I think you are overestimating the vocal minority here.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that most people that even use reddit directly (website, any app, etc), are just lurkers. I wouldn't be surprised if many of them don't even have an account, based simply on a few popular subs' top posts, number of upvotes, number of comments as compared to the number of people here + subscribers.
I would argue that most of the people that actually consume reddit content don't care about reddit, the app, the layout, etc. They are getting the content regurgitated through whatever forum/social media influencer or site they are browsing.
Before, if a person came across clickbait lists and articles, it almost certainly came from buzzfeed. Now it originates at Reddit.
If you think Reddit is backing down, you are sadly mistaken.
- Reddit knows EXACTLY how people are consuming reddit. They know whether they are using the API, new/old Reddit, referenced from other social media, how a person interacts, what kind of money that person makes them, etc
- This was clearly extremely unpopular. And it's misguided to think they didn't know how unpopular it would be.
- Everything from the admins has been completely tone deaf with zero regard for the desires of the vocal users.
To this end I think it's safe to say that Reddit doesn't give a shit about what the vocal users say because they know that's not really the target audience