Why does Reddit force you login to disable auto play?

Cause they want you to have a reason so you can log in and (1) they can track you and (2) you are one step closer to participating.

Really though I hate the “new” interface of reddit where, with my neurodivergence, I am greatly distressed by the ads blending with content.

Answering the immediate question: KPIs. The company is prepping for an IPO 2H2023,[1] trying to juice engagement, advertising, and revenue stats, and is well down the enshittification track: <https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys> (Doctorow's describing a different site, but the dynamic is identical in cause and consequence.)

As to what to do about it:

- I'm pretty sure RES (Reddit Enhancement Suite) will kill this. Even if it doesn't, it's worth using regardless. You'll also want to visit old.reddit.com rather than the default site. <https://redditenhancementsuite.com/>

- Stop using Reddit. I largely have despite investing over a decade in a reasonably-useful-to-me bloggish subreddit. Cakeday threads are increasingly ironic. <https://teddit.net/r/dredmorbius/comments/ywhz7s/happy_caked...>

- If you have to use it, go through the Teddit front end: <https://teddit.net/about> You can simply replace "reddit.com" with "teddit.net" in any URL, or install a redirector browser extension such as LibRedirect: <https://github.com/libredirect/browser_extension>

- Look to alternative discussion sites. I'm a member of (though fairly rare participant these days) Tildes <https://tildes.net>. There's a Federated Reddit alternative as well, Lemmy: <https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy>. Probably others.

- Spend your time more wisely. I'm finding online content vastly unrewarding in general, with few exceptions. Wikipedia for reference, and a few other informational sites. I'll check text-only news (there was a great HN discussion on this a few weeks back: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35313232> based on <https://blog.wturrell.co.uk/text-only-news-websites/>). Mostly though I rely on articles, books, or (carefully curated) podcasts.

Hacker News is a quite-good link aggregator. If you want even more discriminating selections, check the curated collections:

- "best" <https://news.ycombinator.com/best>

- "invited" <https://news.ycombinator.com/invited>

- or "pool" (2nd-chance submissions) <https://news.ycombinator.com/pool>

You can also use Algolia Search to show the top items from the past week, month, or year, according to HN's vote and activity stats, by submitting a blank search and selecting the appropriate date range:

- Best of past week: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastWeek&page=0&prefix=fal...>

- Best of past month: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastMonth&page=0&prefix=fa...>

- Best of past year: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal...>

(You can also specify your own preferred date bounds, though that's more awkward.)

HN's discussion quality varies, but it's well above the general level of Reddit, popular subreddits most particularly.

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Notes:

1. "Reddit aims for IPO in second half of 2023 - The Information" <https://neuters.de/technology/reddit-aims-ipo-second-half-20...>