jonjones229
New member
Hey r/crossfit
I’m sure this is far from the first post that you’ve seen on this topic, but I thought it well since time that I put something up based on messages in discord and here on reddit.
I know this isn’t directly related to r/crossfit itself, but reddit’s decision to make sweeping changes to their API policy will cause waves throughout the reddit ecosystem. As a reaction to this, we are seeing a number of subs go private for 48h from June 12-14.
These speedy changes to the pricing from a free API to one up there with the most expensive for social media is coming as a shock to many app developers and leaving them in a place where they could begin to incur sudden costs to run of up to $20 million USD a year with only 30 days notice. The price per API call is out of a reasonable level of affordability for these apps, particularly on such short notice. A big ask from the developers of these apps isn’t to get rid of the cost, but to be more open in discussion with the developers to help land on something that is fair, feasible, and on a timeline that help people make adjustments and alert their users. Obviously API calls will come at a cost to reddit, but by doing this, they are also making the jobs of unpaid moderators, content creators, and devs significantly harder on their platform, and forcing applications onto expensive subscription models.
Along with the change of the price structure, they have also began to limit the way in which these applications can try to off-set these costs by not allowing them to have any ad supported revenue. This is largely how many apps such as RiF would generate revenue to help pay for costs such as servers and development. In this way, they are forcing these apps to either incur large monthly costs, or force a subscription based model on their users. Reddit is forcing these apps to pay while hamstringing their ability to generate revenue to pay for those costs. In response to this, app developers are deciding to shut down their apps as they will not be able to keep up with the costs incurred by the new API policy.
This will affect many apps, or tools that users of the site use to make browsing more enjoyable, customizable, and easier, along with extensions or apps that many moderators use to be more efficient in what they do. Personally, I make very heavy use off certain extensions and apps to make make my job as a moderator easier as the tools provided by reddit are, to put it nicely, lacking. While I have been frequently told I have no life as a mod, I assure you, I do have a job in real life, and the removal of these tools would greatly impact my ability to moderate the community effectively.
It is a nice sight that they are committing to improving moderation, however, the past has shown us that they do no always follow through on these promises, and that when they do, they do not always reach the level that free applications or extensions were able to provide years before. These apps make it easier for communities to be supported on reddit. In many cases, these apps offer better mod tools, interfaces, and just a better modding experience.
While they have said that non-commercial accessibility related apps will be able to continue access free of charge, several blind users have indicated that the official reddit mobile app is “a disaster to use with accessibility software” along with other concerns around the lack of clarity of what reddit has posted. Reddit has committing to improving these tools, but as we have seen in the past, these things take times, and reddit often manages to fall short of what else has been developed for their platform.
Today, several developers & moderators met with @java6869 and employees of reddit (call notes here). Members of the team of developers and moderators have come back stating that while the call notes generally follow the topics from the meeting, that they do not fully express or address the concerns the group had on the call (full review here). I highly recommend reading the notes, along with the post from apollo’s owner which does feature some receipts to counter claims and accusations that have been levied towards them by reddit.
As of now, I have the intent to set us to private and join the blackout for 48hrs from starting June 12th. This may change depending on updates as the days come, and how things develop from here.
Other resources I borrowed from, or didn’t link above:
reddit announcement on api changes
ELi5 Post on the Blackout
ELi5: How does an API work?
Open Letter from Mod Group to reddit
Incomplete list of participating subs
Post from Apollo’s Developer
RiF shutdown post
Questions for @java6869? Ask them in his AMA on the topic on June 9th
note: This post will be updated with new information as I receive it. Feel free to recommend other resources, etc as well. I will also probably change some wording here and there as I read it and notice where I rambled, was redundant, or unclear
I hope this posts finds you smashing a PR,
@jonjones229
I’m sure this is far from the first post that you’ve seen on this topic, but I thought it well since time that I put something up based on messages in discord and here on reddit.
I know this isn’t directly related to r/crossfit itself, but reddit’s decision to make sweeping changes to their API policy will cause waves throughout the reddit ecosystem. As a reaction to this, we are seeing a number of subs go private for 48h from June 12-14.
These speedy changes to the pricing from a free API to one up there with the most expensive for social media is coming as a shock to many app developers and leaving them in a place where they could begin to incur sudden costs to run of up to $20 million USD a year with only 30 days notice. The price per API call is out of a reasonable level of affordability for these apps, particularly on such short notice. A big ask from the developers of these apps isn’t to get rid of the cost, but to be more open in discussion with the developers to help land on something that is fair, feasible, and on a timeline that help people make adjustments and alert their users. Obviously API calls will come at a cost to reddit, but by doing this, they are also making the jobs of unpaid moderators, content creators, and devs significantly harder on their platform, and forcing applications onto expensive subscription models.
Along with the change of the price structure, they have also began to limit the way in which these applications can try to off-set these costs by not allowing them to have any ad supported revenue. This is largely how many apps such as RiF would generate revenue to help pay for costs such as servers and development. In this way, they are forcing these apps to either incur large monthly costs, or force a subscription based model on their users. Reddit is forcing these apps to pay while hamstringing their ability to generate revenue to pay for those costs. In response to this, app developers are deciding to shut down their apps as they will not be able to keep up with the costs incurred by the new API policy.
This will affect many apps, or tools that users of the site use to make browsing more enjoyable, customizable, and easier, along with extensions or apps that many moderators use to be more efficient in what they do. Personally, I make very heavy use off certain extensions and apps to make make my job as a moderator easier as the tools provided by reddit are, to put it nicely, lacking. While I have been frequently told I have no life as a mod, I assure you, I do have a job in real life, and the removal of these tools would greatly impact my ability to moderate the community effectively.
It is a nice sight that they are committing to improving moderation, however, the past has shown us that they do no always follow through on these promises, and that when they do, they do not always reach the level that free applications or extensions were able to provide years before. These apps make it easier for communities to be supported on reddit. In many cases, these apps offer better mod tools, interfaces, and just a better modding experience.
While they have said that non-commercial accessibility related apps will be able to continue access free of charge, several blind users have indicated that the official reddit mobile app is “a disaster to use with accessibility software” along with other concerns around the lack of clarity of what reddit has posted. Reddit has committing to improving these tools, but as we have seen in the past, these things take times, and reddit often manages to fall short of what else has been developed for their platform.
Today, several developers & moderators met with @java6869 and employees of reddit (call notes here). Members of the team of developers and moderators have come back stating that while the call notes generally follow the topics from the meeting, that they do not fully express or address the concerns the group had on the call (full review here). I highly recommend reading the notes, along with the post from apollo’s owner which does feature some receipts to counter claims and accusations that have been levied towards them by reddit.
As of now, I have the intent to set us to private and join the blackout for 48hrs from starting June 12th. This may change depending on updates as the days come, and how things develop from here.
Other resources I borrowed from, or didn’t link above:
reddit announcement on api changes
ELi5 Post on the Blackout
ELi5: How does an API work?
Open Letter from Mod Group to reddit
Incomplete list of participating subs
Post from Apollo’s Developer
RiF shutdown post
Questions for @java6869? Ask them in his AMA on the topic on June 9th
note: This post will be updated with new information as I receive it. Feel free to recommend other resources, etc as well. I will also probably change some wording here and there as I read it and notice where I rambled, was redundant, or unclear
I hope this posts finds you smashing a PR,
@jonjones229