Hackers Threaten to Release Reddit Data Unless API Changes Are Rolled Back

[Azzin]

Not sure how that makes it fair. API was there to help maintain the community. It was never meant for app developers to let millions of users use reddit for free.

Then Reddit should have stopped access, or made far more in roads with 3rd party devs to improve the situation that they created.

 

[Fat_Guy]

Is that the "real value" though? Real value to who? There's no value to the business if they can't monetise it. You're better of with 20% less users if the site costs less to run and they actually make you money. There's only so much content you can host without making a profit until the idea becomes silly - unless you want to run a Wikipedia like donation run project (which for a resource like Reddit might actually be better)

I really should stay out of this discussion as I believe last Friday I wondered if the hackers would now get involved - 😬



Anyway, Wikipedia is a not-for-profit and can ask for donations. Reddit is “for profit” and really should not do that. I don’t know for sure in the States if they can do that at all, but running 2 not-for-profits in Canada tells me you probably can’t.

 

[tripsync]

If Reddit was offering it for free, it’s absolutely fair.

Nope. If Reddit was offering something for free, it doesn't mean it should be free forever.

 

[tripsync]

Then Reddit should have stopped access, or made far in roads with 3rd party devs to improve the situation that they created.

Sorry, you're saying stopping access would be fair? That's laughable.

 

[ridgerock]

This country is a rule of law country. Blackmail has no standing.

Whatever the moral issues or legal consequences of blackmail, you're using the "rule of law" concept incorrectly. It refers to things like equality before the law, clear laws, independent judiciary, access to justice, etc. - it does not refer to compliance with the law.

 

[ridgerock]

Reddit hasn't done anything wrong. They're the ONLY social media company that hasn't been charging for API access. Just because people got used to something doesn't mean they have a right to that thing.

There will be a better understanding if Reddit has done anything "wrong", in terms of the issues raised in the article, if that data is released. Blackmail is patently wrong, but whistleblowing a company that's engaged in behavior that runs counter to the interests of their user community, like non-transparent censoring, is justified in my opinion.

 

[I7guy]

Whatever the moral issues or legal consequences of blackmail, you're using the "rule of law" concept incorrectly. It refers to things like equality before the law, clear laws, independent judiciary, access to justice, etc. - it does not refer to compliance with the law.

Yes. What I tried to do was not to be technically correct, but to be understood as to the point. Whether or not that succeeded…

 

[nelloismello]

Reddit hasn't done anything wrong. They're the ONLY social media company that hasn't been charging for API access. Just because people got used to something doesn't mean they have a right to that thing.

So getting rid of your reddit client app competition by charging absurd API prices is a good thing? I agree that they're allowed to monetize API Access, but the way they did it killed most third party Reddit apps. That's scummy

 

[GizmoDVD]

So getting rid of your reddit client app competition by charging absurd API prices is a good thing? I agree that they're allowed to monetize API Access, but the way they did it killed most third party Reddit apps. That's scummy

Doesn't even amount to 1% of traffic to Reddit so...who cares?

 

[splifingate]

I don't use Reddit anymore (deleted my account last year), but I was there 10 years and never had a post deleted, was never banned from a subreddit, and was never was giving a warning/timeout.

I guess I just didn't hang out in the degenerate subs.

Amidst the build-up to all the current unrest, I found myself in a scenario where I replied to a psot in r/doppleganger (entirely benign, and IMO consciously uplifting).

I was scolded by a mod for violating one of their top-five rules.

Initiated a new psot to re-center the convo resulted in immediate blocked/banned/whatever.

Having no skin in the game, it really didn't bother me; but it really pssd me-off that somebody could hold so much control that they--effectively--enforce some sort of segregation.

Prior to that, I only suffered the childless ego-loss of the angst in random down-vote scenarios.

Ten-years-in here @MR, and I just received my very first chastisement reminder . . . a polite admonishment reminder; to-whit a comment whose Thesis (I now appreciate, in retrospect) was of a Political nature, and not in-sync with the Em-Ohh of the thread at-hand

 

[splifingate]

“Maxwellhill“ is going to destroy Reddit soon anyhow. Screenshot this.

ok

What now?

 

[splifingate]

If Reddit will win this - other companies might follow it reducing API by f u prices and just 30 days to adapt (when App Store or Google Play have protection for sudden changing app price if someone paid for I.e yearly subscription). So in this case Apollo would pay lots of money to refund changes and ask for new subscriptions or would pay difference by themselves = dead app

Edit: Some other companies have given 60-90 days to adapt instead and were open to negotiation

'Standing' is a real thing

 

[splifingate]

Macrumors is more of a cesspool IMO

*urhm*

It appears you've not really spent very much time on Reddit, h.gilbert

 

[splifingate]

Should reddit fail...
What would a viable competitor be?

This is--truly--the question of the Day, Sis-Bro

 

[splifingate]

The part where he built Apollo as per Reddit’s terms.

They literally allowed free 3rd party access to the API.

No one “stole” it or “leeched” it, or obtained it in any way that wasn’t by Reddit’s design.

Thank you for this cogency

*rocket-like*

 

[Abazigal]

Should reddit fail...
What would a viable competitor be?

Hopefully, nobody, because the last year has shown the risk of having our online content concentrated in the hands of a few internet companies whose moderation policies are entirely up to the whims of their (apparently increasingly unhinged) owners.

Perhaps it’s time to go back to decentralised forums.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Admins are now removing Mods who have closed down their sub or turned on the NSFW filter.

 

[anshuvorty]

Hopefully, nobody, because the last year has shown the risk of having our online content concentrated in the hands of a few internet companies whose moderation policies are entirely up to the whims of their (apparently increasingly unhinged) owners.

Perhaps it’s time to go back to decentralised forums.

Yes, exactly, I am loving my time here on MR Forums.

Admins - please don't ban me

 

[redbeard331]

Did Reddit make this up to garner sympathy?

 

[h.gilbert]

*urhm*

It appears you've not really spent very much time on Reddit, h.gilbert

I've been on Reddit for years

 

[splifingate]

I've been on Reddit for years

ok

 

[FlyingTexan]

The tools provided are rudimentary and not enough for many. The people here are focused on Apollo and other reader apps. But that's not what's causing the uproar. The problem is many subreddits, especially those with vulnerable readerships, can't keep mod teams who are known good actors, so they rely on the tools that use the API to handle moderation. This change forces them to either hand moderate, which for many can be overwhelming for a free, often tiny labor force, or use newly expensive software that doesn't exist yet. As a result, some well-regarded subreddits have had to close.

One close to me is /r/rtraaaa - a meme-themed subreddit for the Transgender community. Trans people have to be very careful of people trying to get in and wreck their work, and due to that finding moderators is tough. So the person behind r/traaa had to use extensive scripting and mod tools that reddit doesn't provide. With these rules, that person's tools were gonna be shut down, had to choose to not continue, and the subreddit got locked. This was a well-regarded community that won reddit's subreddit of the day, and was a place of comfort and support for hundreds of thousands of trans people.

The site is hurt by this. And while others may not be in such precarious positions as /r/traaa, how many others will eventually just fade off because hand moderating becomes too much?

This is a massive, self-inflicted wound. They don't need to do this and they're doing it for an artificial stock price inflation. It didn't provide value to the company, it just restricted other people from sharing, and will ultimately cause the site to be hurt.

Thanks for bringing up your transgender whatever group. The same rules apply there as everywhere else. Welcome to the real world. They're more than welcome to start their own forum like everyone else. The fact of the matter is that you don't pay for reddit and as far as I'm concerned I think it's a waste of resources to have a meme-themed subreddit for just about anything. But it's there, it's available, and it's free. So stop complaining about the portion of your handout or move on. I personally have found bot based moderation to be absolute crap and hate it.

 

[FlyingTexan]

Trying to rip off the 3rd party apps that made Reddit so popular isn't just trying to "become profitable".

Those apps didn't make reddit popular at all.

 

[gavroche]

This country is a rule of law country. Blackmail has no standing.

It is also a country that pays people for work they perform. The millions of Reddit users contribute 100% of all content on the platform, with zero pay. And the moderators all provide their services keeping the subs safe and clean and rule obeying, for absolutely not one cent of pay. The days of that happening need to end. Lets see how well Reddit can self moderate so many subs that have millions of subscribers posting so much content, without any moderator assistance. Slave labor needs to end.

 

[gavroche]

Those apps didn't make reddit popular at all.

I don't know about making it popular. But it makes the user experience vastly better for many many people. Personally, i'll stop using Reddit the day Apollo stops working. Not just for the moral/philosophical stand... but simply because the official Reddit app sucks so badly that i won't tolerate using it.