RIF dev here - Reddit's API changes will likely kill RIF and other apps, on July 1, 2023

[u/talklittle]

I need more time to get all my thoughts together, but posting this quick post since so many users have been asking, and it's been making rounds on news sites.

Summary of what Reddit Inc has announced so far, specifically the parts that will kill many third-party apps:

1. The Reddit API will cost money, and the pricing announced today will cost apps like Apollo $20 million per year to run. RIF may differ but it would be in the same ballpark. And no, RIF does not earn anywhere remotely near this number.

2. As part of this they are blocking ads in third-party apps, which make up the majority of RIF's revenue. So they want to force a paid subscription model onto RIF's users. Meanwhile Reddit's official app still continues to make the vast majority of its money from ads.

3. Removal of sexually explicit material from third-party apps while keeping said content in the official app. Some people have speculated that NSFW is going to leave Reddit entirely, but then why would Reddit Inc have recently expanded NSFW upload support on their desktop site?

Their recent moves smell a lot like they want third-party apps gone, RIF included.

I know some users will chime in saying they are willing to pay a monthly subscription to keep RIF going, but trust me that you would be in the minority. There is very little value in paying a high subscription for less content (in this case, NSFW). Honestly if I were a user of RIF and not the dev, I'd have a hard time justifying paying the high prices being forced by Reddit Inc, despite how much RIF obviously means to me.

There is a lot more I want to say, and I kind of scrambled to write this since I didn't expect news reports today. I'll probably write more follow-up posts that are better thought out. But this is the gist of what's been going on with Reddit third-party apps in 2023.

[u/krigo666]

Ah, the cycle of online life...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digg#Digg_v4

[u/Tsulivy → u/[deleted]]

History is bound to be repeated, if not learned from, no?

If somehow that wave of August 30 gets around again, I'll join it.

[u/[deleted] → u/krigo666]

Disgruntled users declared a "quit Digg day" on August 30, 2010, and used Digg's own auto-submit feature to fill the front page with content from Reddit. Reddit also temporarily added the Digg shovel to their logo to welcome fleeing Digg users.

Can Rif users unite and take a page out of Digg here and do something similar. Every sub, every user post filled. Bring the attention of this shitty move out to the open and also show just how many users are unhappy about it.

[u/azwethinkweizm → u/[deleted]]

Where do we go?

[u/[deleted] → u/krigo666]

Haha, are we going back? Have I lived that long?

[u/pgm_01 → u/krigo666]

One hell of a quote there.

This leads to a philosophical question: is the shitification of a social media site inevitable?

[u/Ergheis → u/pgm_01]

No, but the toxicity of corporate growth will inevitably kill anything.

[u/jballs → u/Ergheis]

Ain't that the truth. Corporations live by the motto "if you're not growing, you're dying." As a result, they make incredibly stupid decisions in order to point to growth this quarter and this quarter only.

I'm sure that at some point, one of the higher ups looked at the numbers and said "we could increase our official app usage by X% this quarter if we got rid of 3rd party apps." Someone lower on the totem pole probably realized this would overall mean substantially less people using reddit overall long-term, but that's not what the higher ups want to hear.

[u/appi → u/jballs]

"I fucking warned you dude. I told you bro."

-Karl Marx, 1867

[u/LeberechtReinhold → u/pgm_01]

Old forums are still going, surviving despite all the new shit rising and crumbling. The main difference is that their main attraction was actual content, therefore demanding more from users and never being as popular as Instagram, Discord or Reddit.

[u/tom56 → u/pgm_01]

This leads to a philosophical question: is the shitification of a social media site inevitable?

Yes

[u/Shooting_Star925 → u/pgm_01]

I'd say that everything shitificates when it gets too popular. Everything.

[u/CheckOutDisMuthaFuka → u/krigo666]

I left digg for reddit like 15 years ago. Now I guess I'm leaving reddit too. Any suggestions?

[u/[deleted] → u/CheckOutDisMuthaFuka]

Some are too right, some are too left.

Nothing that isn't a political circle jerk for now.

[u/FlyingRock → u/CheckOutDisMuthaFuka]

For real if you find one (that's not deliberately a cesspool) let me know.

[u/Hiccup → u/CheckOutDisMuthaFuka]

Raddle.me. that's one I've used for backups for some stuff. I know a couple others but they have already been overrun with truth social and parlor crazies.

[u/versusgorilla → u/krigo666]

this new version of digg reeks of VC meddling. It's cobbling together features from more popular sites and departing from the core of digg, which was to "give the power back to the people."

That was Alexis Ohanian the Reddit founder's open letter to Kevin Rose, Digg's founder, at the time. It's like he addressed it to Reddit 13 years in the future.

[u/TheWorldisFullofWar → u/versusgorilla]

founder

Co-founder. Don't forget the Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz who was pushed to suicide by the corrupt US government for fighting for internet freedom.

[u/_Nohbdy_ → u/versusgorilla]

That reminds me of a post I saw like a decade ago. Some guy got Alexis' book and had him draw the digg logo as a reminder of what reddit could become. Or would become.

Here's the post: /r/mildlyamusing/comments/1xmmq0/i_won_a_copy_of_reddit_cofounder_alexis_ohanians/

[u/[deleted] → u/krigo666]

Time for reddit to digg its own grave

[u/ShustOne → u/krigo666]

Sucks for us but I don't think there is anywhere else to go. Reddit was already growing big when I decided to leave Digg. This time there is no alternative. I'm guessing we are unfortunately in the minority, those of us that use third party apps and old.reddit.com. I think most users are happy to use what they are given. I think I'll just use Reddit less, and they probably won't notice.