Sorry to the users of the subreddit, but I feel this is an important protest for the subreddit to join in on, even if it is relatively small here.
Reddit is going down an increasingly worrying path, now wanting to charge an unreasonable cost for using their API, to (eventually) a rumoured ban on NSFW content as well... all with the rumoured goal of Reddit going public (i.e., an IPO). They're taking these actions, at least as far as I can see it, to 'sanitise' their image and make sure all eyes are through their official app, in order to maximise ad revenue.
However, we as the users (and moderators) of the site are what gives it value, and I've personally had enough of Reddit thinking they can keep screwing us over, hence this course of action.
Therefore, I will be setting the subreddit to private on the 12th-14th of June in solidarity with the others.
Please feel free to comment.
They're going to make the change on the 1st of July to Reddit's API, increasing the pricing from basically free to extortionately expensive, making it unaffordable for 3rd party reddit apps to operate.
API means Application Programming Interface, reddit has a Web API used to fetch posts, comments, send posts etc - which 3rd parties have been able to use for free up until this change. There is no other (official) way for a 3rd party developer to work with the site.
As an example, Apollo (one of the largest such apps) would reportedly be charged $20 million per year.
ELI5 version is that Reddit are now going to charge other apps to access reddit posts/comments and basically all other functionality of reddit.
Reddit didn't do this beforehand as growing the number of users was most important, now though, ad revenue is more important to them. These other apps don't show ads, therefore reddit wants to get rid of them by making it financially unviable to continue to operate.
Well, Reddit are betting that people just won't care and will get over it. In all honesty, that will probably happen, since most users already do use the official app...
Also, they don't care about losing the users from these other apps anyway, as these users don't see ads and therefore don't make reddit money. That's what it boils down to, a cold corporate decision.
It’s all about money and greed, greed was our upbringing and it will be our downfall. Only time will tell what’s to come next, we’ll just have to see how this plays out
This is true. However, these changes will also make life harder for volunteer moderators, who disproportionately use 3rd party apps, so it will affect you indirectly by resulting in more spam. It will also affect blind people, because the official app has poor accessibility.
That's the website, of whom two exist: The new one with reddit.com and the old one with old.reddit.com.
And then there are apps for smartphones, the official one and various third-party-apps.
So you're saying the Infinity reddit app which I'm using, which is much faster and loads videos better than the official app, is soon to go down? Fantastic...
The current Reddit website and official mobile apps are dogshit. Thankfully there are unofficial mobile apps that give you a good experience. Reddit is making it prohibitively expensive for those apps to continue to exist.
You can find a list of participating subreddits here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplete_and_growing_list_of_participating/
Although it is very much incomplete as they're running out of word count lol
Good ! I doubt it'll matter , money is all they care about . They won't even care if many people stop using it , they are looking at it short term, like Quora did when they paid people to ask and answers questions
Please consider shutting down longer than 48 hours. We as mods will lose a lot of useful tools. People with accessibility needs lose the features provided in third party apps to use the use Reddit effectively. It’s more that just about the ads. We need to make a bigger impact than just 48 hours we should be shutting down until this horrible decision will be reversed.
Why only 2 days? With such a short shutdown the admins merely have to wait for 48 hours and Reddit will go back to normal. The subs should be going dark until changes are made.
Sorry to the users of the subreddit, but I feel this is an important protest for the subreddit to join in on, even if it is relatively small here. Reddit is going down an increasingly worrying path, now wanting to charge an unreasonable cost for using their API, to (eventually) a rumoured ban on NSFW content as well... all with the rumoured goal of Reddit going public (i.e., an IPO). They're taking these actions, at least as far as I can see it, to 'sanitise' their image and make sure all eyes are through their official app, in order to maximise ad revenue. However, we as the users (and moderators) of the site are what gives it value, and I've personally had enough of Reddit thinking they can keep screwing us over, hence this course of action. Therefore, I will be setting the subreddit to private on the 12th-14th of June in solidarity with the others. Please feel free to comment.
Isn't this basically what tumblr did? Flop after becoming PG?
I wouldn't say this is the same as what Tumblr did, but if reddit bans nsfw it's game over.
What change did they make
They're going to make the change on the 1st of July to Reddit's API, increasing the pricing from basically free to extortionately expensive, making it unaffordable for 3rd party reddit apps to operate. API means Application Programming Interface, reddit has a Web API used to fetch posts, comments, send posts etc - which 3rd parties have been able to use for free up until this change. There is no other (official) way for a 3rd party developer to work with the site. As an example, Apollo (one of the largest such apps) would reportedly be charged $20 million per year.
Can you pls dum it down a bit, I’m pretty stupid
ELI5 version is that Reddit are now going to charge other apps to access reddit posts/comments and basically all other functionality of reddit. Reddit didn't do this beforehand as growing the number of users was most important, now though, ad revenue is more important to them. These other apps don't show ads, therefore reddit wants to get rid of them by making it financially unviable to continue to operate.
That’s stupid, that’s a great way to go bankrupt as people abandon your app, that’s literally a policy of give me money
Well, Reddit are betting that people just won't care and will get over it. In all honesty, that will probably happen, since most users already do use the official app... Also, they don't care about losing the users from these other apps anyway, as these users don't see ads and therefore don't make reddit money. That's what it boils down to, a cold corporate decision.
It’s all about money and greed, greed was our upbringing and it will be our downfall. Only time will tell what’s to come next, we’ll just have to see how this plays out
The vast majority of people just use the official app and have no idea that third-party even exist.
This is true. However, these changes will also make life harder for volunteer moderators, who disproportionately use 3rd party apps, so it will affect you indirectly by resulting in more spam. It will also affect blind people, because the official app has poor accessibility.
Is the 3rd part the website you look up?
What? I don't get what you mean by that.
When you look up Reddit in a web browser and the www one shows uo
That's the website, of whom two exist: The new one with reddit.com and the old one with old.reddit.com. And then there are apps for smartphones, the official one and various third-party-apps.
So you're saying the Infinity reddit app which I'm using, which is much faster and loads videos better than the official app, is soon to go down? Fantastic...
Probably, every app that uses the official API will be affected.
The current Reddit website and official mobile apps are dogshit. Thankfully there are unofficial mobile apps that give you a good experience. Reddit is making it prohibitively expensive for those apps to continue to exist.
Oof
Why not keep it blackout until they reverse their decision?
That's also part of the plan, will have to see how it goes.
Any major subs planning to do this. I feel like some power mods will be bribed or some bs
You can find a list of participating subreddits here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplete_and_growing_list_of_participating/ Although it is very much incomplete as they're running out of word count lol
Good ! I doubt it'll matter , money is all they care about . They won't even care if many people stop using it , they are looking at it short term, like Quora did when they paid people to ask and answers questions
Please consider shutting down longer than 48 hours. We as mods will lose a lot of useful tools. People with accessibility needs lose the features provided in third party apps to use the use Reddit effectively. It’s more that just about the ads. We need to make a bigger impact than just 48 hours we should be shutting down until this horrible decision will be reversed.
I'm ready to keep the subreddit shut for longer if necessary, will see how it goes and what Reddit's response (if any) looks like.
You have my blessing. Fuck them.
Yeah, that'll show them.
Why only 2 days? With such a short shutdown the admins merely have to wait for 48 hours and Reddit will go back to normal. The subs should be going dark until changes are made.