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It's absolutely wild that all these years later new reddit is still so bad that a sizable portion of the overall traffic fights the defaults to use old reddit.

It's absolutely wild that all these years later new reddit is still so bad that a sizable portion of the overall traffic fights the defaults to use old reddit. Users never fight defaults... unless you screw up as badly as new reddit did.

tmpz22 3y ago
Why bother making a good UX? The best UX is usually contradictory to monetization. The best UX takes a ton of extra work. Why not let the Executives in Sales and Growth erect the walls and moats that keep your users stuck in place?
- ravenstine 3y ago
  The best thing for Reddit's business would be to hide communities as much as possible and turn their app into a version of TikTok that throws nothing but ads disguised as viral videos in front of users. They probably want to do this badly. Actually, what if someone came up with an app that had no user created content whatsoever and was just an infinite-scroll of corporate ads? I bet it would make millions.
AlecSchueler 3y ago
Users never fight defaults, unless you provide an easy and officially supported way to revert.
- jjoonathan 3y ago
  Is the official old reddit setting still broken, forcing users to either rewrite URLs themselves or install a plugin to do it for them?
  - loeg 3y ago
    Nah.
  - NineStarPoint 3y ago
    No it mostly works, but does revert and need to be rechecked seemingly randomly. Used to be more frequently actually, now is only every few months for me.
  - AlecSchueler 3y ago
    Personally I re-wrote it once and my cookie has has my back for a few years right now, but YMMV depending on how often you change browsers, delete cookies etc. If you're doing that often or if you're part of the "HN Crowd" it should be trivial to write a quick bookmarklet to do the re-write for you.
delfinom 3y ago
Did you know there are two new reddits? If you login as a user you see comments in a different style than the guest view of comments. The guest view of comments on new new reddit is even more awful.
justapassenger 3y ago
I've started using reddit only after they rolled out new. I hate old UI, and i've tried it many times. People don't like when someone changes their toys. But that doesn't mean that new toy is a screw up, it's not something you got used to.
- obviouslynotme 3y ago
  It has little to do with the look and feel. Loading a "new" reddit page feels like going on a 2010s news page without an adblocker. The page takes 15 seconds or more to load. Elements are shifting around during that time. If I'm not logged in, I get a screengrabbing beg ad to install their apps. Reddit code is trash. The old version is just much simpler and therefore less annoying. If it weren't for the fact that the smaller subreddits have lots of value, no one would put up with it.
  - internetter 3y ago
    > feels like going on a 2010s news page without an adblocker I don't think it's any better now...
- szatkus 3y ago
  I used Reddit before the new UI and... also prefer the new one. It's much better for browsing funny memes. But I don't use Reddit for "serious" stuff. There are subreddits for topics I'm interested in, but I would spend most of my day correcting people if I was subscribed there, because they are so bad. Funny cats are ok though.
sohex 3y ago
I still distinctly remember the survey they had post new reddit launch. After answering it as accurately as I could given the rather limited options available and submitting it I was given a response of 'sorry you're so change averse, suck it up'. Obviously paraphrasing, but the idea that someone could only dislike the new UX because they were change averse has stuck with me as being particularly brain dead.
michaelbrave 3y ago
DeviantArt's UI update was just as bad if nor worse, it's amazing companies don't learn from these

tmpz22 3y ago

Why bother making a good UX? The best UX is usually contradictory to monetization. The best UX takes a ton of extra work. Why not let the Executives in Sales and Growth erect the walls and moats that keep your users stuck in place?

ravenstine 3y ago
The best thing for Reddit's business would be to hide communities as much as possible and turn their app into a version of TikTok that throws nothing but ads disguised as viral videos in front of users. They probably want to do this badly. Actually, what if someone came up with an app that had no user created content whatsoever and was just an infinite-scroll of corporate ads? I bet it would make millions.

AlecSchueler 3y ago

Users never fight defaults, unless you provide an easy and officially supported way to revert.

jjoonathan 3y ago
Is the official old reddit setting still broken, forcing users to either rewrite URLs themselves or install a plugin to do it for them?
- loeg 3y ago
  Nah.
- NineStarPoint 3y ago
  No it mostly works, but does revert and need to be rechecked seemingly randomly. Used to be more frequently actually, now is only every few months for me.
- AlecSchueler 3y ago
  Personally I re-wrote it once and my cookie has has my back for a few years right now, but YMMV depending on how often you change browsers, delete cookies etc. If you're doing that often or if you're part of the "HN Crowd" it should be trivial to write a quick bookmarklet to do the re-write for you.

delfinom 3y ago

Did you know there are two new reddits? If you login as a user you see comments in a different style than the guest view of comments. The guest view of comments on new new reddit is even more awful.

justapassenger 3y ago

I've started using reddit only after they rolled out new. I hate old UI, and i've tried it many times. People don't like when someone changes their toys. But that doesn't mean that new toy is a screw up, it's not something you got used to.

obviouslynotme 3y ago
It has little to do with the look and feel. Loading a "new" reddit page feels like going on a 2010s news page without an adblocker. The page takes 15 seconds or more to load. Elements are shifting around during that time. If I'm not logged in, I get a screengrabbing beg ad to install their apps. Reddit code is trash. The old version is just much simpler and therefore less annoying. If it weren't for the fact that the smaller subreddits have lots of value, no one would put up with it.
- internetter 3y ago
  > feels like going on a 2010s news page without an adblocker I don't think it's any better now...
szatkus 3y ago
I used Reddit before the new UI and... also prefer the new one. It's much better for browsing funny memes. But I don't use Reddit for "serious" stuff. There are subreddits for topics I'm interested in, but I would spend most of my day correcting people if I was subscribed there, because they are so bad. Funny cats are ok though.

sohex 3y ago

I still distinctly remember the survey they had post new reddit launch. After answering it as accurately as I could given the rather limited options available and submitting it I was given a response of 'sorry you're so change averse, suck it up'. Obviously paraphrasing, but the idea that someone could only dislike the new UX because they were change averse has stuck with me as being particularly brain dead.

michaelbrave 3y ago

DeviantArt's UI update was just as bad if nor worse, it's amazing companies don't learn from these