The version of Reddit we’ll see over the next few days may be a shell of itself. Already, more than 100 Reddit subreddits were darkened. and In protest, thousands of others plan to follow. Reddit’s Coming API Changes, According to the website ReddarkTracking the protests is done by.
The protests are Many third-party applications, such as Apollo, will be forced to change their APIs due to changes. and Reddit shutting down is fun. Reddit’s changes last week caused frustration in the developer community, and the anger was only exacerbated by the sudden shutdown. CEO Steve Huffman’s responses in recent days have only escalated the community’s pushback.
Huffman received a lot of anger in a Reddit AMA last Friday. Many commenters used f-bombs. There were a lot of f-bombs from commenters. lot of people called him Cowards are not welcome. It is a coward. are positive comments, I didn’t find them.
Subreddit moderators and third-party Reddit app developers say they’ve lost trust in Huffman and Reddit’s leadership. Huffman accused Apollo developer Christian Selig of “blatantly lying” Calling a certain subreddit moderators. The moderators The r/videos wrote that Huffman’s AMA performance was “a collage of inappropriate responses.” R/funny implied the company was “aim[ing] solely at your looming IPO.”
Most of the subreddits have pledged to go private — preventing outside access — for 48 hours, though some, like the 26 million-member community r/videos, have said they’ll remain private indefinitely. According to this post on r/ModCoordThe Reddit API issues will be resolved and accessibility improvements for blind people made. and Creates “parity in access to NSFW content.”
The complaints are numerous are How to get started Reddit’s leadership has, or mostly hasn’t, communicated the details of changes to its API pricing or incoming restrictions, including prohibiting third-party apps from showing NSFW content that’s already viewable on the site. ReddPlanet developer Tony Lupeski said it was a “blatant lie” Huffman noted that Reddit was maintaining a dialogue with impacted developers. “That’s not an answer and you know it,” Say user Anacharsis Same Huffman reply.
When moderator Merari01 asked why the site hadn’t tested the new changes with users and moderators, Huffman said the company “started sharing this information in April.” Only a few people have pointed out this earlier announcement didn’t include any pricing information and left out details Like the ban on apps that show NSFW material.
A user pointed to a post on r/History Reddit’s listing of times had reneged on promises.
Some subreddits are responding more aggressively since the AMA. At r/iPhone there was an uproar. moderators posted early morning that their original plan was to go dark for just 48 hours, but Huffman’s behavior changed their minds:
Originally the planned protest was 48 hours. After a shambolic AMA, held by Reddit’s CEO, it has become clear to us that Reddit doesn’t intend to act in good faith. Then, the CEO It is not a lie and Make libelous statements about another developer. and Then try double down by vilifying them, again, in an AMA, despite being proven as a liar by the developer through audio recordings, that’s when we knew what we were up against.
Now, /iPhone is going to be private. This will severely limit access. The default subscription to r/Music for all new accounts will also be withdrawn. and One of the biggest subreddits. The mods in that community have put it perfectly right. post announcing its participationThe company has announced that it will be closing on June 12th. “Until Reddit Takes Back Their API Policy Change.”
r/iPhoneIt has about 3.8 million users. users, echoed r/Music’s sentiment, saying, “in the (somewhat unlikely) scenario that Reddit’s leadership has a change of direction that sees the reversal [of] the recent API policy change, we will reopen the subreddit.” r/Gaming says its On the 12th of September, shutdown will start. and The privacy level will be changed “for 48 hours or longer.”
The date of publication is a pinned bot post on the r/ModCoord sub’s post about the protest There are nearly 4500 communities are Pledging to turn off the lights while ReddarkA site that tracks the subreddits protesting, claims over 200 already have.
Correction 11:31PM Eastern Standard Time: This headline was originally written to say that thousands of Subreddits were dark. This is incorrect, they said. are The site is currently in the process of going dark. The r/videos site hasn’t yet been made private as was previously claimed. The error is deeply regretted.
