1. Isn’t it lowbrow and moribund?

1. The genre is the most popular venue for folk philosophy and ethics.
2. Traditional columns have just experienced a “renaissance” (Brammer 2020) and online venues are booming.

2. Miss Manners

Social ethics & pragmatics

I make a distinction between manners and etiquette: manners as the principles, which are eternal and universal; etiquette as the particular rules which are arbitrary and different in different times, different situations, different cultures (Martin & Childs 2011).

3. The joy of historical comparison

• In 2005, Reddit was launched so that users could share links to off-site content (i.e., “I read it.”)
• In 2008, users had to hack “self” posts, which soon became a popular type of content and is what Reddit is most known for today.

Consider the genre’s history of

• Fractious families
• Expertise
• Syndication
• Hoaxes

A reading from r/relationships

(Reddito 2022)

Two weeks later, on r/legaladvice

The hospital mistakenly switched infants!

I just found out my 5 year old daughter isn’t mine or my husband’s. I don’t want her to be taken away from us. I don’t want this information to go public. What are my rights?” (fullyfaithfulwife 2022)

• 2008 r/relationships was created but was little used.
• 2009 r/relationship_advice was created (by a high schooler) after pushback from r/AskReddit about unwanted teen drama.
• 2015 a faction of r/relationship_advice moderators co-opted r/relationship to create a more mature advice subreddit (Reagle 2025).

Traditional columnists might…

• avoid certain topics (law and health)
• consult experts (Ann Landers’s practice)
• claim expertise themselves (fraught)

Narration

Before they knew of the baby mix-up…

apparently a YouTuber my husband watches called Mark Narrations decided that it would be a fun idea to read my post on his channel. My husband recognized the story… Then he found quite a few comments about him that were not exactly… nice. And now, he has asked me for a chance to post his side of the story on this account, so that people stop trashing him. Please be nice. (fullyfaithfulwife 2022)

The drama of it all

This saga—with its marital conflict, medical mystery, and million-dollar settlement—exemplifies the magnetic pull of Reddit’s advice forums.

The story contains all the elements that make the genre irresistible: it’s simultaneously relatable and novel, ordinary and extraordinary.

It’s also a case study for folk philosophy, involving questions of morality (infidelity vs. distrust) and truth (what can we really know), as well as engaging people’s understanding of genetics and law—even if gleaned from television dramas.

Syndication to millions

At their peaks, “Ask Ann Landers” and “Dear Abby” appeared in the newspapers of about one hundred million readers each (Robbins 2022).

Reddit has over one hundred million daily active users, and about four times that on a weekly basis, where AITA has been the “#1 most-viewed community on the platform” since 2022 (RedditInc 2024; RedditInc 2022).

Many millions more see Reddit content when it is distributed off-site to TikTok, YouTube, and podcast audiences (Stories 2023).

The difference

Where Ann & Abby benefited from the syndication of their content…

… Reddit OPs (original posters), commenters, and moderators do not.

Suspicions emerge

• u/fullyfaithfulwife’s posts across three subreddits were removed, and one was tagged as a “Suspected fake.”
• Over 51 days, the family retested their genetics, found a lawyer, engaged a private investigator, found their biological child, reached a settlement with the hospital, and started adoption proceedings (Sassy_Pants_McGee 2022).

I hate it when they only get green-lit for one season so they have to rush everything into the last episode (deleted 2022).

Early hoaxes

• 1693 Elkanah Settle hoaxed The Athenian Mercury by using a pseudonym to write in to support the editors with authoritative quotations; the editors published the letter with thanks; two months later, Settle revealed fabrication in the theatrical manuscript “The New Athenian Comedy” (Settle 1693)
• 1901 Parody satirizes “heart-to-heart blitherings” and “the indulgent tone of advice columnists” (Lutes 2019, p. 64)

20th century hoaxes

• 1978 Ann Landers fell for houseplants hoax and responded: “We all get taken in once in a while, and the face with the egg on it is mine” (Landers 1978)
• 1991 Survey revealed most newspaper editors believed they often received bogus submissions, including letters to the editor and announcements (Bridges & Bridges 1991)

21st century hoaxes

• 2000 Dear Alice: Rejected Letters to Advice Columns from Completely Insane Idiots published; author never heard from again, reviewers thought it was fiction—“a double hoax of sorts”
• 2004 Dear Abby hoaxed with Simpsons episode, prompting news stories and Snopes fact-checking (Hollingsworth 2004; Mikkelson 2004)

Reddit hoaxes

• 2016 r/legaladvice trolled by pro-anorexia activist, featured in New York magazine (Sommer 2016)
• 2020 CartoonsHateHer published The Troll Handbook recounting 77 hoaxes across 16 subreddits (CartoonsHateHer 2020, “The troll handbook”)

Advice subs are part of the centuries-old advice genre.

More than that, they are the epitome of the genre.

Everything that went before is more:

1. the fecundity of advice venues
2. the challenges of expertise
3. the promiscuity of advice content
4. and the prevalence of hoaxes

Thanks!