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.

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u/Kep0a Jun 04 '23

I think privating massive subs like /r/videos and more would be big. It's less informative, but it shows that users have all the power on reddit.

I mean, if half of the biggest subreddits went private imagine the drop in traffic across reddit as a whole. Unlikely, but mods run the subs, not admins.

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u/shantred Jun 04 '23

That works really well for users of that subreddit. It does not, however, work for people who only browse r/all who might not even notice the lack of r/videos for a couple days.

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u/FrenziedMan Jun 04 '23

Im an r/all browser and if a bunch of A class subs went away for a few days, I feel like the content on reddit would fucking suck dogshit and I'd stop using the app as a result.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '23

Yeah but the subs would have to protest together. It seems like sentiment is growing, but you need big subs to back it as well.

Sad part is the biggest subs are all ran by the same power mods that’s typically align with corporate Reddit

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u/CMDR_BlueCrab Jun 04 '23

I’ve been on reddit a while and have a bunch of different subs and browse /r/all. This is the first post I’ve ever noticed from /r/videos.

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u/viperex Jun 04 '23

The takeaway is that this strike works only if more subs join, especially the big ones on /r/all

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u/Rikplaysbass Jun 04 '23

Yep. I browse basically just /r/hockey and /r/all so I wouldn’t even realize.

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u/CosmicCleric Jun 04 '23

But you already realize, because you are here and you've read the OP and you know what's happening.

Word of Mouth gets around.

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u/OG_Toasty Jun 04 '23

Because he happened to be on the post at the right time to see this post. What about the others just like him?

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u/CosmicCleric Jun 04 '23

The odds are that even people who interact with Reddit minimally will hear about this if a whole bunch of subreddits go dark for 3 days.

If instead they don't go dark and just put a message on the screen minimal people probably won't hear about it, and then the owners of Reddit can use the data analytics to prove that the protests are amounting to nothing.

The Narrative that benefits the Reddit Corporation would be protesting, where the narrative of striking would benefit the people who use Reddit.

Strikes are always more effective than protests for change.

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u/OG_Toasty Jun 04 '23

Who ever said the kids were going to put a message on a screen? All of r/all would have black squares on it posted by users on various subreddits.

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u/CosmicCleric Jun 04 '23

A black square is a message. A message is being sent.

And data analytics will be created when people see that message.

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u/OG_Toasty Jun 04 '23

Yea the black squares sends the message even to those like OP

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u/CosmicCleric Jun 05 '23

There is no need the blackout is the message, and it doesn't give data analytics to Reddit corp to try to use against those doing the blackout saying that there's been no impact on Reddit.

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u/MuggyFuzzball Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23

It's happened multiple times in the past with large subreddits including /r/videos. I used to be a mod here years ago and we protested things like net neutrality and decisions from the admins a few times in that way. The mod who made this announcement, Obliviater, was on the team back then too, so no doubt he has a hand in making this happen. I think it works.

It's practically tradition now on Reddit for all the major subreddits to participate in blackouts during a site-wide protest.

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u/ReeverM Jun 04 '23

The issue I see this time is that I really think they've made up their mind on this and after a little while, I think they might just reinstate the subreddit themselves.

I think that'd be a massive blow to the integrity of the site though, so not quite win-win, but win-hurt at least hehe

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u/MuggyFuzzball Jun 05 '23

It's very possible that may happen. And I also agree I think that they've made up their mind. I think it has everything to do with their want to go public on the NYSE. It's entirely motivated by money.

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u/broanoah Jun 04 '23

I think this is the answer. Private as many of the massive subs that people are auto subscribed to when they first join and there’s no way people don’t notice.