I think Reddit’s biggest mistake wasn’t the API moves, but image and video hosting. I can’t even guess how much more it costs them to have all of those unnecessary features to be what? Anon Facebook?
this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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I think it was a pretty good move – for them. You cannot just hotlink a Reddit image anymore, so reposts from Reddit on the Fediverse and other alternatives will need their own image/video hosting, which increases cost. Otherwise, it would be too easy to migrate a subreddit.
Yep, it makes it really difficult to link content here, even for subreddits that want it
I can do images, but I still haven't figured out how to do videos
videos
Me neither. I am split between a directly-linked MP4 on GitHub or elsewhere, and a video streaming site. Eventually, I decided to do both for the sake of compatibility: upload to PeerTube, link to the video using the post URL, and use both the embedding ![]() and linking []() syntax to the direct MP4 link also provided by PeerTube.
I’m just saying the choice to host instead of letting res or 3rd party apps clean up the interface while they built a huge archive for the low low price of archiving links and conversations. It was inflated more than it could sustain without becoming more commodified so it kept doing that and here we are.
You took the time to use a fancy curly apostrophe but did not divide the sentences better to make them easier to read?
This is how I think you could restructure the comment for legibility. Did I misinterpret anything? The second clause about RES seems opposite to what it should say, you might need to explain.
I’m just saying: they made the choice to focus on hosting content, and let RES or 3ʳᵈ party apps clean up the interface. They eventually built a huge archive for the very low price of archiving links and conversations. This business model worked and people were used to it, so they continued hosting more, eventually realizing they couldn’t sustain it without ramping up the ads, which is why they limited access this year.
Also you can't share a reddit image or video easily. It takes you to a reddit thread that you view the video in. And if you don't have the app the mobile browser shoves a "install the app" message every single time you visit.
Even when I used reddit that meant I never shared a reddit video with a single person because that's so fucking obnoxious I was never going to subject my friends to that.
For real let me just open image in new tab ffs don't keep redirecting me to new reddit
If you Google around for it you can find an extension or Tampermonkey script that fixes this.
I Googled around and found Lemmy.
There’s no great work around for the image issues here either. Other then have someone willing to store everyone’s uploads. I guess not too bad if not a lot of users on the instance though.
Ok I posted that last comment from my phone, but I'm on my computer now, so here's a link to save you the trouble.
[Chromium extension (via Chrome store)](https://web.archive.org/web/20231208063744/https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/reddit-load-images-direct/fpimmmjbglpnlpbfikgekaaeinminolo/
Thank you! Why is the link a web archive?
Uhh, good question. I didn't think I did that on purpose...
I was originally going to link to a Reddit comment that contained both those links, and I usually use an archive link when doing Reddit links to avoid giving Reddit more clicks. I guess I must have gotten that link from clicking the link in the archived version of the Reddit post?
Reddit's ~~image hosting is~~ garbage.
FIFY
Wait until you see the videos.
I mean, really, wait... And keep waiting... Wait more... More... Ok, now you can see it! Oh, no, it lasts more than a second, just wait a bit...
...and even if it loads, it'll be grainy and ugly and consists of eight or so pixels - maybe nine if your connection is top tier. Before I nuked my account, I redownloaded all videos I had uploaded over the course of the last couple of years, but then decided against reuploading them to youtube because all of them look like sh*t now. I'd be embarrassed to put something like that into my YT account.
... and it is defo reddit's fault, because when I uploaded the videos back in the day I often struggled to keep the file size under 1GB, whereas the same videos downloaded later now have 87 MB on average ... less than a tenth of the original data, still the same lenght and content, but the quality took a huge, very noticable nosedive.
You don’t say?