old.reddit.com is remnants of a product they're trying to distance themselves from. People who like it are not the target market. It's not that they want you to go away, they'd much rather you be a scroll zombie addicted to the tripe on the front page. But if that's not an option they'd rather you fuck off. All the thoughtful subreddits I used to visit are ghost towns now, with 1-4 posts a month.