Reddit CEO: Apollo-Related Subreddit Blackouts 'Will Pass,' No Significant Revenue Impact So Far

[CarlJ]

What do you mean no alternative? Haven't you ever heard of Mastodon?

Mastodon is an alternative to Twitter, not Reddit. One is a microblogging service, the other is a discussion forum, with topics siloed into different groups, and comments residing under specific posts, more like a collection of bulletin board systems or web forums. They serve very different purposes.

 

[salutcemoi]

These protests are amusing to see. Unless every Subreddit shuts down indefinitely this is nothing more than shouting to the wind. Huffman is 100% right. This will pass, people will forget and Reddit will go on as usual.

Yup

I've seen tons of "I'll leave Reddit then" comments on different subreddits


Yeah no

Some will probably do it, but the majoiity won't

 

[hagar]

I always assumed Reddit was nothing more than a glorified forum from the nineties.

But apparently it behaves like a multi billion dollar company.

Take away the community and the mods and it’s a ghost city.

 

[kjvmartin]

Absolutely terrible website. Might have started as a good idea, but it has been overrun. In practice, it works out to being a highly censored echo chamber where different ideas are penalized. I can't figure out what anyone gains or learns from participating. You will certainly never hear anything that opposes group-think.

 

[Fatboy71]

What a W⚓

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

What a W⚓

Is that signature written in Comic Sans? Just wondering.

 

[TheOldChevy]

Why do boards select such CEOs that appear to be working against their own interest ?

 

[00001000bit]

I can't figure out what anyone gains or learns from participating. You will certainly never hear anything that opposes group-think.

Then stop hanging out in general interest subs.

None of the subreddits devoted to specific technical areas that I participate in are like that. Generally, they're populated by people with an interest in the subject matter and a willingness to help others.

It's like saying a particular city must be awful because you had a bad meal at a restaurant there once.

 

[tweaknmod]

These protests are amusing to see. Unless every Subreddit shuts down indefinitely this is nothing more than shouting to the wind. Huffman is 100% right. This will pass, people will forget and Reddit will go on as usual.

I'll bet you a coffee Reddit won't be nearly the same behemoth it is now in, say, five years (I've literally set a reminder – I'll reach out in five years, assuming the robots haven't taken-over yet).

The CEO dismissing this, effectively calling the user-base powerless, is like throwing gas on a fire. People don't like being belittled by arrogant CEOs.

Move over mySpace, G+, Digg, etc., you've got a new buddy joining you shortly...

 

[bobcomer]

Meanwhile we can't get to all that information, so I'm mad at both reddit and the forums that are blacked out.

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

Meh. I use Reddit too much anyway.
I deleted their app and will try to quit Reddit cold turkey.

 

[techno-Zen]

Time for Kevin Rose to resurrect Digg

 

[seek3r]

I’m amazed the current investors actually let Huffman speak out loud or write open letters or emails at all at this point. Is he actively *trying* to make things worse? Dude needs to read the room…

 

[ghostface147]

He's right. Most people I know who use Reddit don't know what Apollo is and when I showed it to them, they were like no thanks. These protests do nothing.

 

[Lcgiv]

**** u/spez

This guy has proven over and over again he isn't fit to be CEO of a potentially billion dollar company. I don't know how any investors are looking at the way he's handling all of this and thinking to themselves, "yeah, that's a company I want to invest in and support, look at how well it's run!"

This whole thing is a mess. Unfortunately, I don't see it ending reddit today, or even tomorrow, but I hope that everyone banking on making millions in an IPO see nothing but losses for their inexcusable actions and corporate greed.

⚠️ opinion⚠️ CEOs generally don’t seem to care about or understand the brand they lead and represent. The exception being people like Tim Cook and a few others that, while they might take a lot of heat from enthusiast consumers, genuinely are invested in their brand for more than a giant paycheck (ie working with the company for decades and being passionate about the venue, versus jumping in to make a few percent then bail) or personal plaything. As is what many CEOs seem to enjoy doing. Investors like the quick buck ones more and more it seems…

 

[BrianM_CAN]

They saw zero revenue from Apollo subs and in fact lost some with the app not showing ads. What do you expect? They are a business, not a charity. Even if they see a 20% reduction in posters, they’ll still be more profitable with everyone using the official App.

Reddit said the cost would be reasonable - and would be coming soon - then from April took until May 31st (or so) to release the specific pricing - which was high (comparable to what Twitter is going to charge - which is high in the industry) - and is only giving 30 days for the developers to change their entire business model.

The Apollo developer has said many times he has no problem with a change, and a charge to use the API. Was hoping it would be much cheaper, but if they won't budge on the cost, and Reddit are insisting on the 30 day timeline to implement. This is would take a new subscription model for 3rd party Apps (since the cost is based on the number of API calls, not the number of users or anything consistent - the more active a user is, the more money it would cost the developer - but they could still figure an average number - Apollo dev estimated about $1 per user per month in cost - his Subscription was only $1.49 per month before - he would have been literally out of pocket tens of thousands per month), but there are also other changes coming on the API end which will also take programming time - having to refund anyone with an existing subscription to move them over to a new model within 30 days is a lot to ask when there are at least tens of thousands of subscriptions (and hundreds of thousands of users in total most using a free version that likely couldn't exist any more). He figured 90 days would have been enough time, so wasn't asking for anything crazy.
This isn't a fly-by-night developer - Apollo has been around for 8 years working with Reddit and their public API.

 

[cthompson94]

Then stop hanging out in general interest subs.

None of the subreddits devoted to specific technical areas that I participate in are like that. Generally, they're populated by people with an interest in the subject matter and a willingness to help others.

It's like saying a particular city must be awful because you had a bad meal at a restaurant there once.

Agreed! For example, since I shoot photos with a Sony camera I am a member of a couple subs for photos made by Sony cameras. I have rarely seen ridiculous or hateful stuff and if so it was usually bot related. The subs are all what you follow, and while I will agree the general interest ones can be basically living cesspools, the ones that are special interests are generally pretty good between knowledge, help/tutorials/etc. Heck sometimes when I am looking up something I specifically look it up via Reddit for user comments since depending what you are searching the first half of Google searchers will be sponsored or big websites that are sponsored.

 

[bigjnyc]

He's right. Most people I know who use Reddit don't know what Apollo is and when I showed it to them, they were like no thanks. These protests do nothing.

Yup, I was browsing the subreddit they created to explain what was going on with the blackouts... And there were so many people who were confused and had no idea "who the hell this Apollo guy is" and why they were protesting for him 🤣🤣.... It was really quite comical lol.

 

[CarAnalogy]

While I dislike the guy for everything he’s doing with Reddit, he’s right. This is a speed bump in operations. In a few months, it will be as nothing has happened. If everyone saying that Reddit is going to close because of it turning into trash, then why is Facebook still rolling? Or twitter? How may times have these mega sites faced “backlash” over the years? These sites have had far too long to build mass and momentum to be stopped. I really, really want to believe these sites will burn themselves down, I really do, but I just don't think it's a reality. I would love to be wrong tho.


I miss the internet of 2000, I miss geocities!

In this one specific case, it’s because the users do all of the work of making the site worth visiting. Even more so than Twitter. I don’t think they’ll close down any time soon, but the victory condition is not reddit closing down, it’s just them changing the API terms to reasonable ones. Christian has said that the absolute number one biggest problem here is the 30 day timeline, which is already nearly half gone. Above and beyond all else that is the biggest red flag of reddit’s intentions. They don’t want to be reasonable about this. And I would think that of all sites the internet’s nerds would have the biggest impact on reddit.

But I agree with you, Internet post about 2010 has not been great. The golden age is long behind us.

 

[addamas]

Welcome in 2023 where nothing is for free and API is a enemy of the App Owner… with this narrative Reddit soon will be only usable when Paid I guess :/

 

[dontwalkhand]

IDEA: the entirety of Reddit migrates to Macrumors Forums.

vBulletin can barely stay up with the current users we have now. I can't even fathom what that would do to vBulletin if they all came here!

 

[dontwalkhand]

I am not sure why we need reddit. I guess it can go away.

Bring back forums like MR, and make them popular again. Reddit can F off.

 

[Paradoxally]

Absolutely terrible website. Might have started as a good idea, but it has been overrun. In practice, it works out to being a highly censored echo chamber where different ideas are penalized. I can't figure out what anyone gains or learns from participating. You will certainly never hear anything that opposes group-think.

Here's the one rule to have a good time on reddit:

- Never discuss politics or religion. Ever.

I have used reddit for over a decade, mainly for smaller technical subs and memes. It's perfect for that.

If you're using reddit to check world news then yeah, it's terrible. I use RSS for that.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Reddit needs to be profitable to exist. Probably unlikely, but indefinitely protesting could result in shutting it down. Is that what they actually want? I suppose something might take its place in time if that happens. And the cycle will continue.

I guess maybe they can just crash the whole damn system...


- Sneakers (1992)

The only reason the entire world is not in chaos all the time is that most people, most of the time, aren’t actively trying to break it. It actually wouldn’t take much. Breaking things is a lot easier than making them.

 

[freediverx00]

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