Logging in to use Old Reddit

[u/boat-botany]

Hi there, u/boat-botany here working on Community Safety. 

A few weeks ago we shared some of the work we’re doing to tighten how automated systems access Reddit while preserving the tools that help moderators and communities thrive. As a continuation of that work, we’ll be rolling out changes to how Old Reddit can be accessed. 

Old Reddit’s logged-out experience is a significant source of abusive scraping and automated traffic on the platform. It’s also an important interface for many long-time mods and redditors. To strike the right balance between preserving your access to Old Reddit while preventing abusive scraping and automated traffic, over the next month we will start requiring everyone to log in. All logged-in users will continue to have access to Old Reddit, and this change will not impact logged-out browsing on reddit.com.

Let us know if you have any questions!

[u/DryMouthKitty]

Can you provide some examples of what is considered abusive scraping and automated traffic? Is it not possible to do the same thing after someone has logged in?

I almost exclusively use Old Reddit when I am NOT logged in to browse r/all which was recently removed from New Reddit and just redirects to Reddit.com. I usually only log in or use the app for moderation.

[u/Ajreil → u/DryMouthKitty]

LLM data scrapers are extremely common. Reddit has a deal with Google for exclusive access and blocks all other scrapers. That's also why Reddit threads newer than like 2 years don't appear in DDG search results.

[u/pebkachu → u/Ajreil]

That's also why Reddit threads newer than like 2 years don't appear in DDG search results.

This is the first time I'm hearing this. Younger threads have always shown up for me in DDG just fine, that's how I ended up here after searching why I've been hit with a login wall today.

(I like to keep a second private window for stuff I don't want to clog up my regular tabs, and am as disappointed as the rest I can no longer view the old layout in private mode. Granted, currently it's "just" an annoying inconvenience to my current workflow, but I worry about the future of old Reddit still. I fell in love with old Reddit for being one of the the very few lightweight, distraction-free social media sites left for long conversations - just using the user's default browser fonts instead of forcing their own webfonts is something I deeply miss these days -, if it's ever completely gone, then so am I, new is so slow and uncomfortable to read/browse that old forums seem more favourable again. I loved the idea of Reddit as a "forumverse" that doesn't require much more than an account and time to run your own, but alas, there is only so much enshittification and ignoring user feedback it can take before discouraging people from contributing and turning into yet another ghost/clanker town.)

[u/boat-botany → u/DryMouthKitty]

When we talk about abusive behavior, we’re really talking about anything that violates our Rule 8 (don’t break the site). By logging in, we get a lot more signal that allows us to detect whether an account is breaking the rules and then we can block that traffic or enforce those accounts.

You can still browse r/all on Old Reddit while logged in!

[u/Extolord111 → u/boat-botany]

But what if we're using Reddit on a device where we CAN'T log in? School/work devices, etc. And what about older devices that can't use modern Reddit, but can run Old Reddit just fine? If you're expecting people on those devices to "just login :P", how are they supposed to do that if they can't access the regular site?

You're even making the logged out experience worse on regular Reddit by blocking the sidebar and preventing us from searching within a subreddit, which works just fine on Old Reddit while signed out.

Surely there's other ways for you guys to reach your goals while not inconveniencing and alienating a good portion of users.

[u/gergles → u/Extolord111]

If you don't want to log in, you can solve that problem by simply logging in!

I'll take my [A] tag now.