You May Lose Access to the “old Reddit” Forever, but There Is a Way Around It.
“Old Reddit” is the only way I use Reddit. This doesn’t apply to most of the technology in my life. I’m not aiming to use only a ten-year-old iPhone or avoid video games with more than 64-bit architecture. But in my opinion, old Reddit is the only proper way to use the site. While “new” Reddit has more “features,” it’s clunky and slow. Old Reddit may be extremely basic and look roughly the same as when I first started “using Reddit,” but it works. Unfortunately, most of us probably won’t be able to use old Reddit for long.
On Wednesday, Reddit announced a series of infrastructure changes on its r/modnews subreddit. These kinds of updates typically don’t make headlines in tech news—I can’t say I often see mod news on Reddit. But as part of these changes, Reddit confirmed a rather sweeping deprecation: users will lose access to the old version of Reddit if they haven’t used the platform at least once in the past six months. And it’s not enough to simply use Reddit itself: if you haven’t used the old version of Reddit at least once in the past six months, you’ll lose access permanently.
This follows a previous change to the old version of Reddit that the company implemented in the summer, which required users to log in to access this version of Reddit. While we don’t have a precise date for when these changes will go into effect, the new announcement clearly states that “over the next few months, we’ll further restrict access for logged-in users to only those who have used the old version of Reddit in the last six months (which covers the vast majority of all users on the old version of Reddit).” The only exception is moderators.
Why is Reddit targeting the old Reddit?
According to Reddit, these changes are intended to prevent abuse on the platform. By forcing users to log in to use the old Reddit, the company claims to be preventing unauthorized access, which is “the largest source of malicious data collection and automated traffic.” By banning accounts that haven’t logged into the old Reddit in the past six months, Reddit claims to be addressing another issue: it will now prevent attackers from creating Reddit accounts solely for the purpose of accessing (and collecting data on) the old Reddit and its content.
According to Reddit, these changes do not affect users of the old version of Reddit. If you actively use the old Reddit, the company believes you do so frequently enough to circumvent the new rules. Therefore, Reddit believes the vast majority of affected users are those attempting to abuse the old Reddit, not those actively using it.
The problem is, not all users of the old Reddit are so steadfast. The new rules mean you can no longer take a long break from using the old Reddit and expect to return in the future. Of course, Reddit will always exist, but you’ll lose access to what many consider the “best” version of the platform. Since this is the second change to the old Reddit in a short period of time, it begs the question: is Reddit trying to shut down the old Reddit? Ars Technica posed this very question to the company , and received the following response:
“As Reddit CEO Steve Huffman previously confirmed , Reddit is continuing to work on the future of the old Reddit. This change is aimed at limiting unauthorized access and reducing automated abuse, not eliminating the old Reddit for the people and moderators who rely on it. We want to preserve the old Reddit for real users, not allow it to become a conduit for automated abuse.”
How to continue using the old Reddit
According to the rules, the easiest way to continue using the old version of Reddit is to simply continue using it. If you’ve never done so before, you can go to old.reddit.com and log in to your account when prompted. As long as you log in to this version of the site at least once every six months, you’ll retain your access—assuming Reddit doesn’t change the rules again .
But if you want a more permanent solution that doesn’t require visiting the old Reddit twice a year, become a moderator. Moderators don’t have the same requirements; simply being a moderator gives them lifelong access to the site. The easiest way to become a moderator is to simply create your own subreddit. If you have access to the old Reddit, you’ll see this on the main page as “Create Your Subreddit.” If you’re on the new Reddit, you’ll see it as “Create a Community” in the three-line menu. Reddit will guide you through the entire process, offering to answer questions or fill out surveys about your new community. If the subreddit isn’t already taken, you can create it at the end, after which you’ll automatically become a moderator of your new subreddit.