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The trouble with a free API is that someone can write a $1 client that hides all the ads (the number one requested feature), and now your website has no income.
by w0mbat 3y ago
The trouble with a free API is that someone can write a $1 client that hides all the ads (the number one requested feature), and now your website has no income.
An ad-supported website has to get paid. On the web there is at least some stuff they can do to detect ad blockers, or show ads in sneaky ways that change over time and are hard to block.
- Blahah 3y agoThat's a good argument against ads, because ads introduce a fundamental misalignment of incentives between the platform and the user. There are many ways reddit could build a collaborative business from their current situation. Advertising is very clearly not going to work, so they just need to look outside that box.
- zokier 3y ago> There are many ways reddit could build a collaborative business from their current situation Like charging for API access? Yeah, that went well...
- throwaway32908 3y agoThe Spotify solution (premium users can use any third-party client) would have made lots of money with less uproar. Another bonus, solves the supposed issues with allowing NSFW content through APIs. Google, for one, take a credit card as proof of being 18+ in the EU (you have a choice between that and scanning an ID card). Or if Reddit doesn't want to handle billing the users directly for whatever reason, require signin and charge the devs per user. Even some sort of grace period and reasonable prices per-request would have made a big difference, Apollo dev's hard blocker seemed to be conflict with existing billing cycles.