Apollo has 170,000 reviews on the app store - there is no way it only has 20k users. Probably closer to a million.
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Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators From Subreddits Continuing Apollo-Related Blackouts
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We would like to know who is behind taking down Reddit, and also, we are surprised to see the CEO here badmouthing Apollo instead of working on his app.
He claimed it was a joke, but there are likely a couple messages to be read between the lines. My personal interpretation of the intended messages:
- The 10 millions was likely meant to be interpreted as an outrageously high price to highlight the supposedly inflated costs claimed by Reddit, as it would amount to "only" 6 months of costs according to what Reddit claims. It was meant to highlight how supposedly unrealistic the figures Reddit claims are.
- If Reddit was actually interested in purchasing the app, there was likely room for negotiation at a much more reasonable price point.
That’s how I read it, the value was a joke, a riff on Reddit’s ridiculous API pricing, but the offer to buy him out was real if they were interested. Honestly they should, that would be an interesting way to save face.
“Hey folks, we bought the most popular alt app, we now offer *two* clients, pick which is best for you, Apollo is our premium client without advertising, costs $x/year, the base reddit app is free with advertising, and the dev of the best software out there for accessing reddit has been fairly compensated”
Wait till this guy finds out what Twitter charges for it's API. Reddit is cheap still.
We’re truly living in some sort of post-capitalism era where popular services in their need to draw in as much money and data as possible kills themselves by alienating their user base. One would need to read Marx to even begin explaining this.
What money? Reddit is making losses, while Apollo is making profits.
Apple makes more money of Apollo (in-app purchases) even than Reddit themselves.
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If you think Reddit makes more money then Apollo I’ve got a bridge connecting Sweden to Denmark to sell you.
Apollo makes more profit than Reddit indeed as Reddit is not profitable.
And people who play and / or are interested in basketball really don't care about Apollo, nor do they know what it is despite their community r/nba being shutdown indefinitely by the mods.
Sports fans don't care about Reddit drama, yet sports fans got dragged into this by a vocal minority during the NBA finals.
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I will say it’s a case of one reaping what they have sown.
Reddit mishandled the matter with third party apps, which led to an uproar amongst the 5-10% of people who do use these apps (by the CEO’s own admission). It just so happens that amongst these users, they are disproportionately represented by moderators who wield an outsized amount of influence and are hence able to effect the blackouts we are seeing today.
So already, the CEO is petty and shortsighted, but we already established that.
And this happened because the CEO allowed moderators to have as much power as they do, likely in a bid to save on money by not actually having to hire them.
So again, petty and shortsighted.
And as the saga drags on, we are seeing more and more of his true colours. Huffman has no qualms about flashing accusing a developer of blackmail, he sees users as mere data sets, and seems to be subscribing to the Elon Musk school of ruining things. It’s clear he has been holding on to opinions and viewpoints which he kept to himself because he knew they were not popular, and this facade is fast cracking like the petty dictator that he is.
And let’s not forget that Reddit hasn’t been profitable for decades, so should the fault not lie with the CEO on this? They had hundreds in millions in investor funding, they squirrelled it away on stuff like NFTs, I am starting to see a pattern here.
So yeah, I wouldn’t blame the moderators for what is clearly the Reddit CEO’s inept leadership that is alienating their user base and responsible for fanning the flames. This is not the kind of person who should be running a company.
Because of his poor attitude and arrogance towards the actual users of his platform, I have decided to not use Reddit at all anymore. It’s a difficult decision because I do a lot of research there, but oh well, I can dig in my heels too.
Really sad that a lot of these CEO’s have such an arrogant hostile attitude towards their own user base. Absolutely no customer service skills or even a sense of decency whatsoever.
Really sad that a lot of these CEO’s have such an arrogant hostile attitude towards their own user base. Absolutely no customer service skills or even a sense of decency whatsoever.
Musk’s twitter is not exactly the thing I would emulate when you’re trying for an IPO…
There’s a hell of a lot of sports fans in the tech industry. I’d bet you dollars to donuts that the folks that have the ability to hang on reddit throughout the day (ie the biggest users of the subreddit) have, on average, better tech knowledge and care more than you think.
It’s how a natural human conversation would have flown at that point. He replied to an absurdity with another absurdity. Here is an example. For instance, you offer to sell me a Ford Fiesta for $100,000. I say, lol , can I trade in my Skoda Fabia for $55,000? That makes more sense to me.
Now would you say I am blackmailing you into buying my Skoda Fabia at an absurd valuation to get the Fiesta?
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I actually appreciate Twitter’s forthcoming approach on this compared to Reddit’s thinly veiled facade.
Musk outright came out and said he wanted third party apps gone. There were no 2 ways about.
The problem I have with Huffman is the outright lies, arrogance and blackmail which he is doing with the devs. He claims he wants third party apps to exist but charges an absurd rate which any sane man would look at and say "are you crazy?”. Then he accuses Apollo of blackmail, he accuses Reddit is Fun of not wanting to work with them when none of this is true. If all of this is true, why not sue the devs in court?
I would have respected Huffman had he like Musk came out and said we don’t want third party apps.
It’s the constant lies and slandering going on which makes me look at him in disgust.
I am not sure why you are linking these 2 aspects together. Reddit not being profitable lies squarely with the CEO and not the developer of Apollo. The developers are willing to show ads and pay for the API
All third party apps are more than willing to pay their costs to Reddit and share profits in a way. It’s the absurd pricing which is in question here.
The problem which Reddit faces is that the vocal minority and the mods are what is responsible for the majority of user generated content. The official app lacks the moderation tools. The majority just puruse the content.
with ongoing subscription maybe. Apollo has way more than a million users.
Try telling that to the selfish individuals who are more concerned that they cannot get their daily fix of reddit.
Does anyone remember a scene in Woody Allen's movie Bananas where he plays the dictator who orders everyone to wear the underwear on the outside so they can check if you are changing it daily? Huffman is rapidly descending to that level.
Dude is out of control and cutting off his nose to spite his face.
Dude is out of control and cutting off his nose to spite his face.
I love this post:
mastodon.social
But I love this one more:
aus.social
Becky Hansmeyer (@bhansmeyer@mastodon.social)
Man, all of these tech CEOs burning their companies to the ground feels like a real “nature is healing” moment for the web, doesn’t it? Like yeah, these were once great places with great communities, but also…good riddance.
mastodon.social
But I love this one more:
Kit Bashir (@Unixbigot@aus.social)
Your periodic reminder that VC-funded CEOs are in a situation that they have bet both their kidneys on being able to deliver a 100x return to the bone-saw wielding loan sharks who funded them. Your “community” is worthless to them unless it delivers Kidney Money. They cannot just “decide” to...
aus.social
I love this post:
Becky Hansmeyer (@bhansmeyer@mastodon.social)
Man, all of these tech CEOs burning their companies to the ground feels like a real “nature is healing” moment for the web, doesn’t it? Like yeah, these were once great places with great communities, but also…good riddance.
But I love this one more:
Kit Bashir (@Unixbigot@aus.social)
Your periodic reminder that VC-funded CEOs are in a situation that they have bet both their kidneys on being able to deliver a 100x return to the bone-saw wielding loan sharks who funded them. Your “community” is worthless to them unless it delivers Kidney Money. They cannot just “decide” to...
Calling venture capital 'loan sharks' dear me what absolute drivel..
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I like the blackout. I'm getting to see content from subs that normally get buried by the more popular ones.