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Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

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Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#41

Post by The_Colonel »

PrimeMcFly wrote: post #9
Silhouette wrote: post #7

I expect they are going to exempt a lot more than that. I have lost count of how many of the useful subreddits I belong to have already committed to going dark next week but it's a lot of them. This was a terrible judgement on Reddit's part and some kind of mea culpa from a higher-up followed by a rapid climb down looks inevitable if they don't want to be the next Twitter.

Most subs are going dark for 2 days, which is an inconvenience that will be soon forgotten. The subs that try to stay dark permanently will have their mods replaced.

That kind of assumes there's an endless stream of quality moderators willing to work for free, just waiting for their turn.

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#42

Post by phpisthebest »

SilverBirch wrote: post #23

Reddit really is desperate for this IPO isn't it. This pricing decision is a total debacle. They're clearly going to try and tell a story about how their data set is massively valuable for AI (it isn't) and that they've got it under lock and key (it's already been crawled by every major player in AI) so that they can get a totally unrealistic valuation at IPO. It makes sense, imagine how incredible it would be if you…

I dont think the smoke and mirrors is going work any more...

Maybe, but it appears me we are seeing the business cycle return to first principles and things like user engagement, user growth, Daily Active Users, etc that were all used to cover up bad business models and non-profitability in the age of free money are over...

an IPO that does not have reddit turning an actual profit (not made up API Money in the future but actual revenue generated from actually selling something to actual clients in an actual market) will be a failure.

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#43

Post by The_Colonel »

docdeek wrote: post #6
giuliomagnifico wrote: post #2

Nice. Maybe the general mobilization worked? Looks like a workaround to say "hey the well done apps -like Apollo- can still be used", or I have interpreted this announcement wrong?

My impression was that Apollo is NOT included in the free-tier access. IT seems to be addressing apps focused on accessability for blind users and the like, not general users of third-party apps.

It's going to get quite absurd. The apps for blind users might even make it difficult / impossible to be used by users with a vision. Otherwise, adding e.g. RIF features into a "reddit for blind people" would be an API payment circumvention.

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#44

Post by plagiarist »

drumhead wrote: post #30

There is no other site more dependant on its users for its success than Reddit. There is no other site with more militant users that Reddit. If they want to they can and will cause havoc. Do you want to invest in something with such a volatile and uncontrollable workforce? The Reddit management know how this will end, not well.

Based on how they've spent years ignoring what moderators ask for to help manage communities; I'm sure they don't give a shit as long as they can cash out.

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#45

Post by vachina »

yardstick wrote: post #28

Stupid question but I’m out of the loop here. What’s the main beef with the Reddit site and app? Is it just accessibility and moderation tools or something else? I do use RES in desktop, but I mostly use it via the official mobile app these days. I used to miss old.Reddit.com but now I’m rather indifferent.

New Reddit tries to be Facebook while old Reddit is, Reddit.

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#46

Post by doix »

SilverBirch wrote: post #23

Reddit really is desperate for this IPO isn't it. This pricing decision is a total debacle. They're clearly going to try and tell a story about how their data set is massively valuable for AI (it isn't) and that they've got it under lock and key (it's already been crawled by every major player in AI) so that they can get a totally unrealistic valuation at IPO. It makes sense, imagine how incredible it would be if you…

> The relationship between Reddit and it's community is very delicate, so it seems pretty silly for Reddit to decide to crash it into a wall shortly before their IPO. They might get the IPO pop they want - I doubt it, they're smashing the long term viability of the company.

I'm guessing someone looked at the data and figured that losing x% of users is worth it if they can extract an extra y% profit from the remaining users. We'll shortly see if they are right!

If I was in their position, I would just restrict 3rd party app access to Reddit gold subscribers. You would probably lose less users that way, and extract at least some money from them. You'd need to figure out some heuristic to detect when people are "abusing" their reddit gold to scrape all data. And also work with 3rd party developers to reduce the number of API calls they make rather than just being condescending dicks [0].

If they did all that, they could probably even milk it a bit, something like: "We heard the community and we are listening!".

[0] https://old.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/13wsiks/api_upda...

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#47

Post by raldi »

ryanmercer wrote: post #29
yardstick wrote: post #28

Stupid question but I’m out of the loop here. What’s the main beef with the Reddit site and app? Is it just accessibility and moderation tools or something else? I do use RES in desktop, but I mostly use it via the official mobile app these days. I used to miss old.Reddit.com but now I’m rather indifferent.

As a long time user, and moderator, I do everything via old.reddit (and the only additional thing is mod toolbox, which I could live without) on a proper computer. I just can't fathom any meaningful use of Reddit via a phone app. To me that's as insane as trying to read a novel on your phone or watch a movie. Simply does not compute to me.

Ha, I also access the site exclusively through the old web interface, but I do tons of moderation there via my phone, and might phrase it as, it’s as natural as reading a novel on my phone, or watching a movie.

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#48

Post by adrr »

dmix wrote: post #38
SilverBirch wrote: post #23

Reddit really is desperate for this IPO isn't it. This pricing decision is a total debacle. They're clearly going to try and tell a story about how their data set is massively valuable for AI (it isn't) and that they've got it under lock and key (it's already been crawled by every major player in AI) so that they can get a totally unrealistic valuation at IPO. It makes sense, imagine how incredible it would be if you…

> try and tell a story about how their data set is massively valuable for AI (it isn't) How would it not be valuable?

It’s very valuable. I frequently find my myself adding “reddit” to my google searches looking for conversational information. Eg: trying to figure out what to do in Tokyo on a vacation or an honest review of a new product

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#49

Post by Maxburn »

Jenk wrote: post #15

Given just how awful Reddit's own UI is, one could argue _all_ third party clients are accessibility-focused.

I had to scroll too far down for this, exactly what my first thought was. The web page and native app are just not that great once you've worked with Apollo and some of the other apps like baconreader come to mind.

Re: Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from unpopular API pricing changes

#50

Post by sebzim4500 »

SilverBirch wrote: post #23

Reddit really is desperate for this IPO isn't it. This pricing decision is a total debacle. They're clearly going to try and tell a story about how their data set is massively valuable for AI (it isn't) and that they've got it under lock and key (it's already been crawled by every major player in AI) so that they can get a totally unrealistic valuation at IPO. It makes sense, imagine how incredible it would be if you…

I think their data set is valuable, it's just freely available for anyone to scrape (or as you say, has already been scraped).
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