Boggles my mind how that company is still going after making itself one of the worst reading experiences online with the barrage of sign up forms and nag banners when you try to read anything on it.
Is there some kind of term for this phenomenon? Web apps like Medium and Imgur created with the sole intention of giving you a no-bullshit, clean, straightforward, minimalistic UI and presentation mutating into horrifying abominations that then go out of their way to fill everything with as much bullshit as humanly possible. Are they just typical cases of starting out idealistic, getting investment due to rapid growth despite no solid path to profitability, later frantically realizing it's totally financially unsustainable, and then doing a complete 180 to satisfy investors / not have to shutter the company?
Yes.
You're looking at their latest killer feature, the founder hanging out with Colin Kaepernick.