Posted on 06/17/2023 11:41:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Reddit CEO compares volunteer moderators to “gentry” as blackout continues Ongoing blackouts have continued several days beyond their original 48-hour window
In a series of interviews, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has acknowledged an ongoing Reddit blackout has caused a “fair amount of trouble,” but has no plans to walk back the site’s controversial changes to pricing.
READ MORE: The 8 best PC games you need to play in 2023 Earlier in the week, thousands of Reddit’s largest subreddits — including gaming communities r/PS5, r/Terraria, /rEscapeFromTarkov and r/Gaming— switched to an inaccessible private mode as part of an organised blackout.
The blackout is in response to a proposed price hike for Reddit’s Application Programming Interface, back-end data that third-party mobile apps and custom extensions rely on, along with tools for accessibility and moderation.
Though the price hikes aren’t set to kick in until July 1, they have already led to Reddit’s two largest third-party apps, Reddit Is Fun and Apollo, announcing their closure.
In a recent interview with NPR, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman dismissed the resulting protests as “a small group that’s very upset,” and acknowledged that moving third-party users to Reddit’s official app would offer “significant” benefits to the company’s profits.
The CEO also claimed that “everyday users” are being affected by the blackouts more than his company. That being said, many subreddits have continued ongoing Reddit’s blackout — by Huffman’s own admission, 20 per cent of Reddit’s largest subreddits remain in private mode, days after the 48-hour protest was meant to end on June 14.
Additionally, Adweek has reported that advertisers are putting Reddit-based ad campaigns on hold during the protest, which has caused “slightly lower impression delivery” and “slightly higher” costs in relation to engagement.
Speaking to NBC, Huffman suggested the protests were being carried out against the will of Reddit’s users, and compared the site’s volunteer moderators to the “landed gentry” who should be more “accountable to [their] constituents”.
In response to Huffman’s media interviews, Reddit moderators participating in the blackout have criticised the company’s “poor communication”.
“The blowback that is happening now is largely because Reddit launched this drastic change with only 30 days notice,” reads this statement. “We continue to ask Reddit to place these changes on pause and explore a real path forward that strikes a balance that is best for the widest range of Reddit users.”
Currently, Reddit is yet to announce any changes that would result in Apollo or Reddit Is Fun remaining open.
In other gaming news, Riot Games has confirmed that Team Deathmatch is launching in Valorant this month.
However, I don't have any Reddit pages I follow and only get to it through a web search. If I am on the phone they always have the annoying popup asking me to use the Reddit app rather than the web interface.
Why don’t you use BRAVE browser and GHOSTERY on your phone and stop using apps. No ads to speak of.
I don’t understand why people bother to use apps when they can use their browser.
I have tried Reddit and found it lacking - UI seems off, hard to find a valid response in a sea of nonsense. It reminds me of MySpace - just a wall of content with images, flashing content, etc.
I am not sure what the article is about.
Is it a rent increase for these subreddits have to pay for being hosted?
They bring the content but someone else owns the servers and they need to be paid for along with profit for the company.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.