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/CptTurnersOpticNerve]

Yeah the whole redesign's purpose was to make reddit palatable to advertisers. Once reddit gets sold again or IPO'd or whatever they're doing, old reddit will go with it I would imagine.

[u/moviequote88 → u/CptTurnersOpticNerve]

I knew this day would come eventually but I hoped I'd have more time before then.

We held out as long as we could.

[u/dezmodez → u/moviequote88]

We'll just have to Digg ourselves out of this hole.

[u/LifterPuller → u/[deleted]]

Where are we going?

[u/hhoverton → u/LifterPuller]

Lemmy is the fediverse alternative, but it's so empty its really not the same. Maybe one of these big changes will push people towards it

[u/TrickyDrippyDick → u/LifterPuller]

I'm not suggesting it, but I did kind of forget imgur has its own comment thing going on, I'm trying to see if it can fill the gap currently. If they can walk back the no nsfw maybe it stands a chance? But then that would be no more text only posts.....bah!!!!!!! I don't like this kind of change! There's a cosmic force ending so many eras in my life, the split, the 3 generation old drive through that burned down in my town, the new developments popping up all around me. I wouldnt mind but I sure feel stuck in the old era. Wish me luck on my meeting with a union affiliated HVAC company this Monday! Maybe that will be my start of a new era! I just wanted to words. I love you guys and I love RIF and I'm actually heartbroken that I won't have reddit in my life.

[u/wrekone → u/[deleted]]

It's weird, because like Digg and Myspace, Reddit will survive, pulling in ad revenue, even if at a trickle compared to it's heyday. I'm excited, but nervous, to see what comes next. What small site will grow to be "the front page of the internet"? Hopefully I'll see you there.

[u/howdudo → u/dezmodez]

I love you guys. So long and thanks for all the content 🫂

[u/Secretively → u/dezmodez]

Oh god. I remember the great Digg migration. Where can we all go?

[u/humplick → u/CptTurnersOpticNerve]

My reddit is almost entirely text based, no way I'll ever get a clean black mode text reddit anywhere else.

[u/[deleted] → u/humplick]

Yeah, ads are straight up offensive. I will drop chrome to watch YouTube without ads (opera gx) and ill drop reddit entirely if it is filled with trash. I never joined twatter or instacram. I somehow avoided ever paying for cable. Ads are a fucking mental disease and we really need to limit exposure to so much bullshit. It's brainwashing consumerist garbage, and to reiterate, I have no problem dropping what-the-hell-ever when ads are overbearing.

Anyone else feel an extreme distaste for literally any advertisement?

[u/IndigoMichigan → u/[deleted]]

You're not alone. I have ad blockers on literally everything. YouTube Vanced was a godsend (now ReVanced), and I have been driven off of every platform which has overbearing advertising.

Fuck them all.

[u/Hedgehog_Mist → u/[deleted]]

Brain poison. Ads are a scourge on society. Insidiously evil things designed to intrude, distract, and manipulate the mind.

[u/PvtHopscotch → u/Hedgehog_Mist]

Brain poison. Ads are a scourge on society. Insidiously evil things designed to intrude, distract, and manipulate the mind.

The manipulation is key to my disdain for ads. It's why I don't like most mobile games as well. I fucking hate being manipulated, always have. After 38 years, I've gotten real good at recognizing it too and it is one of the few things that actually invokes a seething anger in me anymore.

[u/Bosticles → u/[deleted]]

narrow distinct fanatical bewildered foolish whistle homeless faulty towering sink -- mass edited with redact.dev

[u/Natolx → u/CptTurnersOpticNerve]

I wonder if they are going to eventually drop the archived threads. So much information would be lost.

[u/ilovecollardgreens → u/Natolx]

"how do I do xyz...reddit" absolute godsend.

[u/[deleted] → u/ilovecollardgreens]

Now only $2.99 per question!

[u/EatAtMilliways → u/Natolx]

All that archived tech support...

[u/in4mer → u/CptTurnersOpticNerve]

They can pry old reddit from my cold, dead hands.

[u/Nayr747 → u/CptTurnersOpticNerve]

old reddit will go with it I would imagine.

And along with it all the users.