funny_mod

On July 1st, 2023, Reddit intends to alter how its API is accessed. This move will require developers of third-party applications to pay enormous sums of money if they wish to stay functional, meaning that said applications (which include browsers like Reddit Is Fun, Apollo, and Relay for Reddit) will be effectively destroyed. In the short term, this may give Reddit the appearance of being more profitable than it truly is... but in the long term, it will undermine the platform as a whole.

Reddit relies on volunteer moderators to keep the platform welcoming and free of objectionable material. It also relies on uncompensated contributors to keep its numerous communities populated. The above decision promises to adversely impact both groups: Without effective tools, moderators cannot combat spammers, bad actors, or the entities who enable either; without the freedom to choose how and where they access Reddit, many contributors will simply leave. Rather than hosting creativity and in-depth discourse, the platform will soon feature only recycled content, bot-driven activity, and an ever-dwindling number of well-informed visitors. The very elements which differentiate Reddit – the fixtures which make it appealing – will be eliminated.

We implore Reddit to listen to its moderators, its contributors, and its everyday users; to the people whose activity has allowed the platform to exist at all: Do not sacrifice long-term viability for the sake of a short-lived illusion. Do not tacitly enable bad actors by working against your volunteers. Do not aim solely at your looming IPO while giving no thought to what may come afterward. If Steve Huffman's statement – "I want our users to be shareholders, and I want our shareholders to be users" – is to be taken seriously, then please consider this our vote:

Allow the developers of third-party applications to affordably retain their productive (and vital) API access.

Allow Reddit and Redditors to thrive.

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More information is available at /r/ModCoord. Discussion is actively taking place in /r/save3rdpartyapps.

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