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by CamelCaseName 1102 days ago
1. He said he spends $166 / 50 million Imgur API requests. He must have a sweetheart deal because I see the prices at $3,333 / 50 million API requests (and if you go above that, it gets crazy expensive FAST)

2. Moderator actions are exempt from the API charges... But I think this decision was made after things had blown up.
1 comments
hn_throwaway_99 1102 days ago
So fine, he was grandfathered in at a lower price (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36214427) - that doesn't mean he was being untruthful in any way, and as that linked thread shows most API changes have a much longer lead time. Reddit's sole goal was to kill all third party apps, and they were obviously successful.

The thing about "moderator actions being exempt from API changes" is just plain silly. If you're going to put time into making a third party app, you still have to shut down even if the mod parts of your app are free if the cost of other users is untenable.

Every single 3rd party app that I've even heard of is also shutting down, so how people can try to spin this as something specific that Apollo did is baffling to me.

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CamelCaseName 1102 days ago
He was grandfathered in at a 95% discount?

Yeah, I don't believe it. Go back and read his posts from 5+ years ago when Imgur went from $25/mo to $250/mo for 7.5 million requests.

You are telling me he is still grandfathered on a plan from over 5 years ago? As one of their heaviest API users? (probably)

That was 5+ years ago, it's only gotten more expensive.

Also, he implemented a caching system that saved some 18 million requests (I think 90%, forget off the top of my head).

But he'll never talk about how even if he's being completely honest, he's getting an INSANE deal from Imgur.

The same plan today would cost $3.3K to Reddit's $12K. But he'd never tell you that.

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hn_throwaway_99 1102 days ago
Again, more baseless speculation from you, in a way that is totally irrelevant. As you point out, even at 3.3k that's nearly a quarter of what Reddit wants to charge.

But more importantly, it's patently obvious that Reddit's sole goal was to shutoff every 3rd party app, because that is exactly what happened. This isn't just about Christian, literally every other 3rd party app developer found the new API terms untenable as well. If it was just Christian being unreasonable, as you are suggesting, but some other app developer ran the numbers and thought "well, that's OK, I could still make a business off that", they would be thrilled to come in and fill the void with Apollo leaving.

None of them are doing that. Your point is totally moot.

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