Live data from Hacker News

r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

reddit.com

171–180 of 340 posts

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#171

HN might as well just run the headline that Reddit is shutting down permanently. All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. Do we have a federated Mastodon-esque system to replace Reddit yet? Its the only way to ensure the community survives at this point; Reddit leadership has already proven they only wish to harm both shareholders and the community at large under the guise of…

> All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. But I'd just add there is a pretty major difference between "temporarily" and "permanently". Major kudos to r/ProgrammerHumor and other subs that are doing it right - saying they will be shutting down indefinitely unless Reddit changes their stance. Just saying you're only going to shut down for a couple days is essentially theater -…

[flagged]

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#172
Reddit is almost as bad as Facebook in terms of being a bad web actor. It's a platform that grew on and through the open web and just keeps ever increasingly violating its origins.

I distinctly remember the whole "Web 2.0" moment, and how much of a "community booster" in itself it was for both Digg and Reddit back in the day (also HN of course).

Shame on you reddit - and goodbye - I for one, won't go back.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit was a Y Combinator startup. It only makes sense people talk about it here. That said, I don't expect this to last long regardless of outcome.

It's also pretty much functionally equivalent to this site.

A single subreddit is functionally equivalent to HN. But HN has no provision for communities to form around niche topics. It’s just everyone in the same room talking about the same feed of stories.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#174
post #59

The worst part about this is that blind Reddit users are being left completely without a solution, and won't be able to read Reddit at all. Multiple attempts at engagement with Reddit itself have been ignored. See the discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_w...

I thought Reddit announced they would exempt accessibility-focused apps from their API charges in an attempt to not cut off, among others, the blind.

The trick is what does that even mean? If an app has great accessibility but is used by a lot of non-disabled people too, is it disqualified?

A quote from /r/Blind [0]:

> Apollo has without question been the most accessible social networking app I have ever used, or are even aware of. It allowed me to enjoy using Reddit, as well as become a moderator of multiple Disability focused subreddits like r/disability, r/epilepsy, r/EverybodyGames, and r/DisabilityPartyTime, among other communities.

> Apollo is and has always been a pleasure to use, and allowed me to leverage all manner of accessibility tools from UI Scaling, Magnification, VoiceOver, VoiceControl, Describe, and even just the app’s amazing searching, filters, and more that often don’t even exist in Desktop regardless of platform, and at any price. It is one of very few social networking apps that support iOS Braille Terminals.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/1447ibp/what_apps_me...

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it hard? Yes. Is it harder than trying to influence Reddit by these "protests"? No, because the later has 0 chance of success.

This. As it stands, third party clients are default dead due to Reddit’s decision. You can either accept the need to adapt or accept death. Is it easy? No! Is it necessary? Absolutely.

I wonder if the short time frame on the API changes is influenced by not wanting to give any competitor a runway to spin up an API-compatible endpoint. I.e we want to kill third parties now, not let them run for 5 months and swap api.reddit.com to api.slashdot.com on the 6th month.

Probably pretty tinfoil (on both sides) though.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#176

HN might as well just run the headline that Reddit is shutting down permanently. All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. Do we have a federated Mastodon-esque system to replace Reddit yet? Its the only way to ensure the community survives at this point; Reddit leadership has already proven they only wish to harm both shareholders and the community at large under the guise of…

> All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. But I'd just add there is a pretty major difference between "temporarily" and "permanently". Major kudos to r/ProgrammerHumor and other subs that are doing it right - saying they will be shutting down indefinitely unless Reddit changes their stance. Just saying you're only going to shut down for a couple days is essentially theater -…

> But I'd just add there is a pretty major difference between "temporarily" and "permanently". Major kudos to r/ProgrammerHumor and other subs that are doing it right - saying they will be shutting down indefinitely unless Reddit changes their stance.

A permanent closure of a popular sub is 100% going to lead to Reddit declaring the sub abandoned, replacing the mod team, and reopening. Has happened many times before. Not sure if programminghumor in particular meets that popularity threshold though.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, you know, Digg. Digg's demise was literally the birth of Reddit's popularity, but the lesson was seemingly lost on Reddit "leadership".

There's no equivalent to migrate to.

There most likely won't be. Reddit is Usenet 2.0. With Usenet, it was a diaspora. Sure, we had some sites like Slashdot that started in 1997 but even that was still targeting link aggregation focused discussions on tech related topics and there might only be a handful a day at times. The exodus from Usenet was to internet forums.

The exodus from Reddit seems to be to disperse among a combination of other forums, some Reddit-like sites like Tildes and Lemmy, and Discord.

Once we go through that for a while, we'll maybe have another consolidation again once a new round of companies give it a go. At least that's my hypothesis.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#178

HN might as well just run the headline that Reddit is shutting down permanently. All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. Do we have a federated Mastodon-esque system to replace Reddit yet? Its the only way to ensure the community survives at this point; Reddit leadership has already proven they only wish to harm both shareholders and the community at large under the guise of…

As others have said, lemmy is a viable alternative. Just beware that their flagship instance is pretty terrible in terms of political content.

Maybe check out beehaw.org

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#179

HN might as well just run the headline that Reddit is shutting down permanently. All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. Do we have a federated Mastodon-esque system to replace Reddit yet? Its the only way to ensure the community survives at this point; Reddit leadership has already proven they only wish to harm both shareholders and the community at large under the guise of…

> All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. But I'd just add there is a pretty major difference between "temporarily" and "permanently". Major kudos to r/ProgrammerHumor and other subs that are doing it right - saying they will be shutting down indefinitely unless Reddit changes their stance. Just saying you're only going to shut down for a couple days is essentially theater -…

Well, I'll be deleting my account and am texting / uploading stories on my other social media accounts to ask my friends and connections to do the same. Reddit has taken the content and hard work of 1000s of users, monetized it, and now wants to shut the gates.

Re: r/ProgrammerHumor will be shutting down to protest Reddit's API changes

#180
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>All the major subs are either temporarily or permanently shutting down in protest. Is this true though? Are the subs which normal people visit are shutting down too?

https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplet... There's the list so far. Definitely some heavy hitters in there. Note that if you want to see the full list you'll have to click through to the second thread, since they hit the character limit :)

Be aware that there’s are definitely NSFW subs in that list
Post reply on HN