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They’ve reached their natural level of user base. Now as they ramp up to an IPO, 3rd party clients are seen as a liability, not an asset. They view anyone tha

They’ve reached their natural level of user base. Now as they ramp up to an IPO, 3rd party clients are seen as a liability, not an asset. They view anyone that complains as a vocal minority, the my don’t believe their MAU numbers will change in any meaningful way. If anything, all the press around it just raises Reddits profile. That’s my take on what’s going on, but I have no insider knowledge so I’m just guessing :-)

satvikpendem 3y ago
Indeed, how many of Reddit's 500 million users per month base actually use anything besides new Reddit and the official app? I'd say the vanishing minority.
- kyriakos 3y ago
  if that's the case then why are they going after 3rd party apps? If they are a niche among the user base then the benefit of killing them is hardly worth losing moderators who've been doing work for free.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    It's about controlling their user base in terms of how they use the service.
- ummonk 3y ago
  If those users weren't that important, Reddit wouldn't be needing to push through this change and capture the revenue from those users.
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  Much of the complaints seem to come from moderators who rely on third-party apps for moderation. That seems reasonable and like a real problem. I wonder if Reddit could have bought one of the popular apps moderators use and make it official.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    The latest news from Reddit is that they're allowing free API access for accessibility apps and moderator tools.
    - gambiting 3y ago
      What's "moderator tools" in this context?? Mods use apps like Apollo and RIF to moderate their subreddits, and both of these apps are shutting down at the end of the month.
      - satvikpendem 3y ago
        https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/ https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_...
    - prox 3y ago
      Kind of late now they are caught with their pants down before a black out. Pretty sure they are going to kill it again or put a barrier in there once they get the chance.
      - satvikpendem 3y ago
        It doesn't really matter what they do. I guarantee by this time next week, Reddit will be back to normal.
- MrStonedOne 3y ago
  [dead]
- ddalex 3y ago
  And I think Reddit will be delighted to get rid of the "troublemakers". the problem is that the "troublemakers" are the cool kids that make the site interesting, so it's a bit like gentrification kids out the cool folks that made the place interesting in a first bit
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    Reddit used to be interesting but ever since it became a TikTok / Instagram meme clone with r/all, there really is no need for these sorts of power users. Sure, some subs like r/AskHistorians will suffer but I doubt they'll entirely leave the site, there is no alternative.
    - Ekaros 3y ago
      Having less stringent and totalitarian moderation might bring different sort of userbase to more active. And not even affect the number of passive one. It's not like in general people care about quality on Internet...
  - klodolph 3y ago
    I don’t think the “troublemakers” are likely to be the people who make Reddit interesting. The troublemakers are the people who are complaining the loudest about Reddit, and the people who make the site interesting are the people who spend most of their time caring about other things besides Reddit. In the PC world, the power users could graduate into developers and make apps to share with everyone. In the Reddit world, the power users are people who are interested in farming for karma, the people who stake out claims as moderators, the people who respond to tons of AITA / legaladvice / relationships posts. When I hear someone ranting, pissed off, about the latest Windows or macOS update, or systemd, it’s often because they use computers to get work done, and having the tech stack change under your feet makes it hard to get work done. Broad sense of the word “work” here, when I say “get work done”. Nobody’s getting work done on Reddit, it’s a time drain from other stuff we could be doing. (Like, not nobody nobody, just nobody.)
    - 3y ago
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
johannes1234321 3y ago
The issue with that is that by far most users are reading (coming from Google etc. - which is at threat by ChatGPT btw.) or just lurking. Only few comment, very few comment a lot. Those produce the content for the majority of users and are the ones using special apps. Risk is that if they kick out the "creators" by making the apps unattractive they might lose a lot of content for the lurkers. But they should have statistics to see how many are using apps and how many of the most hit posts are written by app users ... if they didn't run such an analysis: their bad.
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  I obviously have no data to back it up, but I too suspect that third party app users post, reply, vote, and otherwise interact a disproportionate amount. Not only are these users likely to have been big reddit users in the first place, but apps like Apollo are designed to put these interactions in the forefront of the experience and make them as smooth and frictionless as possible. Contrast this to the official site/app, which are instead designed to keep you jumping from post to post without dwelling for too long, but are also designed to sell junk like NFT avatars. Reddit might continue on with business as usual after the API rate change goes into effect, but I believe the average quality of content and comments (which was already trending lower) will fall through the floor. There's no incentive for invested users who put more thought and effort into their posts to stick around.
Havoc 3y ago
>They’ve reached their natural level of user base. Perhaps in the US. There is another 96% of humanity left to go so a little bit of additional growth should be feasible
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  They've already reached that 96%. Reddit has, and always had, international audience. At this point, anyone who knows a bit of English and is the kind of person to use a site like that, is on it (+/- government blocks, of course). Whatever space for growth Reddit has left, it's not geographical.
  - Havoc 3y ago
    Almost half of Reddit is American. It’s not nearly as international or globally representative as you think.
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      Measured as?
      - Havoc 3y ago
        A simple google search will bring up dozens of sites & a variety methods so take your pick. They all say Reddit is 40-50% American

satvikpendem 3y ago

Indeed, how many of Reddit's 500 million users per month base actually use anything besides new Reddit and the official app? I'd say the vanishing minority.

kyriakos 3y ago
if that's the case then why are they going after 3rd party apps? If they are a niche among the user base then the benefit of killing them is hardly worth losing moderators who've been doing work for free.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  It's about controlling their user base in terms of how they use the service.
ummonk 3y ago
If those users weren't that important, Reddit wouldn't be needing to push through this change and capture the revenue from those users.
ajmurmann 3y ago
Much of the complaints seem to come from moderators who rely on third-party apps for moderation. That seems reasonable and like a real problem. I wonder if Reddit could have bought one of the popular apps moderators use and make it official.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  The latest news from Reddit is that they're allowing free API access for accessibility apps and moderator tools.
  - gambiting 3y ago
    What's "moderator tools" in this context?? Mods use apps like Apollo and RIF to moderate their subreddits, and both of these apps are shutting down at the end of the month.
    - satvikpendem 3y ago
      https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/ https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_...
  - prox 3y ago
    Kind of late now they are caught with their pants down before a black out. Pretty sure they are going to kill it again or put a barrier in there once they get the chance.
    - satvikpendem 3y ago
      It doesn't really matter what they do. I guarantee by this time next week, Reddit will be back to normal.
MrStonedOne 3y ago
[dead]
ddalex 3y ago
And I think Reddit will be delighted to get rid of the "troublemakers". the problem is that the "troublemakers" are the cool kids that make the site interesting, so it's a bit like gentrification kids out the cool folks that made the place interesting in a first bit
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  Reddit used to be interesting but ever since it became a TikTok / Instagram meme clone with r/all, there really is no need for these sorts of power users. Sure, some subs like r/AskHistorians will suffer but I doubt they'll entirely leave the site, there is no alternative.
  - Ekaros 3y ago
    Having less stringent and totalitarian moderation might bring different sort of userbase to more active. And not even affect the number of passive one. It's not like in general people care about quality on Internet...
- klodolph 3y ago
  I don’t think the “troublemakers” are likely to be the people who make Reddit interesting. The troublemakers are the people who are complaining the loudest about Reddit, and the people who make the site interesting are the people who spend most of their time caring about other things besides Reddit. In the PC world, the power users could graduate into developers and make apps to share with everyone. In the Reddit world, the power users are people who are interested in farming for karma, the people who stake out claims as moderators, the people who respond to tons of AITA / legaladvice / relationships posts. When I hear someone ranting, pissed off, about the latest Windows or macOS update, or systemd, it’s often because they use computers to get work done, and having the tech stack change under your feet makes it hard to get work done. Broad sense of the word “work” here, when I say “get work done”. Nobody’s getting work done on Reddit, it’s a time drain from other stuff we could be doing. (Like, not nobody nobody, just nobody.)
  - 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

johannes1234321 3y ago

The issue with that is that by far most users are reading (coming from Google etc. - which is at threat by ChatGPT btw.) or just lurking. Only few comment, very few comment a lot. Those produce the content for the majority of users and are the ones using special apps. Risk is that if they kick out the "creators" by making the apps unattractive they might lose a lot of content for the lurkers. But they should have statistics to see how many are using apps and how many of the most hit posts are written by app users ... if they didn't run such an analysis: their bad.

kitsunesoba 3y ago
I obviously have no data to back it up, but I too suspect that third party app users post, reply, vote, and otherwise interact a disproportionate amount. Not only are these users likely to have been big reddit users in the first place, but apps like Apollo are designed to put these interactions in the forefront of the experience and make them as smooth and frictionless as possible. Contrast this to the official site/app, which are instead designed to keep you jumping from post to post without dwelling for too long, but are also designed to sell junk like NFT avatars. Reddit might continue on with business as usual after the API rate change goes into effect, but I believe the average quality of content and comments (which was already trending lower) will fall through the floor. There's no incentive for invested users who put more thought and effort into their posts to stick around.

Havoc 3y ago

>They’ve reached their natural level of user base. Perhaps in the US. There is another 96% of humanity left to go so a little bit of additional growth should be feasible

TeMPOraL 3y ago
They've already reached that 96%. Reddit has, and always had, international audience. At this point, anyone who knows a bit of English and is the kind of person to use a site like that, is on it (+/- government blocks, of course). Whatever space for growth Reddit has left, it's not geographical.
- Havoc 3y ago
  Almost half of Reddit is American. It’s not nearly as international or globally representative as you think.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    Measured as?
    - Havoc 3y ago
      A simple google search will bring up dozens of sites & a variety methods so take your pick. They all say Reddit is 40-50% American