It was a cesspool, with subs like jailbait and fatpeoplehate running rampant, turning platform into nothing but a hate-obsessed one with lots of porn (mind you, not the type that reddit became famous for around ~2018, but revenge and gif reuploads to imgur). I certainly would not consider any of those "what made reddit great".
What made reddit great was the era after this, when many subs were then removed for promoting hate, users could also start avoiding subs so they won't show up, and everything else left up to user choice. This was the time when more people started to trust reddit more, and thanks to the likes of tumblr struggling, people felt comfortable enough to post more valuable and personal content.
Until of course they started messing with things again and then started allowing a lot of violence on the front page and filling feeds with recommendations.
What made reddit great was the era after this, when many subs were then removed for promoting hate, users could also start avoiding subs so they won't show up, and everything else left up to user choice. This was the time when more people started to trust reddit more, and thanks to the likes of tumblr struggling, people felt comfortable enough to post more valuable and personal content.
Until of course they started messing with things again and then started allowing a lot of violence on the front page and filling feeds with recommendations.