I know threats like this are cliche, especially about UI refreshes of long-loved web sites, but this one rings true for me. Like Facebook, I'll miss some of the content, but at a certain point the experience isn't worth it.
This feels like the weirdest instance of stockholm syndrome, I've seen this so much. And don't get me wrong, I totally understand where you're coming from, Reddit is user-hostile as hell. But... why keep using it then? Why keep giving pageviews and ad money to a trashy website that hates you?
I used to post a ton on Reddit. My browsing of it has been reduced to maybe all of a couple times a week on my local city's subreddit only. I didn't wait for the UI to go even more to shit to essentially stop using it.
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Edit: I guess my point's been missed. Maybe to rephrase: How do you get any sort of enjoyment out of actively using a website that hates you? How does this not make you want to use it less and less regardless of how good the content is?
Edit: I don't understand how my comment did not answer your rephrased question, so I probably wasn't that clear. old.reddit.com is still there, the API still works just fine, so does my favorite third-party client - the same one I've been using for years. The new features I'm missing out on by using the site in this way, I don't care about. My usage is still perfectly enjoyable and the site doesn't do anything to actively make me feel that "hate" you're talking about.
It's like .. okay, imagine you have this market you used to shop at. You really enjoyed going there for years, but it's been bought by Walmart. For reasons, Walmart isn't shutting down the market, but they're not restocking it, making sure it smells bad and the products are past due-date, and they're almost threatening you to use their big store which you absolutely don't want to use "or else".
And instead of looking for your shopping elsewhere, you decide to keep shopping at that market until Walmart shuts down what you used to like, because, idk, I guess there's still a couple products there you like?
It's a stretched comparison, sure, but this is how it feels like to me. Bar some very specific communities (which are moving over time), content on there is not exclusive to Reddit. And even the niche communities you might enjoy there, there's plenty more on the internet (or even offline) you can be a part of and find true enjoyment in.
Tildes for example is the one I'm a part of (https://tildes.net/). I quite like being part of a community where the website doesn't do everything in its power to piss me off and force me to make it more money. If anyone wants an invite feel free to email me (cf profile).
The comparison isn't just stretched IMHO, but downright faulty. With the old site and the API being both still present and perfectly functional, it's more like if said Walmart kept the old store up right next to the new one, still keeping it stocked - the new store has new sections, but I'm perfectly free to shop in the old one. Nothing makes me feel like I'm not wanted there.
Maybe that's enough for you to feel unwanted, it doesn't for me - yet. When they do cut old/API, it'll start feeling like they're actively pushing me out, therefore my previous stance.
You, and for the record I, are not the target market for this money making angle anymore. They don't hate us though, they nothing us.
We can still bypass all of the A/B testing with old/api methods so it still works. Why use Reddit? Because it's user generated content not Reddit generated content. It's not much deeper than that.
Tildes is like that now, they'll probably be doing the same or shut down given a long enough timeline. Imgur for an easy example here. Built because all the image hosting sites of the era sucked. Now it's worse than they were.
In your example, PRODUCT is bad or lacking (past expiry, not restocking, etc). With Reddit, PRODUCT is still good, plentiful, and arguably unique. It is the shopping experience that is lacking.
As well, in your example, only the poor-experience method to obtain the product exists. I believe overall message is that good old way STILL exists to obtain good product; and people are indicating they aren't sure even the good product will entice them once new shopping experience is the only way... but it isn't currently.
What it comes down to is whether one will make a principled stand (I want your product, but I do not like your attitude, so I'll leave) or pragmatic approach (I am still getting what I need out of this, I reserve the right to change my mind).
1) I still gain value from it now. Why do you buy an expensive car if you know eventually it will cost more to fix than it is worth and destined for the scrapheap?
2) The more people credibly saying that they will leave reddit when old.reddit disappears, the less likely it is to. Appearing in engagement numbers on old.reddit is clearly telling reddit there's a possibility I'm in that group.
3) If they do remove old.reddit, and then enough of us drop reddit, they may reverse course.
I have stopped using it in other contexts, as a casual user. Too painful.
Luckily the absence of the newest features is generally a positive.