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Reddit is a prime example of what you're explaining. Reddit has been aggressively expanding their advertising, yet they've done little to nothing to stop ad blo

Reddit is a prime example of what you're explaining. Reddit has been aggressively expanding their advertising, yet they've done little to nothing to stop ad blockers, or third party Reddit clients, such as Apollo, that automatically strip the website of ads. I'd posit that Reddit understands that the demographic actually generating content (comments, posts, etc...) are very tech savvy, heavily utilize ad blockers and ad-stripping third party clients. Reddit understands that these users would leave the site en masse if their third party clients or ad blockers were interfered with. This would result in a drop in quality content for "average", non-ad blocking users to interact with, ultimately killing their web traffic and ad revenues. I'd also bet this is why Reddit has yet to force everyone to the new advertising-optimized redesign, which their power users hate.

edmundsauto 6y ago
I think I’d bet that Reddit just hasn’t seen a reason to prioritize it. They seem perpetually understaffed on the eng team.
- gruez 6y ago
  It wouldn't take too much effort to do. Just lock down the existing API and require all requests to be signed with a safetynet/recaptcha/devicecheck token. On the other hand they've been making various changes on the new mobile app, adding various a/b tests that try to encourage account creation.
  - Raidion 6y ago
    It's not just the mobile app, but a lot of the stuff on the regular reddit site is full of dark patterns. They want you to create an account to see comments below the top levels. old.reddit.com still gives the experience that you're used to if you want to remove the redesign.
abc-xyz 6y ago
> Reddit understands that these users would leave the site en masse if their third party clients or ad blockers were interfered with. I want to agree but I don’t. Twitch recently went to war with adblockers and they don’t seem to have lost any meaningful amount of streamers/viewers (at least the streamers/games I follow have the same amount of viewers/chat spam as before). Why would reddit be any different?
- ReactiveJelly 6y ago
  Twitch is a job for the big-time streamers, right? I don't know what Gallowboob gets paid to be on Reddit, but I expect nothing and get nothing. On Twitch I assume even the small-time streamers are trying to make money and get big. So Twitch has that leverage over their power users.
switch11 6y ago
excellent comment agree completely with you The only LOGICAL reason to go from a format that works to such a terrible format, is that it can make ads work better

edmundsauto 6y ago

I think I’d bet that Reddit just hasn’t seen a reason to prioritize it. They seem perpetually understaffed on the eng team.

gruez 6y ago
It wouldn't take too much effort to do. Just lock down the existing API and require all requests to be signed with a safetynet/recaptcha/devicecheck token. On the other hand they've been making various changes on the new mobile app, adding various a/b tests that try to encourage account creation.
- Raidion 6y ago
  It's not just the mobile app, but a lot of the stuff on the regular reddit site is full of dark patterns. They want you to create an account to see comments below the top levels. old.reddit.com still gives the experience that you're used to if you want to remove the redesign.

abc-xyz 6y ago

> Reddit understands that these users would leave the site en masse if their third party clients or ad blockers were interfered with. I want to agree but I don’t. Twitch recently went to war with adblockers and they don’t seem to have lost any meaningful amount of streamers/viewers (at least the streamers/games I follow have the same amount of viewers/chat spam as before). Why would reddit be any different?

ReactiveJelly 6y ago
Twitch is a job for the big-time streamers, right? I don't know what Gallowboob gets paid to be on Reddit, but I expect nothing and get nothing. On Twitch I assume even the small-time streamers are trying to make money and get big. So Twitch has that leverage over their power users.

switch11 6y ago

excellent comment agree completely with you The only LOGICAL reason to go from a format that works to such a terrible format, is that it can make ads work better