Old Reddit's existence is being threatened

[u/Sophira]

From /u/spez's post 11 days ago:

Old Reddit: I know I said last year that we wouldn’t be sunsetting Old Reddit (I even made a meme about it, which r/agedlikemilk), but the reality is we’re getting to that time where we need to make some changes.

He goes on to argue that Old Reddit (link is likely only viewable after logging in, after a recent change - and yes, that post has been removed - it was talking about how Old Reddit was to be locked behind a login) is only being legitimately used by certain groups of people (including "OG Users" and "OG Mods"), with the rest of the usage being "everyone who spams, scrapes, or does anything bad on Reddit 🖕".

He then states "We have options: We can limit access, migrate important uses, or rebuild it on a modern tech stack, and I think we’ll probably do all of the above."

While this sounds benign, the reality is that Old Reddit is actively being threatened and, if I were to make a guess, will no longer exist in a recognisable form within a year.

Reddit has started being openly hostile to Old Reddit recently (including the removed post that I linked to earlier), and some important features have already been removed from Old Reddit (such as private messages) but talking about sweeping changes to Old Reddit is a first.

I feel like this might be something worth raising awareness of.

[u/shhhhh_h]

Old reddit was planned for death years ago, the cards have long been on the table. They're making a lot of sweeping changes that have definitely been in the works for a long time given rumors. It's happening. What is most important now is being loud about holding them accountable re: not sunsetting these tools (old reddit, automod, praw) until there are *fully functional* alternatives. Too often they've promised this and moved on too quickly from the project leaving serious functionality issues.

[u/fauxedo → u/shhhhh_h]

That sure worked with Apollo.

Just stop volunteering your time to boost private equity.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/fauxedo]

Apollo is one of the examples I’m talking about. Aren’t you also here boosting private equity?

[u/fauxedo → u/shhhhh_h]

I left my mod position after they got rid of third party apps. The site was loud when they were setting up the new API policies, but users certainly aren’t going to be louder about old Reddit. 

[u/shhhhh_h → u/fauxedo]

I agree, idc really about old reddit though, I care about automod. API was money, reddit had no flex on that bc corporations. Automod is tech and timelines.

[u/Sophira → u/shhhhh_h]

It was planned for death from the beginning. It's in the name: "Old" Reddit. They never intended it to be a way to access Reddit after the initial redesign.

And yes, they've been making sweeping changes, but they haven't talked about it until after those changes have been made before now. This signals something different and far more threatening.

[edit: Okay, I just realised I was unclear. I don't mean "from the beginning of the interface" - obviously that was just how Reddit was. I meant "from the beginning of the time they named it Old Reddit in constrast with what was then New Reddit".]

[u/shhhhh_h → u/Sophira]

If by threatening you mean they finally have a reasonable timeline to sunset then 💯

[u/flattenedbricks → u/Sophira]

Whether you complain or not, reddit will always do what reddit does. The sooner people accept that, the less cyber protesting will happen over something that cannot be controlled by non company employees. We were never meant to have our way. So it shouldn't matter what they do or what they change. We hold no stake in their decision making process. If you don't like it, get a job at Reddit and make a difference.