171–180 of 300 posts
Make a completely free API but change data structure every week or so. App makers will get angry and stop at some point
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I often get the feeling that in these circumstances people derive first principles from specific desired outcomes. But that's exactly how laws are made. E.g. why do we have consumer protection? Because it helps us! It's democracy in action. It's not like nobody would ever build another forum if there were laws like the ones proposed by GP. And if you're worried that every little forum should comply to complicated l…
> laws only apply to large players, e.g. >1M users. What if I don't want to share my user list with the government?
I know, it's a hilarious sentiment in these times. But I really feel that most of the problems today around walled gardens and surveillance capitalism stem from not using the web directly as it was originally envisioned.
If we had properly formatted HTML, little/no Javascript, a standard auth mechanism that isn't terrible (HTTP auth or a cookie like the good 'ol days), automatic sitemaps or semantic representations without manual intervention, best practices around site updates and maintaining previous versions, etc etc, then why would we need an API?
Since that stuff will never happen, I'd vote for third parties to provide open source APIs for existing sites. Companies could even hire those third parties to maintain APIs for them.
Disclaimer: I'm paid to write APIs and I'm just so tired.
I like vehement arguments even when I disagree with them. Based on this man's logic, if I were to run a web forum then I must provide an API or data dump to download the posts created by the users? How about a comment section on my blog? How about a community Discord server? Why not Facebook posts? Or Instagram stories? I often get the feeling that in these circumstances people derive first principles from specific d…
I've found myself resisting posting comments on Reddit recently - things like answers to simple questions people have about SQLite - partly because I don't want to cross the picket line but also because I realize that I was relying on a very light social contract that was in place there: I would share my knowledge for free, in exchange for which I knew that I was contributing to a larger dataset that myself and other…
It's the subreddit mods who are making the data inaccessible to you, NOT Reddit.
Only in a world like that can a reasonable policy like this be enacted. The second thing that should be enacted: these sized websites may only censor content that is proven in court to be unlawful.
I like vehement arguments even when I disagree with them. Based on this man's logic, if I were to run a web forum then I must provide an API or data dump to download the posts created by the users? How about a comment section on my blog? How about a community Discord server? Why not Facebook posts? Or Instagram stories? I often get the feeling that in these circumstances people derive first principles from specific d…
> I often get the feeling that in these circumstances people derive first principles from specific desired outcomes. Once you learn about motivated reasoning, you start to see it everywhere.
I've found myself resisting posting comments on Reddit recently - things like answers to simple questions people have about SQLite - partly because I don't want to cross the picket line but also because I realize that I was relying on a very light social contract that was in place there: I would share my knowledge for free, in exchange for which I knew that I was contributing to a larger dataset that myself and other…
Please explain to me where Reddit is no longer free for Joe Consumer? It's the subreddit mods who are making the data inaccessible to you, NOT Reddit.
So why should the site that’s hosting content not be allowed to have a business model that pays the bills?
Given a choice between the following, which would you rather?
* insidious adverts that compromise the impartiality of the platform (because thou shalt not offend the advertiser)
* charging for API access, which affects a tiny proportion of users, and would not in any way prevent you accessing your own content (subject access and data portability is guaranteed by data protection law)