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by petersellers 1112 days ago

> “We have no option and no way to exist unless Reddit gives in to our demands.”

That's a strawman. The complaint isn't that Reddit is charging money for API usage, it's that the pricing is extremely expensive.

> But the reality is that Reddit literally gave them an option.

Charging an exorbitant fee that will most likely kill all third-party clients isn't really an option, but ok.

> It’s like the “we’ve tried nothing and are all out of ideas” meme.

This is a very inaccurate analogy, and it makes me think you are missing the point of the complaints entirely.

> There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Again, no one is demanding free API access.

1 comments

paulcole 1112 days ago

If nobody is demanding free API access, why has the “movement” not put out a counteroffer for pricing that they’d be happy with?

My belief is that it’s because if they announce a number that is not $0, then everyone is going to find out that a lot of people are demanding free API access.

“Reddit is killing 3rd-party apps” is a disingenuous statement.

Is any app even planning to charge the new prices? If they don’t, then they’re killing themselves. Honestly it’s a great campaign by the app makers to whip users up into a frenzy like this because it means more profit for themselves if Reddit backs down on the API pricing.

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pfg_ 1112 days ago

Apollo (a third party client) has requested half the price and 90 days transition period. The price and transition period seems non-negotiable. Apollo is shutting down: https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_w...

> I hope I explained above why the 30 day time limit is the true issue. However in a perfect world I think lowering the price by half and providing a three month transition period to the paid API would make the transition feasible for more developers, myself included. These concessions seem minor and reasonable in the face of the changes.

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petersellers 1112 days ago

> If nobody is demanding free API access, why has the “movement” not put out a counteroffer for pricing that they’d be happy with?

I don't think this "movement" of third-party client developers is as organized as you think it is, but the Apollo developer did mention discussing pricing with Reddit here[1] and compared Reddit's API pricing to Imgur. Note that he never mentioned any expectation of "free", just that it was about 100x more expensive. I'm really not sure why you can't accept their intentions as being truthful or valid.

>My belief is that it’s because if they announce a number that is not $0, then everyone is going to find out that a lot of people are demanding free API access.

That sounds extremely unrealistic to me, but you don't have any evidence to support this so I'm not sure what else there is to say about it.

> “Reddit is killing 3rd-party apps” is a disingenuous statement.

It's not, because once they are forced to pass on the costs to their customers they will certainly lose a significant percentage of them. It's impossible to say exactly how many, but it's reasonable to assume that it could cost enough to make their app no longer viable. Again, not sure why that is so hard to believe.

> Is any app even planning to charge the new prices? If they don’t, then they’re killing themselves.

I'm not sure I understand this comment. Obviously all third party clients will be forced to pass on these costs to their customers if they go in to effect because they won't have a choice. I mean, it's so obvious that I'm not even sure why you are mentioning it.

>Honestly it’s a great campaign by the app makers to whip users up into a frenzy like this because it means more profit for themselves if Reddit backs down on the API pricing.

I'm completely baffled as to why you are unable to see this from the point of view of the app developer. Just put yourself in their shoes - if a critical dependency of yours started charging X times what they were charging before, it throws off your entire business plan and may make it no longer viable. Are you saying you wouldn't do anything to try and prevent that from happening before you had to change your whole business plan around in an attempt to stave off what will very likely be the death of your company?

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_ca...

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paulcole 1112 days ago

> Note that he never mentioned any expectation of "free", just that it was about 100x more expensive

Again, my point is that I believe this is absolutely intentional. If in these emotional pleas to the community somebody comes out and says, “$1 per user per month is what we’re willing to accept”, you’re going to see the people that were on the app developers side flip out and say $1 a month is too high.

My evidence for this is that there’s a reason nobody has put a price they’re willing to pay out.

I guess we just see the situation differently.

You see it as one where Reddit has killed 3rd party apps.

I see it as one where Reddit’s made a choice that will affect 3rd party apps and 3rd party apps are making it look like they have no options.

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petersellers 1112 days ago

> Again, my point is that I believe this is absolutely intentional. If in these emotional pleas to the community somebody comes out and says, “$1 per user per month is what we’re willing to accept”, you’re going to see the people that were on the app developers side flip out and say $1 a month is too high.

Your belief is strictly faith-based, without evidence.

> My evidence for this is that there’s a reason nobody has put a price they’re willing to pay out.

You don't know that, because you aren't privvy to all of the conversations that developers have been having with Reddit regarding pricing.