You are not alone. A lot of the less pleasant communities on Reddit (FPH being one of them) needed to go. I've seen the reaction seems to cut entirely one way with people who seem rather interested in the status quo: LOL PAOTRIARCHY FUG REDDIT 8DDDD. And its not just confined to the default subs. The well is pretty much poisoned, the lands salted, and we're in for some serious Lord of the Flies shit until the site goes dark. Nothing of value was lost uninstalling sync, and adding it to my blocklist.

Once you hit massive scale, there's not really a single design philosophy that maintains a consistently quality community. It always falls into the throes of control and despair. It will come to everything, including Hubski. But hell, i'm going to enjoy myself while I can.

I think that's the last thing I need to say on the topic of Reddit for the foreseeable future.

Also, one more thing:

whilst I strongly agree with the importance of freedom of speech and reddit being a sacred avenue for it

It doesn't matter what Reddit says it is or isn't. They are here to make money. There's always somewhere else.