Personally, I've grown to hate reddit. In comparison to traditional message boards, it looks worse, has fewer options for creating topics, has way fewer options for replying to topics. As far as being able to create a community with stand out personalities and a way to meet and greet people, it's freaking horrible.
Not to mention that the up/down system in place discourages controversial topics and encourages echo chambers. Everything people don't like ends up suppressed and forgotten.
The only advantage reddit has is ease of access and not having to create multiple accounts across multiple boards.
Reddit is a content aggregator first, community second. The only way you will get a true forum experience is by joining a fairly obscure but active community.