Reddit’s crisis is a warning for all social platforms: when you trade community for profits, everyone loses. Will Reddit fix its mes...

Money, Mods, and Mayhem

The Turning Point

In 2024, Reddit is a far cry from its scrappy startup roots. With over 430 million monthly active users and more than 100,000 active communities, it’s a social media giant. But with great power comes great responsibility, and Reddit is learning this lesson the hard way.

The turning point came in June 2023 when Reddit announced changes to its API pricing. For the uninitiated, API stands for Application Programming Interface, and it’s basically the secret sauce that allows third-party apps to interact with Reddit. The new pricing model threatened to kill off popular third-party apps like Apollo, whose developer Christian Selig didn’t mince words: “Reddit’s API changes are not just unfair, they’re unsustainable for third-party apps.”

Over 8,000 subreddits went dark in protest.

The blackout should have reminded Reddit’s overlords of a crucial fact: Reddit’s success was built on the backs of its users. The platform had cultivated a sense of ownership among its community, and now that community was biting back.

One moderator summed it up perfectly: “We’re the ones who keep this site running, and we’re being ignored.”

    • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
      8·
      4 months ago

      my daily driver as well. only thing i didnt like was it was somewhat tougher to follow long comment reply chains than other apps but it was never enough to get me to leave my RIF RIF is fun RIF is fun for Reddit.

      as an aside i raw-dog lemmy in browser, havent found an app i like just yet

      • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        4 months ago

        Voyager is the closest Lemmy app to RIF, in my opinion. Plus it’s open source and has zero ads.

      • frank
        5·
        4 months ago

        Same, RIF was amazing.

        I use Boost for Lemmy now. Definitely not the same as RIF, but it’s close enough. Fairly powerful and you can pay once for no ads

      • AhismaMiasma@lemm.ee
        4·
        4 months ago

        Are you me?

        I tried Jerboa, it was okay. But since August of last year I’ve been using Lemmy via Firefox and honestly, it’s fine. Perfectly cromulent.

      • Gork@lemm.ee
        3·
        4 months ago

        RIF is Fun for Reddit (lol at the recursive acronym) was so much better than the shitty official Reddit app. Not even a close comparison. It’s like a glove that fits perfectly vs. a wet sock.