If I'm being honest it's probably been a decade since I participated in New on reddit. It was just so much.. but I don't mind putting in some work again.
I'm not completely selfless either. For me, sorting by new makes me interact with people more. No one will notice the 973rd comment under an already popular post. The first comment will be noticed at least by OP, even if it's the only comment under a barely noticed post. It's quite frustrating for me to see a question in popular and be like "I could help this guy but I'm sure it's already been taken care of"
Sorting by New on reddit was just cringe worthy for the most part. When I wanted to see the newer stuff I sorted by the top posts for the hour. It at least weeded out the worst jokes, memes, and the like.
Here though my default is to open the new locally and then for all instances.