I keep thinking this would have been a much better sell to devs and to users. I have always used Sync, and Boost. I tried the official app a few times, but really only used it for the chat feature. I didn’t want to pay for it, but (I am embarrassed to admit it) I would pay premium to keep my app. I think this would have worked out better for Reddit than the garbage they are pulling right now.

Would that have been a more reasonable solution in your opinion as well?

  • Fickle_Ferret@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Hah, no. Are you asking if I want to pay for access to a platform that is already dependant on its users to create or aggregate content, while they are already making ad money off my eyeballs? Heck, no, never. If that site cannot make enough money on ads alone, while being one /were of the most visited non-porn sites on the internet, then maybe they should reconsider their other expenses. E.x. Is it really necessary to have a downtown office in an expensive us city, or pay out high CEO wages. I can only really conclude that they are being stupid about this. If they want me back, they are going to have to beg.

    • whofearsthenight@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      They took a 250m funding round and used it to build an nft site. reddit’s problems are 100% self created. Think about how ama’s used to be and how they managed to kill that. They could have had several revenue streams just based on ama’s.

    • Thanks4Nothing@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      But that is exactly the problem with third party apps …they don’t show ads so they make no add revenue on people using apps like Sync and Apollo or RIF… The official app does. I understand why they are trying to push people to their app, but the route they took was worst case scenario.

      • 1chemistdown@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Third party app users generate content that make adds possible. Get out of here with this pitty reddit problems.

      • arquebus_x@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s not a problem with third party apps, that’s a problem with Reddit’s API that doesn’t send ads to third party apps. It’s entirely a problem of their own making, which they could have fixed years ago, but chose not to, and are now using as a fallacious excuse to shut off access.

        • CmdrMoto@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Uhh … if I were developing a Reddit reader app, and if their API periodically shit ads into my user’s feed, you KNOW that feature #1 in my third-party app would be simply to ignore those blobs of crap.

      • ShadowRunner@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        You’re ignoring the other effects of third party apps - which is to have significantly added to the number of users they have to show ads to in the first place.

        Making their API free encouraged active development which increased user engagement. So it absolutely did increase their revenue because it helped to increase the popularity of their site in the first place.

        • DreamerofDays@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          This.

          Put more explicitly:

          • 3rd party apps bring more people to the site, or keep them there longer.

          • Those people create content in the forms of posts proper and comments— hell, even down to just voting— that feeds the site engagement for users through 1st party interfaces(the ones getting ads), keeping them there longer, and seeing more ads.

          • Better moderation tools help mods keep online communities healthy, and the kinds of places we are happy to spend unhealthy amounts of time on.

          • whofearsthenight@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Lest we forget how dumb reddit is, they didn’t have a mobile strategy in 2014, which necessitated buying Alien Blue.

            If you look at the history of reddit, it has succeeded entirely in spite of management decision. Gotta say, even being on the site since 07-08, even I got this wrong. I expected reddit to do something dumb, I just didn’t expect them to do the most dumb thing.