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There would have been a huge uproar if they did that too. Most Apollo users don't pay. I'd be surprised if they would get even a 2% conversion rate. The other 9

There would have been a huge uproar if they did that too. Most Apollo users don't pay. I'd be surprised if they would get even a 2% conversion rate. The other 98% of users would be angry about losing access. Reddit would still be accused of effectively killing off 3rd party apps. The economics are basically the same. Apollo could charge their users $0.25 per thousand requests and continue to operate. They don't want to do so. It is a burden for the app developers to implement payment processing. And one month was not enough notice. But fundamentally, this is killing apps because most users won't be willing to pay. (Also, 1000 API requests isn't that little. For example, getting the top 25 posts of a subreddit is just 1 API request. Posting a comment is 1 request.) Unpaid users are important to these apps because it's what drives adoption. You can release a new paid app to browse Reddit and get maybe 1000 users, or release a free app and get 1 million users, of which 1% convert to paying customers (i.e. 10,000 customers. These numbers are just made up for illustrative purposes).

toyg 3y ago
> It is a burden for the app developers to implement payment processing But they wouldn't have had to. Most of them (all?) don't have registration features, you're meant to have a Reddit account already. A system where only Premium accounts get API access would have just required a way for Reddit to say "sorry, this user needs to upgrade to use 3rd-party clients" when challenged. That's a very simple change, nowhere near the complexity of implementing a payment-processing flow. A good strategy would have been something like Reddit saying "API users from now on will have to pay, and the price is 2-3x of a Premium subscription, because <bullshit about them taxing the backend more>", wait for the blowback, then say "alright, we listened to you and decided it will simply require any Premium subscription".
- nearbuy 3y ago
  Sorry I wasn't clear, but I meant the current system is putting a big burden on app developers. This proposal does make that easier. But it doesn't change the fundamental problem that most Apollo users won't pay. Having a free app is what drives their growth. There would still be massive anger against Reddit, and redditors would discourage each other from rewarding Reddit for this move. They'd say don't buy premium subscriptions, we need to send Reddit a message. Reddit ends up in the same mess it's in now. This system doesn't address the angry comments I've seen in this thread or on Reddit. There are several types of comments. Some people here say Reddit doesn't have a right to exploit value that was created by the community. Some people are angry because there was a dispute between the Apollo dev and the Reddit CEO and they feel the CEO's characterization of the Apollo dev is slanderous. (It seems the Apollo dev implied that if Reddit didn't buy them out, they'd publicly make a stink and Reddit called this blackmail. I'm not sure of the details.) Some people think Reddit is a lying, greedy corporation and doesn't need to charge for their API. Other disadvantages are that system wouldn't discourage apps from making hundreds of API requests per user per minute and there's no guarantee the cost of a premium subscription covers the cost of all the apps a user has. Heavy users get subsidized by light users with premium subscriptions.

toyg 3y ago

> It is a burden for the app developers to implement payment processing But they wouldn't have had to. Most of them (all?) don't have registration features, you're meant to have a Reddit account already. A system where only Premium accounts get API access would have just required a way for Reddit to say "sorry, this user needs to upgrade to use 3rd-party clients" when challenged. That's a very simple change, nowhere near the complexity of implementing a payment-processing flow. A good strategy would have been something like Reddit saying "API users from now on will have to pay, and the price is 2-3x of a Premium subscription, because <bullshit about them taxing the backend more>", wait for the blowback, then say "alright, we listened to you and decided it will simply require any Premium subscription".

nearbuy 3y ago
Sorry I wasn't clear, but I meant the current system is putting a big burden on app developers. This proposal does make that easier. But it doesn't change the fundamental problem that most Apollo users won't pay. Having a free app is what drives their growth. There would still be massive anger against Reddit, and redditors would discourage each other from rewarding Reddit for this move. They'd say don't buy premium subscriptions, we need to send Reddit a message. Reddit ends up in the same mess it's in now. This system doesn't address the angry comments I've seen in this thread or on Reddit. There are several types of comments. Some people here say Reddit doesn't have a right to exploit value that was created by the community. Some people are angry because there was a dispute between the Apollo dev and the Reddit CEO and they feel the CEO's characterization of the Apollo dev is slanderous. (It seems the Apollo dev implied that if Reddit didn't buy them out, they'd publicly make a stink and Reddit called this blackmail. I'm not sure of the details.) Some people think Reddit is a lying, greedy corporation and doesn't need to charge for their API. Other disadvantages are that system wouldn't discourage apps from making hundreds of API requests per user per minute and there's no guarantee the cost of a premium subscription covers the cost of all the apps a user has. Heavy users get subsidized by light users with premium subscriptions.