4 ms·

They're either entirely incompetent or they're intentionally driving away 3rd party apps. I can't see any other alternative than that.

ttctciyf 3y ago
Maybe they're hoping that future LLM trainers will cough up the crazy prices?
jsheard 3y ago
It's pretty obviously the latter, the decision to kill access to NSFW posts via the API while the official apps will (AFAICT) still be able to access them means that 3rd party apps will be on the back foot even if they pay, for no good reason Reddit has been able to articulate. NSFW on Reddit isn't just porn, the tag is used in the literal sense of "your boss wouldn't approve" or as a content warning for violence, heavy subjects, etc. e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/search?q=nsfw%3Ayes&restrict_sr=on https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/search?q=nsfw%3Ayes&restr...
- mustacheemperor 3y ago
  This explains the API changes themselves, but not the leadership team's behavior throughout the process. Holding this AMA didn't do anything productive for that objective but resulted in even more foot-in-mouth, now with even more attention than before. Reddit's leadership had the potential headline "3rd party developer claims tiff with reddit administration in post" and took it upon themselves to upgrade it to what's here.
- M2Ys4U 3y ago
  The two options aren't mutually exclusive, though. It's both, IMO.
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  Yeah, I don't think people truly appreciate how valuable the data collected by mobile apps is for selling to marketers and advertising (which can't be blocked anywhere nearly as easily as it can be via browsers.) There's a reason everyone pushes you to install their app; they want all that sweet, sweet time/network/location data and the ability to drive traffic to whatever degree they want via notifications. I believe notifications also allow them to wake their app and collect data at that point in time, which they couldn't ordinarily do because iOS and Android have much more restrictions on background activity?
Alupis 3y ago
> or they're intentionally driving away 3rd party apps This doesn't seem to make sense. If Reddit wanted to kill 3rd party apps, they would just disable public API access entirely. The reaction would be basically the same it seems.
- Spivak 3y ago
  I think they want to collect a few huge checks from large orgs that want to scrape Reddit for their own analysis while also killing 3rd party client access.
  - Alupis 3y ago
    That could be, although I would expect a typical "Call us for a quote" thing if that was the goal.

ttctciyf 3y ago

Maybe they're hoping that future LLM trainers will cough up the crazy prices?

jsheard 3y ago

It's pretty obviously the latter, the decision to kill access to NSFW posts via the API while the official apps will (AFAICT) still be able to access them means that 3rd party apps will be on the back foot even if they pay, for no good reason Reddit has been able to articulate. NSFW on Reddit isn't just porn, the tag is used in the literal sense of "your boss wouldn't approve" or as a content warning for violence, heavy subjects, etc. e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/search?q=nsfw%3Ayes&restrict_sr=on https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/search?q=nsfw%3Ayes&restr...

mustacheemperor 3y ago
This explains the API changes themselves, but not the leadership team's behavior throughout the process. Holding this AMA didn't do anything productive for that objective but resulted in even more foot-in-mouth, now with even more attention than before. Reddit's leadership had the potential headline "3rd party developer claims tiff with reddit administration in post" and took it upon themselves to upgrade it to what's here.
M2Ys4U 3y ago
The two options aren't mutually exclusive, though. It's both, IMO.
KennyBlanken 3y ago
Yeah, I don't think people truly appreciate how valuable the data collected by mobile apps is for selling to marketers and advertising (which can't be blocked anywhere nearly as easily as it can be via browsers.) There's a reason everyone pushes you to install their app; they want all that sweet, sweet time/network/location data and the ability to drive traffic to whatever degree they want via notifications. I believe notifications also allow them to wake their app and collect data at that point in time, which they couldn't ordinarily do because iOS and Android have much more restrictions on background activity?

Alupis 3y ago

> or they're intentionally driving away 3rd party apps This doesn't seem to make sense. If Reddit wanted to kill 3rd party apps, they would just disable public API access entirely. The reaction would be basically the same it seems.

Spivak 3y ago
I think they want to collect a few huge checks from large orgs that want to scrape Reddit for their own analysis while also killing 3rd party client access.
- Alupis 3y ago
  That could be, although I would expect a typical "Call us for a quote" thing if that was the goal.