[laurencei]

Its funny though - because their mobile web interface is SOOOO bad, I'm using the "Apollo" app, which means I dont see any Reddit ads, and its a much better experience.

If they didnt have such a crappy web experience, I would probably just use the native web page and see some ads.

So its actually driving people away to alternatives that reduces their revenue. Crazy...

[throwaway2048]

I'm about 90% sure that reddit is going to pull a twitter and kill off API access so apps like Apollo no longer function.

[brycewray]

The result of which will be, paraphrasing an old letter to the editor for a magazine that had temporarily stopped publishing such letters...

====

Dear Reddit,

What a coincidence. You've stopped allowing third-party apps to have access to your API, and I've stopped visiting your site.

Sincerely,

A Former User

[sp332]

Is that a net negative for them though? Unless you're a really active or popular poster, you're probably just costing them money browsing the site and not looking at ads.

[brycewray]

Yeah, thought of that after I replied. OTOH, it would leave them with people not sufficiently tech-savvy to block ads, which is reminiscent of the old joke about a jury’s being composed of “12 people who weren’t smart enough to evade jury duty.” I guess they don’t care about that one way or the other as long as Some EyeBalls See Ads.

[sp332]

Yeah it's definitely not what you would want if you were building a community. But maybe it's ok if you just want cash.

[Firmwarrior]

Well, if I'm not there providing expert input on esoteric programming stuff, memes on StarTrekMemes, or participating in my local community's small sub, they'll all decline in value

Reddit will turn into a bad TikTok clone and probably die off to the real TikTok if too many people like us leave

[marcosdumay]

Exactly that.

I'm pretty sure they made the math, and that's the reason old-reddit and the API are still alive despite the many threats and deadlines they published for taking them out.

In fact, I would not be surprised if most deep content come from those (despite most users not even knowing about them), because the new interface and the app are both extremely focused on shallow stuff.

[leadingthenet]

To be fair, people have been saying this for years, and it's still yet to happen.

It is, however, true that they've been slowly adding features that can't be accessed via an API, so I think the more likely scenario is that they'll just try to make third-party apps artificially less competitive, betting that it might add up long term.

[stefan_]

Sure, in another 10 years or so. They have increased headcount 10x and VC investment 10x but execution is forever stuck at "worse than Twitter" levels.

[stjohnswarts]

Reddit is about 10x > twitter. lol

[stjohnswarts]

talk about losing half your users overnight lol

[stjohnswarts]

I'm really surprised why the didn't just buy clients from developers like the ones who make Apollo. They are so much better than the one they make