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.
It’s a fashion forum on a site where the stereotypical user is a fedora wearing neckbeard, plus after a point it starts to become self-selecting. Kind of like every EDC post having a knife and flashlight, when the normal person’s “every day carry” is just “wallet, keys, phone”.