Reddit is garbage.
The main problem with arguing that their system works for a few handful of subreddits is that you're implying that those "quality" subreddits are an exception, rather than the rule. In other words, it's not a merit of the hivemind system Reddit uses that keeps those subs from being like the rest of that toxic hellhole, it's a merit of those moderators for running their subs differently than the usual hivemind clout-chasing spam that plagues the defaults (until they stop, and the sub "dies" from getting main-site traffic).