We’ve been dealing with this for decades at least.

Employee retention can often cost much less than hiring and training a replacement, but nobody worries about that until the problem is too big to shrug off.

I don’t know where they expect this infinite pool of new users is coming from at this point.

My theory is it's just alt accounts for trolls or "unsavory" content (eg: adult, politics, WSB)

About a month ago, reddit sent me an email to "verify my account" - an account I've had for years. I clicked the link to activate it only for another "verify your account" email to appear a few weeks later which I promptly deleted.

I think part of it is individuals with mainstream browser settings thinking that because Chrome and reddit remember them every time due to the lack of privacy oriented settings on their system that that happens to everyone. They might have to hit login once every few months and forget what it's like.

Others get so caught up in their own usage habit that they forget others don't want to be prompted to login when they hit reply to a comment (which causes a page reload and they lose their place in the comments) but would rather login up front before commenting.