Standup response, I hope Christian finds a promising career ahead of him.
If I'm being honest, I wouldn't be nearly so kind to Reddit following his ordeal. Even if Reddit renegs on the API pricing completely and go back to making it free, the trust has already been sufficiently broken that I wouldn't return. They won't stop monetizing the site just because they lost some users and pissed off their developer partners. They'll just be subtler, quieter the next time they try to screw you over.
Second chances are important, but there are limits to trust. Reddit slapped their users across the face today; despite any promise or apology they make in the meantime, there is no indication that they won't do it again tomorrow to get what they want.
I agree, I don't think they would just keep the API free forever, they've already said that Reddit is not profitable, and so they will continue to add more "features" to be more like tiktok.
Third party devs have said they don’t mind a reasonable API rate, but both the cost (~$20 million/year just for Apollo) and the timing (30 days to make the pricing changes, update the app, work out bugs, get Apple to approve it, etc) were just stupid.
It was done this way to kill the third party apps, period.
If Reddit didn’t insist on hosting all pics & videos themselves, they would probably already be profitable.
If the API pricing was reasonable, users & third party devs would happily pay it.
If Reddit had given more time (3-6 months) for third party devs to implement changes, then they could and would do so (assuming reasonable API price).
Insanity. I’ve been around a few times when people were talking about migrating but this truly does seem like the most real possibility yet. And I welcome it with open arms.
What if they're doing this, letting us all get riled up, and then after the black out they go "ok ok, we get it. We'll reduce the cost down to insert still high but irritatingly doable number" and that was the plan all along. That they started outrageously high so they can land where they actually expected to be. A bunch of users go back grumbling but feeling like they still won, yet we got 4d cheesed.
How are y'all spreading yourself out in the fediverse so far? Right now I'm just browsing the front page of kbin and occasionally check in on my feed in mastodon, but I'm yet to find my "niche" communities.
Well this ernest dude seems like he's reacting quickly to criticisms. The NSFW posts were showing full pictures and there was a complaint to have the preview blurred out. Took less than 12 hours for him to implement that so that's a plus
Ernest actually reminds me of u/ljdawson, the dev behind the Sync app. He's responsive, takes criticism well, and seems to genuinely care about the platform he's created. Hard to go wrong with that.
Ernest is a Chad for sure. We've exploded in number almost overnight and he's been working his ass off to keep everything not only up and running but improving.
I hope @ernest opens up a page somewhere that allows me to make monthly donations, because I'd really like to support the continued development of this app and the hosting of this site.
I like kbin a lot already too. I like the highly functional feel. It's close enough to Reddit that I hope it draws in more users. I found it a lot more approachable than Mastodon, and "Lemmy" just doesn't have a nice ring to it IMO.
One of my biggest challenges is getting the 'front page' to fill up with the kind of thing I'd get on r/all. I think at the moment it only shows posts from the subs I subscribe to. But I can easily see how Kbin could replace Reddit (im not going back).
The reason it seems like that is because this kbin instance (kbin.social) isn't federated right now because of heavy traffic. So you'll only see magazines that were created here. As soon as the restrictions are relaxed you'll see other instances in the default feed. Or you could sign up for a different kbin instance like fedia.io which are currently still federated.
Even so, the other instances that are working as intended don't quite have that r/all feel yet just because there aren't nearly the same number of users in all of the fediverse as there were on reddit. It'll take time for the content to catch up.
If this is how the admins choose to act, so fucking be it. I'll deltree my 12 year old account and never go back. As it stands, the fediverse is already my new home, and the users who decide to remain on reddit can explain to all the new users what the fuck went wrong.
The only people on reddit who are against the blackout are conservative assholes who hate picket lines. They're going to be the majority of remaining users.
Nah I’m “conservative” (at least that’s what they call me on Reddit now), and most of us support this blackout. The site has been hostile to diverse political opinions for a long time. Note how one of the largest subs, r/Politics, remained open the whole time. They are, by every metric, very left wing.
Don’t let the silly culture war divide us on this one. We all think Reddit has jumped the shark.
It's all rather opaque, isn't it? I suspect you're correct, but if Reddit is actually paying for and controlling the moderation of /r/Politics, that raises a number of serious questions; both ethical and legal.
What they did to The_Donald where Spez edited comments to make the sub seem to be inciting violence, so he had an excuse to ban it, is a prime example and should be a red flag regardless of someone's politics.
The banning from several subs automatically of people who joined joke subs like "ChurchofCovid" is also a prime example.
Very hostile to differing political opinions.
I don't think it's a social media site any more, I think it's a propaganda site and a data harvesting operation.
where Spez edited comments to make the sub seem to be inciting violence, so he had an excuse to ban it
Not what happened. Spez, fuckwit though he is, actually managed to do a halfway decent trolling there.
A bunch of t_d people were slagging him off and insulting him in their comments. Spez got drunk as shit one night and edited their comments, swapping his name with Trump's so that it made them look like a bunch of anti-trumpers. Much gnashing of teeth ensued.
Absolutely shouldn't have done it, especially as CEO of Reddit FFS, but definitely funny as shit.
Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely a mark against him, but he didn't get them banned. They thouroughly got themselves banned on their own.
I hear what you’re arguing. People are much more complex than “left” and “right.” But, colloquially, the people on r/Politics, are left wing. They support abortion, and gay marriage, and trans people, and universal healthcare, and higher taxes, and a hundred other values typically shared by those on the left.
Old school liberals are certainly different to what we see on the left today.
Also the people who say "well I'm not using third party apps so who cares anyway"
The thing they should care about is how reddit has handled this situation. Imagine what nonsense they'll come up with next if they're willing to turf away some of the oldest and most dedicated users
Exactly this. I've used RIF since forever, so RIF is Reddit for me. Even if they take it all back and everything goes back to normal, there's still a bad taste in my mouth. Reddit is clearly against the community, literally fighting it. Not even trying to find some sort of compromise or anything. So screw it, kbin seems pretty cozy so far, to be honest.
Honestly, even if they walk everything back, I still know they want to kill it eventually. Might as well already make my way over to other places like here, and stay with them.
I don't know, but I already think I like it here.
I actually used the newer official desktop site, and really didn't mind it at all. What I minded was Reddit acting like their company was Reddit. No, you just provided the website and infrastructure. You were not Reddit. WE were Reddit. And we liked Reddit as it was, not what you are turning it into to make a quick buck on your IPO. We didn't appreciate providing ALL the value and then being treated as if we weren't important or to be listened to. I'm tired of good sites being whored out for mega-bucks and then transformed into another sub-par lowest common denominator that is a ghost of its former self. I'll skip the wait and pain of watching that happen yet again, and leave now.
So yeah, I wasn't a third party app user, but in the long run I'll still be effected by everything corporate management is doubling down on right now.
You're completely right from a user's perspective. I think this post from Cory Doctorow helps explain what we're seeing. He doesn't talk about Reddit specifically, but it should be easy to infer the implications for Reddit from what he writes: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/
"Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die." Reddit is in step 4.
JUST LIKE TWITTER! I love that the new internet comes in two flavors, "open source hippie (doesn't work well)" and "vaguely fascist (also doesn't work that well tbh)"
I replaced every comment I had with a rant about how Reddit has become corporate shills and none of their actions are about profitability and all about easing corporations with the ability to targeted advertise to users while being openly hostile to all their volunteer labor and users.
So the admins that were okay with u/awkwardtheturtle being a powermod are now just all of a sudden serious about quickly enforcing rules against protesting mods?
There were years there when any watermark from another site would get OP lynched in the comments, and now Admin over there is sufficiently out of touch they're going to start doing it to their own content.
Bets are on that this is a stupid kneejerk test from Reddit, worried that post-migration community hubs are going to "profit from their content" the same way Reddit did to places like ifunny or 9gag during it's entire growth arc.
They permanently banned my 9yo account with 2 million karma for using the “boxes of Liberty” metaphor in a highly up voted comment about Republicans taking away access to voting. They said it was a threat of violence. 🙄 Meanwhile fascists make literal death threats in conservative subs with no consequences.
The site has systematically been banning high volume contributors who aren’t right wing enough for at least the last 3 months. They, like Twitter, are trying to suppress the voices of people who are against fascism. It is deliberate and planned.
Not to be conspiratorial, but this is an aspect I've pondered that hasn't gotten much discussion: given spez's fanboy emulation of Musk, we could see Reddit become a lot more right-wing as those voices are the ones allowed to continue, like-minded mods are put in place, etc...which means those folks gain yet another messaging platform. It's not great.
The principals of capitalism align with their interests and perhaps their swing that direction could be seem as a defense mechanism against their better nature and any sort of guilt associated with their, what i consider, morally corupt actions.
I got the exact same treatment for "report abuse" for reporting a comment copying bot. Like, ok. If you want Reddit to be nothing but spam bots parroting each other, have at it
Already did. In fact I made a few and am working on getting the mod teams on Reddit to make the jump. I will then hand over the Kbin that is for them. I figured it would be easier if I have a place for them to land ready to go.
Because you're literally browsing a magazine about that other site?
I agree that this particular mod getting banned isn't directly related to the migration efforts, but the overarching drama it's connected to is the main reason people are leaving Reddit for Lemmy. IE: admins becoming hostile towards moderators, developers, and redditors, resulting in an environment that the whole userbase is trying to flee. So even though I don't care about this "power-tripping asshole mod" (as another Lemming described him), I get how some people here might find the post useful and relevant.
Apparently awkward was responsible for a lot of the John Oliver spam in the subs he modded. Might be why he's finally gone now. He even contacted John Oliver on Twitter to cry about his suspension and ask for help lol See pic related
Of course they're claiming responsibility for the John Oliver thing. Considering their history, I doubt it. But even if they were involved, it's the community at large that was responsible for the John Oliverification of Reddit.
I agree with you, but I also feel Reddit-like names of subs can be essential for welcoming casual Reddit migrators. If they sense some kind of familiarity with Lemmy they’re more likely to stay
My thoughts exactly. If I'm a redditor trying to look into alternatives, it's much easier to replace foodporn with foodporn than that extra step of having to find out whatever the equivalent community is called.
Plus the people creating communities with identical naming conventions as reddit are likely doing it for the same reason - because they liked the community over there and they want to replicate it over here.
I think you are over conflating "reddit-isms" and "internet-isms". Reddit is where stuff like this has been most prominent for a while - but the whole funny naming thing has been around since the birth of the internet.
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