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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

#81

Post by 14zadz »

hfkwer wrote: post #75
bezier-curve wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mods can set the subreddit to private.

And reddit staff can reverse that immediately. I'd be amazed if they didn't prevent huge subreddits from going private altogether without someone from the staff giving the go ahead.

That’d piss off a lot of mods who moderate huge subreddits in their free time for Reddit…imagine if those mods got mad and decided to let inappropriate things through that drew negative media attention? Doubt Reddit wants that press when they want to IPO soon

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

#82

Post by jimsimmons »

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…

Very well articulated.

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

#83

Post by jimnotgym »

tiedieconderoga wrote: post #14
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…

Three big issues off the top of my head: * Hosting costs. Reddit was very lucky to have imgur pick up a lot of its bandwidth in its early days, but free image/video hosting sites are cyclical: absent a benevolent billionaire, the costs will rise with popularity, and the site will eventually need a source of revenue, which will introduce friction and start its inevitable decline in popularity. * Moderation. Always a h…

> Personally, I like places like HN

What are those places?

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

#84

Post by dontupvoteme »

zamalek wrote: post #79
londons_explore wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The days of ... Digg losing to Reddit are over. I disagree. Especially somewhere like reddit where the power lies in a relatively small pool of moderators (ie. a couple of hundred people), who aren't well controlled by Reddit the company. These moderators could, if they organised together, kill the site in a matter of days. And I'm sure reddit-clones have been approaching the moderators with lucrative offers to do…

Facebook, Instagram, etc. have shown that users are willing to put up with an absurd amount of bullshit and bad apps. While Reddit may lose the crowd who are aware of this whole issue, those users are likely the tip of an iceberg of "I just want to see ~~titties~~ kitties." Reddit isn't a cozy corner of internet subculture anymore. It was instrumental in getting the orange buffoon elected, for crying out loud.

People use those things because of people they know in the real world, reddit isn't like that.

also I dare say it was more 4chan than reddit who got trump elected

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

#85

Post by rchaud »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #18

The days of MySpace losing to Facebook or Digg losing to Reddit are over. We reached a phase where the biggest networks are too big to die quickly. It no longer seems possible to replace these sites wholesale. Their decline will look like Craigslist's. They'll still be around a decade from now, but having slowly and steadily lost traffic and cultural relevance. I fully welcome Twitter and Reddit suddenly sacrificing…

"Less Online" is exactly the silver lining I'm seeing from this new era of public facing websites slamming the doors shut, and treating sharecroppers ('creators' in the current lexicon) as inconveniences.

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

#86

Post by dontupvoteme »

pgwhalen wrote: post #8
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…

There are many reddit clones. The value is completely in the communities and not in the technology. r/all subs like r/pics are completely replaceable, but something like r/personalfinance is an institution that is not easy to replicate elsewhere.

>but something like r/personalfinance is an institution that is not easy to replicate elsewhere.

bogleheads?

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

#87

Post by nicoburns »

transcriptase wrote: post #69
londons_explore wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing some moderators would probably anger other moderators...

And those can be replaced with what has to be an infinite pool of people willing to volunteer as thought-police for a public company.

But will the users stay if they do that? I'm not convinced I would.

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

#88

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

londons_explore wrote: post #48
germinalphrase wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely, Reddit would just remove and replace these moderators at the first taste of real pain. Yes?

I don't think they'd have enough replacements ready quick enough. They'd have to decide between an influx of spam from having no moderation and upset users, massive disruption from upset disruptive moderators, or stale content by freezing all submissions to the site. If I were in their position, I would have trained for this scenario, and already prepared a way to put entire subreddits into 'read only' mode which jus…

>I don't think they'd have enough replacements ready quick enough.

There is never a shortage of losers desperate for a crumb of power.

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

#89

Post by gherkinnn »

dontupvoteme wrote: post #84
zamalek wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook, Instagram, etc. have shown that users are willing to put up with an absurd amount of bullshit and bad apps. While Reddit may lose the crowd who are aware of this whole issue, those users are likely the tip of an iceberg of "I just want to see ~~titties~~ kitties." Reddit isn't a cozy corner of internet subculture anymore. It was instrumental in getting the orange buffoon elected, for crying out loud.

People use those things because of people they know in the real world, reddit isn't like that. also I dare say it was more 4chan than reddit who got trump elected

Rubbish. It was Twitter.

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

#90

Post by croes »

samtho wrote: post #4

I understand the purpose of this and that if they raise a sufficient enough stink, it will likely get them to cave for the time being. However the problem is that they have already showed their true intentions. The business of Reddit is not beholden to users, it’s beholden to its investors. They have an obligation to provide value to them and they decided this is a way to do so. There might be a temporary price reduc…

Investors hate a shrinking user base, so this move can massively backfire.
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