Shocked Pikachu face meme.

  • 7u5k3n@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Tldr They started charging 3rd party apps to use their API. The API that they had been using for ages and ages. They were shady about the timeline and their communication to devs was awful. So most 3rd party apps decided to end support as opposed to paying reddit.

    Basically they wanted to make sure all users were seeing ads before their IPO.

    I was a relay for reddit guy for ~10 years. Once the subscription update hit I uninstalled and moved to boost for lemmy.

    • Aurix@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Not quite correct. They didn’t start charging for API usage. They banned it and pretended it could be paid for with completely absurd prices nobody could reasonably afford.

      • 7u5k3n@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Ah I was just commenting back on how the relay for reddit deal went… that’s even shittier of them.

        I’m not surprised at all.

        • Fushuan [he/him]@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Yeah, the prices were around +20€ for normal usage, for each user a month. It was a per call cost and the devs would have to eat it if they didn’t charge the users, so many rightfully jumped ship. Who in their right minds would pay more than 20 euros to fucking access reddit on their phone, per month? Yeah right, fk you too.

      • goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org
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        11 months ago

        They also didn’t allow the api to access all content, plus other limits so apps would have a neutered experience

    • catchy_name@feddit.it
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      11 months ago

      A key thing about the API is that moderating gets harder when the apps that moderators use to streamline/facilitate their work suddenly stopped working. Those apps relied on the Reddit API. These were created by and for the moderator community out of necessity.

      Moderators had asked Reddit for tools and when Reddit didn’t provide they built their own. Then Reddit switched off the API without offering replacement tools.

      That’s likely the primary reason that Reddit’s mods left and its content took a nosedive.

    • Falcon@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Further TL;DR

      In preparation for an IPO:

      Reddit: you must now only use our app to prop up our add revenue. No third party apps (unless you pay us handsomely)

      Everyone: no thanks, just make our own alternative

    • DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz
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      11 months ago

      I really miss a good Lemmy mobile client though…I was using liftoff which reminded a lot of RIF, but that seems to have been abandoned completely. A lot have ads, so that’s a hard pass for me. I’m currently using Thunder, but it’s a pretty buggy mess TBH with a lot of UI oddities and bugs.