A Reddit forum for Titanic enthusiasts has been overrun with people talking about the missing Titan submersible — and some regulars aren't happy

• A Reddit forum for Titanic enthusiasts has seen a dramatic uptick in contributions in recent days.
• Many people are using the forum to discuss the latest developments in the missing Titan submersible.

A Reddit forum dedicated to discussion about the RMS Titanic is being overrun by users discussing the missing submersible carrying five passengers who went to see the ship's wreckage.

The submersible, which is called the Titan, lost contact with its mother ship less than two hours after its descent off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Sunday morning. The US Coast Guard is currently involved in a search for the missing vessel, which contains a supply of emergency oxygen that will likely last the passengers onboard until Thursday afternoon E.T., per officials.

On Reddit, users have been turning the r/Titanic forum, which was previously dominated by posts about the state of the ship's wreckage and historical facts about the passengers onboard, into a forum for sharing updates and thoughts about the current submersible rescue mission.

According to the description on the forum, which has 47,200 members, the group exists for discussion on "all things Titanic - the ship, the history, and of course, the numerous films," but there has now been a dramatic rise in contributions to the forum as a result of the news of the missing submersible.

Some forum regulars are not happy with the surge in interest

While the forum received 439 new comments and 36 new posts on June 17, there have been 4,181 comments and 194 posts on the forum over the past 24 hours, according to the analytics tracker Subreddit Stats.

Users have been sharing and discussing the latest reports on the rescue mission and information about the passengers onboard the vessel. A number of users have been teaming up to speculate on how the rescue could be carried out if the submersible is found, and what supplies the passengers might have onboard to aid their survival — although it's unclear whether these users have any expertise informing their thoughts.

One relatively popular post on the forum from June 20 was from a user called "daltonmojica" who complained about the quality of the new activity and discussions.

"48 hours ago, this subreddit was full of good-quality discussion from Titanic enthusiasts who at least attempted to know the basics, and more importantly, knew the importance of facts, and had respect for both victims of maritime disasters, and the Titanic community," he wrote, adding, "Now it's full of misinformed/uneducated takes from ignorant brigaders thinking they're all suddenly ship experts." It's not clear which particular posts he was referring to.

The post received 128 comments, and many users agreed with his observations, saying the posts on the subreddit have been diverted from the intended subject matter of the forum. Some users suggested that those who wanted to talk about the submersible join r/OceanGateTitan, a group with 3,500 members specifically dedicated to the missing vessel, instead.

Meanwhile, a number of other users who say they are deeply committed to discussions about the RMS Titanic have linked the story of the missing submersible to their interests in the sunken ship.

One user said reading the latest developments about the submersible intensified their fear of the ocean, which is also triggered by their awareness of the Titanic shipwreck. Others have been using the forum to discuss whether they think the Titanic's wreckage should be accessible to tourism, given the news of the Titan's disappearance.

The missing submersible has been a hugely popular topic of discussion on social media over the past couple of days. On TikTok, millions of users are turning to TikTok creators for condensed summaries of the latest developments, which echoes a broader trend of people using social media as a source of information about major news events.

The moderators or r/Titanic did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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