So maybe the question is how does one beat the network effects that are so prevalent?

The answer is and has always been to emphasize user equality and to hold each user individually responsible for their actions.

Reddit screwed up all it's integrity when it stopped showing downvote stats in addition to upvote counts.. They needed brigading and skewed voting to allow sponsored posts, celebrity and popularity, and promoted ideals to be artificially promoted as favorable by a majority.

Faked/limited stats, limited controls, and misleading numbers are trademark characteristics of an artificially skewed or profit-biased platform these days.