I’m not sure if this is new, but when I clicked on the /r/pics protest post link from the frontpage here, I was redirected to this: https://old.reddit.com/premium
I’m not sure if this is well-known or not that they’re pushing it now, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it, especially on old.reddit.
That’s always the issue with whales right? They don’t make your service any better, they just consume it. So you don’t get the network effect that comes from having tons of people making your service great, where a lower barrier of entry is important.