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130

Do You Think There Would Have Been a Large Protest if Steve Huffman Just Said We're Charging to Use the API to Increase Revenue? (beehaw.org)

submitted 2 years ago by curt@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

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I've been a long time Redditor and an Apollo user for about a year. I even paid for it. The main draw for me was the lack of advertising. In the back of my head I kept thinking that it couldn't last. Reddit is losing revenue from the lack of advertising views. It didn't

To me, Reddit's sky high pricing for the use of the API is intended to kill off apps like Apollo and for its users to move to the advertising filled web site or its own app, which I've never used.

If Huffman came out and said this was a revenue move right off would everyone be as upset as they are? Are people upset because Huffman completely mishandled the move or because they got their ad free experience turned off? If Reddit had an app the same quality as Apollo only with ads, would they be OK with it. I've only used Apollo so I can't speak to the other apps.

I can't blame Reddit for wanting to make money. It doesn't make a profit. Investors have to keep pouring in money to keep it going. They're going to want to see a return on their investment at some point. Usually they cash in on an IPO, but IPO's are generally only successful if the corporation looks like it will be profitable or at least the stock price continues to go up. That's how capitalism works.

In my case, I probably would have left regardless. I can't stand adds in my feed. I probably wouldn't have heard of lemmy or kbin if there hadn't been such an uproar. So I'm glad it went the way it did.

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[–] godless@latte.isnot.coffee 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I used reddit 10x as much as Netflix, if not more. So I'd have been more than happy to pay the same price for all eternity to access the api.

Hell they could have given out individual api keys tied to usernames so that regardless of the app, you'd be fed input from the free tier (with ads & rate limiting) or pro tier (unlimited and no ads). That would also help to curb malicious bots and reduce the number of alts in the game.

But no, they chose the nuclear option and are now choking on the fallout. And Huffman's erratic and hostile response further down the line really sealed the coffin for me.

[–] ZealousIdeaPool@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

And Huffman's erratic and hostile response further down the line really sealed the coffin for me.

Yep. Before the AMA, I was defending just doing the two day blackout, rather than, as many were suggesting, blacking out for a longer period. My reasoning was you can always escalate later if a compromise isn't reached. Then Spez opened his mouth, and I (and so many others) realized "this fucker has no interest in compromising" and totally changed my position. Since then, I support any and every form of protest that has been devised, including leaving the site for good (and mostly already) on June 30th.

[–] RandoCalrandian@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

Same. Only a select few communities I browse now, waiting for them to move on

[–] godless@latte.isnot.coffee 1 points 2 years ago

Yep, he went down the deep end with no chance of ever restoring his public image. As an investor, that would make my skin crawl... They should sack him before the end of next week and revert all changes, hoping the exodus can still be stopped. Which I doubt, but there would be hope, at least.

[–] lanbanger@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

/u/spez really is the fucktard in the pool here

[–] godless@latte.isnot.coffee 1 points 2 years ago

Yep. And he didn't piss quietly into a corner of the pool, but decided to do so from the top of the diving tower during a heat wave.