@lewishazell @laxsill It doesn't start that way. The first subreddit I got involved in had one member - me - and was intended for Norwegians on Reddit to post articles in Norwegian. Before we turned off the lights at midnight CET, we typically saw 350-400k unique users every month, with 50k on any given day.
I also moderate a few others that started with a few thousand subscribers, but now into the millions.
It's about wanting community without becoming a sysadmin