7 ms·

That would be unthinkable now. Crazy how things have changed.

by mrzool 3y ago

EGreg 3y ago
Why unthinkable ??
- acidburnNSA 3y ago
  Because all major actors are laser-focused on extracting more revenue with ads and subscriptions rather than improving connectivity and freedom.
  - gfosco 3y ago
    Connectivity and freedom don't pay salaries or cloud bills, unfortunately. Any rational actor has to focus on maintaining profitability.
    - amstan 3y ago
      It's not that profitability is a focus, it's just that it's a style these days to sacrifice user freedoms/utility for it where it was unthinkable before.
    - kalleboo 3y ago
      But there's also a difference between "paying salaries and cloud bills" and "fulfilling a $10 billion valuation"
    - xigoi 3y ago
      Reddit managed to run on donations (Reddit Gold) for years. Why can't it do that now?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
contravariant 3y ago
Still works on reddit, though it wouldn't surprise me if they removed it at this point, they seem to be reneging the minimalistic clear and open parts of their interface.
- Nathan2055 3y ago
  If I remember right, they’ve already said (or at least implied; it really seems like they had absolutely no implementation plans beyond “we want money now”) that RSS and JSON access to posts and feeds will be removed at the same time the API changes take effect. With interest rates rising and the endless funding for web “startups” (Reddit’s almost 20 years old, it’s comical that they still have no path to profitability while also burning cash on unpopular NFT and AI experiments) going away, the metric most platforms are shooting for has gone from “number of users per month” to “number of interactions we can put ads on per month.” This of course triggered the usual enshitification tactics: cut off all access to content outside of heavily tracked and ad-ridden apps and (maybe) web “platforms”, kill off things like RSS feeds or API access that create goodwill and build community support but don’t directly have places to run ads, redesign the interface to deemphasize individual discussions in favor of TikTok-style algorithmic feeds and lots more ad space, and even alter the image host so that what were formerly direct image links now return a “light” web page with extra branding and (you guessed it) ad slots. The problem is that forums just aren’t profitable on their own, but rather than figure out other paid services they could offer that could serve as a companion to a forum (seriously, Reddit is in the perfect position to launch a Patreon clone, and has even discussed doing it in the past), they seem convinced that they need to follow in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter and destroy their core product in favor of an algorithmic social media hellscape and trend chasing the latest tech buzzword (as I said earlier, they dumped millions of dollars into NFTs and crypto over the past couple years, and these API changes are supposedly to try and get money out of OpenAI; neither of those plans are likely to be successful in the long run).
  - contravariant 3y ago
    Well, that would save me some time I suppose, I'm not about to keep refreshing r/talesfromtechsupport to see if anything interesting pops up. Now if only they kill old.reddit I'd finally be completely free. The cash grabbing part is weird though, initially you just had some ads and reddit gold to offset the server costs. Were they running on venture capital money that has run out or have they blown up their company with so many managers that their expenses have exploded?

That would be unthinkable now. Crazy how things have changed.

by mrzool 3y ago

That would be unthinkable now. Crazy how things have changed.

EGreg 3y ago

Why unthinkable ??

acidburnNSA 3y ago
Because all major actors are laser-focused on extracting more revenue with ads and subscriptions rather than improving connectivity and freedom.
- gfosco 3y ago
  Connectivity and freedom don't pay salaries or cloud bills, unfortunately. Any rational actor has to focus on maintaining profitability.
  - amstan 3y ago
    It's not that profitability is a focus, it's just that it's a style these days to sacrifice user freedoms/utility for it where it was unthinkable before.
  - kalleboo 3y ago
    But there's also a difference between "paying salaries and cloud bills" and "fulfilling a $10 billion valuation"
  - xigoi 3y ago
    Reddit managed to run on donations (Reddit Gold) for years. Why can't it do that now?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

contravariant 3y ago

Still works on reddit, though it wouldn't surprise me if they removed it at this point, they seem to be reneging the minimalistic clear and open parts of their interface.

Nathan2055 3y ago
If I remember right, they’ve already said (or at least implied; it really seems like they had absolutely no implementation plans beyond “we want money now”) that RSS and JSON access to posts and feeds will be removed at the same time the API changes take effect. With interest rates rising and the endless funding for web “startups” (Reddit’s almost 20 years old, it’s comical that they still have no path to profitability while also burning cash on unpopular NFT and AI experiments) going away, the metric most platforms are shooting for has gone from “number of users per month” to “number of interactions we can put ads on per month.” This of course triggered the usual enshitification tactics: cut off all access to content outside of heavily tracked and ad-ridden apps and (maybe) web “platforms”, kill off things like RSS feeds or API access that create goodwill and build community support but don’t directly have places to run ads, redesign the interface to deemphasize individual discussions in favor of TikTok-style algorithmic feeds and lots more ad space, and even alter the image host so that what were formerly direct image links now return a “light” web page with extra branding and (you guessed it) ad slots. The problem is that forums just aren’t profitable on their own, but rather than figure out other paid services they could offer that could serve as a companion to a forum (seriously, Reddit is in the perfect position to launch a Patreon clone, and has even discussed doing it in the past), they seem convinced that they need to follow in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter and destroy their core product in favor of an algorithmic social media hellscape and trend chasing the latest tech buzzword (as I said earlier, they dumped millions of dollars into NFTs and crypto over the past couple years, and these API changes are supposedly to try and get money out of OpenAI; neither of those plans are likely to be successful in the long run).
- contravariant 3y ago
  Well, that would save me some time I suppose, I'm not about to keep refreshing r/talesfromtechsupport to see if anything interesting pops up. Now if only they kill old.reddit I'd finally be completely free. The cash grabbing part is weird though, initially you just had some ads and reddit gold to offset the server costs. Were they running on venture capital money that has run out or have they blown up their company with so many managers that their expenses have exploded?