Apollo / Reddit app, API shenanigans.

Armageus said:
Good luck with that:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
Click to expand...

GDPR request, maybe? I think they can simply remove your username and replace it with [deleted] and keep the content, however. At that point it's no longer PII, unless individual posts contain information about you directly.

e: Thinking on, GDPR puts the onus on the data controller not the subject. If you said 'Some of my posts contain PII and can be used to identify me, so I want those deleting too pursuant to blah blah'... They're not gonna trawl everyone's account/posting history to weed those out, they'll just nuke it all surely?
 
Last edited:
Are reddit going to start paying thousands of people to moderate their site now?

If people are still volunteering to weed out garbage for free then those people deserve it.
 
Reddit will carry on.

I've been on established sites before as a moderator and its very rare some people back down in situations like this. They know there will always be people who want to step up and replace the current people.

The problem with these big social media companies is they tend to have a monopoly in a particular area of the Internet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KIA
To be honest I think charging for API access is actually one of the least evil ways for a business to become profitable. Contrast with companies selling your sensitive info and thoroughly tracking your moves on third party websites or whatever.
 
Last edited:
BowdonUK said:
Reddit will carry on.

I've been on established sites before as a moderator and its very rare some people back down in situations like this. They know there will always be people who want to step up and replace the current people.

The problem with these big social media companies is they tend to have a monopoly in a particular area of the Internet.
Click to expand...
Yea...Digg acted that way too.
 
Lightnix said:
To be honest I think charging for API access is actually one of the least evil ways for a business to become profitable. Contrast with companies selling your sensitive info and thoroughly tracking your moves on third party websites or whatever.
Click to expand...

Right, but Reddit aren't doing that. They are selling your info and habits to advertisers and the pricing of their API is designed to funnel all users onto their official apps so they can advertise to you.

Most people are happy to pay for API access. It just has to be fair.
 
fez said:
Right, but Reddit aren't doing that. They are selling your info and habits to advertisers and the pricing of their API is designed to funnel all users onto their official apps so they can advertise to you.

Most people are happy to pay for API access. It just has to be fair.
Click to expand...
Exactamundo. They say they make around 12c/user, so I still don't get why they didn't just say 'No more developer tokens. Every user who wants to use a third party app needs to subscribe to Reddit Premium at $5/month, which includes an API key to enter into your preferred app. Most certainly, $5 > $0.12, so it was a no brainer, Shirley?
 
fez said:
Right, but Reddit aren't doing that. They are selling your info and habits to advertisers and the pricing of their API is designed to funnel all users onto their official apps so they can advertise to you.

Most people are happy to pay for API access. It just has to be fair.
Click to expand...

Third party apps seem fairly niche representing ~5% of app users, who are probably already in a minority overall as compared to web users. I don't think they'd bother rocking the boat so much for something so tangential to what's commercially relevant.

I think if they were bothered about capturing ad revenue from those third party app users they'd just introduce a partner programme and the all app makers would all go with dollar symbols in their eyes.

It's all about capitalising on the value of the data for LLMs.

But still, I don't know, the whole cycle of these VC funded companies turning screws to become profitable has just become sort of mundane and predictable. Eventually they want to realise the potential of the market they think they've captured. So when they start doing it it's just time to move on, that easy VC money has dried up and it's time for reality to set in. It's not something that protests against specific sites is likely to fix.
 
The only platform that I've got just about enough self-loathing to continue using is Steam and that's only because I've accepted that owning games forever is irrelevant if I'm not also immortal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom