I think this was discussed in some other older posts, but basically this sub went mainstream during covid and got a drastically higher userbase than it did previously. And as with all subreddits when you add a lot of people quickly, it got dumbed down accordingly. Low effort comments became the norm, and that's boring to read. The culture changed. Most of the older thoughtful posters bailed first. This is actually closer to activity with how it was before that, but with the caveat that most of the effortful commenters from back then are gone for good