I am unable to understand this bruhaha about reddit as I am an occasional user of this website and mostly in lurking mode.
Was there a promise made to those 3rd party app authors and users that their access would be perpetual, not to be taken away from them, no matter what ? I don't think any for-profit company makes such promises.
If you play in someone's walled garden, you should be ready to see them change the rules as they see fit. I am not sure why reddit decided to nix the 3rd party apps but my gut feeling is, this is a financially motivated move. And if it is so, can you blame them?
I wish someone could explain me why everyone is in an huge uproar today.
If they had made prudent allowances for uses of the API other than 3rd party frontends, this likely would have been a much smaller deal.
Moderators(who are doing tons of free work to make reddit a tolerable place) use API based tools to help them moderate. If reddit is going to make their (volunteer!) job harder, why shouldn't they just pack up and leave?
The official reddit app reportedly does not make adequate accommodations for some disabled users, but dedicated third party developers did. They later said that they would give exemptions for accessibility use cases, but stipulated that they could not charge for their service. Some people the perceived this as: "we won't make our app accessible, we'll give permission to do free labor for us if you want, but don't you dare try to get paid for it."
Then there is the disingenuous interactions with the Apollo developer.
All-in-all, people think that reddit is acting in bad faith.
()Allowances ? You mean don't ask them for more money, even though those apps are making money. How is this a good business idea? I mean for Reddit.
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()Moderators are not forced to work for free. If they do, they are doing this willingly and if they choose to quit, nobody is blaming them.
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()If original reddit app doesn't make accommodations for handicapped people, it is neither the duty of the 3rd party apps to provide them nor to enforce them. It is just a fringe angle reddit opponents are bringing forward. It is not why this ordeal got so out of proportion.
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()... we won't make our app accessible, we'll give permission to do free labor for us if you want, but don't you dare try to get paid for it. ...
Although it may not be the wisest idea, the owners of the walled garden can say this and it is up to those non-compensated moderators to stay or leave. It has nothing to do with the 3rd party apps
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(*)After all, is said and done, reddit wants more money out of the pot. So does the 3rd party app developers. It is like a Mexican standoff. And I can guarantee you, first party to blink will not be reddit.
There's a surface-level and deeper-level answer here.
Surface-level: the API price hikes are at a glance meant to force out third-party Reddit interfaces. To speculate, this is aimed to funnel users to Reddit's official application. I can say that because the mobile website is getting crippled over time to "encourage" users to use the app.
Deeper-level: it is reflective of Reddit corporate's attitudes towards its users. They are gearing for an IPO, so they want to tell investors that they will be profitable (read: milk its users, monetize everything, remove convenient features if it will mean profits, etc.)
This story sounds similar. Just yesterday I read about enshitification[0] form a HN post. What is most interesting is how Reddit has ripped a page or two from Musk's twitter playbook for enshitification.
The deeper issue is the C-suite being unresponsive to users wants and needs. Reddits comments are a goldmine for LLMs, hiking the price on the API is to cash in on data greedy AI. 3rd party apps are just a pawn. Yes it is reddit's site, but the product is the community, and the community knows it.
People are mad because instead of being open and honest about their play, reddit tried sneak it it in. They are trying to give Reddit shareholders their win while everyone else loses.
The two biggest issues I've heard brought up (other than the fact that apps like Apollo just work better than the official app and don't have ads) is that moderation tools are dependent upon third-party apps, and third-party apps are more accessible for people with disabilities than the official reddit app.
