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[–]NutterButterFlutterStill waving into the void[S] 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

What does everything think about what's going on over at Reddit? Is this the death knell, are we seeing Digg 2.0 in real time? Or will social media addiction overcome all resistance?

For those out of the loop, Reddit announced changes to their API access 1-2 months back, which were to become effective June 19th. Rate limitations, costs to utilize, and limiting NSFW content are the major changes.

In May, they killed Pushshift API access, which is what drives sites like Unddit, Reveddit, and more. Pushshift may or may not be coming back with new terms, we'll see.

Most recently, the largest 3rd party developer app (Apollo, for iOS) had a conversation with Reddit about what their costs would be. It comes with a price tag of $20,000,000 USD per year. That is not a typo, it's 20 million. Reddit assured developers that the costs would be reasonable, and instead, went down the Twitter path.

Since all 3rd party apps use the API and will have ridiculously inflated costs, they are shutting their apps down as of July 1st, the hard cutoff date. I've been feeding my drama-llama for the past few days, and the concerns are:

  • Most users are willing to give money to app developers to continue, but very few are "whales". Even if they weren't offended by Reddit's behavior towards developers, they simply can't afford $10-$20 per month to support the ridiculous $20M price tag.

  • Limiting NSFW content in the API means no porn, and we know Redditors can't just NOT consume porn. The horror! I joke, but in their defense, it IS limiting half (if not more) of the content available on Reddit.

  • Many many MANY mods use 3rd party apps to work on their phone. It's been a long time since I used the Reddit app, but when our sub was still there, the mod tools were laughable and ineffective, and the app was filled with ads and suggested/promoted content instead of my home page. It was terrible, and I can only imagine it's gotten worse. If mods can't mod on their phones, then they're chained to their desktop/laptop PCs to function properly. That introduces delays in timely management, and some mods don't even have a desktop/laptop to fall back on.

Mods are now coordinating a sitewide sub blackout in protest. The protest will begin on June 12th. Regular users of 3rd party apps are all threatening to leave Reddit entirely on July 1st, and are already signing up at other sites like Lemmy, Tildes, etc.

[–]RippoffOfLoveSStraight | Overuses quotation marks 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think ultimately Reddit is going to survive this change. Alternatives will see some major growth, but will likely never overtake Reddit. I hope I'm wrong, Reddit sucks the big one.

[–]bucetao6969Ace spectrum | LGB should respect religion practicers 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Reddit, youtube and twitter are just too fucking big.

If even twitter can't die with ellon musk a guy that will proudly platform the "what is a woman" documentary, then reddit certainly won't die.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Hmm. Interesting mess coming, it sounds like. I haven't been watching so thank you for the summary. Sounds pretty idiotic.

[–]NutterButterFlutterStill waving into the void[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I cant wait to see the shitshow the site becomes on June 12th, Reddit blackouts have always been good for a laugh. The front page of r/all will be a ghost town with subs either going private, or locked down/restricted to only mod updates.

Here's the list of subs that will be participating: https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/duplicates/1401qw5/incomplete_and_growing_list_of_participating

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 3 insightful - 4 fun3 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

I will get some popcorn ready!

[–]NutterButterFlutterStill waving into the void[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My prediction:

I think Reddit won't budge on charging for high-tier access to APIs, but they may consider a slight price reduction as waving a white flag to get all the powermods to calm down. Pushshift will come back and pay the costs because they have institutions and funding behind them as support. App developers will still have to shut down since they can't afford it.

Powermods won't be able to resist coming back to Reddit though, THIS IS THEIR LIFE, and they'll continue to mod and complain about how terrible Reddit is. But they'll be less effective at what they do as all their tools stop working and Reddit doesn't rebuild them natively in the app or on New Reddit. Old Reddit will die, and with it, Toolbox and RES. Spam and astroturfing and general low-quality shit will creep into subs more and more, and make it unbearable for mods and old users who remember the good old days.

New users will have no idea of any of this going on because they're already on the Reddit app and New Reddit - these are users who just scroll and consume, as Reddit sinks into garbage quality content and reposts. These users will be none the wiser that the good days are behind them because they never knew they existed. They will not be loyal to Reddit though, not in the same way the old users and mods are/were. Once Reddit gets boring, they will easily download another app and go to the next hot thing.

In short, I think we're watching a gigantic fire-y turd coming out of Reddit headquarters as they (again) prepare to go public, and it will lead to their demise. It won't be quick though, it will be slow and painful and their executives will keep scratching their heads wondering what went wrong and why they're bleeding users for a few years. By that time, several of the alternatives will have built up enough of a stable presence that people will start dividing their time between those sites instead.

Reddit as an aggregator and discussion forum really had something special, and they had it for a long time. This is not how they keep it that way though, and I don't think they really want to anymore. They're no longer this cool indie trailblazer taking the web in a new direction. They're a gigantic tech presence now, and power-hungry and corrupt. Most companies get there in the end, and then they fade away as something new and innovative comes along.

[–]xanditAGAB (Assigned Gay at Birth) 3 insightful - 5 fun3 insightful - 4 fun4 insightful - 5 fun -  (0 children)

Pushshift API access,

you kids and your crazy gender terms... - genx