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.
r/MadeMeSmile devolved into constant reposts and increasing animal abuse. The number of times I would have to report posts for unsafe shit or animal cruelty was really getting to me to me at the end there.
It was by no means the only sub that went in that direction. As others have pointed out, all of Reddit was going down the crapper but that sub for me epitomised how shit Reddit became - repost bots, comment bots, karma farming, fake content that was dangerous or abusive… it had it all.