I think you're looking at the re-design from a user-experience perspective, and this is probably wrong. Think of Reddit as a for-profit company, and then consid

I think you're looking at the re-design from a user-experience perspective, and this is probably wrong. Think of Reddit as a for-profit company, and then consider what that company might want out of a re-design. They'll talk in public up one side and down the other about making it a friendlier place and easier to use, but ... consider some alternative motives. What might those be? I suspect some VERY important goals of the re-design are: INCREASE USER ENGAGEMENT - get users to stay longer, and if they leave, make it less permanent ... tactically: • all external links open in a new tab now • infinite-scroll • simplify subreddit / multireddit management INCREASE AD VIEWS & AD CLICKS - with users more engaged, monetize their attention: • make subreddit designs far more uniform, with fewer CSS tricks to really change the layout / experience • make it difficult / inconsistent (!) to try to do some impressive CSS design, to discourage subreddit managers from taking layout changes beyond a certain threshold • make the "post" ads just a little less obvious and a little more enticing • make the "post" ads far more common than before --- I could be wrong on all these. I suspect I'm right on several.