How is the Reddit new UI helping their user experience?

Lots of people here that work on similar stuff and may be can provide some insight. I have always wondered how the redesign done a few years ago makes it better.

The main thing I see is -

- individual threads cannot be collapsed (HN is awesome that way)

- Every time I refresh a page it takes me to the top

- The space between lines is too much and so screen space is not efficiently used. There is even a lot of space left on teh left and right of the text

I don't know if any paid attention to the redesign. I am really curious how it makes sense. Does it somehow provide them with better tracking and so better ads? I don't get how removing functionality actually makes it better.