They kind of brought this on themselves. Tens of thousands of users shouting at them to step back away from the ledge, you don't have to do this, back up and change course... And Reddit just looked at us blankly and jumped right off.
Reddit really is killing the goose that laid the golden egg. An affordable option for API use would have been a good compromise but Spez cant take his head out of his own ass.
This. What these CEOs refuse to understand is that THEY have nothing to do with success of social media companies. It was the contributions that ordinary people brought to Reddit that gave it its value.
Spez and crew literally provided none of the content that makes Reddit relevant. They have monetized content of others for years and have gotten too greedy. Without the community there is no reddit, but it sure as hell can continue without spez.
This is by design. They've got us arguing about the api price, when their goal was to kill off third party apps and get all users on their app so they can data mine us. And the ridiculous api price is a secondary bonus for them, since AI and LLM companies will gladly pay it to sick up the content on the platform.
And the sad part is that it seems like 99 % of Reddit's population don't care the slightest about that and are happily enjoying the ad- and telemetry infested piece of garbage Spez wants to shove down our throats.
I've been wondering how much of this is him just losing it over Christian Selig getting (well deserved) public attention for Apollo, while no one is praising Spez for "creating" Reddit. I think he's convinced himself that it's his work (assuming he's done any) that makes Reddit good, and that Apollo is good because Reddit is good, so now he just has it in for Selig. That's not how any of this works, but Spez seems to have that typical Silicon Valley entitlement syndrome that makes techbros think they're all that and a bag of chips, and everyone who doesn't love them is bad and wrong.
Linkin park moment, not even a big fan but I was bored
spoiler
It starts with-
One post, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you cry
Keep that in mind they designed this crime
To make some more dime (Thats)
All I know
Community is a valuable thing
Watch it migrate as the app users slip
Watch the base fall on the end of the June
The change ticks mods away
Its so very real (They)
Didn't care our down arrow
Watch the revenue go fly down the window
Tryin' to make part, you did-didn't know
I removed it all just to watch you go
You botted everything inside and even though you tried
It all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually
Be a memory of a time when
You shilled so hard, and got so far,
but in the end we are now all lemmings
You had to fall to lose it all
but in the end, we are now all lemmings
Everything is going, realistically. There are a couple that will continue under paid subscriptions, usage tiers, and limited content (no NSFW, for example), but I can't imagine they'll last long.
I find fascinating that the inevitable death of reddit will come by the rise of distribuited comunities rather than (being the only reason) of selfish-egotistical decisions from Reddit CEO's.
Feels great to be a part of this transition
Man I really wish he/she would make an app for Lemmy. I heard the dev was going to build one for Tildes but I don't know Tildes just isn't the same and I have an account there.
Thats really sad. I started using the app about 13 years ago, in a time where I had very little frends and thought a girlfriend was never an option. Now 13 years later im going to marry in july and have all my friends around me. So thanks Reddit is fun for filling a hole I had all these years ago.