Tldr
They started charging 3rd party apps to use their API. The API that they had been using for ages and ages.
They were shady about the timeline and their communication to devs was awful.
So most 3rd party apps decided to end support as opposed to paying reddit.
Basically they wanted to make sure all users were seeing ads before their IPO.
I was a relay for reddit guy for ~10 years. Once the subscription update hit I uninstalled and moved to boost for lemmy.
Not quite correct.
They didn't start charging for API usage. They banned it and pretended it could be paid for with completely absurd prices nobody could reasonably afford.
Ah I was just commenting back on how the relay for reddit deal went.. that's even shittier of them.
I'm not surprised at all.
Yeah, the prices were around +20€ for normal usage, for each user a month. It was a per call cost and the devs would have to eat it if they didn't charge the users, so many rightfully jumped ship. Who in their right minds would pay more than 20 euros to fucking access reddit on their phone, per month? Yeah right, fk you too.
They also didn't allow the api to access all content, plus other limits so apps would have a neutered experience
A key thing about the API is that moderating gets harder when the apps that moderators use to streamline/facilitate their work suddenly stopped working. Those apps relied on the Reddit API. These were created by and for the moderator community out of necessity.
Moderators had asked Reddit for tools and when Reddit didn’t provide they built their own. Then Reddit switched off the API without offering replacement tools.
That’s likely the primary reason that Reddit’s mods left and its content took a nosedive.
Further TL;DR
In preparation for an IPO:
Reddit: you must now only use our app to prop up our add revenue. No third party apps (unless you pay us handsomely)
Everyone: no thanks, just make our own alternative
I really miss a good Lemmy mobile client though...I was using liftoff which reminded a lot of RIF, but that seems to have been abandoned completely. A lot have ads, so that's a hard pass for me. I'm currently using Thunder, but it's a pretty buggy mess TBH with a lot of UI oddities and bugs.
Eternity is doing great for me
So far the best.
Voyager is very similar to RIF. I'd recommend it highly.
In the same boat, I miss it still, other ones have a worse UI for me and hate the ad slots in the app although I have DNS ad blocking but its still annoying. Do update me if you find a good replacement as we're looking for the same thing
Voyager is my go to currently
Right off the bat it sit right, thank you
Same as you. Lost Liftoff and using Thunder now. Quite happy with Thunder, but I've got Raccoon and Voyager as backups right now. Just in case Thunder disappears as well.
Boost works really well.
Filled with ads and not open source, so not for me.
Fair enough
I like connect
I use boost and connect. They're both pretty good
I'm using eternity for lemmy, it is a fork of the original infinity for reddit but for lemmy instead
Sync is the best client currently IMHO.
Uses ads so I'll pass
It doesn't if you pay for it.
It's not OSS so I I'm not paying/supporting it financially. I don't mind donating to a good ad-free (F)OSS client though.
Tldr They started charging 3rd party apps to use their API. The API that they had been using for ages and ages. They were shady about the timeline and their communication to devs was awful. So most 3rd party apps decided to end support as opposed to paying reddit.
Basically they wanted to make sure all users were seeing ads before their IPO.
I was a relay for reddit guy for ~10 years. Once the subscription update hit I uninstalled and moved to boost for lemmy.
Not quite correct. They didn't start charging for API usage. They banned it and pretended it could be paid for with completely absurd prices nobody could reasonably afford.
Ah I was just commenting back on how the relay for reddit deal went.. that's even shittier of them.
I'm not surprised at all.
Yeah, the prices were around +20€ for normal usage, for each user a month. It was a per call cost and the devs would have to eat it if they didn't charge the users, so many rightfully jumped ship. Who in their right minds would pay more than 20 euros to fucking access reddit on their phone, per month? Yeah right, fk you too.
They also didn't allow the api to access all content, plus other limits so apps would have a neutered experience
A key thing about the API is that moderating gets harder when the apps that moderators use to streamline/facilitate their work suddenly stopped working. Those apps relied on the Reddit API. These were created by and for the moderator community out of necessity.
Moderators had asked Reddit for tools and when Reddit didn’t provide they built their own. Then Reddit switched off the API without offering replacement tools.
That’s likely the primary reason that Reddit’s mods left and its content took a nosedive.
Further TL;DR
In preparation for an IPO:
Reddit: you must now only use our app to prop up our add revenue. No third party apps (unless you pay us handsomely)
Everyone: no thanks, just make our own alternative
I really miss a good Lemmy mobile client though...I was using liftoff which reminded a lot of RIF, but that seems to have been abandoned completely. A lot have ads, so that's a hard pass for me. I'm currently using Thunder, but it's a pretty buggy mess TBH with a lot of UI oddities and bugs.
Eternity is doing great for me
So far the best.
Voyager is very similar to RIF. I'd recommend it highly.
In the same boat, I miss it still, other ones have a worse UI for me and hate the ad slots in the app although I have DNS ad blocking but its still annoying. Do update me if you find a good replacement as we're looking for the same thing
Voyager is my go to currently
Right off the bat it sit right, thank you
Same as you. Lost Liftoff and using Thunder now. Quite happy with Thunder, but I've got Raccoon and Voyager as backups right now. Just in case Thunder disappears as well.
Boost works really well.
Filled with ads and not open source, so not for me.
Fair enough
I like connect
I use boost and connect. They're both pretty good
I'm using eternity for lemmy, it is a fork of the original infinity for reddit but for lemmy instead
Sync is the best client currently IMHO.
Uses ads so I'll pass
It doesn't if you pay for it.
It's not OSS so I I'm not paying/supporting it financially. I don't mind donating to a good ad-free (F)OSS client though.