At first it was all about presenting data in an original looking way. In the end it was about pushing political ideas in your throat using a plain bar graph. It was not about sharing something interesting you found but about taking advantage of a captive audience.
My favourite subreddit used to be /r/mildlyinteresting, then came /r/interestingasfuck and /r/damnthatsinteresting and I honestly can’t tell the difference between them any more.
Each has become a testbench to make karma in the other two.