Reddit removed r/random and r/randnsfw citing them as low usage features

Not to mention a mod for /r/jailbait.

From a project management perspective, if this feature was causing frequent test failures and required extra developer time to regularly debug these failures, then removing the feature is cheaper than maintaining it.

If very few people use a feature that has a measurable maintenance cost, then it would make sense to remove it.

It seems unlikely that new features or updates would affect this one, but we don't know. It hardly seems worth lamenting though, since we've already left Reddit.

But now Reddit will know every subreddit you visit will be entirely your choice. Removing the random button improves the quality of user analytics.

It also allows for algorithms fined tuned to keep you engaged not to be waylaid by some random sub that gives you a “well, that’s enough internet for today” moment.
Purely speculation, but would not be surprised to learn that subs that don’t encourage more scrolling or interaction (subs that are reading heavy, or direct people off site and keep them there) are shown less frequently than others. A random button breathes life into subs like those, whereas an algorithm-driven feed would slowly strangle them.

It’s a little cludgy because it’s a hack, it really only works well on lemmy.world. There is a new API end point in the next version of Lemmy though, and Voyager will use that if your instance is upgraded.

I think that's absolutely it. I'd bet reddit has a metric that shows that their "front page" algorithm is much more "effective" at retaining eyeballs and clicks than users who view subreddits directly, so disposing a feature that reduces friction on the less "effective" method of engagement will drive more users to the front page and the algorithmic capture that drives up Reddit's metrics. Probably harder to serve ads on individual subreddit too because sponsored posts look more out of place when the content is less heterogeneous