I would say that the larger problem are all of the trolls, "opinion shapers" people doing campaign and advertising canvasing through the venue. The trolls and crazies being the worst of the lot, the downward spiral for the site and its contents quality is directly linked to its popularity. The more popular Reddit has become the more of the undesirable elements have appeared and the more difficult it is to limit the negative impact of their actions.

As for your thing below on "censoring conservative views"... if ignoring the fact that gizmodo is not a reputable source and is a part of the Gawker media group... the censorship is not about "conservative" vs "liberal" its about what tends to get punished widely in the community are overly aggressive, negative toned or straight out offensive posts from both sides of the so called debate.

Now, even though Reddit is somewhat left leaning well thought out, constructive commentary even when "conservative" is rewarded more often than not.

What gets censored be it by the actions of mods or the down-votes of the community as a whole are the frothing at the mouth rabid westborough types and trolls who use tabloids and for profit sources like gawker/fox/cnn for their news/information... what gets rewarded overall are thought out constructive posts and authors willing to discuss their positions.

Now the mentally ill trolly types described in the prior paragraph tend to also be the ones on both sides of the divide are also the first to loudly complain about excessive "censorship" when their posts get removed as spam(after the same individual posts the same article a dozen times in a dozen subs), or their comments get down voted for being excessively aggressive, accusatory and not well thought out. Most of the things that get removed from r/news and such involve tabloid journalism, blog spam and excessively editorialized content alongside other breaking of posting rules clearly listed to the side. Submit a anti-climate change opinion piece in some blog to r/science.. it will get removed, not because of censorship, but because it is not an appropriate source of information for the sub and is breaking the rules listed to the side. (blogs are not reputable sources of information)

Outside of that... keep in mind not all conservatives fit under the same overly broad descriptor. There are the religious extremists, fundamentalists and rabid political purists on one end whose actions have in effect ruined the republican party and directly undermine the greater interest of the nation and its people. Then there are the Barry Goldwater types who are actually sensible human beings with respectable positions and are willing to work with their opponents to push outcomes in the benefit of the greater nation. This same bit applies to the "liberal" side as well.