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Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

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Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#121

Post by LegitShady »

Macha wrote: post #58
ninth_ant wrote: post #52

Can someone explain why this is such a big deal to some people? I legitimately don’t understand why this matters. Third party clients seem to be fairly niche with limited usage, I’m not sure why inexpensive access to an API is a required right for forum software. I don’t expect this to affect my usage of Reddit at all, and wondering who and what it does affect aside from a small number of third party client users. To…

The first party clients are undergoing the enshittification process https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys They would rather direct users to content that Reddit wants them to see. High engagement content like quick meme pics, short videos or polarised political content that generates time on site and activity that looks good to investors. Profitable content like the awards programs. Not externally h…

the mods also use third party tools that use the api to make modding their subreddits easier. All of those tools will die, given the api costs, making the mods do more work if they want to continue.

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#122

Post by dom96 »

I've been following this since it erupted and am currently developing something that I hope will either enable the Reddit community to transition to a new home or force Reddit to abandon its paid API plans.

The first step in my plan is to implement a read-only API proxy which does not use Reddit.com's API but instead scrapes the necessary data. This should cover 80% of the API traffic, if it works then third-party apps will be able to transition their apps to this new API. So if Reddit does put their API behind a paywall there will be a way for developers to avoid at least some of the ludicrous costs.

I already have next steps in mind, but they really depend on what Reddit does. I sincerely hope they reassess what they are doing with their API.

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#123

Post by plagiarist »

heavyset_go wrote: post #39
UpToTheSky wrote: post #2

What is the hard thing about building an open, user-friendly Reddit alternative? Hosting the posts shouldn't be that hard. Storage is so cheap these days. Is it the legal aspects of handling user generated content? Ranking the posts is another issue. Is that where the value of Reddit lies? Maybe one could build some hybrid thing which capitalizes on existing structures? I could imagine a frontend which only shows pos…

> Is it the legal aspects of handling user generated content? Section 230 of the CDA shields operators of interactive computer systems from liability for user generated content.

That's not quite the whole story.

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#124

Post by lucb1e »

SecretDracula wrote: post #109
spondylosaurus wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this idea, but the content I'm seeing on the front page right now is turning me off from using it. A lot of fringe political content (pandemic trutherism, Bud Lite culture war shit, etc.), which is not my idea of interesting since I can find plenty of that anywhere else.

A good reddit alternative needs to offer something fun. It can't just be a link dump/political soapbox, because reddit is already a link dump/political soapbox. I know it's not popular here, but look at the success of TikTok. It attracts users because it's fun. People go there to laugh, enjoy themselves, and share stuff they've made. Sure, there is lots of politics on there too that users engage with, but that's not…

> A good reddit alternative needs to offer something fun. It can't just be a link dump/political soapbox, because reddit is already a link dump/political soapbox.

Huh? If reddit is a political soapbox for you, you're not subscribed to the right subreddits. They already offer something fun by default: the homepage consists of nearly only funny posts when I open it in a private tab right now. And that formula clearly worked

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#126

Post by rekoil »

sangnoir wrote: post #117
patrickmay wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Apollo user and I'll be dramatically reducing my use of Reddit if and when the third party apps are killed. The official Reddit app is nearly unusable, with a remarkably poor UI and too many ads. It also doesn't offer the tools for subreddit moderators that third party apps do. The hope is that, despite being a small percentage of total users, third party app users represent a large volume moderators and high…

> I'm an Apollo user and I'll be dramatically reducing my use of Reddit if and when the third party apps are killed. Devil's advocate: are your current usage patterns making money for Reddit? If not, then your reduced usage will be considered a win by Reddit, all things being equal.

I think the people this change will hurt are in large part fine with paying a reasonable sum for API access. I have no idea what reddit would consider a reasonable number (if they actually tried), but for me it's probably in the $1-5/month range.

That's full API access of course, not the limited API they've had which doesn't allow e.g. vote interaction, nor an API without NSFW content like they are proposing now with the ridiculous $12,000/50M requests.

Of course they aren't interested in being reasonable here, they obviously just want to kill off 3rd party apps. I actually don't get why they don't just go out and say it, what they're communicating now is just death with extra steps.

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#127

Post by flangola7 »

UpToTheSky wrote: post #2

What is the hard thing about building an open, user-friendly Reddit alternative? Hosting the posts shouldn't be that hard. Storage is so cheap these days. Is it the legal aspects of handling user generated content? Ranking the posts is another issue. Is that where the value of Reddit lies? Maybe one could build some hybrid thing which capitalizes on existing structures? I could imagine a frontend which only shows pos…

Moderation of large scale social media is a god-damned nightmare.

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#128

Post by yukinon »

sangnoir wrote: post #117
patrickmay wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Apollo user and I'll be dramatically reducing my use of Reddit if and when the third party apps are killed. The official Reddit app is nearly unusable, with a remarkably poor UI and too many ads. It also doesn't offer the tools for subreddit moderators that third party apps do. The hope is that, despite being a small percentage of total users, third party app users represent a large volume moderators and high…

> I'm an Apollo user and I'll be dramatically reducing my use of Reddit if and when the third party apps are killed. Devil's advocate: are your current usage patterns making money for Reddit? If not, then your reduced usage will be considered a win by Reddit, all things being equal.

Yes. I create content, which generates traffic, which generates ad-revenue.

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#129

Post by brvsft »

jrnichols wrote: post #20
UpToTheSky wrote: post #2

What is the hard thing about building an open, user-friendly Reddit alternative? Hosting the posts shouldn't be that hard. Storage is so cheap these days. Is it the legal aspects of handling user generated content? Ranking the posts is another issue. Is that where the value of Reddit lies? Maybe one could build some hybrid thing which capitalizes on existing structures? I could imagine a frontend which only shows pos…

> What is the hard thing about building an open, user-friendly Reddit alternative? One already exists in Lemmy. I suspect a big hurdle is dealing with all of the laws & regulations that exist in the United States. I've already seen one good sized mastodon instance vanish forever because hostile actors flooded it with actual child abuse material. And despite #fediblock, new instances with hate speech spring up all the…

Are "all of the laws and regulations" against "child abuse material" specific to the US?

Re: Popular Subreddits are organizing a strike on 2023-06-12 b/c high API prices

#130

Post by rekoil »

dom96 wrote: post #122

I've been following this since it erupted and am currently developing something that I hope will either enable the Reddit community to transition to a new home or force Reddit to abandon its paid API plans. The first step in my plan is to implement a read-only API proxy which does not use Reddit.com's API but instead scrapes the necessary data. This should cover 80% of the API traffic, if it works then third-party ap…

Why not just impersonate the official mobile app and use its API?
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