I'm of the opinion that their old web site, while perhaps being visually less pretty, is still superior to their new one, both in terms of UX and performance.

The signal vs. noise ratio is also pretty bad. In some subreddits, who cares? Or maybe the noise is even desirable. But in other more serious subreddits where people are looking for serious answers, it can get very annoying. Maybe you're right in that even a $1 fee would reduce the number of people that just go around replying to every thread with "your mom" jokes.