21 Things That Used To Be Good — Until People Ruined Them
Recently, redditor u/WarBeast86 asked, "What was ruined because too many people did it?" People shared lots of things that used to be good...until they became too popular. Here are the fascinating results:
1."Subscription everything, especially software. I want to buy Office/AutoCAD one time and use it for a decade. I don't want to buy it every year."
2."Craft fairs. Now, they're crowded with dozens of MLMs. I just want to find knitted slippers made by an old lady — not more Norwex."
3."You used to be one of only a few people around bidding on storage lockers. It used to be a fun hobby I gave up on because it became too popular, and people are grossly overpaying for the lockers, which is oftentimes just paying to make a dump run for someone."
4."Visiting major historical sites. Most of them have been turned into badly maintained, super expensive tourist traps — add in the trash and damages tourists do, and yikes."
5."Airbnb. Used to love Airbnb years ago. Now, it's pricier than a lot of decent hotels, and some of the house rules are nutty."
"My friend gave me a discount coupon for one. I compared it to a local hotel, and the hotel was cheaper with less rules. My hotel doesn't expect me to leave the room in pristine shape. I leave the towels in the tub, pick up all garbage, and I'm also not expected to vacuum and dust."
6."Cooking shows. It used to be a few talented chefs who had shows to teach. Now, it’s every damn celebrity who can or cannot cook making the same recipes as everyone else."
Fox
7."Thrift shopping. Fifteen years ago, the prices were soooo cheap, and you could always find a gem. Now, they’re always crowded, and everything is overpriced; you might find something good once every two to three visits if you’re lucky."
8."We had an amazing Halloween house in our small town that was walking distance from my place. Every year, the family who owned it would bring in Hollywood-level props and lighting, and 10 or so actors in full regalia to replicate a Pirates of the Caribbean scene all around the property. Every kid would get a bag full of real candy, not the mini Halloween stuff. Unfortunately, people started coming from other towns, and it turned into a mob scene to the point that cops had to direct traffic, and they shut it down."
9."The Appalachian Trail. People leaving their trash everywhere is really ruining the trail, and it’s so wildly crowded now."
"The summit of Mt. Everest is like a trash heap now."
10."Havasu Falls in Arizona. I went back in the early 2000s, and it was nice with little to no trash. Now, people have trashed the park and overcrowded it for an Instagram post, making wait times ungodly long. I hold great anger toward people who litter in cities, but I get enraged at people that litter in parks! And for those who actually care, please bring a waste bag, and we can start cleaning up after these idiots."
11."Driving to work early. I used to do it, but now, it's the same as morning rush hour."
12."Festivals. I use to enjoy going to some local festivals. Now, they’re just overcrowded and expensive."
13."Flying drones. Thanks to all the idiots doing dumb things with them, it's not even worth getting into the hobby nowadays. You pretty much can't fly anywhere worth flying, need all sorts of permits, are constantly risking hefty fines, etc. No, thanks."
14."Streaming services. I miss the days of one single service: Netflix. Now, every studio has its own service and holds their stuff away from services like Netflix and Hulu. Direct consequence — too many subscriptions! At this point, it’s more economical to buy stuff you want to watch."
15."YouTube. People used to make content for fun; now, everything is optimized and monetized and scripted to death."
"I miss the days of amateur videos on YouTube. Classic Smosh. Crappy, but still entertaining music videos or video games. Actual, real reactions that didn't feel like a fake, acted out script. Now, everything is about fitting into the algorithm, likes, and subscriptions. YouTube is all clean, square, corporate, and sanitized. I won't deny there is also really good content to be found as well, but it's mixed in with a lot of crap."
16."Adblock. Now, every website has a warning. It used to be a rare sight."
17."Writing children's books. It used to be an art form, and then, every celebrity wrote one."
18."There are so many things and places most people didn’t know about prior to Instagram and 'influencers' visiting and taking photos there. For example, 'Manhattanhenge' in NYC used to be a cool phenomenon only cared about or noticed by some, but now, everyone and their mother comes out lining and blocking the streets for something that was once a 'hey, look at that; that’s interesting' kind of thing. Now, it’s just kind of goofy."
19."Everything that has to do with true crime. Some years ago, it wasn't 'popular' at all, and you had to search for any documentary and/or website. Now, there are extra TV channels, podcasts, magazines, and everyone is 'an expert.'"
20."Social media in general. I really enjoyed Facebook when you had to use a college email address."
And finally...
21."The house flipping trend has certainly not helped home affordability. It's good to make a junk house habitable again — it's not good to turn a $220K house into a $350K house."
"Also, there are so many home flips that are basically lipstick on a pig. Yes, those new granite countertops are nice, but the plumbing is still 70 years old and needs to be replaced, and now, I need to rip out those countertops to get to it! Or, they use cheap grade materials that don’t last very long. I wish people would buy homes and fix them up to live in them, instead of trying to turn a profit so they can buy someone else’s place who did the same thing."
Do you agree with these? What are some other things that got ruined after too many people did it? Let us know in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
