No, it's not you, your browser, your pc, your grandma or the weather.

DeviantArt requires an account to see naughty art. .....Again, after so many years.

Probably because people can easily lie on those age things... Not that people won't still lie when they sign up for an account, mind you...

Fortunately for me, I already got one.

I noticed it as well: it's annoying, but not the worst. I guess stuff like this is cyclic in nature:
Step 1) Hides away sensible content from non-members
Step 2) Lifts account requirement and gets more traffic as a result
Step 3) The "questionable" stuff becomes easier to find and people start to complain about it to the staff who decide to solve the problem by going back to step 1

That already used to be the case with a lot of the sexual stuff. It was only if the artist set the mature content to 'moderate' that you could do the date of birth thing. No more, it seems.

I thought that was normal?

<joking>People lie about that?!

I would never do that, I definitely didn't lie about my age when I made my Youtube account. Nope, no way. I didn't tell no lies there.</joking>

No, back in the days you could just press the button "Confirm your age" and fill in your birth date.

The change likely happened due the new skin and those anti-porn USA laws which turned Tumblr into a porn-hate site.

wasn't Tumblr's issue with bots? I recall they had quite an infestation prior to the non-male representing nipple porn purge

This is how dA was years ago. I had no idea it was ever any different. I made an account just to see age restricted pics a long time ago.

I mean, creating & owning an account is free, their premium service is entirely optional. Age restriction tied to an account for 18+ content doesn't sound different from the majority of art sites tbh.

and really, what does one need the Premium for if you're just browsing

A quick run through the Core benefits is...nothing. It's probably adequate if you want dA to be your primary source of access/income and can't afford your own site. I would probably favor it over the crowdfunding sites, but your own site is probably best.

Can we just say this is a nothingburger of an issue and move on?

The only thing to worry about is the possibility it might be the first of many changes to conform to what our current political and social environment finds "adequate"

Take Patreon as an example: first they targeted people who made vore art, and we know what next

Granted, compared to deviantart their first precedent is a LOT more serious and them going after other types of fetish art is just reaching a logical conclusion, but still, I say we should watch out for the time being...

I actually paid for a Deviantart Core subscription for the (sorely-needed, in my opinion as someone who posts there) ability to have gallery subfolders. That's about it, though, don't think I've ever used any other feature.

And, since you get to keep the subfolders you created after it ends, then I don't know that I'd pay to renew it.

Is that to have folders within folders or to just even have top-level folders in your gallery?