I think it makes sense as a strategy to leverage the existing backend with a new frontend that caters to an entirely different audience. If I were building that to attract a new audience, I wouldn't particularly care what current users think. For example, I think it's pretty well known that reddit is much more successful among men whereas women have preferred other aggregators. If executed well, a new view that sidelines the traditional reddit interface could be a valid alternative for people that are turned off by aspects of reddit's community.

I think it depends on whether reddit is being smart (targeting pinterest) vs retarded (targeting 9gag).

They have made it pretty clear over the last couple of years that want to jettison their original userbase for a much larger, more mainstream userbase. There is more money in it so I can't say I blame them, but they had better hope they have the critical mass needed to make that happen.

Lets be honest here: Reddit has done a lot of censoring lately. It's not a surprise you're not hearing anything about Upvoted on Reddit, it's just sad.

...what? How does that make sense? You think Reddit is censoring discussion of its own news website?