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Reddit Doubles Down

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Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#391

Post by dottjt »

jrm4 wrote: post #275
extr wrote: post #38

I don't really understand why it had to be this way. It's so easy to think of other ways this could have been handled. Even just announcing the same change with 6 months of lead time rather than 1 month would have gone over better. Or boil the frog and gradually introduce API restrictions. It's as if the CEO is purposefully being as belligerent as possible to rile people up.

I don't understand why the users aren't just leaving? Surely the software/infrastructure can't be that hard to replicate, especially on a "subreddit" level? Why don't a few big mods just go this route and tell everyone else?

The main reason is not necessarily because of the information presented today, but because of the years upon years of information the platform currently contains.

If I want to learn something technical (for example, music production) I'll search in google the thing I want to understand, then add the keyword `reddit`.

What the past few days has demonstrated to me, is how much of this information is on Reddit and how helpless I am without it, with all the main subreddits closed.

Furthermore, if I want to ask something technical I'll ask it on Reddit, and will almost always get an appropriate response. So it's been reliable for me as well.

Also, the fact that I don't need to create another account for a separate platform, just so I can ask a question about a new hobby I've just discovered. It's the fact that it's so centralised that makes it so valuable.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#392

Post by nightshadetrie »

CommitSyn wrote: post #51
extr wrote: post #38

I don't really understand why it had to be this way. It's so easy to think of other ways this could have been handled. Even just announcing the same change with 6 months of lead time rather than 1 month would have gone over better. Or boil the frog and gradually introduce API restrictions. It's as if the CEO is purposefully being as belligerent as possible to rile people up.

Or they're broke and reddit is soon to be bankrupt. But even so, if they had just said that, the outcome would be so much different. Because as of now it seems like they're fucking people over for the sake of fucking them over.

I think they’re panicking after being devalued to 6b with hopes of IPOing.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#393

Post by AmericanOP »

roody15 wrote: post #96

It seems that the end game of corporate controlled social media is for corporate interests to control what you read or watch. Happened with the feed of Facebook. originally was a true social network where you scrolled through what your family and friends posted. Now it is a algorithm designed to maximize attention and sell influence, Happened with YouTube. Used to be really pro independent user … now the search funct…

There is definitely something wrong with discovery UX on youtube. I have many interests, but each of my devices has converged down to one topic based on usage. I don't know how to explore new topics, it's like I can only flip between my recommendation algorithm or global trending.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#394

Post by worrycue »

mulmen wrote: post #298
ekanes wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This change will be slower, but it seems a truth that in life, inside a company and in communities, there are some people who do much more work / have more influence than others. If the best / brightest / most helpful etc people leave, there's rarely much more than a shell left. I think the Fediverse will slowly pick up steam, and perhaps rival reddit in 5 or 10 years. Which is fine. One long-term advantage of the Fe…

I honestly can’t figure out how to engage with the fediverse. I keep asking but it just doesn’t make sense. This from a person who had no problem with IRC.

https://lemmy.world/post/37906

I haven't tried it. Requires email to sign up.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#395

Post by CMay »

extr wrote: post #38

I don't really understand why it had to be this way. It's so easy to think of other ways this could have been handled. Even just announcing the same change with 6 months of lead time rather than 1 month would have gone over better. Or boil the frog and gradually introduce API restrictions. It's as if the CEO is purposefully being as belligerent as possible to rile people up.

My guess is that 3rd party apps have reached a user threshold where they pose a potential future risk of pulling the rug out from under Reddit enough to give some non-negligible traction to an alternative. After all, once you've got the app installed, the back end server can be replaced with something else and you can find ways to streamline new user account creation where needed especially if they are paying customers, even offering to reserve existing Reddit usernames on other platforms.

If a Reddit IPO is coming, then this could simply be a form of de-risking. It's a double edged blade, because higher quality 3rd party apps may increase the platform's value while you're on their good side, but rub 3rd party app developers the wrong way and they might start getting clever ideas. A short notification period may reduce the chance of clever ideas reaching manifestation.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#396

Post by 037 »

a2tech wrote: post #132

All they had to do was make API access require Premium. $4/month and all the pieces were laying there. Thats twice as much monthly profit as their current super inflated API pricing would bring them for the same users. Reddit made themselves a real mess here and it's all SO stupid.

It's so simple, yet brilliant. However, I wouldn't pay more than $2 or $3 for it.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#397

Post by nunez »

a2tech wrote: post #142
judge2020 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An influx of capital would be easier by making everyone pay $10/mo to access the API via third-party clients. Would still be unpopular but would mean people could still have the experience they want to see from reddit. but that's the issue - Reddit's been focusing on other forms of content only in the native Reddit app, like TikTok-esque live streams and promoted posts from subs you aren't subscribed to.

They have a $4/month product ALL ready that removes ads and gives you more features. Making that a requirement to use the API is by FAR the simplest and most profitable option. Its also more profit then they're proposing to get from their API charges

I would have had no issue paying $10/mo for the Reddit API. Wouldn't have even thought about it.

I'll go out on a limb and say that most Apollo/3P users would've done the same thing.

Really sucks that they chose death instead.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#398

Post by bunga-bunga »

nocoiner wrote: post #190
bunga-bunga wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how their stance interacts with any of the privacy laws passed in the last 10-12 years. You’d be surprised how big players work around those. I asked GitHub to remove an issue from a repo whose owner blocked me. Being both I and the owner EU users, I sent a GDPR removal request. They just said they’re a “controller” and that the request would be forwarded to the owner. Nothing came of it. GitHub even has customer s…

Fascinating. Thanks for answering that aspect of my post. So similar excuse if you were to exercise a right to be forgotten? (Would that even apply in this context? Or is that what you’re describing?)

I think that right only applies to search engines and "directories," the actual content would not be deleted. I suppose I could ask Google to delist that issue, but not GitHub to delete it.

The more recent GDPR on the other hand should allow me to ask the "owner" (I forgot the exact name) to delete all the data related to me. He however declined to follow my request. An option at that point was to pay something like €50 to file a complaint to the governing body (some EU entity), so I gave up.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#399

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

wolverine876 wrote: post #278
extr wrote: post #38

I don't really understand why it had to be this way. It's so easy to think of other ways this could have been handled. Even just announcing the same change with 6 months of lead time rather than 1 month would have gone over better. Or boil the frog and gradually introduce API restrictions. It's as if the CEO is purposefully being as belligerent as possible to rile people up.

> It's as if the CEO is purposefully being as belligerent as possible to rile people up. The CEO is following the new leadership playbook, which you should recognize by now, as it's used by Musk, crypto leaders, Zuckerberg, and many more inside and outside of tech. * Fundamentally it's just following the social (media) trend: Demonstrate brazen, over-the-top arrogance, disregard for consequences, and no empathy. I'm…

new leadership playbook ?

The examples you cite could not be more different if you tried.

a) One is working towards their IPO. b) One was taken private, and doing nothing would have resulted in Chapter 11 c) The 3rd is a public company, trying to unwind a moonshot project with a budget that dwarfed the cost of the NASA Apollo space program itself.

The common themes in these disparate scenarios is that all 3 leadership "styles" have a strong sense of self-interest (and short term self-preservation), period.

But that's just business.

Its nothing new.

Re: Reddit Doubles Down

#400

Post by lokar »

bloopernova wrote: post #231
lokar wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is about the transition from a site mostly about engaged focused discussion by enthusiasts to a more mass market generic social site. I bet most views at this point are just the generic popular view, not driven by a subscription to a sub.

Ok, but why can't reddit serve both types of user? Split old.reddit off into an "old school" version that has 3rd party apps, but needs a subscription to access. Then keep new reddit as their tiktok Instagram clone.

The old school version has never made a profit
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