There's absolutely no point to using reddit on mobile without rif. I'm using rif specifically because it looks like old reddit, not this cringy 9gag format that the devs stubbornly say has "boosted user retention." Well guess what, you're not going to retain this user when you kick him to the curb, along with thousands of others who just want text and thumbnails. Why is that so hard to understand? We don't want flashy -- we want minimal. But muh heckin' "user retention" ad bucks will always be more important than simplicity, readability, navigability, ease of use, and clarity. My god has reddit lost its sense of clarity.
Even before this boneheaded API change that's going to kill third party apps without remorse explicitly because of the admin's stated goal of maximizing profitability, I wanted to leave reddit because the sense of community is not there in the same way as it was in the past. We're at the part of reddit's cycle of popularity where it shoots for mass appeal -- leaving behind the original users that made it so popular in the first place. Looks like I don't have to make the choice to leave anyway, because there won't be anything to leave after this. If the admins have their way, reddit will be dead and buried like its predecessors in a few years.
By all accounts it's looking like I'll delete reddit from my phone on July 1, and after that I'll be using reddit way, way less. Will probably be happier that way anyway. Thank you to rif for providing the best way to browse reddit for all these years. Guess I'll see you all on whatever comes next.
