So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe • Hacker News Board

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#491

Post by wwweston » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:46 AM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #457

chuckadams wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never used to be an old.reddit die-hard, but new got so bad it chased me there to where I now use a browser extension to redirect all reddit links to old. I was convinced that the website continued to get worse so they could steer you into the app which hoovers up all your personal information. But then the app is so godawful unusable that I think we're just looking at straight-up incompetence. So yeah, I'm in the…

So, is it back to Digg, circle around to Slashdot, or is there a new kid on the block?

If the “protocols not platforms” philosophy is the right track, usenet/nntp.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#492

Post by 0123456789ABCDE » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:47 AM UTC

slifin wrote: post #481

benjiro29 wrote: post #84

As somebody who did plenty of scraping for his own little projects, lets just say that reddit their security concerns are just PR for "we do not want to keep supporting old.reddit". While yes, you can not simply scrap new reddit as easily as a pure html scraper is cheaper to run. And while the new reddit its js "slow down" scraping as it need to run over a headless browser. Do you slow scraping down a lot? No. Becaus…

I can't use new reddit - old reddit lets me disable infinite scroll I think all major platforms should have an option to disable infinite scroll Otherwise I look up and its 3 hours later

> the purpose of the system is what is does

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#493

Post by ggm » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:47 AM UTC

Why people do things and what people say decided what they do often differ. I think it very likely reddit want login to old reddit for lots of reasons and the post fact rationalisation to badge it security is the least important one.

Money and legal compliance pressures are far higher in my view.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#494

Post by SV_BubbleTime » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:48 AM UTC

Twistyfiasco wrote: post #342

jonathanlb wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're on iOS, you're out of luck. FF extensions aren't supported.

You can hide distracting items in safari to remove the popup.

True. But for me, I hide the “fuck you asshole, use our app!” bottom overlay, and it does go away, but then scroll stops working!

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#495

Post by SV_BubbleTime » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:48 AM UTC

markdown wrote: post #228

ksd482 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The discussion quality is unbelievably shallow in most of the subreddits. Unless it's a niche and technical subreddit such as mathematical topics, bio science subtopic, the discussion is quite shallow and in some cases simply misinformed. For e.g., a recent question about "is this person racist?", everyone jumped on the bandwagon and said "yes!", "100%", "obviously" without citing any sources. They simply paraphrased…

> I used to enjoy reddit back in 2011-2013 when it was all about silly memes and jokes. Reddit is as it's always been. You just got older and don't get the current silly memes and jokes.

This is not accurate.

I get the jokes. They range from some retarded live stream drama, to some basic bitch puns or otherwise barely novel wordplay, to some thinly veiled political attack that can be thrown and doesn’t need defense because it’s “omg, just a joke, lighten up bro!”.

Think about it this way, everyone should be aware that intelligence has gone down in the last two generations. Reading comprehension has gone down. Terminally online addicts have increased.

So… Why would humor even stay the same on some cleverness scale?

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#496

Post by SV_BubbleTime » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:52 AM UTC

hunterpayne wrote: post #398

PearlRiver wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world has gotten more political. Everything is going to shit and we have not even really started the climate change.

[flagged]

Right?! Real irony is rare; but here it is.

The politically religious have no perspective of what they’re doing to these places. If you really pin them down, they think it’s everyone else that has changed. Wild.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#497

Post by wongarsu » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:55 AM UTC

benjiro29 wrote: post #84

As somebody who did plenty of scraping for his own little projects, lets just say that reddit their security concerns are just PR for "we do not want to keep supporting old.reddit". While yes, you can not simply scrap new reddit as easily as a pure html scraper is cheaper to run. And while the new reddit its js "slow down" scraping as it need to run over a headless browser. Do you slow scraping down a lot? No. Becaus…

New reddit is more annoying (to me as human, but also to scrapers) in two very important ways:

- old reddit shows more or less the raw comment tree, sorted, like HN. New reddit does aggressive folding. You get a couple comments for each branch and have to click "show more" to see more

- new reddit forces you to log in to view anything tagged NSFW, including entire subreddits. Old reddit does not enforce this, along with not enforcing some other restrictions reddit has introduced over time

Of course none of this stops a scraper. And there is still the API. But these things make it easier to detect scrapers because they have to make a lot more requests and have to handle user sessions that make them easier to track

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#498

Post by SV_BubbleTime » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:58 AM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #459

DivingForGold wrote: post #253

Actually plain html is what IS safe. It is javascript that allows corporate interests to pop up and nag screen you, and otherwise control your web browsing experience to their favor. I have an app in my browser that allows me to toggle off javascript and vanquish most pop ups and nag screens.

Plain HTML is unsafe for Reddit, which is a company, and needs a safe revenue stream.

Note, Reddit is a publically traded company with a P/E higher than NVidia.

Nothing makes any sense and I hope Reddit crashes as soon as possible with their terrible decisions.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#499

Post by keyringlight » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 10:05 AM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #433

wildzzz wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a patched version of the last released version of redditisfun. Basically, you grab the AppID from when you install RedReader, authenticate it with your account (they send it to you in an email) and then patch redditisfun using that AppID with ReVanced or Morphe. I've been using redditisfun for like 15 years, not really interested in moving to their official app. All of the legacy features work fine. Only weird…

Why bother with all that? Just quit Reddit and your sanity will improve, unless you replace Reddit with HN.

The challenge lies with whether the things you go to reddit (or any other service/product) for are concentrated or exclusively there, such as discussion or information on a particular topic. There's a lot of communities where they've concentrated their resources on a free site and are at the mercy of the whims of the owner, discord is another. Very often there's no simple switch to an alternative without losing a lot, or hoping on the charity of others to spend effort migrating.

Re: So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe

#500

Post by figmert » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 10:08 AM UTC

red-iron-pine wrote: post #143

benjiro29 wrote: post #84

As somebody who did plenty of scraping for his own little projects, lets just say that reddit their security concerns are just PR for "we do not want to keep supporting old.reddit". While yes, you can not simply scrap new reddit as easily as a pure html scraper is cheaper to run. And while the new reddit its js "slow down" scraping as it need to run over a headless browser. Do you slow scraping down a lot? No. Becaus…

> "we do not want to keep supporting old.reddit" the second old.reddit goes is the second I stop using that site it's already very obviously chock full of slop and AI bullshit, with some subs having long unavoidable lists of "your post was removed because you did not verify" trails that imply that automated posters found a thread and went hard but add in privacy crushing bs -- no reason to be there anymore. Back to o…

I used to use infinity for reddit, after the api saga, I was able to patch it with my own api key since personal ones were still free. I lost the key since, and had to re-install Infinity, so when I go to the reddit api page, turns out they don't give you keys any more, and instead you need to sign up to their developer platform, which I requires a lot of hoops to get a key for free, and from what I understand, that's a big if.

Anyway, needless to say I've stopped using it for the past 3 months or so. I still open old.reddit on my computer every now and then, but I use reddit so much less because of this.