started this sub 12 years ago, and it was relatively small for the first few years. 9 years ago Reddit gave us the option to be a default subreddit that all new users were automatically subscribed to. These days there are no default subreddits, and our growth comes organically - roughly 5,000 people every day subscribe to . Along the way, we've even grown to a fediverse sibling .
The decision to expand wasn't universally popular, and the effects of becoming so big still aren't liked by everyone. However, the upside is that this subreddit is probably one of the biggest places on the internet (if not the biggest) for public discussion on issues like the future of AI, robotics, space, biotech, and the transition away from fossil fuels. There are thousands of comments every day in the discussions here, and we get 300,000 daily page views. It's also worth noting the global nature of the posts and discussion here, with approx 50% of subscribers from America, and 50% from the rest of the world.