As an opinionated 'power user' type, I've become used to experiencing friction on web 2.0. So for example I sometimes have to make accommodations because my adblocker or user scripts aren't working with a change on a site. I also find myself doing a lot of captchas, because I use a VPN. That's not unexpected: I'm treading an unhappy path, I shouldn't expect my usage to be considered when these changes are made.

But what I find increasingly common is that I run into these kinds of frictions even when I do behave as a normie. So even if I do install the official Reddit app, I'll end up going through the broken flow you've described. Or I'll make an account and be immediately given a shadowban for being a 'bot'. Or I'll see cookie prompts interfere with login prompts interfering with app prompts.

Devs aren't even making things work outside their own setup now.