Here’s my reasons why Bar Chart Races are a fad, and Reddit’s moratorium on them is a good thing.

Ahem – note that this might be slightly tongue in cheek! If you want to counter this with arguments such as the following, I may struggle to counter back:

But Andy, they are a compelling way of showing data to lay people who don’t find line charts engaging.

But Andy, isn’t it true that any time you’ve made a bar chart race, it’s had more engagement than any of your other high-falutin’ high-brow “proper” charts [yes, it is true – Andy].

But Andy, didn’t you yourself propose a law that any innovative chart would ultimately be dismissed by the line “It should have been a line chart?” [yes. I did. – Andy]

I implore you to watch the video above and decide for yourself whether these are a good or bad thing. And whether or not I believe my own arguments.

What do you think? Are they good or bad?