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It’s funny because posts on Reddit don’t belong to Reddit, they belong to the users who created them. Why would I, as someone who’s made tens of thousands of c

It’s funny because posts on Reddit don’t belong to Reddit, they belong to the users who created them. Why would I, as someone who’s made tens of thousands of comments, care if someone scrapes and reuses my comments. I don’t want them to pay up. This is a really rich comment from a company that relies entirely on user submitted content and has never “paid up.”

markdown 4y ago
> Why would I, as someone who’s made tens of thousands of comments, care if someone scrapes and reuses my comments. I don’t want them to pay up Why would I, as someone who's made tens of thousands of comments, be happy with a corporation scraping my content to create a service that they'll turn around and charge me for? I want them to pay up, so that Reddit, this wonderful service that has given me thousands of hours of entertainment and education, can be sustainable and grow. > This is a really rich comment from a company that relies entirely on user submitted content and has never “paid up.” Most redditors will agree that they get much more from Reddit than they give. I for one am very happy with the arrangement I have with Reddit.
- mxkopy 4y ago
  Because reddit is a terrible company and you don't want to subsidize their transition into a shitty ad service.
  - lillecarl 4y ago
    If companies pay reddit for "public" data the incentive to poision the platform with too much ads decreases, and there's always adblock.
    - mxkopy 4y ago
      Having more ads and monetizing the API aren't mutually exclusive. Look at the avatar/award system for example, which evolved in tandem with dark patterns that push the user to the app where they can serve unblockable ads.
  - bezier-curve 4y ago
    There's a lot of people in this thread defending Reddit and they don't seem to have ever had the pleasure of dealing with an actual Reddit employee. They have a culture of unchecked cronyism. Reddit doesn't care about anyone, some people will eventually figure it out the hard way.
    - markdown 4y ago
      > they don't seem to have ever had the pleasure of dealing with an actual Reddit employee. 99.999% of redditors will never ever have to deal with a Reddit employee. Cronyism? What the hell has that got to do with my consumption of and participation on Reddit?
      - bezier-curve 4y ago
        Most users don't interact with Reddit employees, but the moderators that maintain most of the communities you enjoy do. That's how I ended up interacting with them. Shortly after the IPO rumors, my community started being harassed by an admin through modmail.
        markdown 4y ago
        That's an odd way to put it. The admins are basically god. God doesn't harass you, he tells you how to live. If an admin tells you to jump, you beg to know how high. I've been a mod for a decade and never had a problem with admins.
        bezier-curve 4y ago
        I was new to it though, and an admin picked on me because I was parodying another subreddit (my home city subreddit). You've been modding for a decade, great. That basically backs up my original point that it's a party of tenure and closed-mindedness (cronyism). My situation was different, and it's pointless to argue, but if you trust any company (especially in a changing economic environment), keep your eyes open for poorly motivated incentives. Regardless, the attitude that they're "god" is a weird way to put it. They randomly IP banned me for calling out an admin's publicity issue during an April fools event. That's cronyism. I've used Reddit for 12 years and engaged in conversations in good faith for years. Paid for subscriptions most of that time. All relationships, business or otherwise should be mutual in some form.
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
My perspective is that Reddit made the comment you submitted. In real terms the comment is a record in a database which backs a web application that is developed and administered by Reddit. The comment is your expression but, like it or not, it is by Reddit’s grace that they publish it on their website. (Consider things which would be illegal for them to host and publish; they need to keep a close eye out for such things and prevent those relatively few posts among the millions they receive daily.)
- rcme 4y ago
  Does the air make my speech by propagating the energy from my larynx?
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
    Technically, yes, if you’d like to credit the effect of one hearing your speech to the workings of Earth’s atmosphere. It’s true that the speech is your expression but you correctly point out that the air brings it to my perceptions.
  - marpstar 4y ago
    I think what GP means by "made" is "produced". Reddit provides the platform, the community, and the reach -- it's like a record label. Much like how recording artists don't own their recordings.
    - moshun 4y ago
      Tons of recording artists own their masters, both big and small. It’s a function of their contract that determines that ownership, and those terms are clear. Just as they are clear in Reddit’s TOS. You own your content, Reddit simply has a license to use it. https://www.redditinc.com/policies/user-agreement-april-18-2023 https://www.redditinc.com/policies/user-agreement-april-18-2...
      - marpstar 4y ago
brigandish 4y ago
You made the comment, Reddit built the API and the system you use for making comments. If they wish to charge for their part(s) in this, they can, or retract their work, or give it away. Just as you can for your comments.
- prepend 4y ago
  Certainly they can charge for their API. It was the CEO’s phrasing that was odd. That is their data and if people want to use it, they should pay up. I think charging for the api is bad as it will make things like user apps harder. I think Reddit’s app is bad, so other apps need to use the api in order to function.
bagels 4y ago
I assume you give them a license to use your posts when you sign up.
brookst 4y ago
There's a bunch of precedent that aggregators have some IP rights. Reddit does not have exclusive rights to your posts, but they can have some rights to the collection of posts from all users.
lvncelot 4y ago
> This is a really rich comment from a company that relies entirely on user submitted content User submitted content and moderation.
- wallmountedtv 4y ago
  And the moderation that makes Reddit hold valuable content is done by its users on a per subreddit status. Only stuff that could break laws like extremist content and hate speech is handled by Reddit themselves. It's really odd to call it "their" data, and this is not exclusive to Reddit.
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    It isn't odd. Is it odd that content on Facebook is Meta's data? Maybe try reading the T&Cs and it won't seem so odd. They provide the platform for free. Don't like it? Self-host or go elsewhere. This is the biz model every content silo uses.
psychphysic 4y ago
Agreed! Reddit runs on the good will of it's very few good users. It is quite the cesspit and always has been. Training much on it will likely worsen the confidently incorrect problems.
- artificial 4y ago
  Considering OpenAI trained on Twitter data among others, I think it'll make for more flavor that users crave, based on the popularity of both of those platforms.
JCharante 4y ago
Okay, so where should we start mailing checks to Reddit for hosting our comments?
- eviks 4y ago
  To the same address Reddit mails checks for generating revenue based on those comments

markdown 4y ago

> Why would I, as someone who’s made tens of thousands of comments, care if someone scrapes and reuses my comments. I don’t want them to pay up Why would I, as someone who's made tens of thousands of comments, be happy with a corporation scraping my content to create a service that they'll turn around and charge me for? I want them to pay up, so that Reddit, this wonderful service that has given me thousands of hours of entertainment and education, can be sustainable and grow. > This is a really rich comment from a company that relies entirely on user submitted content and has never “paid up.” Most redditors will agree that they get much more from Reddit than they give. I for one am very happy with the arrangement I have with Reddit.

mxkopy 4y ago
Because reddit is a terrible company and you don't want to subsidize their transition into a shitty ad service.
- lillecarl 4y ago
  If companies pay reddit for "public" data the incentive to poision the platform with too much ads decreases, and there's always adblock.
  - mxkopy 4y ago
    Having more ads and monetizing the API aren't mutually exclusive. Look at the avatar/award system for example, which evolved in tandem with dark patterns that push the user to the app where they can serve unblockable ads.
- bezier-curve 4y ago
  There's a lot of people in this thread defending Reddit and they don't seem to have ever had the pleasure of dealing with an actual Reddit employee. They have a culture of unchecked cronyism. Reddit doesn't care about anyone, some people will eventually figure it out the hard way.
  - markdown 4y ago
    > they don't seem to have ever had the pleasure of dealing with an actual Reddit employee. 99.999% of redditors will never ever have to deal with a Reddit employee. Cronyism? What the hell has that got to do with my consumption of and participation on Reddit?
    - bezier-curve 4y ago
      Most users don't interact with Reddit employees, but the moderators that maintain most of the communities you enjoy do. That's how I ended up interacting with them. Shortly after the IPO rumors, my community started being harassed by an admin through modmail.
      - markdown 4y ago
        That's an odd way to put it. The admins are basically god. God doesn't harass you, he tells you how to live. If an admin tells you to jump, you beg to know how high. I've been a mod for a decade and never had a problem with admins.
        bezier-curve 4y ago
        I was new to it though, and an admin picked on me because I was parodying another subreddit (my home city subreddit). You've been modding for a decade, great. That basically backs up my original point that it's a party of tenure and closed-mindedness (cronyism). My situation was different, and it's pointless to argue, but if you trust any company (especially in a changing economic environment), keep your eyes open for poorly motivated incentives. Regardless, the attitude that they're "god" is a weird way to put it. They randomly IP banned me for calling out an admin's publicity issue during an April fools event. That's cronyism. I've used Reddit for 12 years and engaged in conversations in good faith for years. Paid for subscriptions most of that time. All relationships, business or otherwise should be mutual in some form.

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago

My perspective is that Reddit made the comment you submitted. In real terms the comment is a record in a database which backs a web application that is developed and administered by Reddit. The comment is your expression but, like it or not, it is by Reddit’s grace that they publish it on their website. (Consider things which would be illegal for them to host and publish; they need to keep a close eye out for such things and prevent those relatively few posts among the millions they receive daily.)

rcme 4y ago
Does the air make my speech by propagating the energy from my larynx?
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
  Technically, yes, if you’d like to credit the effect of one hearing your speech to the workings of Earth’s atmosphere. It’s true that the speech is your expression but you correctly point out that the air brings it to my perceptions.
- marpstar 4y ago
  I think what GP means by "made" is "produced". Reddit provides the platform, the community, and the reach -- it's like a record label. Much like how recording artists don't own their recordings.
  - moshun 4y ago
    Tons of recording artists own their masters, both big and small. It’s a function of their contract that determines that ownership, and those terms are clear. Just as they are clear in Reddit’s TOS. You own your content, Reddit simply has a license to use it. https://www.redditinc.com/policies/user-agreement-april-18-2023 https://www.redditinc.com/policies/user-agreement-april-18-2...
    - marpstar 4y ago

brigandish 4y ago

You made the comment, Reddit built the API and the system you use for making comments. If they wish to charge for their part(s) in this, they can, or retract their work, or give it away. Just as you can for your comments.

prepend 4y ago
Certainly they can charge for their API. It was the CEO’s phrasing that was odd. That is their data and if people want to use it, they should pay up. I think charging for the api is bad as it will make things like user apps harder. I think Reddit’s app is bad, so other apps need to use the api in order to function.

bagels 4y ago

I assume you give them a license to use your posts when you sign up.

brookst 4y ago

There's a bunch of precedent that aggregators have some IP rights. Reddit does not have exclusive rights to your posts, but they can have some rights to the collection of posts from all users.

lvncelot 4y ago

> This is a really rich comment from a company that relies entirely on user submitted content User submitted content and moderation.

wallmountedtv 4y ago
And the moderation that makes Reddit hold valuable content is done by its users on a per subreddit status. Only stuff that could break laws like extremist content and hate speech is handled by Reddit themselves. It's really odd to call it "their" data, and this is not exclusive to Reddit.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  It isn't odd. Is it odd that content on Facebook is Meta's data? Maybe try reading the T&Cs and it won't seem so odd. They provide the platform for free. Don't like it? Self-host or go elsewhere. This is the biz model every content silo uses.

psychphysic 4y ago

Agreed! Reddit runs on the good will of it's very few good users. It is quite the cesspit and always has been. Training much on it will likely worsen the confidently incorrect problems.

artificial 4y ago
Considering OpenAI trained on Twitter data among others, I think it'll make for more flavor that users crave, based on the popularity of both of those platforms.

JCharante 4y ago

Okay, so where should we start mailing checks to Reddit for hosting our comments?

eviks 4y ago
To the same address Reddit mails checks for generating revenue based on those comments