#Reddit kills third-party apps by hiking API fees to girnomous levels.
*Me not realising that there were even third-party apps*
So I'm not sure that the narrative that Reddit will destroy its business by doing this is true, cos it doesn't affect users like me, which I suspect, is a majority of its users.
However, as a developer, I will think twice about developing anything for a for-profit platform, seeing what happened with #Twitter etc. It is ... not great that platforms are ..1/2
... shutting the door on developers that helped build it up & make it a success. But it would seem that #enshittification doesn't just affect users but developers. Once they get you in free, they will close off features when it gets so useful that people will be forced to pay (or literally die).
IMHO it's not a good business practice & destroys trust. People are wising up & will think twice about developing third party apps.
This is my non-dev #tech opinion of course. What do you think?
#Reddit
@liztai Honestly, don't use any of the official apps because I find them glitchy and ad-ridden. I only use a browser with an ad blocker and the experience is clean and simple. I sometimes wonder if we need to use apps when the webpage with an ad blocker can work wonders. It is especially true of Reddit and Youtube. Even with Mastodon, I use the webpage in a browser.
But getting to your bigger point - I think these things do cause more problems with trust - that is the bigger problem. 1/2
@liztai There’s more than one set of Reddit users. There are the usual posters, lurkers etc like you and me, sure, but there are also mods who spend a lot of time pro-bono to nurture their specific niche communities. Good mods attract “good” users because there’ll be a community with in-jokes/ norms etc.
The “official” apps don’t do much for the latter, definitely not at the scale they need. Third party apps are much more user-friendly with loads of features. Remove those, and mods go away.
@liztai No mods, no users in communities. No users => the “long tail” of niche communities starts to trim. Larger specific ones also could vanish.
IMHO, discord is a much more “natural” home for Reddit communities in exile. Problem with discord, though, is discoverability is a biatch. You really can’t end up on a detailed Discord thread by googling your way in.
@liztai Many moderators, especially in the large subreddits, rely on third party tools and bots that are now becoming unavailable. And visually impaired users often use third party apps to be able to access the site.
Also, I tend to care about things that impact other people even if I'm not personally affected.
@liztai some of their third party apps make the site usable for blind people, and some lgbt subs have said Reddit's built in moderator tools are so inadequate, that without third party scripts, spammers and hateful trolls would make their subs unusable and unmanageable.
It's a large part of why over half of all subs are joining in the shutdown.
@liztai remember that just because you don't use a third-party app doesn't mean you aren't affected. You still depend on the thriving ecosystem that Reddit had, maybe without even realizing it... Mods, content creators, power users and fellow commentors, accessibility apps.
And even if we put all that aside, this is a clear signal that the user experience is on the chopping block. Expect more #enshitification that will eventually get you.
Now is not the time to put your head in the sand.
@liztai
Worth noting, perhaps, that Reddit didn’t just cripple 3rd-party apps but shut off some functionality in Reddit itself.
You used to be able to access a nice mobile-friendly version of Reddit by tweaking the URL.
I only started using an app when they killed that functionality. Joke’s on me because I paid for the app and now they’re killing the app too.
@liztai I’m sure you’re right that those of us (like me) who care strongly about third party apps are a vocal minority.
The question isn’t if it’s a majority, but whether this minority has an outsized impact on Reddit’s business by being “power users”.
Let’s say (I am making this up) 90% of subreddit moderators use third party apps. Even if moderators only make up 1% of all users, they’re the 1% that make the site usable by the other 99%, and so their departure might ruin it for everyone.
@liztai Maybe my numbers are way off, and only 1% of moderators care about third party apps too. In which case, you will probably be right that it won’t impact the site at large.
I’m simply making the point that, the percentage of total users affected isn’t the only metric that matters, but also *which* users they are.
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