Why did so many subreddits go private?
reddit is about to start charging money to use their api. this will mean some 3rd party apps that are used by moderators will start being charged millions per year, which is unaffordable and thus will end up closing. so moderators are protesting this change by making the subreddits go private.
so they have hundreds of thousands of moderators that work for free on reddit, and now they also want to charge them to make reddit better? this is unreal
It’s more the amount rather than that they are charging at all. The timeframe is preditory, and the cost is about 100x similar api cost, and at least 20x what they’d be losing by not having those users on the app.
High volume API tools are also helpful for auto mods and community bots which is especially annoying for mods. Also, modding on mobile is only really possible though third party apps.
i heard that they do this to overvalue their company since they will go public soon, is that true?
In addition to the new API pricing, Reddit and its CEO’s response to its users complaints was condescending and unempathetic. Many users have decided to leave Reddit because the company takes its most important asset–user-generated content–for granted. Others are leaving because important accessibility features will be unavailable after the API prices go into effect.