The /r/videos mods are going all out and someone made this lovely graphic to explain why subs are going dark next week.
While I’d love to have my users on Lemmy, I also hope that this actually does something for Reddit and they reverse course on their planed changes.
I’m not putting it past reddit to suddenly backpedal and/or lower the API charges significantly then say they listen to their users/communities. And then slowly push 3rd party apps away. The damage has been done for me.
These execs that are pushing for IPO are probably so out of touch that your sentiment is well placed.
They might still be well aware of the damage they’re causing with this move. What if they think it’s all worth it because of all the money they will be getting in the future? What if they think it’s a risk worth taking? Besides, business comes first.
I’ve said before, but I think they made a calculated decision to intentionally throw away all of their 3rd party app users. Essentially, some of those users will go to the first party app, but either way, none of us are giving reddit any ad revenue anyway, and that’s how Reddit makes money.
Their calculation was wrong for several reasons:
- The users that they are forcing away produce content, and Reddit would not have users generating ad revenue if Reddit did not have content.
- A huge proportion of the people who make Reddit function (moderators) rely on third-party apps and affected bots/services like push/shift. Making those people leave is a Bad Idea.
- Reddit has never had to worry about section 504 compliance (equal opportunity for service participation for people with disabilities) because third party apps have historically provided such opportunities. So r/blind probably wasn’t even on their radar - but their website and first-party app do not function with screen readers, so I fully expect them to get sued if they go through with this.
This is probably great for (very) short-term income, which is what Reddit wants before they go public. But obviously, it’s bad in every way beyond that.
Totally agree. Reddit is absolutely committing a suicide with this move, even though there could be some financial reasoning behind it.
Fortunately though, the fediverse seems to be ready for the coming exodus, so I don’t really mind. Besides, I’ve been thinking of cutting down or even quitting Reddit entirely. These events will only hasten the inevitable.
I am skeptical. The pricing on the API wasn’t merely unrealistically optimistic, it was “eleventy morbillion dollars” high. People only negotiate on numbers when they actually want to be paid. Reddit doesn’t want to be paid, it wants the apps to die.
And then they still won’t allow NSFW content but somehow people will forget about that part…
I don’t expect them to. The amount users (mods excluded) using third-party apps is quite small I think, so they’ll just take the loss (if any).
Ultimately will break my Reddit addiction for me. Not enough content here to replace it entirely, and I’m fine with that. I suspect that the damage has been done and a lot of people will not being going back to Reddit regardless if they backpeddle or not.
I’ve been in a loop of “Open reddit- oh wait I can’t do that anymore, which apps are lemmy and tildes in?” for the last couple of days.
I’m both on lemmy and tildes. After about a few days on tlides, then i go back to reddit to check what’s up. I immediately get disappointed by the quality of the comments there.
Haha. Getting my last reddit fix and telling in every comment to come here
Agree. This place is big enough. I’m happy. Reddit can go “insert your desired action here”.
This is a positive step.
Reddit can go “insert your desired action here”.
Will cactus be involved?
Crazy some of the comments sections tho, a lot of people are pissed at Mods for backing the protest. Its like people who cant see past their noses how bad this idea is.
The number of people in those threads asking “what is happening?” is depressing given that the OPs explain everything.
About on par with people saying “official app works for me what’s the problem?” and of course people acting like the 3rd party apps totally could easily pay the fees so are in the wrong.
I’d say such comments are Reddit backed disinfo, except that the average person can be extremely dense.
Take a look at /r/nba. Even worse.
Wow the people crying about not having Reddit for the finals like they wont know what’s going on… HOW DO YOU THINK REDDIT GETS IT’S CONTENT!
Redditors man wtf
This is something I’m noticing a lot now. People are more worried about having somewhere to discuss and moan what they’re watching, than actually watching it! It’s like no one can just sit down and enjoy anything anymore.
That floored me holy fuck. Some people are fucked.
Wow you aren’t kidding. I just sorted by controversial on a couple of blackout posts. It’s both disappointing and fascinating to see how short sighted some people are.
It’s probably why companies like Reddit can get away with stuff like this. Most common users have no idea how much they’re being shat on. They couldn’t care less about the platform as long as they get their content.
I don’t intend on going back to Reddit. I’m tired of mega corporations thinking that they own my data.
I think for me it’s going to be hit or miss. Right now I’m on this more, but it doesn’t have a lot of the content I’m interested in currently.
Totally understand. But the only solution for a lack of content is creating some ourselves. A community of lurkers will have no content to lurk on.
Oh, I’ve been creating a lot of tech content, like my old days on Reddit. These days I mostly lurk on LGTQ subreddits though and idk how the Lemmy community feels about that (not that I have much to post in that regards anyways, link/forum wise)
That’s great! What content are you missing from Reddit?
(not op but) I primarily used reddit as a collective watchdog. If something of import was happening, it would be on the front page rapidly.
It’s how I found out it became legal for me to marry in 2012, and it’s how I found out it became legal to kill me in Florida in 2023.
Mostly just general content and discussion lol. I know, I’m not being part of the solution of adding more content/discussion lol.
It’s not easy. I’m going to make an effort but I’m much more of a lurker.
I’m trying to find areas where i can actually contribute but at the moment it doesn’t seem there are many of my interests here yet.
Yeah, I’ve started just posting anything that seems interesting while trying not to flood the place. I’m pretty deep into the tech world so it’s been mostly tech, but I’d highly recommend posting content that interests you and I’m sure it’ll interest others.
If you’re using a lemmy web interface (as opposed to an app), there is a cross-post button you can use to post in other communities that are tanginately related (if you decide to create a community for your topics).
/r/buildapc and /r/buildapcforme. Has been helpful to get a general idea of what parts to get and feedback on if the build is balanced for what the user intends.
/r/buildapcsales, /r/gamedeals, /r/consoledeals are other ones. There’s sites like isthereanydeals and pcpartpicker, but those subs have come in helpful for catching deals I would have missed.
It’s nice to hear that so many subreddits and mods trying to do something about this… they can see the brick wall that Reddit’s owners are about to plow into, and are trying to steer the site away from probable destruction. If they’re dead set on selling Reddit though, I’m pessimistic about whether or not they will care enough to course correct at this point. Maybe it got their attention when Fidelity cut their valuation by 41%, but the lack of any response so far despite significant backlash has me thinking that perhaps they don’t intend to respond. Regardless of whether that’s their intent or not, they’re certainly sending the message that they don’t care. I wouldn’t be surprised if they take whatever paycheck they can get, abandon the ship and have zero concerns when it sinks on someone else’s watch.
I’m sure 3rd party app usage is low. It’s probably only a tiny minority of users who even know they exist. They’re betting they can drive however many of us do use 3rd party apps back onto the 1st party one, and increase ad impressions at a time where social media advertisers are pulling away from Twitter.
Ad revenue going up would mean stock valuation increasing, and that bag they’re grabbing getting bigger.
Once they go public, it won’t matter. They’ll have already cashed out. They’ll be playing with somebody else’s money then.
It’s probably only a tiny minority of users who even know they exist.
Probably, but it’ll be the power users, mods and regular contributors who are most likely to use the apps that need the API to operate correctly.
This, exactly this, 100% this. It’s the 80-20 rule, except in Reddit’s case it’s probably even more extreme because of bots. Almost all of the quality content on Reddit comes from a very small portion of Reddit’s users, and it’s very likely that most of those users are using third party apps.
I think Reddit made a calculated decision here - and I also think they are terrible at math.
Yep. It’s not necessarily the number of users being affected, it’s which users.
I see what their calculation with driving 3rd party users to 1st party is, but I really feel like it’s such a suit decision. 3rd party users tend to be power users, so driving even a fraction of them away disproportionately affects content. I think the loss of that content is going to outweigh the hypothetical gain of them looking at ads, because everybody agrees, 3rd party users are a tiny percentage of total users.
I don’t think this will kill Reddit. At least not lights out instantly. People are being hyperbolic. The kinds of people who scroll r/all won’t even notice. That page is repost bots and corporate and political propaganda, it won’t change. What I think will happen is the quality and amount of content on competitors, like Lemmy, will rise as displaced power users settle. If enough power users settle in one place to create critical mass, that creates competition.
Of course this discussion is like talking into the wind, as neither you or I have the ear of people making the choices at Reddit.
No, it won’t kill Reddit overnight. It might not even land a fatal blow, and Reddit could live a long life going forward. But it will make this place a truly viable alternative for the average (or maybe moderately above average) user.
In the other hand, if their API fuckery actually kills useful or entertaining bots…
Yes that was my meaning, it is less about Reddit dying and more about alternatives growing.
I browsed a little bit last night (getting my last uses from Apollo) and it does seem like more unengaged users are catching on that this will kill bots. The DeepRockGalactic sub is up in arms about losing their mascot bot.
@setsneedtofeed @Kichae so much this. I nutshell, it is important to attract as many people as possible that find Fediverse as idea attractive in first place. There is no point of having millions who do not care about platform.
I’ve been really enjoying beehaw so I definitely don’t see myself leaving. However if reddit goes back on these changes I’ll be happy just for my reddit widget if nothing else. Having a quick feed of gaming news on my phone home screen is something I’ve been so used to having. If the changes keep going I’ll probably look into setting up some kind of widget with an rss feed or something… Or make my own reddit widget with my own API key
Make sure you don’t redirect all users to the same instance. One instance in particular is having too many users (see: https://lemmy.ml/post/1147770 )
People can find a server here: https://join-lemmy.org/instancesAgreed, but I think all instances linked there are going to see high load over the next while. We shall see how the network stands up…
This brings up a lot of points I hadn’t even thought of. Bots didn’t even cross my mind when I heard this news. Big yikes.
Mm, I’m a big fan of Decronym on Reddit, the bot that wanders around demystifying acronyms. There was a post by the bot’s creator yesterday where they covered how many API calls it makes, and how there’s been no clarity on whether there’ll be a free tier of API usage etc.
It could shut down all the comment bots on the site.
RIP “I am a bot, beep boop.” 🪦
Thats a good image
Yeah, someone did a good job on that infographic
So… not sure why entering an image doesn’t use the Reddit link, but here it is: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/140vubs/why_is_rvideos_shutting_down_on_june_12th_how/
I wish they didn’t throw “think of the children” in there.
child sexual abuse rings, come on
