So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#1

Post by montroser » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 12:32 PM UTC

So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe
cole-k.com

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#2

Post by khurs » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:03 PM UTC

Reddit has licensing deals with OpenAI and Google, so is likely trying to keep other AI companies out

https://mediaandthemachine.substack.com/p/reddits-new-ai-lic...

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#3

Post by superkuh » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:04 PM UTC

This is the second death of reddit, the penultimate one. But it stems directly from the first death in ~2015 when they accepted the massive venture capital investment and then had to try to monetize the facebook refugees which meant clearing out all the business appropriate "undesirables" including firing many beloved long time corporate employee, and switching to model where people and corporations posted to their profiles (like facebook) instead of subreddits set up by the existing userbase. It hasn't been reddit since. And they're making that very clear as of yesterday.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#4

Post by m0llusk » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:04 PM UTC

This is hyperbolic. Users that started with the older interface often prefer that. Humans do not like change. This is a trap that many software developers offering prereleases also fall into. The safety claim has as much to do with maintaining only one stack at a time. Keeping an older interface around extends vulnerabilities and generates ongoing maintenance costs. Referring to old Reddit as plain, safe HTML is not an accurate characterization.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#5

Post by echelon_musk » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:05 PM UTC

m0llusk wrote: post #4

This is hyperbolic. Users that started with the older interface often prefer that. Humans do not like change. This is a trap that many software developers offering prereleases also fall into. The safety claim has as much to do with maintaining only one stack at a time. Keeping an older interface around extends vulnerabilities and generates ongoing maintenance costs. Referring to old Reddit as plain, safe HTML is not…

I look forward to New HN.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#6

Post by msny » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:05 PM UTC

I only used old.reddit, it's a sad day as I say goodbye to reddit because the new layout is terrible and since they killed open reddit clients there is no alternative.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#7

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#8

Post by silon42 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

I am not logged in into Reddit at work or on my phone. But I have redirect to old.reddit.com enabled.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#9

Post by busymom0 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

> This is because appending site: reddit.com to a search query is basically a surefire way to find results written by genuine humans.

I don't think this has been true for a while now. Reddit has been filled with bots and shill accounts for a while.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#10

Post by corbet » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:09 PM UTC

I am hard put to defend reddit and a lot of the things they do ... but I can attest, from personal experience, that scrapers are a huge problem for anybody trying to keep a complex site working. Withholding the display of the comments will significantly reduce the database traffic needed to satisfy a request; I can see why they would want to do that for anonymous readers.