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Comment by jffry | Hacker News Reader

If you access Reddit via https://old.reddit.com it's always the better UI. Bonus is that this works even if you're not signed in.

There's a handy browser extension for automatically redirecting you if you click a link to Reddit's other domains: https://github.com/tom-james-watson/old-reddit-redirect

If you'd like to disable custom subreddit styles even if you're not signed in, you can add these custom filters to uBlock Origin:

  old.reddit.com##^link[ref="applied_subreddit_stylesheet"]
  old.reddit.com##^#header-img-a
  old.reddit.com##^.infobar.listingsignupbar

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> If you access Reddit via https://old.reddit.com it's always the better UI

This is an assumption that I'd had until I read feedback from users who joined reddit after introduction of the new reddit design, that old reddit web interface is ugly. Well, I think reddit knows better than us. They have the data!

Well the old interface is ugly. But the new interface is ugly and less ergonomic.

That's the whole plan, keep the old interface around (along with power users) until the new user population (who only knows the new interface) grows large enough to be able to get rid of the old interface without getting a full Digg-like exodus.

Instead of a full extension, I recommend a simple userscript, serving faithfully for 2 years now:

https://pastebin.com/raw/niGCX6AH

Then Mozilla had to go and fuck up extensions on mobile firefox, so now I simply avoid Reddit from phone. On totally unrelated note, I suddenly find myself with extra free time!

The "full extension" I linked is 800 bytes of JS, and thanks to being an extension it can redirect network requests before the page even loads (useful because sometimes Reddit can be quite sluggish to respond, and also because it's good nettiquette to not make spurious requests).

Besides which, applying a UserScript requires a much larger "full extension". I'd much rather have a small purpose-built extension which is, via browser-enforced policy, only allowed to run on the specific domains for which it is required.

I audited the code, installed it, turned off updates, and it has faithfully served me for a while now.

To each their own, I suppose.

Thanks for proper explanation on why this is better. I stand corrected.

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