Just saw this. They're trying to suffocate it before pulling the plug.

Yeah forcing login for old.reddit was the last straw for me.

the company has said the older version of the site has been a "significant source" of AI scraping.

Ironic considering how a significant portion of its content comes from other sites.

The minute they do, I'm Audi.

I know this is a frowned-upon opinion here, but Reddit still does have a lot of use for me, even if it's mainly for content-plucking purposes. 😈

This is only going to stop the little guys from doing content plucking.

However, I do see a time where I have my local models "browse reddit" for me using an isolated browser in a VM and then present the content to me the way I want to see it or use it.

This reminds me of the failed attempts to lock down physical media.

However, I do see a time where I have my local models “browse reddit” for me using an isolated browser in a VM and then present the content to me the way I want to see it or use it.

Sounds great!

That change helped reduce scraping and automated abuse, but still allowed any logged-in account to access Old Reddit, including accounts with no prior Old Reddit use.

To close this gap, in the next few months, we'll further limit access for logged-in users to only those who have used Old Reddit in the last six months

How horrible, ANY logged-in account can just access old reddit?? That needs to be fixed asap, how dare new users just use old reddit when they have a perfectly good shreddit available to them. — Reddit admins apparently

Nice admission there. Didn't expect them to be this open about their true feelings on the matter.

I view reddit through redlib instance with wide UI and compact layout which makes it look like old.reddit and at the very least doesn't have all the clutter of new reddit.

https://rosint.dev is also a useful site where you can view the comments and posts of users who hide it. Shows deleted comments and posts too.

Huh!
Does either one work via desktop, as I'm not a big fan of browsing Reddit by phone. (yes, I'm a weirdo)

check it out: https://github.com/redlib-org/redlib-instances/blob/main/instances.md

Redlib is a website so works on desktop. You can subscribe and filter out subreddits and works without an account. And you can save your settings with some random string of text you paste in.

I use libredirect to send me to a redlib instance, since I got tired of clicking a reddit link and seeing the ugly new reddit layout.

Another interesting choice is how they are replacing Automod with Automations, but Automations is currently only able to flag content for review by mods.

Are they using mods as free labor to train AI... to replace human moderators? 😂 Because that's really what it seems like.

Reddit is going all in on taking it all for themselves.

Thanks guys, you and @Sergio@piefed.social,
Bookmarking...

Would the API restrictions not prevent stuff like RedLib from working?

Reddit is crazy! I searched for my (now deleted) account username and there it is: posts and removed posts are dug up by https://rosint.dev/. WTF reddit. I deleted my account and I assume that all my posts and unsuccessful posts are removed - but no!

People still login to MySpace I assume. Hows that going? No, hold on, go ahead and reply over ICQ.

Yeah, everything is getting archived. But, even though your content is archived still in a better situation than one that is still active and drawing more attention among current users who may want to look up the account history.

Doesn't seem to rely on old.reddit to retrieve content.

… and it still won’t be enough for the loyalists to leave.

API restrictions