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Comment by cecilpl2 | Hacker News Reader

Can you expand on this? I haven't noticed any change in comment section usability and I've been on reddit for 10+ years.

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The new design collapses all responses below the second level (and then every two levels) while adding extreme amounts of visual distractions to gilded/awarded/... comments (personal opinion). This annoys me to no end and I presume the grandparent is referencing that.

> The new design collapses all responses below the second level (and then every two levels)

this wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that you often have to follow a link to expand the tree, that you then have to back out of to get back to the main thread. I have 16GB of RAM and a 27" screen. I can handle expanding a tree of text inline.

They also require you to login to expand comments on the new site which seems insane to me.

> The new design collapses all responses below the second level

I don't follow. I just opened a random comment thread, and counted comments being shown up to seven levels deep (which was the deepest comment.) Is the behavior you describe only if you're logged out or something?

Do you have the old Reddit UI saved in your preferences? If so, you might be seeing the site as it used to be, and not as it now is for the vast majority of users.

I don't think so. What I see is this: https://imgur.com/a/BalUOOP. The screenshot only shows 5 levels deep, but it goes 9 if I scroll down more.

I also don't follow. Here's a screenshot of the current top comment in the current top thread. It's showing 10 levels deep.

https://imgur.com/a/itZrtRK

Your screenshot shows old reddit. Either you're using a link to old.reddit.com, or (like me) your user account has set the option to always use old reddit.

Try opening your link in an incognito browser.

If I go to the link posted above [1], I first see a much narrower window (careful, don't click on the black area to the sides, or you'll go back to the subreddit, the whole thing is basically a modal dialog now). Then I see one single comment, and it itself is half cut off. Below it I see a bunch of "related" content: https://imgur.com/a/tyaheDC

If I click the button to expand, I see no comments deeper than two deep: https://imgur.com/a/HDlNYFK

To see deeper any any thread, I have to click a link which doesn't expand the comments but takes me to its own link thread. To get back I need to use the browser back button and my context is lost.

They do not want users to engage with existing comments at all. The first comment is half cut off. The rest are hard to get to. They appear to want you to consume the posted content, and maybe post your own comment if you like.

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/modsupport/comments/mbqgx2

> Your screenshot shows old reddit

I don't think this is right, unless there's an "old new" reddit and a "new new" reddit. Old reddit doesn't have the alien avatars, or the lines indicating the thread. Also, the usernames are blue, and it looks entirely different in numerous other ways.

What I suspect you are comparing is the logged out experience and the logged in experience.

No, I confirm that my screenshot uses the "new" Reddit.

The difference is that I open the threads in a new tab, instead of just clicking on them. Also I am logged-in (so no related content below) and I have an ad blocker.

I think it depends on the age of the post. E.g. this one is showing only two levels for me: https://imgur.com/a/6egEkGB https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1czuut/what_is_t...

This typically happens if you google something and the answer is on reddit.

It also wastes screen space, as the whole page is about 50% narrower. Far less information dense, optimized for ads and engagement (about half of screen space is dedicated to recommended posts when a thread loads). Feels like commercialization.

Not op, pretty sure referring to the site redesign. If you force to stay on the old design, yes, you noticed nothing different. But the new design, holy shit, unless you want a Facebook's take on imgur experience, it's unusable.

I'm guessing you don't use the new redesign.

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