It's an interesting question. "Reddit as a business" would seem to have an incentive to keep their esoteric and weird communities going, otherwise it's hard to see their appeal over other social-media sites. The notable thing about the dark patterns you correctly point out is that they hit the casual users really hard, but most dedicated users (the folks who plausibly provide the content and indeed community that ultimately gives Reddit its value) can easily get around them. It will be interesting to see if this pattern can prove sustainable.