Wow, and to think I just signed up for an elite account an hour ago. Luckily I used my "I don't want to give you my real password" password.

Is that Reddit thread typical of the lack of awareness of password security?

Doubtful. The post was made to /r/gaming and was vaguely about COD, which is a very politically charged subject there.

Had it been posted to virtually any other subreddit the thread would have been less stupid and troll-y.

I would say so. I have a hard time imagining that a person who giggles at advice animals also understands hashing.