Reddit CEO: We’re sticking with API change, despite subreddits going dark

Artistan@lemmy.world to Technology@beehaw.org – 36 points –
Reddit CEO: We're Sticking With API Changes, Despite Subreddits Going Dark
pcmag.com
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I just posted it elsewhere, but that's only the beginning. They also announced their intent to turn reddit into an even more ad-infested hellhole than it already is: https://www.redditinc.com/blog/investing-in-what-makes-reddit-unique-introducing-contextual-keyword-targeting-and-product-ads

This is the future of reddit everyone - abandon all hope ye who clicketh here: https://www.redditinc.com/assets/images/site/image2.gif

Unlike some of the 3P [third-party] apps, we are not profitable - Steve Huffman, Reddit CEO

Translation - we don't have control of the 3PA and they are getting in the way of moooore profit, so we want them gone.

What a shitty job at astroturphing there.

"Won't someone think of the corporations! The evil third party apps (that we admitted were less than 10% of our userbase) are (somehow) bankrupting us! They're using so much API (even though our website uses at least 5x the API calls)

[Translation: There's 10% of the people we could shove ads in front of who are getting around it and I want to sell this sucker so I can buy another vacation property]

They're using so much API

I’m 100% convinced the reason they think 3PA API usage is unusually high per user is because all the high engagement users use 3PA, because their app actively repulses people from wanting to spend time on it. It seems like such a classic product misinterpretation of the stats, I’ve seen this from the inside as a developer before, ironically also at a company trying to IPO and failing spectacularly by completely misreading the room and their users

I hadn't thought about this but it makes sense. It's widely known that their largest contributors are 3PA users, I wonder if they did take the bias into account

I'm 90% certain that this whole thing is due to to Reddit's new marketing execs saying "we can't run ads on third party apps", and then deciding that third party apps need to pay up for their supposed "projected loss in ad revenue".

It's the piracy fallacy: "Somebody is using my service without giving ME profit, and so we're gonna go into a self-destructive tantrum". "Ignore the fact that nobody ever wanted to pay us for that anyways."

We don't need that kind of greed in control of our online communities, good riddance.

Something like reddit doesn't long if it's not profitable. He's not in the same reality that we are

They love to get creative with the definition of "profitable".

@artistan It’s funny in a way that 3PA manage to monetize their business better than they are themselves.

Instead of working with the 3PA devs to come up with something that is a win-win for both parties, they’ve chosen self-destruct.

Yeah I’m done having ads shoved in my face constantly. Corporations ruin everything and this was just the push I needed to remove one more attack vector from my life.

The bright side of all of this is finding out more about the Fediverse and how cool it is

Dang, after reading that, somehow I'm even more glad I overwrote all my past comments and posts with a protest message. You do not get to monetize my speech down to keyword targetting, reddit!

The way that's written is so blatantly and shamelessly "all these people volunteer and provide an amazing service for free! :D look how much money we can make off this free labor without giving any of those volunteers a single cent, and while sabotaging the service!"

If you want to auto-overwrite your comments and posts, or just delete them, check out Power Delete Suite or Redact by June 30th, before the API change breaks these tools.

No way. I don't care if Lemmy doesn't succeed I'm never going to tolerate that shit. I stopped using Twitter when they killed third party apps and forced even more ads into their piece of shit app.

Even if lemmy stays small I don't care, the community is better here, the apps are open, I don't see any ads, fuck Reddit, fuck spez, this is what a community should feel like.

And no ads for bags of fucking water either.

Agreed. Beyond just no ads because I go out of my way to block them on my network and devices its nice to browse new and be able to have discussions instead seeing complete shit posts or popular ones with 1,000+ replies already.

Replies like "This is so fucking stupid" with 50k upvotes.

That summarises the reddit commenting and karma experience for me, any comments I've made that blew up over 1k were just incredibly stupid comments.

I think that's actually what I'm noticing most of all? like right off the bat the news/politics communities are actually talking instead of making puns and tweet length comments

The sad thing is there's a right way to do everything they want but this ain't it. Spez is litterally digging a hole using the bricks he could be building with.

Well I just spent the last hour deleting all my old Reddit posts from the last 7 years or so and then deleted the account.

I will be no part of this continued data mining and making money off users hand over fist, making billions of dollars from data and the actual data source gets nothing.

#ragequitreddit

I guess in your case it's already too late anyway, but if someone else reads this: you don't have to delete everything by hand. There are tools available like shreddit or Redact.

LMAO giving r/BuyItForLife as a good example of where to put ads.

I know, right? I hope BIFL will rip advertisers there a new one by suggesting alternatives.

I would like to say that "future of reddit" image is really egregious, but I suppose its in line with other social media hell-holes.

The goggles, they do nothing.