I’m posting this here because it’s often helpful to see things from a third point of view.
For context: Reddit decided to kill off third party apps that are used to access its platform, by demanding unreasonable prices off those apps’ developers, while claiming that it is not trying to kill said third party apps. As a reaction, a lot of moderators in Reddit are coordinating for a blackout, where they make their subreddits inaccessible from the 12th to the 14th of June.
On Hacker News:
- It amazes me how little Reddit’s leadership understand about their own history. // Reddit essentially took off because Digg screwed the pooch so hard with their redesign and just general mismanagement of their community.
- Ask HN: Reddit alternatives (that aren’t Mastodon) - spoilers, you’re already in the alternative suggested across that thread, Lemmy.
- I wish they would just let Reddit die. // I hate it so much. I’m tired of ecosystems. // We need to get away from content farms. […] Part of me wants this to happen to Hacker News too. This community sucks, but for different reasons.
- I said something akin to this on a 4chan post a little while ago and people hated me for it, but I stand by it. People need to 1) get more in touch with the technology they’re using and 2) take back control of their content.
- [On issues associated with the creation of a Reddit alternative] Hosting costs […], moderation […], network effects
Personal note: it’s rather interesting for me that the userbase of Reddit is getting it right, people outside Reddit are also getting it right, but only the Reddit administration is getting it wrong (way to go, vulture capital!). In special, I think that the comment about how people need to take back control of their content is specially sensible.
Greed and arrogance, I guess. They feel as if they’re too big and there’s no viable replacement for them that rivals in scope. They also want $$$ so they’re willing to alienate some user users because they believe A) most of those users won’t leave and just switch over to browser/official app, and B) even if they emigrated it will still leave a sizable percentage that would net them profits.
Honestly, I don’t think they’re wrong which is why (imho) a good reddit alternative is desperately needed - they won’t stop here. I know we have lemmy (and others), but as I’ve said before it’s a bit complicated for the average user and it’s nowhere are huge as reddit in terms of the variety of subs/communities. I don’t think the amount of people leaving will be significant enough to make them think twice about future decisions.
inb4 sorry for the wall of text.
I agree that there’s greed and arrogance in place, but I think that they’re wrong - even if Reddit Inc. cares only about its own interests (profit maximisation, and… nothing else), I believe that it’s a stupid decision because it’ll likely make Reddit lose money in the process.
Killing off third party apps will likely increase ad views/second and return/click, but only for a short while. They’re leaving their users pissed and raising distrust in the platform, and “trust” isn’t so easy to measure as ad views or return per click, so they’re ignoring it, even if trust is essential in a platform - if I don’t trust it I’m not signing up, let alone contributing with it or working for free there as a janny/mod.
Note that was mostly lack of trust that killed Digg - the users realised that the platform was against them, not for them.
And it is not just a matter of how many people leave; it’s also a matter of who is leaving, and what the ones staying will do. The ones leaving this time are mostly the experienced users (the ones who’d work as a mod or post content), and even the ones staying there will be less engaged.
I also think that they might be counting on money from businesses using Reddit to train their data models with, who’d actually pay exorbitant prices for API access. Even then, I think that this money will run dry in the long run, as users keep their interactions with Reddit more and more inconsequential. There’s little to no value on training a model based on a bunch of people saying “lol” or “so cute”; the gold is in the informative content.
but as I’ve said before it’s [Lemmy is] a bit complicated for the average user and it’s nowhere are huge as reddit in terms of the variety of subs/communities
Fully agree with that. I’m still hopeful though; a nice thing about open source is that, once enough people use it, the ones with technical skill start helping out (including streamlining the concept of federation).
As for the network effect (“nowhere as huge”), by simply using it I think that we’re already contributing.
Vary valid points. I guess time will tell which view is correct. Or maybe they’re both right. 🍻
Tbh, I’m ignorant (relatively to most users here) about AI so I avoid it in my arguments. I just haven’t had an opportunity to work with AI-related projects. I’ve been hearing/reading about it, though, in Reddit’s API issue so any input is appreciated.
As for the network effect (“nowhere as huge”), by simply using it I think that we’re already contributing.
True. It’s also why I’m making a conscious effort to be active here. It’s easy because I’m less stressed discussing stuff here than on reddit. Lol!
I’m optimistic lemmy will grow. Maybe not as big as reddit, but that’s not a bad thing imo.
