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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

#91

Post by dTal »

treprinum wrote: post #82
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…

(2022 snapshot of) Reddit might be the last fully human-prepared dataset there will ever be. That might be their main value.

A beautiful thought, except that Attention Is All You Need came out in 2017. ChatGPT was when the hype cycle kicked off, but I guarantee there were LLM-generated comments on it before then, possibly from nation-state-funded propaganda mills - not to mention other, less sophisticated bots.

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

#92

Post by marginalia_nu »

some_random wrote: post #72
dmix wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 been scraped already by every major player and likely will continue to be scraped because it has to be public in order for the site to function

A large chunk it's available online, on archive.org[1] and other places for more recent stuff.

[1] https://archive.org/details/2015_reddit_comments_corpus

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

#93

Post by jerf »

chromoblob wrote: post #84
bastawhiz wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The feature that mods are using is setting the subreddits to "private" (with no approved members). Disabling the ability to do this will break that function for people who use it, or look really petty.

Reddit could just disable this function on a specific moment , so that the feature cannot be used for coordinated strikes

Escalating open war against its users is not a very good idea for Reddit. Keep gaming that option out, and all the other responses and counterresponses.

Broadly, Reddit needs money to survive, and they need goodwill to get money. Burning $X of goodwill to make $10X dollars is kind of what they're trying to do now, but it's a very delicate move on their part. If you kind of build some simple mathematical models in your head it's not hard to see how delicate this move is, since "goodwill" is also people visiting. As large as the site is, it is not very many exponential processes from 90%+ losses. It is one of great perils of social sites in general, they can't help but transmit social contagions by their very design. There's quite a number of sites that have been wiped out by these forces (MySpace), and a larger number of sites that nominally still exist but are shadows of their former selves (Slashdot, Tumblr post-porn removal, Digg).

I suspect Reddit management is making a classic mistake and operating with a linear model of their options when in fact the situation is very non-linear because of the fact that goodwill feeds back on goodwill. It's only locally linear and they can leave the linear domain quickly and irreversibly.

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

#94

Post by TX81Z »

danShumway wrote: post #81
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…

> alright, we'll let you fix our broken s** site but only if you take a vow of poverty. I'm so glad someone brought this up. Every conversation I've seen about Reddit's API pricing on HN has had at least one person asking, "well, how are they supposed to fund the site then?" And that's not Reddit-specific, it's a really common talking point whenever a property/platform starts cracking down on fan/volunteer work. But…

Or like, don’t have a website that is a steaming pile of the jankiest JavaScript on the web. The damn site barely works and has crashed my browser more than every other site I visit combined. God help anybody with a screen reader.

The other story here is these apps all exist because Reddit the site is a joke from a technical standpoint. It’s just a disaster. The community is why people are there and the apps allow the communities to function.

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

#95

Post by flutas »

some_random wrote: post #74
broodbucket wrote: post #33

Reddit could have done zero development in the past decade and the website would be more usable today, not less

I don't agree, anecdotally there were a lot of people who bounced off the site because they didn't "get" the UX and even back then we had to fix the site using RIF. Now, was that difficulty a useful filter? Perhaps.

I actually agree with the GP comment.

The new UI brought in a bunch of people who turned the site into their personal little estate to lord over the serfs.

Example: I just got banned for 3 days because I reported someone for saying "politicians should all be burned alive." ... followed up by a week later reddit telling me they took action on that account because of the comment...

Example 2: I just got banned for 7 days because apparently "he's singing like he has a hand up his fa*ot ass" isn't homophobia and instead according to their message I'm

> Using Reddit’s reporting tools to spam, harass, bully, intimidate, abuse, or create a hostile environment

For context, the only way for these bans to be served is if the mod of the subreddit in which you reported that content reports you for "report abuse."

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

#96

Post by TX81Z »

philipov wrote: post #87
reportgunner wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why people keep going to such a trash website, just leave it to die already.

Network effects. It's the same reason people are locked into twitter, even if they want to leave. They can't leave until the other people they depend on leave, and those people are in the same situation. A social network is a molecule, and your bonds will keep you from moving unless the entire molecule decides to move at the same time. That's why Going Dark is an effective threat: it forces everyone to go somewhere e…

But network effects work in reverse, colony collapse is real.

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

#97

Post by webdoodle »

This whole drama is so absent logic, I can only conclude that Reddit is intentionally committing seppuku. After breaking every moral promise they've made with their users, they still can't control the narrative that their Billionaire overlords require of them. So they are breaking Reddit so bad, hoping nobody stays.

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

#98

Post by [deleted] »

treprinum wrote: post #82
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…

(2022 snapshot of) Reddit might be the last fully human-prepared dataset there will ever be. That might be their main value.

[deleted]

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

#99

Post by jmull »

New Rule: We'll being kicking everyone hard in the jewels, every month!

Correction: ... *Except the blind

This is great. Nobody likes the idea of excluding disabled people. But does it really get to the heart of the issue?

It's actually a pretty high bar for someone to decide to use anything besides the default client. More or less everyone using apps depending on these APIs has what, to them, was an important reason.

It's great this exemption addresses one of those important reasons, but it's just one of so many.

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

#100

Post by CameronNemo »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #68
sslayer wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anyone else is like me, I'm just looking for the next community so that I can ditch reddit. I'm looking for a site that can maintain free speech,limit the bot noise,draw in real users and foster a real community spirit and attitude without selling out to corporatism, over moderation, and overall corrupt tendencies.

I’m trying out federated via lemmy (lemmy.ml, lemmy.one, self-host, whatever) which interoperates with mastodon etc. If somebody were to start a larger lemmy server and do Reddit scraping for even just the next couple days, it would probably gain traction pretty quickly. But also that sounds expensive for an enthusiast

https://raddle.me/f/lobby/155371/warning-lemmy-doesn-t-care-...
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