They are also slowly killing /r/all ahead of the elections

> They finally killed the `old.reddit.com` subdomain for logged-out users this week...

Is it a gradual shutdown? [0] works just fine for me, and I don't and have never had a Reddit account so I'm always logged out. I've visited a few of the comment threads on that page and they all display just fine.

[0] <https://old.reddit.com/r/mikrotik/>

It’s been broken for me for at least a week. When I click that link I get:

Log in to use old Reddit To keep Reddit safe, accounts are required to access old Reddit. Log in, or continue without an account on reddit.com.

By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy

—

Somehow Reddit thinks I care enough about their content to set up an account and log in just to read it. They are mistaken.

"To keep Reddit safe", god why do they have to lie in such an obnoxious and patronising way?

because its spez. That is his nature.

Hmm.

I'm using Firefox on a full-sized computer (that is, not a phone or tablet). Do you get different results with Firefox on a full-sized computer, or is that your primary web browser?

> Somehow Reddit thinks I care enough about their content to set up an account and log in just to read it. They are mistaken.

Same here.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it has more to do with the fact that I’m currently in Vietnam. I certainly get a lot of websites that give me extra hassle about accessing from here, or some simply refuse to load at all. Just try booking a domestic USA flight on Frontier Airlines or Southwest Airlines while currently being in Southeast Asia…

For what it’s worth, I’ve received this on my iPhone running safari. I almost never use Reddit, and when I do it’s usually because I’m casually browsing and someone linked to it, and for that type of usage I’m almost always on my phone. I can’t remember the last time I attempted to access Reddit on an actual computer. But I’m clearly not their target user, I simply don’t care about them enough to be willing to jump through any hoops.

Doesn't work in Europe either -> full login wall, Desktop Firefox.

> I certainly get a lot of websites that give me extra hassle about accessing from here, or some simply refuse to load at all.

That's fuckin lame.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I get the login wall too. Chrome (incognito)/Android/Pixel

I haven't been able to access old reddit for ages, but it is different now. Previously, they just gave me that obnoxious fedora-reddit-guy "whoa there pardner!" and some anti-bot message I think, but now it explicitly says "Log in to use old Reddit. To keep Reddit safe, accounts are required to access old Reddit."

logged-out users have been blocked if using a VPN for a while.

That link is giving me a login screen completely on desktop.

New reddit: Doesn't require a login Redlib: Doesn't require a login

It worked for me (from two French IP addresses in different ASs) for two or three weeks since people started talking about. Now it's gone too.

As the gp says, only if you're logged in.

They've also been making it so the preference seemingly doesn't stick now. Used to be it would just randomly undo that setting, now it just doesn't respect it at all in my experience.

Scrapers won't be stopped by needing an account; in the recent discussion [0] about this, someone mentioned that there's even a JSON API you can use - by appending .json to any post! It's to drive engagement... for the advertisers. They gotta keep the valuation up after the IPO.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015533

I exposed this JSON API in the same style as their original API at api.reddiw.com and they banned my account without warning. I explicitly included my reddit username in the user-agent so that they could reach out if they had a problem with it. Nope, straight to banning my decade old account.

The company has turned evil sadly.

spez likes your comment.

Well ya, but they have written posts to mods explaining that their long term goal is to limit scraping.