Reddit signals ominous upcoming "changes” for old.reddit.com
arstechnica.com
Reddit says the beloved site is used for some "bad behavior."

As of a few minutes ago old.reddit.com now seems to requre logging in to access it.

Shame as it was still the best place to browse for info about some niche interests.

Edit: Seems like they might be testing the change as it is hit or miss at the moment.

Edit: Adding this to My flilters in uBlock Origin seems to fix the issue for the time being:

||reddit.com^$header=referer:

  • HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    4 hours ago

    Interestingly enough, old.reddit users are in the single digit percentages:

    Even if they weren’t hostile towards old.reddit (the ads are far less invasive and effective), they could make a strong argument for not wanting to support a dwindling, tiny userbase.

    • forbiddencherry@lemmy.todayEnglish
      1·
      15 minutes ago

      I love that “Mobile Web” is still larger than “Android” and also larger than “iOS” (usually). Nag screen didn’t work!

    • MangoCats@feddit.itEnglish
      9·
      2 hours ago

      I’ve moderated a subreddit for about 15 years now, it’s built up to ~40K members and ~100K visitors per week, ~1M views per month, and over 95-99% of that traffic is mobile (varies by the day). New Reddit (desktop) runs 0.5-3%, and old.reddit doesn’t even register in the bar graphs. Still, my shortcuts all go to old.reddit.com - and not just for moderation, but it’s also how I browse reddit.com.

      If they cut off my old.reddit.com interface, I’ll likely abandon my moderator’s post - no telling what happens to that community after that happens.

        • The_v@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          21 minutes ago

          Before the IPO, close to 100% of old.reddit likely contributed. For submitting, the old.reddit interface had better options for the experienced user. It was faster and easier to submit complex longer comments and posts.

          The interface isn’t that great for reading comments/post. The third party phone apps did it better.

          Besides you had to have a tiny bit of experience with the platform to know how to find that setting. Not something most casual readers who hit the site via a search engine would know to do.

          Since the IPO it’s likely mostly few old-timers checking the niche subs. Probably very little engagement. Honestly, it’s likely still around because of some critical tool for moderators or bots that would be extremely expensive to upgrade. Definitely not because they care about the user.

          • megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            4·
            1 hour ago

            The US was the first place smartphones took off and in the first couple years iPhone was the smartphone, so the initial set of adopters got iPhones because android wasn’t really a consideration. Then the network effect, people got what their friends or family had. Also, since a lot of people get their phones payed for through their cellular carrier contract, they not super price sensitive since the cost was buried in a monthly bill.

            So lots of people are used to IOS, and don’t see a reason to switch. Especially now with the one major differentiator, walled garden vs open platform, is disappearing with Google locking down their platform.