[protastus]

> Not really mentioned was all this was changed out the blue with less than 30 days to comply. The interview touches on it but it’s insanity that a tech company think it’s reasonable for indie devs to operate under that constraint.

It's unreasonable for a company of any size. The entire storyline shows Reddit sabotaging the process. Which seems idiotic, because they're throwing away a vibrant ecosystem that is #1 in the world, and took a decade to organically grow.

A decent CEO would've made a good faith effort to monetize this rather than burn bridges.

[notaustinpowers]

Exactly. Even in the AMA there were multiple third party devs saying they've been trying to reach out to Reddit's team to talk about signing the API agreement to continue using the service. Saying they haven't received a response in weeks.

This reeks of Reddit just not even wanting to do this at all. Call up the big devs so they can say "Oh well, we tried!" and the small devs that could afford the smaller-end costs just get ignored.

[johnnyanmac]

>but it’s insanity that a tech company think it’s reasonable for indie devs to operate under that constraint.

I don't like being that pessimist "fuck capitalism" sort of user but... between the high cost, low deadlines, and unanswered responses from devs, it's pretty clear what the true intent here is. And I don't think it was a due to a lack of competence. It was very carefully planned (maybe not the scale of the reaction, but overall planned).

---

And from other devs on the AMA, It's not like devs didn't know before the public announcement. One app developer mentioned trying for 3 months to get contact:

>I am the developer of a third party app (Now for Reddit) which has been happily using the API for 10 years. I don't want to close down and have been considering using the paid API. However, I have been trying to contact Reddit over the last 3 months and have been completely ignored.

>I have sent many emails ([e-mail]) and have used the online contact form which reddit themselves have asked developers to use. Each and every time I hear nothing.

>What am I supposed to do? The deadline is approaching fast, my app will be rate limited by Reddit and it will stop working. Please, reply to developers who contact you.

>I feel completely powerless to do anything right now and I want to try and save the app I've been working on for the last 10 years.

>I know I'm not the only developer who is being ignored, it's extremely unfair and a horrible way to be treated.

(yes, as you can predict, this question did not get an answer despite being the 2ns or 3rd top comment)

Now for Reddit isn't the most popular app, but 500k downloads on android alone show this wasn't just some small toy. They give a deadline of almost two months but ignore 3 months of email support. They don't want 3rd party apps.

[adrr]

Isnt that what the CEO is trying to do with charging for API access? Twitter did the same thing. Apollo dev could just raise rates to $3 a month and he makes money and the user in return get a apollo which offers an ad free browsing experience.

[sunflowerfly]

A point that has gotten lost in the discussion; The CEO is saying the "average" user would only cost $1 a month and therefore the pricing is fair. But users of apps like Apollo are not average, they are super users (and include a high percentage of mods). The Apollo app developer says he would have to pay $2.50 a month per user.

https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_ca...

If he was able to pass through $1 a month to users and given a reasonable time to do so, Apollo would likely still be alive. Or better yet, require a $10-12 a year subscription on each Reddit user account, paid directly to Reddit, to use 3rd party apps.

[snuxoll]

I was a Reddit Premium subscriber and had been since the only thing it did was remove ads, give you access to /r/lounge, and a shiny badge on your user page.

The fact that it never crossed their mind that a half hearted attempt like allowing Premium members, who pay more every month than a free user generates in ad revenue, to continue using whatever apps they want might stymie some of the outrage show how out of touch the execs are. It still would be a bullshit solution, but making a developer like Christian pay for API requests while I was already paying Reddit ~$5/mo was stupid.

(Needless to say, I’m not longer subscribed to Premium)