be watching waiting for their downfall. Either way, they’re getting views, and you’re satisfying your desire to hate-watch. It’s a win-win!
However, it’s important to set some boundaries when you’re hate-watching content or hate-scrolling through social media. At the end of the day, the content you consume does have an impact on you, whether you like it or not. If you’re constantly looking for rage bait or images that will infuriate you, you might find yourself developing a habit of being negative. Plus, you might become judgmental towards people and things you encounter in real life too.
