> What incentive do I have to sign up?

Arguably the best Reddit experience is only available when you are signed in. Reddit's greatest value come from niche communities. Personally I enjoy things like r/savagegarden, r/mycology and r/askhistorians, so when I log in I see pictures of mushrooms and carnivorous plants, and get to read interesting articles about history and science. If you don't log in and subscribe to things you're interested in then you will see memes, jokes, pictures of people's pets etc, it's a totally different experience.

Disclaimer: work for Reddit.

Yes we all know the logged in experience is terrific.

However, the anonymous experience is (was) also terrific for very different reasons. Reddit is next to unusable on mobile safari in incognito mode. Sometimes I don’t want to be tracked. I want to read whatever I want to at the moment, without having that be associated to my name in a database somewhere, and without having related ads follow me around. It’s an intellectual freedom that to many people is non-negotiable.

Reddit is now taking money from a Chinese company, where this kind of anonymity is not possible. That’s frightening to me as a longtime reddit user, both logged in and anon.

Uh, you know you can make multiple accounts and don't need to even associate an email, right? You can browse just as anonymously logged in as out.

I'm specifically talking about Reddit mobile on incognito mode. You are bombarded by App ads and even dark pattern modals trying to get you to install the app. Compare it to HN, which is a great experience in normal or incognito mode.

I get that I can create an anon account, but I don’t want to spend 5 minutes doing that every time I open an incognito tab.

Just need to click "Next" when there is an email prompt, still available but an hard to avoid dark pattern

It's an intellectual freedom that has no precedent throughout history. If you walked into a library in the 1950s and thumbed through a book about communism, you were probably put on a list. If you walked into a privately owned book store, the owners had a right to gossip and tell others what you purchased, and I'm sure many people unfortunately made use of that liberty. This isn't new.

You could go a few towns over and there wouldn't be any gossip because they wouldn't know who the hell you were.

There are many amazing new possibilities brought about because of the Internet. Just because Stalin (and the FBI) tracked your library habits doesn’t mean we should squash out useful functionality.

Don't work for them, but I've had a similar experience.

I find it funny that the OP would ask this question while being an active part of HN. Reddit is HN, for niche topics for which communities are hard to find.

I am regular on subs like r/progmetal, r/boston , r/bodyweightfitness, r/frugalmalefashion and r/gifrecipes . Topics for which I wouldn't find even a close alternative anywhere on the internet.

In addition, there are popular subs like r/soccer and r/dota2 which have developed a personality of their own, with in-jokes, popular posters and regular weekly focused discussions.

In many ways, the front page of reddit is literally the least interesting part of it. I am glad it is that way, because it adds an element of inaccessibility to it, keeping away those without enough commitment. (HN does it too with its interface and topics that need specialized knowledge)

That is one usage pattern.

The alternatives aren't just visiting the main page while being logged out, but for instance hitting a thread or subreddit that is linked from another context. Like say a mobile app that uses a subreddit for the occasional announcement/discussion, which is where that nag popup gets really annoying.

I also visit several niche communities directly. And despite having a decade old account, if I want to comment I usually create a throwaway nym. Obviously that experience isn't as integrated as it could be, but that's the tradeoff we all have to make in the surveillance society!

Reddit.com/r/askhistorians+mycology+savagegarden gets that same experience though.

old.reddit.com/r/askhistorians+mycology+savagegarden

FTFY

Fine, show it for the front page. What is the advantage when you are already at a subreddit or a specific thread?

I hope your superiors realise how much they are stealing users from the future.

You've basically given your competitors a free USP - "it's like Reddit but without all the bullshit".

Signing up for an account is cool. But we are talking about installing the app.

OFF-TOPIC question: how did you first time find those subreddits?

I mean you can search?

If it is a common word or activity, chances are there is a related subreddit for it, and askhistorians is one of the more well known ones. There are a lot of similar ask subreddits titled in a similar fashion, but that obviously comes from knowing other parts of reddit.

As a long time reddit user I actually find the product to be borderline unusable without an account. There's so much noise and the account features allow you to focus in on what you want to hear.

I've never used the official reddit app so I cant speak to it but I have used an android app called RedReader for a few years now and it is my preferred way to browse reddit. I highly recommend it.

This. Can't recommend RedReader enough.

> I've never really been into their various communities/subredits

Well, there you go. There's the issue right there

I somehow naturally managed to stay away from bad subs.. that said their long effort to revamp the site is so sadly annoying I consider letting go.

Im a fan of third party, open-source Reddit apps on Android. Joey for Reddit is cleaner, leaner, and fairly intuitive.

At least you don't need an email to sign up.

Yes, you do.