Apple subreddit reopens after moderation team threatened with removal
The Apple subreddit has reopened under duress after a protest about API fees was squashed by threats from the company's CEO to remove the moderation teams of closed subreddits.
Reddit coerces mods to reopen subreddits
Reddit's Data API was updated in April, introducing a premium access tier for developers that offered additional features, increased usage limits, and expanded usage rights. These modifications were met with considerable resistance.
To express their discontent with the API modifications, a multitude of subreddits on Reddit are engaging in a protest by temporarily going dark for a duration of 24 to 48 hours. When a subreddit goes dark, it becomes private and inaccessible to the public, demonstrating unity.
The API changes will make it virtually impossible for third-party Reddit clients to function without paying exorbitant fees. One notable instance involves developer Christian Selig, who announced that the popular app Apollo would shut down on June 30 due to escalated expenses.
With a fee of $0.02 per user for access, he estimated that Apollo would incur an annual cost of approximately $20 million for continued access.
Reddit protests met by threats from CEO
Numerous subreddits, including r/Apple, intended to maintain indefinite privacy for their communities as a protest. But the moderators announced recently that the Apple subreddit is back after Reddit threatened to reopen subreddits against the moderators' will.
"If a moderator team unanimously decides to stop moderating, we will invite new, active moderators to keep these spaces open and accessible to users," the post says. "If there is no consensus, but at least one mod who wants to keep the community going, we will respect their decisions and remove those who no longer want to moderate from the mod team."
Some users are urging moderators to resign in protest, highlighting that the role of a moderator on Reddit is voluntary and unpaid, in contrast to companies such as Facebook that provide compensation for similar positions. As a result, some moderators are indeed taking that course of action.
In a recent interview, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told The Verge that the company plans to continue charging access to its API, regardless of the protests. He believes that third-party apps unfairly piggyback on Reddit's success, and is apparently unaware that Reddit's success is because of the posts by the users that use the service in all of its forms.
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Did anybody else read that sentence and have to stop and think: "Do they mean Tim Cook?" as Apple is the only company explicitly named by that point in the article.
Not apparentl at all. Users on third party apps represent a small % of total users.
With that said, they’re now offering to keep API access available for free for notable FOSS Reddit clients. It seems they’re only targeting third party apps which are both proprietary and trying to make money from their work. If Reddit keep their word and extend that to FOSS moderation tools too, then the protest will have been successful regardless.
You don't believe in peacefully protesting to see change?
I think the Reddit CEO/leadership handling of this has been pathetic and childish. If they were compassionate, they would have found a middle-ground solution, instead of standing firm like a bully in the playground.
Does Reddit have a right to operate a healthy business, which means not giving away their goods to app developers that are making a profit? Absolutely! That's not the issue here.
The protest has always been about offering *reasonable* API fees AND a *reasonable* timeframe to adjust to the changes. Reddit offered neither of those.
Are you a registered reddit user? Did this blackout personally affect you?
If the answer is "no" to either of those questions, then your cold-hearted opinion doesn't really matter. Reddit mishandled this situation from the start. That's the issue that was being protested.
Will it blow over and life will go on? Yes. Maybe the /r/apple mods realized that having the channel open is better for the greater good? That doesn't make them wrong in their initial response. Nor does it make peaceful protests a false approach.
I would start by reading Christian Selig's side of the story.
For instance if this is anything like true, then "reasonable" is a long way away.
Or this, for the transition period to update third party apps.
No one is saying that Reddit doesn't have the right to do any of this. Many are saying that they're assholes for how they're going about things. They have no obligation to not be assholes either, but people aren't going to like it and that's why there are protests.
And I think you are the pathetic kind of ass who infects the forums with your negativity.That you cannot see other possibilities shows what kind of sad pathetic person you are. The fact that wikipedia exists show how people are happy to spend their time to help improve global knowledge for everyone. These moderators are also happy to help people. But in your mind, they are either making money (not true) or have sad lives (also, probably, not true). You are the sad pathetic one.
verb (used with object) dictionary.com
to press into a flat mass or pulp; crush: She squashed the flower under her heel.
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/quashed The words are interchangeable at the discretion of the writer.
Reddit is just circling the drain and are making room for new competition to come on through. It has run its course. Their Mac section by the way is terrible filled with ads and people posting ridiculous fix it comments.
Reddit does have the right to charge but they like Twitter have run their course, the general public are moving on to the next thing.