6 ms·

Yeah but that symbiosis community stuff is for when you're still growing. Once you're big, it's time to pull up that ladder, put on the corporate mask, and star

Yeah but that symbiosis community stuff is for when you're still growing. Once you're big, it's time to pull up that ladder, put on the corporate mask, and start cranking that ad revenue at all costs. You've got a million rubes doomscrolling past your homogenous r/funny - i mean, r/all - slurry who don't know the difference between an ad and a real post. People who care about things like UX and quality posts are a minority who you are free to exploit for as long as you're useful, and then crush once you're done with them. I seriously think this is just reddit finally thinking "yup - we've won - time to start acting with impunity for anything that cuts costs (like not maintaining a public API) or increases even the smallest bit of revenue (like managing to convert 1% of apollo users to first-party-app users while alienating (no pun intended) the rest).

danudey 3y ago
I don't understand why they don't either mandate ad display on third-party apps, or waive API fees for third-party apps that show ads in an approved manner. I'm sure there's a reason, but I'd rather be able to use Apollo even if it shows ads as well than to use the official app.
- pierat 3y ago
  Control of the narrative is worth more than just money. So instead of just removing it, they just set the price to be laughable high so few, if any actually pay. Reddit is also betting that the 'sticky' users who contribute won't leave. And I think they grossly underestimated just how fast content creators can abandon your platform for a more friendly one. I also surmise that the API charging is to claw money back from aggregators and those YT shorts and Tiktoks that badly read a post and some comments along with an unrelated video. And also killing 3rd party API clients also helps adblocking efforts and control of the 'narrative'.
  - concordDance 3y ago
    Reddit doesn't really have content creators, just content reposters.
    - irrational 3y ago
      That’s not really true. I am on a number of subs (boardgames, woodworking, baking, etc.) that have people posting their own content all the time. The following are the very first posts at the top of the front page of each of these subs right now: https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/13xydtw/the_legend_of_zelda_tears_of_the_kingdom_ethnos/ https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/13xydtw/the_leg... https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/13y7iit/made_a_simple_sword_for_my_nephew/ https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/13y7iit/made_a... https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/comments/13ybcbk/first_time_making_cakesicles_more_bang_for_your/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/comments/13ybcbk/first_time_...
    - interestica 3y ago
      It also depends on how you define content. While the initial thread may be a “repost”, the ensuing discussion is original and leads to different inputs.
  - kalupa 3y ago
    ironically, these aggregators are just going to switch to using scraping instead ...
    - MindBeams 3y ago
      And it all comes full-circle.
  - BeFlatXIII 3y ago
    Old Reddit may be 1% of the user base, but it's 99% of the worthwhile users and janitors.
- propogandist 3y ago
  [dead]
- paulddraper 3y ago
  Because that is a lot of work to define, manage, and review. Far more sensible is to charge the apps, and have them monetize with their own ads.
- babypuncher 3y ago
  Or just charge a reasonable price for API access that offsets the lost ad revenue. I think Reddit's ad revenue is something like $0.12/mo for an average user. If their API pricing averaged out to $0.15/month/user they would still be coming out ahead. This would still hurt free third party apps, but I'm sure power users wouldn't mind paying $1/month to keep their favorite third party app going. Instead, Reddit went for insane API pricing that app developers can't realistically afford at the subscription rates people are willing to pay.
- bentcorner 3y ago
  I've always kind of wondered why reddit (and other social media sites like twitter) don't send ads in api calls.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
EliRivers 3y ago
Indeed; as Cory Doctorow calls it, the Enshittification stage. The point at which the platform begins to extract all the value it can from its users and its advertisers.

danudey 3y ago

I don't understand why they don't either mandate ad display on third-party apps, or waive API fees for third-party apps that show ads in an approved manner. I'm sure there's a reason, but I'd rather be able to use Apollo even if it shows ads as well than to use the official app.

pierat 3y ago
Control of the narrative is worth more than just money. So instead of just removing it, they just set the price to be laughable high so few, if any actually pay. Reddit is also betting that the 'sticky' users who contribute won't leave. And I think they grossly underestimated just how fast content creators can abandon your platform for a more friendly one. I also surmise that the API charging is to claw money back from aggregators and those YT shorts and Tiktoks that badly read a post and some comments along with an unrelated video. And also killing 3rd party API clients also helps adblocking efforts and control of the 'narrative'.
- concordDance 3y ago
  Reddit doesn't really have content creators, just content reposters.
  - irrational 3y ago
    That’s not really true. I am on a number of subs (boardgames, woodworking, baking, etc.) that have people posting their own content all the time. The following are the very first posts at the top of the front page of each of these subs right now: https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/13xydtw/the_legend_of_zelda_tears_of_the_kingdom_ethnos/ https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/13xydtw/the_leg... https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/13y7iit/made_a_simple_sword_for_my_nephew/ https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/13y7iit/made_a... https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/comments/13ybcbk/first_time_making_cakesicles_more_bang_for_your/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/comments/13ybcbk/first_time_...
  - interestica 3y ago
    It also depends on how you define content. While the initial thread may be a “repost”, the ensuing discussion is original and leads to different inputs.
- kalupa 3y ago
  ironically, these aggregators are just going to switch to using scraping instead ...
  - MindBeams 3y ago
    And it all comes full-circle.
- BeFlatXIII 3y ago
  Old Reddit may be 1% of the user base, but it's 99% of the worthwhile users and janitors.
propogandist 3y ago
[dead]
paulddraper 3y ago
Because that is a lot of work to define, manage, and review. Far more sensible is to charge the apps, and have them monetize with their own ads.
babypuncher 3y ago
Or just charge a reasonable price for API access that offsets the lost ad revenue. I think Reddit's ad revenue is something like $0.12/mo for an average user. If their API pricing averaged out to $0.15/month/user they would still be coming out ahead. This would still hurt free third party apps, but I'm sure power users wouldn't mind paying $1/month to keep their favorite third party app going. Instead, Reddit went for insane API pricing that app developers can't realistically afford at the subscription rates people are willing to pay.
bentcorner 3y ago
I've always kind of wondered why reddit (and other social media sites like twitter) don't send ads in api calls.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

EliRivers 3y ago

Indeed; as Cory Doctorow calls it, the Enshittification stage. The point at which the platform begins to extract all the value it can from its users and its advertisers.