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Apple Subreddit Goes Dark in Protest of Reddit's API Pricing Changes
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I still have no clue what karma is for, apart from preventing you to comment.
who decides what is "reasonable" though?
clearly reddit have a formula that came up with that pricing.
clearly the third party apps that are making a living using another companies data will come up with a different formula.
how do YOU know that estimated 20 million a year isn't entirely reasonable based on API calls and loss in advertising revenue due to the third party apps not serving ads. the third party apps are always going to say it's unreasonable as it means their current business model no longer works, but maybe their business model only works because they've been able to free load and not have to pay to get access to the content they make money from.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. No one is saying Reddit shouldn’t be able to make money. In fact, even the Apollo dev believes they should be charging for their API and that then makes them beholden to devs to offer actual support and feature updates.
The issues is with them misrepresenting the way that they were going to price their API, and then with the insanely short turnaround time that devs would have to update their app and change their pricing, leaving them on the hook for bills from users who already paid for annual subscriptions.
Beyond that, Reddit lied to the public about the extent to which they communicated with devs about these changes and even slandered the Apollo dev, saying that he tried to blackmail them for a payout.
Basically, at every turn Reddit has done this in the most unprofessional, dev- and user-hostile way imaginable.
Basically every dev I’ve seen comment on this, both independent and from large and small companies, say it’s unreasonable. It’s far beyond what’s typical for what it offers, and based on educated estimates of what Reddits costs are and what they stand to make off similar traffic from their own app and site.
It’s like asking if $10k is a reasonable price for a hamburger - the answer is clearly no regardless of how good of a burger it is (and in the case of Reddit’s API, it’s a very average burger).
they would though, wouldn't they? as it affects their profit margin.
that's a poor analogy, unless those people were getting the hamburger for free previously and they were then re-selling that hamburger on at a profit.
I’m not just talking about devs of Reddit apps.
You’re reading too much into a basic analogy, the point is simply that the product and the price do not match.
in your opinion.
however, the only opinion that matters is that of the owners of the product.
it's possible that reddit simply don't want third party apps at all, and have priced it so that they can't accept the price.
that's entirely up to them.
48 hour blackouts will do nothing.
Then they should just have said that. Why all the lies and slander and shenanigans if they just want to kill third party apps? Just say “hey, this model no longer works for us so we’re revoking our API.”
I know the argument you’re trying to make but it’s a bad one. Yes, a business can price their products however they like, but that doesn’t automatically make the price reasonable. APIs are not magic, these things have easily quantifiable costs. No matter what way you look at it, Reddit is being super unprofessional here.
because sometimes there's someone stupid enough to pay the price
either they get what they want or a lot of money
as i said, whether you think it's reasonable is irrelevant.
if you don't like it then you can stop making a third party app.
if you support the third party devs who are now out of business then stop using reddit.
those are you personal choices.
Do you moderate any sub?
The official app is awful for sub moderation, you basically can't do anything. Apollo is far superior.
That doesn’t explain why they’re slandering devs and lying to people. Maybe you can explain that bit to me. It kinda sounds like you’re just making weak excuses for bad business practices.
You don’t seem to know what reasonable means.
Start deleting accounts and it will change very fast. No one is going to do that. People got used to living in this comfortable complacency world.
exactly, look at netflix, everyone saying they'll delete their account when account sharing restrictions kicked in. the reality is that their subs have have actually increased. what people say and whay they do are 2 different things, and businesses know that.
if they have then let those that feel slandered get a lawyer involved and deal with it.
but you do? as i said you're definition of reasonable doesn't really matter as you are not the one running either reddit or a third party app. all you're doing is taking the side of one of the 2 parties without actually having the required financial info needed to decide what is reasonable or not. you're taking at face value what you've read is 100% of the facts.
The Apollo dev posted a recording and transcript from a call that proved Reddit’s CEO lied and slandered him. There’s no “if” about it.
Lol. All you’re doing is taking the other side and defending a bad business at all costs. At least I seem to have bothered to get up to speed with the situation.
If all you’re do is imply that businesses can do no wrong, I think we’re done talking about this.
slander is a legal term, so "if" they feel it is slander by the legal definition then let them pursue that legally.
i'm not taking any side, simply saying that, as a business, they can charge what they want for their product, and as a business the third party devs can either accept that or not. that's how business works.
reddit doesn't owe the third party devs a living.
no, you're implying that you can decide if they are doing wrong.
they are doing right as far as they are cocerned, and doing wrong as far as you are concerned.
as i said, you make your personal choice, but that doesn't mean you are right or wrong.
do you also make excuses for people who use the N word?
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Protesting for only 48hours just shows why the CEO will not care at all about this. Also it shows how weak the users from the platform are.
They act like they're doing this big explosive revolution but in reality it's just a little scratch.
Delete your accounts, keep the subreddits private indefinitely and just forget that this app exists until they revert their decision.
They act like they're doing this big explosive revolution but in reality it's just a little scratch.
Delete your accounts, keep the subreddits private indefinitely and just forget that this app exists until they revert their decision.
Even as much as suggesting there could be a scenario where Reddit has to to charge this much for API access to turn a reasonable profit tells me that you are clueless as to what an average dev/coder/tech/web industry employee is paid in 2023 or what it costs to run a website like Reddit.
The API price Reddit is asking for is without a doubt what you'd call a "f you price", an indirect way of pushing Apollo and similar apps/clients off the metaphorical cliff by asking a price that's way beyond something any business relying on the product/service could pay without going in the red.
I'd assume Reddit has done the numbers before making this move and is sure it can thrive without Apollo and the many similar clients/apps also shutting down.
We'll see.
Also, you suggesting that apps like Apollo are essentially worthless and Reddit can do what they want is completely ignoring how much traffic and how many millions of users third party clients have created for Reddit.
What do you think would happen if Apple raised their AppStore fees for app devs by 2x within the next six months, no prior warnings, no gradual increase? Are app devs just mooching off Apple's great hardware and Apple doesn't need them and doesn't owe them anything for all the effort they've put into creating and maintaining their apps throughout the years?
The fact that Apollo could actually turn something as seemingly arbitrary as a third party client for Reddit into a feasible business proves that Reddits official apps and website don't meet the needs of a huge demographic of Reddit users.
Reddit does owe Apollo a part of its success and they should have offered a fair price instead of this petty b.s.
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3 months? Must be nice being rich.
So people are protesting Reddit for being cash grabby and stopping 3rd part apps from using them for being cash grabby. Go it!
