dirtmayor

TechCrunch shouted out Lemmy and Kbin in their Reddit coverage today: Reddit CEO lashes out on protests, moderators and third-party apps

https://beehaw.org/post/589656

TechCrunch shouted out Lemmy and Kbin in their Reddit coverage today: Reddit CEO lashes out on protests, moderators and third-party apps - Beehaw

From the article: In response to Huffman’s comments, moderators are trying to find ways to make blackouts effective. Alternatively, some communities are also setting up servers on alternative sites like Lemmy and Kbin.

Jun 16, 2023 at 1:56pmWeb
Show threadCΔƒtΔƒ πŸ‡·πŸ‡΄πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡²πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊJun 16, 2023
@dirtmayor β†—οΈβ†—οΈβ†—οΈπŸš€πŸŒ
Show threaddirtmayorJun 16, 2023
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Show threadLordofCandyJun 16, 2023
I just hate that Spez continues to act like 3rd parties didn't offer or cite reasonable examples and costs for api access. No one was saying cost was not an option but it was a ludicrous cost and an amazingly short timeline that started the whole fiasco.
Show threadflybynightpotatoJun 16, 2023
He's a big fan of the strawman argument.
Show threadtreadfulJun 16, 2023
As a user, I would have even shouldered my own cost. $2.50/mo for a no ad experience on the app I prefer? Seems reasonable.
Show threadLordofCandyJun 16, 2023

I’ve been a Reddit subscriber since 2014. Hell. Tie in api access to your sub.

On npr he said the api price was the price. Like what a non answer. He then cited the entire running cost for the cite but nothing about how apis use it. Nor how google and MS have had to have their own infrastructures built out for them.

It’s just stupid. I unsubscribed and deleted all my content for 16 years. I may be a minority but I will just abuse their system now with blockers and use them as a one way resource when I’m led there. I did not appreciate his characterization of the users or Christian.

Show threadLewsTherinTelescopeJun 16, 2023
I mean, that is a thing apps could have done to resolve the situation, the fact they chose not to take that route wasn't Reddit's decision. (Not that I blame devs for not wanting to play ball after seeing how Reddit's team slandered the Apollo dev, that was inexcusable and likely burned a lot of bridges. I wouldn't want to negotiate with them either.)
Show threadsoilingJun 16, 2023
it would have been a fundamental and seismic change in the apps though, because users would have to supply their own API key, forcing them to stay signed in with one account only. or set up some kind of credit system to use the app's original API key, but that would be a nightmare to maintain for solo devs already doing a lot
Show threadargv_minus_oneJun 17, 2023

no ad experience

I suspect this is the real reason spez wants third-party apps gone.

Show threadπŸπŸ‡­πŸ‡ͺπŸ…»πŸ…»πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡§πŸ…΄πŸ†πŸ‡ΉπŸJun 17, 2023
I think if they wanted to serve ads to third party apps they would have worked out a deal with them to revenue share at the very least and do this.
Show threadargv_minus_oneJun 17, 2023
What's to stop AI companies from just scraping Reddit's HTML? The two big AI companiesβ€”Google and Microsoftβ€”already do that as part of their search engine indexing!
Show threaddarkmuggletJun 17, 2023
I looked at the reddit premium and balked at the cost. I would have paid $10 or $20, but $60? For what? It's not the ads or the benefits but the experience. Demonstrably, third party apps provide a better experience at a lower price. And when I wanted to put my money where my mouth was, I walked away thinking Reddit is being the unreasonable ass hole.i could care less about Reddit Gold or whatever, Reddit just thinks too highly of itself and it's place on the internet.
Show threadRuorcJun 16, 2023
If I recall the Apollo dev's comments, he said someone from Twitter told him that the pricing was designed to kill third party apps in the same way Twitter killed them. The pricing is doing exactly what was intended and has nothing to do with the API costs to Reddit.
Show threadPaige (she/her)Jun 16, 2023

β€œIf you’re a politician or a business owner, you are accountable to your constituents. So a politician needs to be elected, and a business owner can be fired by its shareholders,” he said.

β€œAnd I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.”

Pro-business people always have the craziest ideas of democracy. Does he really believe that shareholders making decisions is, in any way, democratic??

Show threadfuserJun 16, 2023
well, he believes he's a natural leader - so clearly the delusion runs deep.
Show threadπŸπŸ‡­πŸ‡ͺπŸ…»πŸ…»πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡§πŸ…΄πŸ†πŸ‡ΉπŸJun 17, 2023

Rich people always do because society tells them they are great.

Look at Australia's former Prime Minister as a shining example of exactly this for just one.

Show threadbear_deluneJun 17, 2023

I reckon he knows he’s blowing smoke up his own ass.

It just has to sound good not actually make any sense.

Show threadKingPyroxJun 16, 2023
They didn't really give good context to the situation. They really should be talking about how these changes are going to be affecting reddit's sources of information. That the fee's they want to charge are ridiculously high for any developer (essentially pricing out any but the rich). How all content is user generated, maintained and controlled and yet reddit feels they are the owners of it. If they want to make these changes then they need to be taking a serious look at the solutions the community are coming up with.
Show threadKichaeJun 16, 2023

They really should be talking about how these changes are going to be affecting reddit's sources of information.

Don't ever expect for-profit media to highlight how profit motivations affect the availability of different types of information.

Show threadAnomanderJun 16, 2023

They really should be talking about how these changes are going to be affecting reddit's sources of information.

Yeah. Protest and discourse on reddit about these changes and their impact on the site and its communities has been unfortunately domineered and nearly hijacked by the mods leading the protests. That has meant the average user has a hard time understanding how their experience will be affected - and made it incredibly easy for Reddit Inc to spin the conflict as "between Admin and Moderation, with users being caught in the crossfire" - instead of being about the changes and consequences of cutting API access to all users' experience on the site.

Admin over there has weaponized the userbase' underlying distrust for mods against the protest as a whole, and a large number of mods have fed that perception by acting unilaterally with regards to protest actions.

Show threadPwnmodeJun 16, 2023
He can't be citing real statistics. I don't know 3% of their reported 57 million users but I do know that every person I know that uses reddit uses third party apps.
Show threadexscapeJun 16, 2023
I don't know, I think it could be true. 57 million daily users according to the article; older numbers claim 400 million monthly users.
Apollo claims 1.5 million users (monthly, I think) and is one of the biggest (if not the biggest?) third party apps.
Show threadGunnarRunnarJun 16, 2023
No doubt most people use official app or browser. Which makes it even stranger that they decided to kill 3rd party apps.
Show threadTeppicJun 16, 2023

That may be true, but it is still presenting a distorted picture. The power users who interact with Reddit most are almost certainly more likely to have at least tried other (i.e. 3rd party) apps - furthermore it doesn't seem to be being debated that the official app is missing key tools moderators find useful which would suggest moderators are are more likely to use 3rd party apps too.

Not all users are equal, some are more equal and others!

Show threadbaileyJun 16, 2023
I think we underestimate how many people just browse reddit on PC.
Show threadPapamousseJun 16, 2023
True, during the day I'm using old.reddit in FF on my PC. It's only the evening/week-end that I am on Sync. For now.
Show threadsydneybrokeitJun 16, 2023
The bulk of heavy users are on third party apps, most likely.
Show threadmustyOrangeJun 16, 2023
Most of my friends who use it only every now and then couldnt give two fucks about third party apps and probably didnt know they existed. Most of them have joined in the last two years, so it was when the site became a lot less hard care
Show threadshaggygbJun 16, 2023
I came here because of the article
Show threadTheGentleMenJun 16, 2023
Welcome! It’s great here!
Show threadreric88🧩Jun 17, 2023
It is great here!
Show threadCCatManJun 17, 2023
I would agree.
Show threadwhelkJun 17, 2023
Relatively recent arrival to Reddit, but this was the nudge I needed to really start diving into the Fediverse (via Lemmy). It's been a ton of fun.
Show threadSteeveJun 16, 2023

Everyone's talking about enshitification, but they're also just extremely late to the game. The rest of big tech monetized a long time ago, pissed off their users, but managed to keep a solid amount of their users and the rest went... to Reddit. I guess I understand a corporation's need to monetize, but when you built a platform that was meant to be different than the rest you're definitely going to experience some pain when you decide to be like them.

Reddit will most definitely survive this and maybe even be profitable in a few years, but they'll have completely given up what they originally stood for to do. Personally, I'm just happy this whole thing gave me a push out the door and a place to migrate to, Reddit was already turning into a place I didn't want to be long before this.

Show threadπŸπŸ‡­πŸ‡ͺπŸ…»πŸ…»πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡§πŸ…΄πŸ†πŸ‡ΉπŸJun 17, 2023

"And I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.”

I love how this is suddenly only a problem for them now but has been something they defended for years previously.