I don't think the author has discovered user generated content before.

Which is a real shame, all things considered. I feel like the author is latching onto some of the most extreme examples of the worst Reddit's ever had to offer and then holding them up as if that's all the site ever was and ever will be. I'm about as far from a Reddit fanboy as you'll get, these days, but this still strikes me as profoundly unfair to the site as a whole and the many great communities you can find there.

Even the chans aren't as much of a cesspit as people say, imho, if you know which boards to avoid.