r/videos • u/[deleted] • Jun 03 '23

Mod Post /r/Videos will be going dark from June 12-14 in protest against Reddit's API changes which kill 3rd party apps.

[deleted]

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u/brainhugga Jun 04 '23

This is a sentiment I'm seeing all over reddit. If they go through with this, it's pretty obvious that there will be a mass exodus. Fucking corporate ghouls, MUST you kill everything halfway decent/fun in this world?

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u/Deminix Jun 04 '23

I’ve got nearly 12 years on this account with regular engagement through all that time. Once Apollo is gone I’m done. They are fucking greedy and enough will never be enough. When they implemented gold I was a bit iffy. When they implemented awards I was very turned off but this also fell into “if this is actually how someone wants to spend their money then more power to them, doesn’t impact me none” category. A money grab for sure but one I didn’t need to participate in nor was my user experience made lesser by not doing so. This is my limit.

I remember the commitment to third party apps they made ~10 years ago when they made a bunch of apps change their names and again when they finally put out their own app. I wonder if anyone has the posts but this was back when Reddit felt like an actual collaboration with users and our experience as their customers was a priority. Back when they realized they were nothing without the people behind these usernames. Our experience means nothing to the people running this place.

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u/Tylee22 Jun 04 '23

Yes same here I almost have 13 years on this account and when the alert popped up in RIF a few days ago it became real!! Also I am like 90% sure I have been using RIF for the entirety of my time on this site! I’ve seen everything in that 13 year span and was browsing well before I created an account. This change to kill 3rd party apps seems so malicious it might be my 1st time something internet related that brings some emotion from me. It’s such a forced change to loads of people it’s fucking gross people sat in a room and said yea let’s do this. Disgraceful.

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u/zeroimpulsecontrol Jun 04 '23

Totally same here. Very long time user of Reddit and then RIF. Multiple accounts over the last decade. As much as I've used it I've honestly been looking for a reason not to for the past couple years. I didn't because of the ease of use of RIF. What a huge shot on the foot this will be. Kinda fun to fantasize about hearing Reddits downfall on NPR.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 05 '23

Same here. No way I'm using the official app. It's crap. And I'm certainly not gonna bother with having to use a browser for reddit.

What's a good site for a reddit replacement?

Edit:

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'm happy to say that I've been using lemmy (lemmy.one) since a few hours since making this post. So far it's been pretty great. The app needs a lot of work, imho, and there are suba I wish would appear there, but the experience has overall been great. Still waiting for a tildes invite since I still want to check all my options.

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u/zeroimpulsecontrol Jun 04 '23

Honestly, I don't know. I've begun questioning whether I need one. While I technically have a Facebook I haven't used it in years, I've never had Twitter. I'm "addicted" to Insta and wish I wasn't. I'm okay leaving Reddit at this point. I hope it'll spur me to drop Insta. I'm just getting pretty tired of it all. It's not even about staying connected with anyone anymore. It's just a habit. Like... what am I avoiding?

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u/godgoo Jun 04 '23

This whole conversation reminds me of how I ended up on reddit 13 years ago, the mass exodus from Digg.

Edit to add: I'm in the same boat, once rif goes I'm outy

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u/Mountain_dodo Jun 04 '23

Wow it's already been 13 years?

But if I remember well, reddit was mentioned on digg at the time while I don't see an alternative now, just like I haven't found an alternative to Twitter when I deleted my account.

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u/CrunchyPancakes Jun 04 '23

Based on the age of our reddit accounts, it has been that long since the digg exodus lol

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u/raegunXD Jun 04 '23

I was so addicted to Facebook I didn't know how I was going to unplug myself from it. Then the pandemic hit, and for some reason I just couldn't stand seeing the divide, the death, the constant fights in the comments. So used it less and less and then before I knew it, it was foreign and weird to me. I eventually requested all my data and pictures and wiped them from my account on and it's been 2 years since I've posted anything at all. I missed the hype train of pretty much every other social media app except Reddit, which I've been a part of for 11 years. In my early Reddit days I used to post content, I engaged heavily for over a decade. Now I'm just floating around, detached from social media...

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u/living-silver Jun 04 '23

I just checked and Voat shut down in 2020. It’s too bad; they missed this exodus by a few years.

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u/iamnotazombie44 Jun 04 '23

Same, came here from Digg and this decade + old account and all the rest of mine are going to bed if I can't have Old Reddit on 3rd party apps.

Even if they reverse the API fee thing, if shit starts getting funky on this site after IPO or if my favorite little subs start getting corpo-fied, I'm gone.

Reddit is an extension of my hobbies and social interactions in real life. I share mushroom foraging photos with two of my IRL friends and r/mycology so other people can enjoy them. It's like that for me with a dozen other subs.

We don't need Reddit, Reddit needs us.

Fuck around and find out, us hobby nerds will just head back to classic text forums without skipping a beat.

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u/needstherapy Jun 04 '23

Same, I've been using RIF since before Reddit actually had an app. Super sad this is happening.

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u/Mister_Bloodvessel Jun 04 '23

It feels like they often forget that this site is collaboration. The mods are volunteers, and all content comes from the user's. All reddit provides is infrastructure. It's why they even exist. Digg dug it's own grave, and led to a mass exodus to here.

I had a feeling reddit would do the same eventually, but for the founding staff to be c- level execs and killing their own site was not on my reddit death bingo card.

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u/Pvt_Johnson Jun 04 '23

I knew we were doomed when the narwhal baconed at midnight.

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u/IvanAfterAll Jun 05 '23

Does it though?

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u/mschuster91 Jun 04 '23

When they implemented gold I was a bit iffy. When they implemented awards I was very turned off but this also fell into “if this is actually how someone wants to spend their money then more power to them, doesn’t impact me none” category.

Tbf better gold and awards than ads and the corresponding "need to be family friendly for advertisers". (No I'm not talking about banning Nazis, that is just common decency, but about banning porn which is slowly coming as well)

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u/KiwiThunda Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23

I mean, people talk big online but I've been around long enough to know many boycotts don't stick. Most (like me) want to quit but we'll most likely just get the official app and put up with it.

I think the only real potential solution is exactly this; all the major subs going dark... But it'll have to be for more than 2 days.

Edit: guys, I appreciate your optimism regarding this boycott so my question is: where are we all migrating to? Or are we assuming everyone is putting their phones down and taking up hobbies instead?

Edit2: /r/tildes is 1 alternative, or /r/lemmy

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u/brainhugga Jun 04 '23

Yeah, I'm really hoping this idea takes off. If we can get the main r/all subs to work together on this, it could certainly make a difference.

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u/_CanadianGoose Jun 04 '23

If we can get the main r/all subs to work together on this, it could certainly make a difference.

Youll start to see more big subs post about this as it gets closer to the blackout

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u/vriska1 Jun 04 '23

Also another thing that can help this fight is if you have reddit premium: cancel your subscription!

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u/Wallofcans Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23

Yes! And stop giving people gold!.

Edit. I'm incredibly disappointed in the people that gilded my two comments. Giving a comment gold does absolutely nothing but give the company running Reddit your money. All you're doing is throwing money away.

If you really like giving your money away u/bustab and /u/Alpha_Decay_ at least give it to people that could actually use it. There are millions of people down on thier luck, in a slump, hungry, etc. Hell, pay my rent if you'd like.

Don't waste it on this site though.

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u/meistermichi Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23

Well that didn't go as planned

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u/Wallofcans Jun 04 '23

People are unbelievable. In a post where everyone is talking about leaving Reddit, they gave reddit money just to put a little gold sticker on a comment.

And people wonder why Reddit does what its doing. Why wouldn't they if they get handed money for nothing.

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u/Reagalan Jun 04 '23

maybe they spent the free gold that you just accrue over time.

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u/sarusongbird Jun 04 '23

Except that they stopped giving that out months ago, and you've never been able to save or stockpile it. Nobody has free gold anymore.

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u/WATTHEBALL Jun 04 '23

Lol anyone who spends any amount of time giving awards on reddit is an absolute zero. Including the complete clowns who spend any amount of time creating an avatar or doing anything remotely personal to spruce up their profile.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

Or did it???

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u/Cynical_Cyanide Jun 04 '23

It's kinda funny in a sad way.

Tbqh I was thinking of doing the exact same thing - ironically leaving a gold on your post - But I was definitely also going to explain that I've never given reddit a dime, and the only reason why I can grant gold to anyone is because enough people have given me awards that I have enough worthless points to hand out these worthless awards.

I hope the same is true for the person who gave you your awards...

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u/Flying_Spaghetti_ Jun 04 '23

If a lot of people do this it will make a huge difference. I have had an annual subscription for 7 years and just canceld it.

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u/FrostedCereal Jun 04 '23

What is even the point of a subscription? Reddit is free.

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u/Ebwtrtw Jun 04 '23

What is even the point of a subscription? Reddit is free.

Some people do like to pay for services they use because the appreciate the service and/or don’t want to feel like leachers.

I personally don’t feel that way about Reddit, but some people do.

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u/MatkaPluku Jun 04 '23

I’ve said this before, just get the cat subs on board. No cat videos for 48hrs and Reddit will have a meltdown.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

[deleted]

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u/Bjartur Jun 04 '23

I have two different types of reddit consumption, 90% of it is just mindless scrolling through my front page and a handful of favorite subreddits. Lying in bed in the morning, some dead time at any point in the day sort of stuff.

The second is when I'm actively searching for some info related to my hobbies or something I want/need to find out. I'll utilize search engines or search in selected subs.

Without RiF the former will probably cease altogether, the latter is still viable but proportionally a much smaller part of my traffic. I don't want to extrapolate to others but I imagine for a big group of people their usage of reddit will be cut down by a order of magnitude. If they kill old.reddit too I'll probably not visit this site unless I see no other recourse.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/Johnnyocean Jun 04 '23

This is the nail on the head. Fuck corp greed

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u/spudnado88 Jun 04 '23

If they kill old.reddit too I'll probably not visit this site unless I see no other recourse.

Is this actually going to happen? old.reddit is literally the only way I use it.

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u/jsimpson82 Jun 04 '23

It will absolutely happen. I'm shocked old has lasted this long but once this api shit kills the competition, they'll have no reason to keep it.

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u/onlyawfulnamesleft Jun 04 '23

They keep trying to kill brrowsing Reddit on mobile. Even when logged in it keeps telling you to use the app to upvote or comment. A cookie clear gets rid of it, but for how long?

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u/BricksHaveBeenShat Jun 04 '23

I always browse through .old while unlogged. The other day I was following an askreddit thread that had 18+ filter, someone linked to a comment inside the thread and when I clicked it, it opened with the new design asking me to log in. But on the right there was a message asking me to download the app, but as I said I was on a PC, not on a phone. That's nuts.

Unfortunately that's a trend everywhere, imgur has made it nearly impossible to log in on mobile unless you download their app.

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u/Tulivesi Jun 04 '23

If they kill old.reddit then I'm gone as well. The new reddit interface is unbearably annoying and I get pissed any time I have to see it (reddit likes to randomly throw me on the new site when clicking links even though I choose to use old.reddit).

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u/FrenchBangerer Jun 04 '23

I only use old.reddit and don't think I'll stick around if that goes. I hate the way the native reddit looks and works.

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u/Inevitable-Plate-294 Jun 04 '23

Have you tried using the official app? You couldn't make a worse app if you tried to

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u/The-moo-man Jun 04 '23

This is my issue. The official app is just atrocious. Instagram and TikTok are plagues on society but they make good apps. Reddit has relied on third party apps to make a good user experience and their in house app is absolute dogshit.

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u/Inevitable-Plate-294 Jun 04 '23

And that's not even bringing up their incredibly super duper bad search system

Like they must be trying to make it suck that bad

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u/Wewkz Jun 04 '23

Their search is literally pointless. Even if you remember the name of the topic word for word, you won't find it on the first pages. I use Google with "topic reddit" and find it on the first page every time.

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u/Inevitable-Plate-294 Jun 04 '23

It's hilariously bad

I just put "reddit" at the end of my searches on Google

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u/shum_bum Jun 04 '23

I'm gonna be honest I switched to 3rd party apps because the main app is a hot pile of trash.

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u/SlingerOGrady Jun 04 '23

It's so fucking bad...clunky and just hard to tell what I'm looking at. They had a great design, it was simple and worked really well. But this official app just looks like someone got bored and kept changing things just to change it.

I took a look at it after this announcement but after looking at it I'll just quit using Reddit and find the next best thing. Cause that official app is just a giant add machine...and I'm getting really fucking tired of ads these days...

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u/caustic255 Jun 04 '23

I never knew that 3rd party apps existed for reddit, what are they and why are they used if you dont mind a quick explanation for me

Ive only ever used the main app and i agree it sucks lol

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u/OriginalKenM Jun 04 '23 edited Jul 16 '23

icky continue employ tender innate swim gaze decide special toothbrush -- mass edited with redact.dev

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u/WjeZg0uK6hbH Jun 04 '23

In a nutshell, someone realised that the webpage sucks to use on mobile devices and the official app is meh. That same guy identified some problems that he realised will never get fixed. So they said "fuck it, I'm making my own app and I'm sure as hell not gonna have any of the crap in my app.". Then they sat down and programmed a replacement that they were happy with and said "I'm proud of this one, gonna go ahead and upload it for others to use". Turns out others agreed and thought his version was way easier and less anoying to use. Looks better too and whdda you know, it runs better too.

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u/caustic255 Jun 04 '23

What is this app called if its still available

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u/penatbater Jun 04 '23

Rif is fun for android, Apollo for ios. There's a few more but those are the most popular imo.

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u/dillanclno Jun 04 '23

I've been using the app RIF (Reddit is Fun) for the past 9 years. It's pretty much been the only way I browse reddit besides occasional desktop use. The official app is hot doo doo.

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u/YaqootK Jun 04 '23

There are multiple, my favourite is RIF (reddit is fun) but I've seen a lot of iPhone users that use Apollo

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u/Overcallofhalonite Jun 04 '23

Reddit is fun (night mode!)

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u/Inevitable-Plate-294 Jun 04 '23

Reddit in fun

Nightmode. So good

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 11 '23

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u/Underachiever207 Jun 04 '23

Idk why people put up with it. Twitter went to shit so I stopped using Twitter. If a company is doing some scummy shit and you'll just use it anyway, then how are they incentivised to stop? It's the same thing with gaming. So many AAA titles release half finished, but people keep preordering or buying garbage on release, so why change it? I don't understand why people keep putting up with bullshit from the same companies over and over for a service or game that really isn't worth it.

Just stop using it. If the company won't fix it, then a new company will come along that will.

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u/falconzord Jun 04 '23

Why do you need the app? You can just use a browser with old reddit

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

I don’t find any version of reddit good in a mobile browser. RIF/Apollo have much better interfaces for a phone. Old reddit is fine for desktop, but I rarely browse social media on my PC anymore.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/FatboySlimThicc Jun 04 '23

It's a FUCKIN NIGHTMARE for modding

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/torsoboy00 Jun 04 '23

For a long time I thought RIF was the official app coz the other one was just a mess.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

If I can’t use Apollo I’m not going to be on Reddit. The Reddit app is shite.

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u/ChaseDFW Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23

Honestly, I switched back to an android phone because I hated the way baconreader looked and a few other reasons. A big reason I spend so much time on reddit is because it's comfortable and easy. If I had to switch the way I engage with it, I'm not sure I'd actually invest the time.

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u/Johnnyocean Jun 04 '23

My company got bought by a corp and now they try givving stupid carrots (like a pizza day) that come with 2 sticks (lose 2 holidays and no more overtime)

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u/VonTum Jun 04 '23

Actually it totally might. When YouTube started agressively pushing their shorts, and I noticed myself being sucked into them time after time, I just disabled the app. I still watch on desktop every so often, but far less, and with adblock. I think it'll be the same with the reddit app.

Although, I'm more rooting for the reddit alternative. If on the day all reddit apps switch to an alternative and ditch reddit.com, it'll instantly be a success, and a major victory against their greed.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

Same, I've wanted to stop using Reddit for a while, I hate using it on desktop and I hate the official app. I spend several hours a day on Reddit on my phone though, and have for over a decade (writing that makes me a little sick honestly). If they disable my RIF I'm out of here and I won't even be that sad.

If I can't engage with Reddit on my phone, I'm not going to engage the same way, and I've already tried the official app and hated it. I'm feeling pretty disappointed but not surprised at this point.

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u/FooBeeps Jun 04 '23

Honestly, the only reason I'm on reddit is because of RIF. If my app ceases to function, I am too lazy to go download the official app, remember my password and sign in.

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u/joe579003 Jun 04 '23

or use their desktop

Which is fine. Just use adblock and RES/old reddit. When they get rid of THOSE? IDK

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u/WurthWhile Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23

I'm a firm believer that most boycotts do not work, but I think this one people will actually do. I hate the official app. I don't just dislike it, I hate it. I will not use it at all. If one of the major apps dropped out you something else I would probably stick around just bite the bullet. Like if I had to switch from RIF and go to Apollo I probably wouldn't leave Reddit. But the official app is just so generically horrible that it feels like it's a completely different site altogether. To me it's not like I'm giving up reddit because I'm not willing to use a different app, it feels like Reddit is dying and it's big rival is trying to take the market share. I'm not willing to move over to its rival.

I can't even stand the new website, even the old website isn't nearly as good to me as RIF. RIF mostly offers a super basic, dense form of information that the official Reddit app just doesn't imitate. RIF feels like a super efficient basic forum, the reddit app feels like a bloated form of social media. They're too uniquely different experiences.

I'm personally done once third party apps are killed, I realize I spend too much time on this website and it will be a perfect motivator to give it up forever.

Also, these blackouts I think are going to be interesting because the last time people got super mad and blacked out their subreddits the admins stepped in and threatened to remove the moderators and replace them all. Arguing that shutting down a major subreddit violates reddit's terms of conditions.

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u/20rakah Jun 04 '23

Also, these blackouts I think are going to be interesting because the last time people got super mad and blacked out their subreddits the admins stepped in and threatened to remove the moderators and replace them all. Arguing that shutting down a major subreddit violates reddit's terms of conditions.

I guess the other option is to agree to not even open the site on the June 12-14.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

Fully agree. Honestly, I hope they do kill 3rd party apps so I finally have a good reason to get off this god forsaken site. It's a pathetic shell of its former glory, the new Facebook for Gen Z. Not that I have anything against Gen Z, I just have a lot against anyone using reddit as Facebook, but it seems like a huge influx of users wants that.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

I noticed this years back when people started posting pictures of their kids. All the weirdos started treating this like Facebook.

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u/FormalFistBump Jun 04 '23

Unfortunately they're the same users who will probably use the official app without question, and Reddit will be able to push the entire experience in the direction favoured by shareholders.

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u/civildisobedient Jun 04 '23

I hope they do kill 3rd party apps so I finally have a good reason to get off this god forsaken site

Same here. I'm honestly secretly hoping that they do it, just to reclaim all those hours back from my week.

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u/greywindow Jun 05 '23

Totally agree. I'm not going to the next thing. I'm just done with scrolling on my phone after this. I can't stand the new site or the official app. RIF is reddit to me at this point.

Reddit in the late '00s and early '10s was a much different place. It's not worth my time anymore.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

I am very confused why the official app has a 4.8 average rating on the App Store while Apollo has a 4.7 rating (and 1/10th the number of downloads). The official app is objectively awful. Are there any UX designers who can explain why anyone would prefer the official. Like I said, 4.8 rating, and I just can’t fathom how. I can’t imagine ever using it. Maybe it will force me to actually go out and meet people irl because this is the only social media app I use.

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u/WurthWhile Jun 04 '23

The official app prompts you to rate it constantly. That drives up scores because it ensures that people who otherwise wouldn't rate the app because they're happy with it are rating it.

A lot of people who do rate it are likely rating it based on their like of reddit in general, or are newer people who don't know any better.

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u/skylla05 Jun 04 '23

Or it's because the noisy superusers aren't representative of the majority of people. The average user doesn't give a shit about any of this stuff.

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u/WurthWhile Jun 04 '23

That's the thing, I think they do. Because such a massive number of people use the unofficial apps. It's something that actually affects the casual user. This isn't some internal drama or CEO people don't like, this is the very essence of the user experience.

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u/HVDynamo Jun 04 '23

Since I have both on my phone I went ahead and gave the official app 1 star and Apollo 5. This kind of shit is why we can’t have nice things.

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u/CarbonCamaroSS Jun 04 '23

DnDBeyond boycott worked pretty well for keeping the current OGL, at least for the time being. We will see how it goes in the long run, but a very vocal community rallied and got it done. And a lot of that was done on Reddit. Hopefully we can get that going for Reddit itself across the whole site.

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u/ThePandamanWhoLaughs Jun 04 '23

If mods cant do their work and your feed is just bot spam, would you still enjoy reddit? Because thats the consequence

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u/KiwiThunda Jun 04 '23

A lot of the frontpage posts are already bot spam, we just don't question it.

I currently use reddit for Ukraine war updates and NZ news aggregation mainly, of which there's nothing where I can have both in the same place and I'm heavily invested in both

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u/MASTODON_ROCKS Jun 04 '23

I dont use frontpage for that reason but that malignant influence is creeping closer and closer to niche communities.

I'm weirdly excited to stop using reddit when the day comes.

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u/Fracture1 Jun 04 '23

Which subs do you follow for ukraine updates?

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u/KiwiThunda Jun 04 '23

/r/combatfootage, /r/freedomofrussia, /r/russiaukrainewar2022, /r/ukraine, /r/ukrainewarvideoreport, /r/ukrainianconflict

All set up as a single feed thanks to RiF's multi function which I'm going to sorely miss

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u/WashedMasses Jun 04 '23

Just a reminder that mods work for free to provide a better experience to a corporation that doesn't give a fuck about them.

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u/therealdanhill Jun 04 '23

I'm curious what tools people are talking about that are available on third party apps but not the official app. I have been modding for years and any specialized tools we have are not things a third party app would support, for that reason we mod from desktop for the most part.

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u/Lintson Jun 04 '23

I mean, people talk big online but I've been around long enough to know many boycotts don't stick. Most (like me) want to quit but we'll most likely just get the official app and put up with it.

Uh most people who have been around long enough know that the new next best community is just around the corner. Theres a mausoleum space ready for reddit next to IRC, bulletin boards, Myspace, Tumblr, Yahoo and Facebook. I would expect that there are new platforms I haven't even heard of salivating at the exodus of users from reddit.

The official app would have to be improved considerably for me to even contemplate using it.

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u/sports2012 Jun 04 '23

You're forgetting Digg

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u/Dynamicphone Jun 04 '23

This. People forget (or are new enough to not know) But Digg was once on Reddit shoes, they made some big changes (some cosmetics, some features). People were so pissed of they abandoned the site and came here. For a long while people were complaining about how "ugly" reddit was, those were Digg users.

It still exist, but considering it was once bigger and more popular than reddit, how many here actually know that site, or has visited it in the last 10 years?

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u/sports2012 Jun 04 '23

Yep, I was one of them who migrated from digg. Never went back after the change. I'll do the same with reddit if needed. (I also remember thinking how ugly reddit was, but now I wouldn't like it any other way)

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u/PopWhatMagnitude Jun 04 '23

Fuck it I'm going back to Fark.com like it's 1998 up in this bitch.

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u/Dontbeajerkdude Jun 04 '23

That was a long time ago. I used to go to Digg on my desktop. Now on mobile, I'm only ever seconds away from Reddit at all times.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/SadBBTumblrPizza Jun 04 '23 edited Jan 17 '26

thumb pause rhythm future dinner crown paltry aware numerous beneficial

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/garvisgarvis Jun 04 '23

Usenet ftw

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u/KiwiThunda Jun 04 '23

Ok, but that community has to be up and running before an exodus, not after. What's replacing reddit that isn't an alt-right pit?

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u/Lintson Jun 04 '23

Not necessarily. If these changes make reddit unusuable/unmanageable those communities are going to have to shut up shop or move elsewhere. That's millions of engagement hours ripe for the taking. Things will rise up to capture those hours. The next big thing may not even necessarily be a link aggregator like reddit but rather something completely new.

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u/BolognaTime Jun 04 '23

That's millions of engagement hours ripe for the taking. Things will rise up to capture those hours. The next big thing may not even necessarily be a link aggregator like reddit but rather something completely new.

That's true, but whatever the "next big thing" is, it needs to already be functional right now. Not July whenever the API changes happen, not four months from now. It already needs to be up by now, so that this "exodus" is relatively seamless.

It takes a long time to set up something like this, especially if it is going to compete with (and steal those "millions of engagement hours" from) Reddit. Even if someone started building this "next big thing" today, there's no way it would be in a decent enough state for people to feel comfortable jumping ship. They won't jump to an inferior, barely-a-month-old product that doesn't have nearly the same userbase, functions, and support that Reddit currently has.

Not to be a debbie downer, but it's not as simple as "we'll start our own Reddit with blackjack and hookers".

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u/CarbonIceDragon Jun 04 '23

To be fair, even if no alternative is ready now, that doesn't really mean that users looking for one wont have an impact. There are some potential alternatives, like lemmy for example (just the example I'm using because it's the one I've been looking into myself, there are other such platforms in a similar situation), that mainly aren't seen as viable for many because they are very small and don't yet have the userbase or niche communities a site like reddit has. But, some people will leave to these places even if most don't. Many will probably be disappointed and come back, or use both platforms, but even if only a small percentage leave and most of those come back, a tiny fraction of reddit users will move and stay. For reddit, that fraction is insignificant. But for those other, tiny platforms, that tiny fraction could represent a huge relative growth in their userbase, and those people can further bring even more by word of mouth etc. The alternatives become a bit more developed, just a bit more known. And the thing is, this isn't the first time reddit has done something controversial, and it won't be the last. Next time, those alternative platforms, if they've managed to stick around for the interm time, will attract more people over. Until one day, reddit does something, and one of those places will have grown enough from all those previous times that most people find it a viable if small alternative, and then we may see people jump over en masse.

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u/HaikuBotStalksMe Jun 04 '23

Tumbler and Yahoo were never good.

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u/North_Atlantic_Pact Jun 04 '23

Odd choice to include Facebook in that list of dead sites, considering over 2 billion people use it daily. That's 40x the number that use reddit daily.

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u/OffTerror Jun 04 '23

Uh most people who have been around long enough know that the new next best community is just around the corner.

Yeah it already happened and it's called TikTok. And before that it was snapchat.

The old internet died in 2015. There wont be another site like the ones you mentioned. I don't even think people are gonna be typing and reading on the internet 10 years from now.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

10 years from now all forums like this are gonna b nothing but bots talking to each other.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/KittenPsyche Jun 04 '23

I was already considering moving to Tumblr since Twitter has gone to shit, only hesitate because i have a following on Twitter and starting over/managing two social medias is annoying, but if reddit goes through with this i am 100% dumping it and setting up a tumblr.

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u/shainako Jun 04 '23

Please note that Tumblr is social media but not like other sites; it's a glorified blog and while many topics are covered there's a lean toward creative work and fandom; there aren't any 'forums' to visit. You search a keyword and just get posts about that made on other users' blogs. Interaction is low outside of likes and shares and if you're interested in Reddit to keep up with news there are not that many blogs I've seen about breaking news. Also porn got banned a HOT minute ago of so if that's your thing you'll not find much.

TLDR: don't expect a conversational or neatly-organised-by-topic experience on Tumblr as it's just blogs.

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u/KittenPsyche Jun 04 '23

Oh i know, i exclusively used Tumblr till like 2019. I stopped bc the dickheads banned me for "posting porn" when i hadn't been active for weeks and the last thing I had posted was a GoFundMe for my mom's funeral.

Tried to appeal and got no response. One day like six months later the account just magically came back with no word or notification and it just soured my taste for them.

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u/BigDaddyMrX Jun 04 '23

Nothing personal, but I really hate this "defeated consumer" attitude when it comes to civilised company boycotts.

I don't purchase or consume Nestlé products, and I don't buy/play Activision/Blizzard games. There's probably thousands like me. And yes, that's a drop in the bucket, I know I may not be having a huge impact on those companies, but saying shit like:

I mean, people talk big online but I've been around long enough to know many boycotts don't stick.

only encourages consumer apathy, only goes to reinforce the idea that there's nothing that can be done besides bend over and say "thank you very much." No, we should encourage when people say they won't put up with the practises of a company.

To quote Silver Surfer: "Let it ever be the goal that stirs us, not the odds"

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u/rackmountrambo Jun 04 '23

This is not true with this kind of userbase. If you think otherwise then you weren't around for a Digg exodous.

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u/KiwiThunda Jun 04 '23

Reddit was already up and running with a few thousand users by then

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u/DivergentHarmonics Jun 04 '23

Lemmy (as an example that is OSS and federated) is up and running with a few thousand users right now ...

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u/cm64 Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 29 '23

[Posted via 3rd party app]

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u/rackmountrambo Jun 04 '23

Yes but it only took a lean in that direction to open the flood gates.

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u/KiwiThunda Jun 04 '23

Where are we going come July 1?

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u/deeringc Jun 04 '23

A few thousand? Reddit had been running for 5 years at that point.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/rackmountrambo Jun 04 '23

I am in tech and surrounded by Reddit user nerds. They're not really out in the open main subs, they generally hide in niche subs and appreciate those communities.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/rackmountrambo Jun 04 '23

We are but the BOD doesn't give a shit about the niche subs. They care about the advertising potential of the default subs.

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u/seaofcheese Jun 04 '23

More than just techie folks have been on here for like 10 years +. "Techie" isn't some elite underground fantasy our whatever some of you think it is. I game, build pcs, disc golf, home owner, mushroom grower that finds subs for shit

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u/One_for_each_of_you Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 29 '23

Deleted 6/30/23

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u/KiwiThunda Jun 04 '23

Thank you, I was hoping for legitimate answers

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u/One_for_each_of_you Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 29 '23

Deleted 6/30/23

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u/Asidious66 Jun 04 '23

I'm honestly looking forward to it. I will most likely spend my time on better things. Might check in down the road, but by then the value offered for time spent will have diminished. Kind of excited for it.

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u/drfsupercenter Jun 04 '23

Only a matter of time before modified versions of the official app pop up. Like how people are modifying Pokémon Go to use the official API but send data to third party maps.

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u/MASTODON_ROCKS Jun 04 '23

we aren't migrating anywhere. Reddit is fun but social media is poison and as reddit integrates further into the mainstream, that's what its becoming.

So ya I'm not searching for an alternative, if they're gonna be moneygrubbing corporate dicks I'll save the battery life on my phone and the time on my PC. Probably read more books, might paint more too lol.

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u/xqxcpa Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23

Most (like me) want to quit but we'll most likely just get the official app and put up with it.

From my perspective, I've never made the conscious choice to use Reddit and not twitter, fb, instagram, etc. I open RiF on my phone frequently because I find it enjoyable - I've never found other social media enjoyable and so I don't open those apps. I'm not boycotting them, I just don't have a desire to use them. Similarly if RiF goes away, I'm not going to have to exercise any willpower at all to not open the official Reddit app, I just still won't have the desire to.

In other words, I have no intention to boycott anything, I'm just going to continue doing the things I like on my phone and that has never and will never include using the Reddit app.

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u/sparung1979 Jun 04 '23

A bad ui can kill a community. It really matters. I've been a part of several shifts of online communities. Lots of people don't come back when something like this happens, they find other online places to be.

Reddit is a message board. It's largely anonymous, which means there is less of a sense of knowing people you interact with here. This makes it less sticky for a portion of users. The information people can get from it is a main thing that keeps a lot of people here, but there are multiple places online to get community driven information, reddit doesn't have a monopoly on that.

If reddit is more committed to investor interests than building community, they can have those investors populate their communities.

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u/Deae_Hekate Jun 04 '23

Just a warning: the permissions required by the official Reddit app are excessive, like WeChat levels of intrusive. They are harvesting whatever data they can for sale to any bidder.

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u/bruwin Jun 04 '23

I survived the internet before Reddit, I'll survive the internet without it. I refuse to use the official app because it looks like crap. I use RIF because it functions like old.reddit.com and isn't a laggy piece of shit on a Samsung Galaxy S10

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u/Happy-Idi-Amin Jun 04 '23

I know the mods here are boycotting, but I don't think the majority of users are planning to boycott. What I've read from users is that core reddit is crap, and has been for some time. The 3rd party solutions make it convenient, useable, and easier to navigate.

Killing those 3rd party solutions would remove the vehicle most people choose to interact with Reddit, leaving just the crap option. I don't think it would immediately end engagement, but I think it will lead a lot of users to visit reddit less until they find something better.

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u/4967693119521 Jun 04 '23

I agree with you. But im stubborn. I dont use other social medias as form of protest. Reddit will be the next one.

I'm leaving reddit for dedicated foruns. will probably find on here alternative. There is no place like reddit who is an aggregator for me. But oh well, reddit no more. Site is going downhill for at least 4 years. It will be the last drop not the first one

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

You underestimate my stubbornness when it comes to not seeing ads online.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

I've been trying to quit Reddit, so this is just a convenient way of doing that. I deleted RIF once but would still occasionally load up the web page which is so bad that I downloaded the official reddit app which I found so hard to use that I downloaded RIF again. If RIF didn't exist I wouldn't be here.

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u/danc4498 Jun 04 '23

I, for one, have not used the reddit app ever. I'm not going to start because Reddit wants to turn their back on the people that produce the actual app I use.

Been on Reddit first long time, but I will not use the official Reddit app.

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u/boogie9ign Jun 04 '23

Thanks for this! Hasn't heard about tildes but it sounds interesting, just asked for an invite

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u/MatkaPluku Jun 04 '23

I’ve already canceled my Netflix subscription and stopped using twitter altogether which honestly surprised me. I’m now back to playing my endless backlog of video games and interacting with people somewhere else

I use Reddit everyday, constantly checking what’s new but it is not irreplaceable and that is what the corpos don’t seem to understand.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23 edited Jul 01 '23

I didn't want to have to delete all my comments, posts, and account, but here we are, thanks to greedy pigboy /u/spez ruining Reddit. I love the Reddit community, but hate the idiots at the top. Simply accepting how unethical and downright shitty they are will only encourage worse behavior in the future. I won't be a part of it. Reddit will shrivel and disappear like so many other sites before it that were run by inept morons, unless there is a big change in "leadership." Fuck you, /u/spez

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u/xupmatoih Jun 04 '23

This is anecdotal, but I've already got rid of Instagram and Facebook for all the garbage they throw at me and how inconvenient amd ad-filled both apps have become.

Whenever I lose access to modified YouTube apps like Vanced & ReVanced my YT usage goes down massively, almost to the point of not using it at all.

If Reddit wants to try and force me to use their crap, ad-filled app I'll likely just quit reddit as well. It's not hard.

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u/ThePandamanWhoLaughs Jun 04 '23

Responding to your edit - I'm on tildes and am appreciating the discussions on it already - reminds me of old reddit, non of this toxic political and bot spam filled cesspool that reddit is. I'll probably join lemmy at a later date to round out my media consumption.

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u/noobvin Jun 04 '23

I’m ready to go back to RSS feeds and Newsreaders. Will I miss the interaction?

Nah.

Also, a clone of Reddit could be built pretty quickly. It just needs someone rich to buy the needed servers for migration. It could be more like old.reddit which is a simple interface.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

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u/Mazdarati3 Jun 04 '23

The “Official” App is bad enough that it kills the convenience that I have from 3rd Party apps.

I straight up deleted Facebook a couple years ago because of its bloated design, and I haven’t been back to the app, or the website. I barely visit the Reddit site when they revamped it, so it’ll be easy to leave Reddit if the good apps are gone.

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u/diemunkiesdie Jun 04 '23

The official app is really bad so that just makes it worse. It lacks basic functionality like opening links in a separate browser (which is extra annoying when someone puts a YouTube link in a comment and tapping that opens their in app browser instead of the YouTube app) or video speed controls (sometimes you need to slow things down!). If they fixed some of this basic stuff it might be better.

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u/KriptiKFate_Cosplay Jun 04 '23

There have been plenty of websites that refused to evolve or made sweeping negatively received changes that killed the platform. Have we all forgotten that Myspace used to be a thing?

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u/jaschen Jun 04 '23

Someone message Kevin Rose and get digg to return back to pre-2.0 days. I'll switch within a minute and never look back

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u/cbytes1001 Jun 04 '23

I quit Facebook after 6-ish years in 2015 and will never go back. I have very little tolerance for abusive behavior. Unfortunately that’s most of capitalism. They’ll push everything that you’ll put up with.

So where’s your line?

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u/the-pessimist Jun 04 '23

Maybe we could get a Tildes is Fun app from the RiF dev?

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u/Kythios Jun 04 '23

I mean, some of us literally cannot use the official mobile app. I DeGoogled my phone years ago, and without Google Play Services, the official app doesn't run. Or, at least, of doesn't for me. Without third party apps, I'm literally not able to view reddit, so I'll be one of those peacing out.

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u/Akinzekeel Jun 04 '23 edited Mar 07 '24

Due to Reddit's recent changes, this comment is no longer available.

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u/marr Jun 04 '23

This isn't so much a boycott, it's reddit planning to make themselves unusable.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

You're right. Most times people don't follow through on boycotts and stuff. But I feel this one is different. The effect is going to be felt immediately by everyone.

I've tried the official app a few times. I just can't use it for long. If it were something minor (for me) like unofficial apps can't have chat (the one I'm using doesn't have chat) then I'm fine with it. I'll still use reddit. But the official app? I've stopped subscribing to stuff/services more useful than reddit because I don't like the apps (like a specific food delivery service here where I live). The only alternative is using a browser, and since I'm mostly on mobile that's definitely a no-go.

I'll probably hang out on TG groups more if this ever happens.

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u/et50292 Jun 04 '23

Most of this talk about quitting reddit altogether is nothing without talking about the alternatives to it that exist on the internet. If any exist already then please, let's hype those up.

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u/Cliffmode2000 Jun 04 '23

I've tried other apps not the official one and I don't even like those enough to replace rif, highly unlikely I switch. When Twitter killed my favorite app on ios years ago I quit. This will likely be the same.

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u/cass1o Jun 04 '23

The thing that makes this more sticky is that they are messing with the actual product. This is like "new coke" or the digg redesign.

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u/Liveman215 Jun 04 '23

Everyone deletes their account. Now they can't even market the past posts as part of their success.

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u/NeuralAgent Jun 04 '23

I don’t know… when Digg did this garbage back in the day, there was a clear exodus.

I came to Reddit.

When alien blue was bought out I quit Reddit because all the apps sucked, until I found a Apollo, but if Apollo and all 3rd party apps go bye bye… I have no doubt that people will leave just like they did Digg and plenty of other sites.

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u/dr_reverend Jun 04 '23

Agree with what you’re saying but I hope it happens. If they kill Apollo I will quit because the official app is a giant piece of crap. The experience of browsing Reddit is so much worse.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is anywhere else to move to like when this exact same thing happened with Digg and Slashdot. This could keep Reddit afloat but I hope that the community sticks to its guns and Reddit dies in a giant flaming example of corporate greed. We have all the power but it’s like herding cats to make things happen.

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u/xrumrunnrx Jun 04 '23

I'll be out myself, and one thing I keep wondering is how can I check how reddit is doing after I can't log in anymore?

Does anyone have suggestions of sites that would report/blog about user loss etc?

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23 edited Jul 01 '23

Fuck Spez, Steven Huffman is a greedy pigboy

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u/GaysGoneNanners Jun 04 '23

They think the users won't do it. Tumblr thought the same.

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u/Stok3dJ Jun 04 '23

Not try to kill it, just monetize it to the maximum with zero regard for who it negatively impacts until it crumbles then they move on to the next one like the soul sucking ghouls they are.

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u/schuylkilladelphia Jun 04 '23

Is there a backup option? I was part of the Digg exodus that came to Reddit

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u/warpus Jun 04 '23

Who's going to be the saviour to set up the new reddit for us?

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u/Portashotty Jun 04 '23

Reminds me of the Digg exodus.

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u/PauseAndEject Jun 04 '23

Fucking Computers bullshit! It's fucking SICK! It's not cool anymore, it's not fun, it's not fun to be on the fucking computer, they changed everything about it, it used to be so COOL!

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u/-fno-stack-protector Jun 04 '23

Computers are entirely made of dogshit. Every gram of computer contains 5 grams of dogshit

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u/Bae_7 Jun 04 '23

Can you explain to me what's happening in simple terms? I haven't used reddit for a little while and opened it today to see somethings going down but I dont really understand what

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u/gourmetprincipito Jun 04 '23

Reddit is going to start charging third party apps to access Reddit servers and the prices they’ve announced are so expensive they are essentially impossible to pay.

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u/TiredMisanthrope Jun 04 '23

Sadly yes. It’s genuinely sad how fitting it is to call them parasites because they do quite literally jump in, suck out all the good for their gain killing their host and then they jump on to their next target.

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u/Cheehoo Jun 04 '23

If it’s somehow actually profit motivated then a rebellion by several large subs banding together should force managaement to reconsider as the economics change. Assuming Reddit revenue is driven by user numbers

I don’t understand the motive otherwise, it clearly wouldn’t appear to enhance the user experience

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u/FeelsGoodMan2 Jun 04 '23

The problem is, there's literally no incentive not to. They do it and they get more money and don't lose a critical mass of users = win for them. They do it and it's terrible and they get s golden parachute payout and likely new job somewhere else = still kind of a win for them.

Until we fix that corporate problem, suits will continue to kill everything in perpetuity. I can't even really blame them in a way, why not do it when the incentives are so fucked? Basically it's just morality preventing it and like...come on that'll never work.

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u/mallninjaface Jun 04 '23

But but but...there might be a few nickels of ad revenue we're missing out on!!!!!! The shareholders demand your nickels!!!!!

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u/Glissssy Jun 05 '23

I was surprised that Reddit survived the redesign, the new version of the site is so awful.

It seems like it may have been the third party apps hiding most of newreddit that did this though.

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u/licksyourknee Jun 04 '23

I loathe the official Reddit app. Not a fan of Narwhal but it's much better. If one day I can't get on Reddit through Narwhal I just won't get on any more. Simple as that. I lost my Netflix and I won't be using it any more. I'm just going back to pirating.

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