Not OP; just a guess: old.reddit.com is a way to view and interact with Reddit using the original theme (or closely based on original look). A ton of tools were built for the site to look for data in a specific format. Many users likely utilize this “old” Reddit due to using legacy tools. It’s a way to get people onto the newer product so you can retire old infrastructure.

Basically, an enshittification decision by Reddit because they need to make more money.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 32 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

old.reddit also bypasses a lot of the new blocks in place. For example, the constant full screen nag to make an account to view nsfw communities and posts. Just swapping www for old in the url and it shows right up.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

true, and it also prevents intentional lagging that happens on the "forever scrolling" on the browser( plus it resets your feed everytime you refresh) to force you to use the datamining intrusive app.

[–] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

Also, old.reddit didn't make me nauseous when looking at it like new reddit did

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

they were in a downward spiral the moment they went PUBLIC. they have to please right wingers and advertisements somehow.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 weeks ago

The stats.

The original post title:

Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits. Users will now see seven-day metrics that track active visitors and contributions instead.

And this was a comment:

And sadly they also announced that on old.reddit the stats will entirely go.

[–] Blaze@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1nddbx0/reddit_is_dropping_subscriber_counts_on/ndftd5v/

[–] JayGray91@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Done replying to some people and promoting Lemmy and piefed. 🫰

[–] Blaze@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago

Thank you!

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That looks like actual, real people? Wild.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

Lots of smaller communities still have active human populations. It is, somewhat paradoxically, the most active subs that have the least real people.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

They’re also taking the stats away from old-reddit…

[–] Pamasich@kbin.earth 1 points 3 weeks ago

They are dropping subscriber count and online user count from Old Reddit's subreddit sidebars. On Shreddit (the newer design) they get replaced with a new 7 day average, but on Old Reddit they've announced they'll remove them entirely and won't replace them with anything.

That's the only thing I see people complain about in regards to Old Reddit in that thread.

That said, this follows a trend and it's clear to me that they ARE dropping Old Reddit. They're moving features away, requiring you to use Shreddit to access more and more features of the site. For example chat and the notifications inbox are replacing private messages, but they only support Shreddit. So users who want to view replies to their posts have to visit Shreddit to see them. Now with this change, if you want to see how many subscribers a subreddit has, you need to switch to Shreddit to see that.