I've been using reddit for almost a decade. I've found many people on reddit saying that if it wasn't for the redesign (and the mobile apps) they would not be using reddit. It surprises me to see that some people like it; it made me realise this will mark a very, very big demographic shift in the website. Many old users will leave, and many new users will come. Whether that's for good or bad remains to be seen. I think the original spirit of Reddit may end up disappearing, but I don't think that's something that is worth saving, as redditors and their culture are crap.

You compare it to having added thumbnails and whitespace, but this is a complete site rewrite, both in the backend and the frontend. Nothing to do with what you mention.

Personally I will also quit once they force us to use the redesign because I find it to be slow and, let's say, not "productive" enough.