Reddit is known for many things, including, but certainly not limited to, its uncanny ability to spark viral content, the passion of its commenters, and the thousands of subreddits ranging on topics from health and fitness to atheism.

Its design, however, is notably less remarkable.

So it may come as a suprise that Ben Silbermann, the founder of Pinterest and perhaps the one of the world's leading evangalists on "good design," is a big fan of Reddit--the sharing site described by Alexis Madrigal, yesterday's GigaOM moderator, described as the "world's ugliest website."

"I love Reddit," Silbermann said at GigaOM's Roadmap conference in San Francisco. "Actually I think it's one of the most interesting places that's ever been created."

"I love it because because kind of beneath this austere site, all of these relationships are forming. I love that there's subreddits. They can rise and fall--it's all very democratic."

However, Silbermann was quick to point out that the similarities between Pinterest and Reddit were scant. It's worth mentionning, too, that the demographics of the two sites are world's apart. Based on Google data, 72% of Pinterest's users are female; 74% of Reddit's users are male.

"I think Reddit is about communities of people that are drawn together based on behavior," he said. "Pinterest is a little more self-focused. There are other people there to interact with you, but it's less about saying things and seeing how the community will react to you."