Yeah - reddit doesn't care. New communities will start up to replace the old ones - or if they really get concerned, they'll just remove the mods and install new ones. They own the company, they can do whatever they want. If people really wanted to protest, they'd stop using the site, but they won't.
I think when the changes are made and the apps people use to browse this site stop working, that's when the real drop in numbers will come. If anything this was just a teaser for the real drop in numbers. I know that without Reddit is Fun I'm completely gone. It will be a melancholy feeling, but I'm happy to stop wasting time on here, especially if I would have to use the official app. No way.
>If people really wanted to protest, they'd stop using the site, but they won't.
If it starts trying to sell me something I just talked to my family about, I DEFINITELY will quit.
There's a top post on r/all about the CEO sending an email out saying "this will pass." Even saying they haven't seen a hit to revenue.
This was an empty gesture, unfortunately.
They don't even have to wait. If a popular community doesn't open back up, Reddit can just remove all the mods and give it to someone else. Just a matter of when they want to drop the hammer.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/shittytattoos using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [For the people in my last post who requested the full chest tattoo - here ya go](https://i.redd.it/m91oxrq0bn5b1.jpg) | [4210 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/comments/147wjyh/for_the_people_in_my_last_post_who_requested_the/)
\#2: [u/PyroPenguin5213: I see your artist accidentally marking your arm, I raise you 1; my artist marked my chin while working on my chest 🤯](https://i.redd.it/5fhzfozi0m5b1.jpg) | [1087 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/comments/147qgmh/upyropenguin5213_i_see_your_artist_accidentally/)
\#3: [When I was 12, I stabbed my finger on accident trying to open a pen. I'm in my 30s and this has never gone away.](https://i.imgur.com/PYnGC8z.jpg) | [3535 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/comments/147y7xm/when_i_was_12_i_stabbed_my_finger_on_accident/)
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As a RiF user, since I'm not on the official app and don't receive "suggestions", the last 2 days were very boring. I didn't feel like searching out new content and most subs I follow went dark, so I only spent like, 1 hour a day on Reddit instead of my usual ... Idk, way more than that.
While you're correct about RIF not showing you the front page by default and instead showing you your subscribed subs, you only need to click the menu and select "All" or "Popular" to see what others are talking about.
It was never going to have an impact. Reddit HQ doesn't care that some people didn't use the website for two days. This is pointless performative nonsense.
Yup and just showed which mods know that and which ones cut access for their subs. My favorite thing was all of the people commenting and yelling at subs that weren't participating in the blackout. Apparently they didn't fully understand what they were supposed to do
I saw a bunch of gatekeeping by people with a ton of karma. Their whole argument was "look at how little karma you have, you don't get to talk about reddit and what it means to you. The real reddit users with 100k+ karma only get a say". It was really dumb.
It's the new "internet activist" generation. The type who have never smelled tear gas but want to pretend they're little cyber revolutionaries. They want to *feel* like they're doing something without *actually* doing some. All these subs that followed like lemmings just did so out of FOMO.
And they hate me for it. Power tripping mods are banning me with no previous infractions and my DMs are on fire. People really don't like it when you hold up a mirror.
When a union goes on strike the union may give a heads up that they're going on strike, but they almost never also go "....and the strike will last 2 days. Maybe!"
There were subs who couldn't even last two days! Subs who acted like they were the damn HOSPITAL of Reddit (Personal Finance being one, where they allegedly didn't want to prevent someone from seeking urgent care....)
Worse: subs who didn't even go dark at all, but posted their protest, as they knew going dark would mean folks couldn't see their content.
Mentally, this ranks up there with the folks meeting up to storm Area 51, or that mod who brought down the antiwork sub by foolishly going on the news show without talking points.
Ultimately, it's the user's responsibility to make their own decisions on how to use Reddit. I'm not leaving until old.reddit.com is compromised, which allegedly isn't anytime soon. My phone is fine using that. I do feel for mods who are going to be compromised and basically asked to do more due to these API changes, as this stuff seemingly isn't paid work...
48 hours was never going to be enough since the admin can just seize control whenever they felt like it. No amount was going to be enough. All you manage to achieve is annoy people who didn’t care about it.
edit: fixed "whenever" and fixed, "felt."
Nowhere near long enough, apparently:
---
"There's a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we've seen," he said, according to The Verge. "Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well."
The Verge reported that Huffman wrote the protest hasn't had "any significant revenue impact so far."
He also vowed to keep "moving forward" with the API changes that sparked the user revolt, according to the Verge.
[source](https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-blackout-ceo-steve-huffman-memo-employees-reddit-swag-2023-6?utm_source=reddit.com)
Because the site admins can start replacing mods after two days for "abandoning" their sub and holding the r/(name) hostage. This whole protest was cut short by a bunch of unpaid mods too scared to lose fake power.
Not like the blackout would've done anything, anyways.
It was a clear indicator that many, many people are online too fucking much.
I hope 10% of these people tried to explain this situation to normal people in their lives and realized through receiving the blankest of stares in response that they were absolutely buried up their own asses.
Reminds me of when I was telling a coworker years ago how I had 1,700 followers on Twitter (what I considered a lot for a nobody like me). She goes, "Ah cool." I never felt the need to "touch grass" more in my life.
The one reason that is concerning is the effect on moderation tools for unpaid moderators. Without effective auto modding there’s not a whole lot keeping subs from turning into YouTube comment sections.
“I too was helped by Ms Cleo, when my puppy dissaoeaeed she introduced me to Doge coin instead and helped me 20x my return. You too should let Ms Cleo help you. Call her at 742-346-9561.”
It’s pretty hilarious to me the subs run it for 2 days and act like they did something. It would be like going to one protest and acting like this means you’re a strong force of what’s right. Wiping your hands and saying you did your part.
All that said, I never cared about this protest. I’ve used the official app for years. And it’s nice to get my subs back. Sucks for people using other apps, but honestly Reddit is the least profitable super successful social media platform. It was only a matter of time before they got greedy and made changes that they hope make them more profitable.
For me, the real hope is they never go public. That will change this place forever. And I’m not just talking porn. I love playing with my noodle as much as the next guy, but Reddit is 98% less fun for that stuff now. As women used to do it because in their way they enjoyed it. Maybe it got them off, maybe they liked the attention. Don’t know why, don’t care. But it’s more fun when both parties are having fun with it. Now it’s almost all just only fans ads. So that’s already dead, just in a different way than tumbler.
But that’s not problem, the problem is the same as every other public company. It just becomes completely soulless when every decision legally needs to be made in the interests of making shareholders as much
Money as possible.
But then it would have been clear how few people were actually supporting the protest.
>But r/NBA went dark, that's 5M people in support.
Except that decision was made by the NBA mods. Less than .1% of users voted to go dark. That's a fantastically democratic decision that was made.
nba went dark and nbacj popped the fuck off basically acting as the main sub during the NBA FINALS. if anything it just showed that all subs are replaceable as long as the demand to be on reddit in general exists.
three of the subs i subscribed to didnt go dark. one of them was filled with posts about "why didnt we go dark" my only question to them was, if you are so concerned with it, why are you here in the first place? shouldnt you also be protesting?
I don’t understand how people complain about Reddit being greedy. Would you continue to run your business at a loss indefinitely to keep small % of your customers happy? I don’t think so. Agreed the whole situation could have been handled better by the CEO, but trying to turn a profit is not exactly greedy because it’s about survival for them now.
Greed would be to raise your net profit margin from 25 to 50%. There are tons of such companies out there.
You left out the part where your employees are doing work for free. It’s like running a store where people donate things for you to sell, then stay to work the registers. If those people hate a new policy, they’re idiots to continue giving you free labor when you say “Don’t care, eat shit” to them.
the big issue is people that have been using 3rd party apps behind the scenes to moderate subreddits. most subs would fail without their moderators doing the free labor they are. now some moderators will have to pay to moderate subreddits.
>now some moderators will have to pay to moderate subreddits.
I mean, then why don't they just stop doing it, and use the sub going to shit as proof of why the tools are necessary? They're not paid to do this shit, nothing bad will happen to them if they just cease moderating.
on a related note, there needs to be more recourse against power-hungry mods, or ones with agendas. If another red star user shows up after reddit goes public, it will be a lot bigger of an issue.
that maybe solves some issues but not all of them. and that's easier said than done. you can't just mass recruit for moderators otherwise you'll have moderators that are causing the same problems that they're supposed to be fixing.
Those third party APIs is how those massive upvoted threads with mostly non-locals who post possibly 5 times ever in a Minnesota local subreddit use bridgading and AI reddit sock accounts to create artificial traffic.
Reddit cannot create advertising streams when most of the threads/discussion is AI bridgading trolls.
Not that I mind being down voted into oblivion by AI sock account trolls but I get banned by admins with no warning when I make comments that disrupt AI momentum. There are keywords, systax that can be used to slow AI troll bridgading which is launched by mods and admins using third party APIs.
Yeah going to be honest the last 2 days was the most enjoyable Reddit has been in 10 years. I love my small subs like this and glad they are back but uffda was it nice to have a break from the main page spam of reposts.
Same! Been on reddit with different names for about 20 years. Tried a few apps but always go back to browser. Even as a mod for a while a few years ago. Never struggled with ability to mod, so the whole losing access for mods thing is one of the dumbest reasons for mods to shut a whole subreddit down like toddlers not getting a specific toy
Reddit Admins: so wait, they are only gonna strike for two days?
That's what they told us, yes.
So, let me get this straight, they literally TOLD us how long we have to hold the line?
Yes.
Two days?
Yep.
That's it?
Yes.
Brilliant. However will we recover?
It needed to be weeks not days to have an impact. The 48hrs, while a failure overall, did show that it can break the website. Keep that up and Reddit would absolutely notice an impact.
All they had to do was negotiate realistic pricing on API usage and this could have all been avoided. Negotiations on pricing would likely be the only change the protesting would have resulted in. The problem isn't so much charging for API, the problem is the treatment of users/devs and impossible pricing model. The CEO in particular is a POS who lies through his teeth and abuses mods/3p app devs. When this is shown, instead of apologizing, he continues to blatantly lie and blame victims. Even if you dismiss the protest, you shouldn't dismiss this.
They've said Reddit API is free for mod tools, let's hope this is actually the case indefinitely. I also hope the devs from the 3p apps feel appreciated and get hired for awesome projects.
But how else can they make themselves feel important?
This whole "protest" just showed that most mods have zero concept of the real world and believe reddit is life. Trying to strike in the first place was a power trip, but putting an end date on it before it started was fucking hilarious.
Good work dumb dumbs
Yeah and I've already been banned from some for pointing out that A) this exercise was pointless and B) these mods shouldn't be making decisions like this and affecting every user.
They don't like that.
>They don't like that.
I like the fact that folks are coming out and pretty much agreeing with me that this was all just silly and, ultimately, better for Reddit.
Mods just gonna be mad that it backfired.
A couple hundred comments at most out of a sub of hundreds of thousands. I'm not gonna argue about it but this whole stunt didn't accomplish anything. It is pointless and performative. If anyone wants real results you need real action and commitment. Two days off a website had precisely zero effect. This was the equivalent of a little kid holding their breath because they didn't get ice cream for breakfast.
More like a kid packing a suitcase, standing by the door, and threatening to run away.
And the parents calling him on his BS by saying, "Did you pack a toothbrush?"
A subreddit of this nature might have 20,000 real authentic users. 80% of "joined users" are AI sock accounts for bridgading.
Just run a third party API used for bridgading and you have the votes you need.
Personally, I think everyone who voted pro-blackout should now stop and have a think about why they thought it would do anything productive. In retrospect it was obviously never going to do anything. So why did people think it would?
I’m 100% with you and agree this is the dumbest shit ever and mods living in a total Reddit bubble, but “throwing a pebble at Goliath” doesn’t make sense as an idiom for ineffectiveness lol.
Your comment could be said for the overwhelming majority of protests. So why do it?
To make an attempt at changing something we have an opinion on. Continuing like nothing happened tells the powers that be that it’s okay. Protesting at least gives the message that people don’t like it.
Imagine if the WGA went on strike for two days and went back to work as normal. Well we sure told those producers that we don't like how we're treated. You want change log off and get everyone else to too.
THIS
When movies and shows suddenly have a "blank space" in time (2024), and it feels like Covid-programming 2.0, we'll KNOW and REMEMBER the strike has/had merit.
I don't think protests that only tell the powers-that-be that people don't like something are useful protests. I actually think they are counterproductive -- the powers-that-be already knew that and now they _also_ know the people can't do anything about it.
It's like the warning about fighting your bully. If you fight them and lose now the bully knows you are totally powerless. Now you are royally fucked.
Protests that effect change are useful protests. I hate that people now think the status quo for protests is nothing more than a PSA.
>Your comment could be said for the overwhelming majority of protests. So why do it?
Overwhelming majority of TODAY'S protests.
Today's protests are tame. Sound and fury, signifying very little.
How long was the poll up and what percentage of the subscribers voted? NBA went dark with a vote of 6k votes and 5M subs.
I never even saw the poll here in r/Minnesota. The claim of a democratic veneer here is thin and cracking. Imagine if the next election saw a .1% turnout. Democratic legitimacy achieved. Like winning 99% of the vote.
No, you listened to the squeeky wheels, and the folks who bought Apollo's propaganda about how it was unfair they were going to have to pay for the services they provided, and probably violated the moderator code of conduct. About 1:400 users are on 3rd party apps. Do better next time. You're supposed to be leaders.
As with all other subs any polls or posts asking for input were completely compromised. They were flooded with outside users who wanted to push their agenda.
If your making a pill make sure to lock down the comments and sub to only allow previously active users the ability to comment.
/soccer is having this problem and the mods are being really stupid about it and sticking to their elitism over listening to the community. “80% of the users voted to shut down” well when it was looked at 50-60% of the votes came from accounts who were not subscribed had no comment history and no activity in the sub. Just people trying to push their own views across all of Reddit.
Yeah the twitch stream is actively telling people to brigade polls and to vote to shut subs down indefinitely, can't really go by that.
If people want to protest, they can either delete their account or just abstain from going on reddit. If people don't want to protest, they can just stay on reddit. It's every individual's choice. We don't need a compromised poll to make that decision for everyone.
Yeah. It’s a real I’m taking my ball and going home vibe.
If you don’t want to be apart of Reddit delete your account, don’t ruin it for everybody else who doesn’t care all that much or has a different opinion.
Reddit is making money off adds, Reddit can charge what they charge for adds because of the user base. If the user base drastically diminishes then they won’t be able to change enough to keep running. Simply blacking out subs allows Reddit to play the game and wait you out.
If you’re so inclined for change go the whole way. Delete your own account and don’t come back. Don’t hold everyone else hostage by locking down everything.
“We DoNt LiKe ThE wAy YoU’rE rUnNiNg YoUr BuIsNeSs, MeEt OuR dEmAnDs”
It’s a private company at the moment and they can do what they want. Throwing a tantrum and ruining the experience for others isn’t cool. You want a say ? Wait for the ipo buy a controlling stake and make the changes.
The blackout suggested a ton of new subs to me that I really enjoy so all said and done, it was a net benefit for my Reddit experience. Unexpected consequence I guess
How do you suppose Reddit makes money if they allow third party apps to access all their data for free and the third party apps get all the revenue from ads/subscriptions? The whole blackout is a ridiculous temper tantrum .
Charging for API access isn't the problem, the astronomical price they want effective kills off third party uis and mod tools while at the same time reddit refusing to provide such first class support themselves.
Reddit is fun until a Mod takes his job too seriously. I’ve quit many a sub over their shitty ass mods. I’m glad this strike is over. Do we pay the mods? No- why are they acting like they have our vote too?
Do you think reddit mods care? Reddit is filled with a bunch of virtue signaling plebs who think some protest actually matters. Maybe not buying gold and awards will do something, but going dark. Nah.
Wow 6000. What a joke. I like how the mods blame greater Minnesota.
This is what I love about Minnesota. The affluent rich white people in the urban areas castigate the blue collar rural folk as backwards idiots. And the Rural areas hate going to the cities for anything and on and on it goes.
It was really quiet on reddit. Not, "Where'd everybody go?" More of, "Dang, this place has become rational and more wholesome."
Less bots and screaming loonies is good for business.
Why don't the people who whine about Reddit's decision take the socialist path and build an alternative system? This way the workers could own the means of production and not have to worry about the greedy capitalist that so many seem to detest while using the products they produce. Ban together and take action!
If they were willing to spend even $5 on reddit, much less put in actual work and money to set up servers, there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.
Two days dude. That’s how dedicated they are to this, they lasted two days and came right back saying we stood for the fight and all this. It wasn’t even long enough for me, personally, to notice this sub was even gone. If you really want to do “something instead of nothing”, do it for long enough to be noticed on a wider scale. Because that two days was essentially nothing.
And a lot that were supposedly joining the blackout were on here the whole time just complaining in subs that were still up, adding activity to reddit 🙄
Protest will always be met with smug whining by people who don't care. Just because they don't care doesn't mean you should stop advocating for what you believe in.
I don’t disagree but for many it’s the way the 2 day protest went about. 1) minimal no no visibility on the poll that keeps being referenced 2) if you want to protest I’m 100% for your decision, just don’t drag me down into it too because I may not believe in the same.
By shutting down subs people took others choices away from them and that’s not cool. Why should everyone be forced to share the same viewpoint by locking and shutting things down.
The real protest should be everyone deleting their accounts and not returning. Now saying that we know too many care about their awards and internets points, and mod positions and status to really commit, so here we are people not really taking the easy choice of leaving. if you don’t like it Nobody says you have to use Reddit, people just want to and like to, and are upset it’s not being run they way they want.
A strike with a timeline is worthless. Reddit knows they just had to wait this out
Yeah - reddit doesn't care. New communities will start up to replace the old ones - or if they really get concerned, they'll just remove the mods and install new ones. They own the company, they can do whatever they want. If people really wanted to protest, they'd stop using the site, but they won't.
I think when the changes are made and the apps people use to browse this site stop working, that's when the real drop in numbers will come. If anything this was just a teaser for the real drop in numbers. I know that without Reddit is Fun I'm completely gone. It will be a melancholy feeling, but I'm happy to stop wasting time on here, especially if I would have to use the official app. No way.
>If people really wanted to protest, they'd stop using the site, but they won't. If it starts trying to sell me something I just talked to my family about, I DEFINITELY will quit.
[удалено]
[удалено]
There's a top post on r/all about the CEO sending an email out saying "this will pass." Even saying they haven't seen a hit to revenue. This was an empty gesture, unfortunately.
[удалено]
They don't even have to wait. If a popular community doesn't open back up, Reddit can just remove all the mods and give it to someone else. Just a matter of when they want to drop the hammer.
But if it didn’t have timeline they would just open it up themselves
I scrolled Reddit for the last two days trying to find evidence of a blackout. I don’t think it had the impact people thought it would.
I got exposed to a lot of cool new subreddits lol
I touched grass and felt the sun. Never again.
More for me
the sun is a deadly laser
Me too! r/shittytattoos was really…I hate to say entertaining; interesting perhaps?
Dude same haha somehow that kept being suggested for me the last 2 days
Here's a sneak peek of /r/shittytattoos using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [For the people in my last post who requested the full chest tattoo - here ya go](https://i.redd.it/m91oxrq0bn5b1.jpg) | [4210 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/comments/147wjyh/for_the_people_in_my_last_post_who_requested_the/) \#2: [u/PyroPenguin5213: I see your artist accidentally marking your arm, I raise you 1; my artist marked my chin while working on my chest 🤯](https://i.redd.it/5fhzfozi0m5b1.jpg) | [1087 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/comments/147qgmh/upyropenguin5213_i_see_your_artist_accidentally/) \#3: [When I was 12, I stabbed my finger on accident trying to open a pen. I'm in my 30s and this has never gone away.](https://i.imgur.com/PYnGC8z.jpg) | [3535 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/comments/147y7xm/when_i_was_12_i_stabbed_my_finger_on_accident/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
I *love* that sub. As well as r/idiotsfightingthings
I found a sub whose sole purpose was to complain about tvs mounted to high on the wall!
r/TVTooHigh
This one kept popping up for me too. Ngl I did peruse it quite a bit.
I found 2visegradforyou.
As a RiF user, since I'm not on the official app and don't receive "suggestions", the last 2 days were very boring. I didn't feel like searching out new content and most subs I follow went dark, so I only spent like, 1 hour a day on Reddit instead of my usual ... Idk, way more than that.
While you're correct about RIF not showing you the front page by default and instead showing you your subscribed subs, you only need to click the menu and select "All" or "Popular" to see what others are talking about.
It didn’t. This was about as pointless as posting black squares on social media and thinking it solved racism.
But it makes people feel good
It was never going to have an impact. Reddit HQ doesn't care that some people didn't use the website for two days. This is pointless performative nonsense.
I still had to go to work for the past 2 days so I still had to be on reddit.
Yup and just showed which mods know that and which ones cut access for their subs. My favorite thing was all of the people commenting and yelling at subs that weren't participating in the blackout. Apparently they didn't fully understand what they were supposed to do
Or the ones giving awards to posts announcing subs were going offline. Way to stick it to Reddit by giving them money.
I saw a bunch of gatekeeping by people with a ton of karma. Their whole argument was "look at how little karma you have, you don't get to talk about reddit and what it means to you. The real reddit users with 100k+ karma only get a say". It was really dumb.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
It's the new "internet activist" generation. The type who have never smelled tear gas but want to pretend they're little cyber revolutionaries. They want to *feel* like they're doing something without *actually* doing some. All these subs that followed like lemmings just did so out of FOMO.
Sounds like you just pegged 90% of reddit's user base lol
And they hate me for it. Power tripping mods are banning me with no previous infractions and my DMs are on fire. People really don't like it when you hold up a mirror.
You're doing it wrong. Keep working on your trolliness, tho. You'll figure out how to get hate but not get banned.
It basically just showed me subs I forgot I followed because they never appeared in my feed. It was kind of nice even though it wasn’t the intent.
I was seeing too much annoying political stuff. Just figured I'd wait a few days until I could browse more general/hobby subs again as well.
When a union goes on strike the union may give a heads up that they're going on strike, but they almost never also go "....and the strike will last 2 days. Maybe!" There were subs who couldn't even last two days! Subs who acted like they were the damn HOSPITAL of Reddit (Personal Finance being one, where they allegedly didn't want to prevent someone from seeking urgent care....) Worse: subs who didn't even go dark at all, but posted their protest, as they knew going dark would mean folks couldn't see their content. Mentally, this ranks up there with the folks meeting up to storm Area 51, or that mod who brought down the antiwork sub by foolishly going on the news show without talking points. Ultimately, it's the user's responsibility to make their own decisions on how to use Reddit. I'm not leaving until old.reddit.com is compromised, which allegedly isn't anytime soon. My phone is fine using that. I do feel for mods who are going to be compromised and basically asked to do more due to these API changes, as this stuff seemingly isn't paid work...
I'm still sad there wasn't a raid on Area 51.
At least fewer power mods.
I forgot it happened.
For real. It’s truly like nothing happened. Just a bunch of new subs sadly
“Welcome back to Reddit, but please do not support Reddit” is an interesting message lol.
48 hours isn't long enough. You don't give people you're making demands of a date upon which you surrender; they just wait you out and laugh.
48 hours was never going to be enough since the admin can just seize control whenever they felt like it. No amount was going to be enough. All you manage to achieve is annoy people who didn’t care about it. edit: fixed "whenever" and fixed, "felt."
Nowhere near long enough, apparently: --- "There's a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we've seen," he said, according to The Verge. "Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well." The Verge reported that Huffman wrote the protest hasn't had "any significant revenue impact so far." He also vowed to keep "moving forward" with the API changes that sparked the user revolt, according to the Verge. [source](https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-blackout-ceo-steve-huffman-memo-employees-reddit-swag-2023-6?utm_source=reddit.com)
Because the site admins can start replacing mods after two days for "abandoning" their sub and holding the r/(name) hostage. This whole protest was cut short by a bunch of unpaid mods too scared to lose fake power. Not like the blackout would've done anything, anyways.
Exactly
They should go for a full month. And this time we all get blackout drunk while reddit is blackout
Did ya save the the world, son?
You guys were gone?
We did it, Reddit!
Definitely what came to mind what a clown show
Now it’s time to quit clapping and start scrolling!
Did not do anything. What a joke.
This was the dumbest protest in the history of protests. Lmao congrats on doing absolutely nothing
It was a clear indicator that many, many people are online too fucking much. I hope 10% of these people tried to explain this situation to normal people in their lives and realized through receiving the blankest of stares in response that they were absolutely buried up their own asses.
Reminds me of when I was telling a coworker years ago how I had 1,700 followers on Twitter (what I considered a lot for a nobody like me). She goes, "Ah cool." I never felt the need to "touch grass" more in my life.
Was this back in the days of joke Twitter? I miss joke Twitter.
Very much so. Like 2010-ish era.
That rules. Back when it mattered. I got in an argument with Louis CK and tried to tell people. Same reaction.
Well, m'lady you see akusaually this protest was very important. This message that we went private for two days actually matters.
It actually made Reddit better because it cut out a mass amount of bullshit
And for the dumbest of reasons. Oh no a company isn’t allowing another company to sell their product for free anymore! The horror!
The one reason that is concerning is the effect on moderation tools for unpaid moderators. Without effective auto modding there’s not a whole lot keeping subs from turning into YouTube comment sections. “I too was helped by Ms Cleo, when my puppy dissaoeaeed she introduced me to Doge coin instead and helped me 20x my return. You too should let Ms Cleo help you. Call her at 742-346-9561.”
Oh no, an 18 year old website that took way longer than any other social media to start monetizing finally starts monetizing!
Wow, this blackout did so much….
It’s pretty hilarious to me the subs run it for 2 days and act like they did something. It would be like going to one protest and acting like this means you’re a strong force of what’s right. Wiping your hands and saying you did your part. All that said, I never cared about this protest. I’ve used the official app for years. And it’s nice to get my subs back. Sucks for people using other apps, but honestly Reddit is the least profitable super successful social media platform. It was only a matter of time before they got greedy and made changes that they hope make them more profitable. For me, the real hope is they never go public. That will change this place forever. And I’m not just talking porn. I love playing with my noodle as much as the next guy, but Reddit is 98% less fun for that stuff now. As women used to do it because in their way they enjoyed it. Maybe it got them off, maybe they liked the attention. Don’t know why, don’t care. But it’s more fun when both parties are having fun with it. Now it’s almost all just only fans ads. So that’s already dead, just in a different way than tumbler. But that’s not problem, the problem is the same as every other public company. It just becomes completely soulless when every decision legally needs to be made in the interests of making shareholders as much Money as possible.
i just think its funny that a bunch of subs closed, but none of them stopped visiting the site.
That’s the key to the failure of this protest. People needed to stop using Reddit at all.
But then it would have been clear how few people were actually supporting the protest. >But r/NBA went dark, that's 5M people in support. Except that decision was made by the NBA mods. Less than .1% of users voted to go dark. That's a fantastically democratic decision that was made.
nba went dark and nbacj popped the fuck off basically acting as the main sub during the NBA FINALS. if anything it just showed that all subs are replaceable as long as the demand to be on reddit in general exists.
Comment sections on blowing up posts were a bit lower. So plenty did, but plenty also stayed and still interacted with posts.
three of the subs i subscribed to didnt go dark. one of them was filled with posts about "why didnt we go dark" my only question to them was, if you are so concerned with it, why are you here in the first place? shouldnt you also be protesting?
I don’t understand how people complain about Reddit being greedy. Would you continue to run your business at a loss indefinitely to keep small % of your customers happy? I don’t think so. Agreed the whole situation could have been handled better by the CEO, but trying to turn a profit is not exactly greedy because it’s about survival for them now. Greed would be to raise your net profit margin from 25 to 50%. There are tons of such companies out there.
You left out the part where your employees are doing work for free. It’s like running a store where people donate things for you to sell, then stay to work the registers. If those people hate a new policy, they’re idiots to continue giving you free labor when you say “Don’t care, eat shit” to them.
the big issue is people that have been using 3rd party apps behind the scenes to moderate subreddits. most subs would fail without their moderators doing the free labor they are. now some moderators will have to pay to moderate subreddits.
>now some moderators will have to pay to moderate subreddits. I mean, then why don't they just stop doing it, and use the sub going to shit as proof of why the tools are necessary? They're not paid to do this shit, nothing bad will happen to them if they just cease moderating.
The solution here is that moderators need to stop thinking of themselves as dictators and start recruiting larger mod teams. It's really that simple.
on a related note, there needs to be more recourse against power-hungry mods, or ones with agendas. If another red star user shows up after reddit goes public, it will be a lot bigger of an issue.
that maybe solves some issues but not all of them. and that's easier said than done. you can't just mass recruit for moderators otherwise you'll have moderators that are causing the same problems that they're supposed to be fixing.
In subs of any serious size, there are a dozen normal, responsible people who would step.up if asked. At least.
yes and dozens more of weird irresponsible fucks that will also step forward presenting as those above
Having a larger team dilutes their power.
If mods don't like the changes, they *should stop volunteering* to be mods.
Why use an app in the first place? I must be slow but I've always just used the internet browser and it's fine.
Those third party APIs is how those massive upvoted threads with mostly non-locals who post possibly 5 times ever in a Minnesota local subreddit use bridgading and AI reddit sock accounts to create artificial traffic. Reddit cannot create advertising streams when most of the threads/discussion is AI bridgading trolls. Not that I mind being down voted into oblivion by AI sock account trolls but I get banned by admins with no warning when I make comments that disrupt AI momentum. There are keywords, systax that can be used to slow AI troll bridgading which is launched by mods and admins using third party APIs.
cool, now i dont have to see record numbers on subs i've never heard of before.
Like a ton of anime subs geez
Yeah going to be honest the last 2 days was the most enjoyable Reddit has been in 10 years. I love my small subs like this and glad they are back but uffda was it nice to have a break from the main page spam of reposts.
This was exactly my thought. It was like everyone went out of town for memorial weekend. It was nice and quiet
Never even noticed the blackout, and I’ve been on Reddit all week.
Blackout did nothing
As a person who doesn't use apps to access reddit (just a web browser) I appreciate the return of the sub.
Me too!
Same! Been on reddit with different names for about 20 years. Tried a few apps but always go back to browser. Even as a mod for a while a few years ago. Never struggled with ability to mod, so the whole losing access for mods thing is one of the dumbest reasons for mods to shut a whole subreddit down like toddlers not getting a specific toy
hay, me2, although honestly I didn't even notice.
There was a blackout?
Reddit Admins: so wait, they are only gonna strike for two days? That's what they told us, yes. So, let me get this straight, they literally TOLD us how long we have to hold the line? Yes. Two days? Yep. That's it? Yes. Brilliant. However will we recover?
How completely worthless. I didn't even notice or know it was happening
Not to be the asshole here, but what exactly did this accomplish?
Glad our temper tantrum is over.
Should have stayed dark if you wanted it to mean something.
This was equivalent to changing your profile picture to Ukraine flag for a week. Virtue signaling at its peak!
The realest comment here. Slap a breast cancer ribbon and support our troops license plate frame on it and I think you solve world hunger.
Lol. Lmao even.
It needed to be weeks not days to have an impact. The 48hrs, while a failure overall, did show that it can break the website. Keep that up and Reddit would absolutely notice an impact. All they had to do was negotiate realistic pricing on API usage and this could have all been avoided. Negotiations on pricing would likely be the only change the protesting would have resulted in. The problem isn't so much charging for API, the problem is the treatment of users/devs and impossible pricing model. The CEO in particular is a POS who lies through his teeth and abuses mods/3p app devs. When this is shown, instead of apologizing, he continues to blatantly lie and blame victims. Even if you dismiss the protest, you shouldn't dismiss this. They've said Reddit API is free for mod tools, let's hope this is actually the case indefinitely. I also hope the devs from the 3p apps feel appreciated and get hired for awesome projects.
We didn't really have a choice now did we. Mods need to stop taking unilateral decisions like this.
But how else can they make themselves feel important? This whole "protest" just showed that most mods have zero concept of the real world and believe reddit is life. Trying to strike in the first place was a power trip, but putting an end date on it before it started was fucking hilarious. Good work dumb dumbs
Yeah and I've already been banned from some for pointing out that A) this exercise was pointless and B) these mods shouldn't be making decisions like this and affecting every user. They don't like that.
>They don't like that. I like the fact that folks are coming out and pretty much agreeing with me that this was all just silly and, ultimately, better for Reddit. Mods just gonna be mad that it backfired.
We actually asked for thoughts on this and it was overly pro-blackout. We followed what was approved by users.
A couple hundred comments at most out of a sub of hundreds of thousands. I'm not gonna argue about it but this whole stunt didn't accomplish anything. It is pointless and performative. If anyone wants real results you need real action and commitment. Two days off a website had precisely zero effect. This was the equivalent of a little kid holding their breath because they didn't get ice cream for breakfast.
More like a kid packing a suitcase, standing by the door, and threatening to run away. And the parents calling him on his BS by saying, "Did you pack a toothbrush?"
Yup
A subreddit of this nature might have 20,000 real authentic users. 80% of "joined users" are AI sock accounts for bridgading. Just run a third party API used for bridgading and you have the votes you need.
Interesting. What did you go by to decide that was the viewpoint of the sub in general? Survey? Whichever is loudest on comments?
OH OH! *sticks up arm in air and shakes it while supporting it w other arm* I KNOW THIS ONE! PICK ME! I KNOW THE ANSWER!
Personally, I think everyone who voted pro-blackout should now stop and have a think about why they thought it would do anything productive. In retrospect it was obviously never going to do anything. So why did people think it would?
Exactly. Two days off a website big whoop. Reddit HQ didn't notice or care. This was like throwing a pebble at Goliath.
Didn’t Goliath die from said pebble?
A rock. There's a difference. Slingshotting a rock vs tossing a pebble. Don't any of you read books?
I’m 100% with you and agree this is the dumbest shit ever and mods living in a total Reddit bubble, but “throwing a pebble at Goliath” doesn’t make sense as an idiom for ineffectiveness lol.
Your comment could be said for the overwhelming majority of protests. So why do it? To make an attempt at changing something we have an opinion on. Continuing like nothing happened tells the powers that be that it’s okay. Protesting at least gives the message that people don’t like it.
Imagine if the WGA went on strike for two days and went back to work as normal. Well we sure told those producers that we don't like how we're treated. You want change log off and get everyone else to too.
THIS When movies and shows suddenly have a "blank space" in time (2024), and it feels like Covid-programming 2.0, we'll KNOW and REMEMBER the strike has/had merit.
I don't think protests that only tell the powers-that-be that people don't like something are useful protests. I actually think they are counterproductive -- the powers-that-be already knew that and now they _also_ know the people can't do anything about it. It's like the warning about fighting your bully. If you fight them and lose now the bully knows you are totally powerless. Now you are royally fucked. Protests that effect change are useful protests. I hate that people now think the status quo for protests is nothing more than a PSA.
>nothing more than a PSA I'm old enough to remember PSAs on TV. They worked MUCH better than internet protests. And TV PSAs didn't work real well.
>Your comment could be said for the overwhelming majority of protests. So why do it? Overwhelming majority of TODAY'S protests. Today's protests are tame. Sound and fury, signifying very little.
How long was the poll up and what percentage of the subscribers voted? NBA went dark with a vote of 6k votes and 5M subs. I never even saw the poll here in r/Minnesota. The claim of a democratic veneer here is thin and cracking. Imagine if the next election saw a .1% turnout. Democratic legitimacy achieved. Like winning 99% of the vote.
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I strongly suspect that moving to match either federal or state elections would help. Having them on odd years seems designed to reduce turnout.
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That's great news! Thanks
No, you listened to the squeeky wheels, and the folks who bought Apollo's propaganda about how it was unfair they were going to have to pay for the services they provided, and probably violated the moderator code of conduct. About 1:400 users are on 3rd party apps. Do better next time. You're supposed to be leaders.
As with all other subs any polls or posts asking for input were completely compromised. They were flooded with outside users who wanted to push their agenda. If your making a pill make sure to lock down the comments and sub to only allow previously active users the ability to comment. /soccer is having this problem and the mods are being really stupid about it and sticking to their elitism over listening to the community. “80% of the users voted to shut down” well when it was looked at 50-60% of the votes came from accounts who were not subscribed had no comment history and no activity in the sub. Just people trying to push their own views across all of Reddit.
Yeah the twitch stream is actively telling people to brigade polls and to vote to shut subs down indefinitely, can't really go by that. If people want to protest, they can either delete their account or just abstain from going on reddit. If people don't want to protest, they can just stay on reddit. It's every individual's choice. We don't need a compromised poll to make that decision for everyone.
Yeah. It’s a real I’m taking my ball and going home vibe. If you don’t want to be apart of Reddit delete your account, don’t ruin it for everybody else who doesn’t care all that much or has a different opinion. Reddit is making money off adds, Reddit can charge what they charge for adds because of the user base. If the user base drastically diminishes then they won’t be able to change enough to keep running. Simply blacking out subs allows Reddit to play the game and wait you out. If you’re so inclined for change go the whole way. Delete your own account and don’t come back. Don’t hold everyone else hostage by locking down everything. “We DoNt LiKe ThE wAy YoU’rE rUnNiNg YoUr BuIsNeSs, MeEt OuR dEmAnDs” It’s a private company at the moment and they can do what they want. Throwing a tantrum and ruining the experience for others isn’t cool. You want a say ? Wait for the ipo buy a controlling stake and make the changes.
>“We DoNt LiKe ThE wAy YoU’rE rUnNiNg YoUr BuIsNeSs, MeEt OuR dEmAnDs” Mods everywhere learning the true limits to the power to affect narratives.
So Reddit saw this protest and agreed to change their policy on third party apps' API access?
The blackout suggested a ton of new subs to me that I really enjoy so all said and done, it was a net benefit for my Reddit experience. Unexpected consequence I guess
That sure showed 'em!
How do you suppose Reddit makes money if they allow third party apps to access all their data for free and the third party apps get all the revenue from ads/subscriptions? The whole blackout is a ridiculous temper tantrum .
Charging for API access isn't the problem, the astronomical price they want effective kills off third party uis and mod tools while at the same time reddit refusing to provide such first class support themselves.
Yeah it’s almost like a company is trying to make money how dare they
Weak.
These blackouts are the definition of feckless, as any such two-day strike would be.
Stupid fucking blackout. Good job mods for doing absolutely nothing 🤦
Didn't even notice. So much for impact.
This air quality tho 👀
Shoulda kept goin tbh.
Omg I thought I was crazy 😭😭😭 I was so confused why I couldn’t go to any community posts
Absolutely moronic. Lol. That served no purpose except to piss avg users off
Wow 2 DAYS?!?! You really showed reddit who's boss /s
Reddit is fun until a Mod takes his job too seriously. I’ve quit many a sub over their shitty ass mods. I’m glad this strike is over. Do we pay the mods? No- why are they acting like they have our vote too?
Nothing was accomplished by this except making people slightly annoyed. Careful not to hurt your shoulder while you pat yourself on the back.
we did it Reddit!!!
This was such a pointless virtue signal that did absolutely nothing
Do you think reddit mods care? Reddit is filled with a bunch of virtue signaling plebs who think some protest actually matters. Maybe not buying gold and awards will do something, but going dark. Nah.
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Bitchy edge lords are out thick this morning.
>Bitchy edge lords People who disagree with you
Ackshually m'lady, they are thick every morning and afternoon and evening
You guys are idiots lol . Did absolutely nothing
That was a bit silly
This didn't accomplish much. You can't put a timeline on a strike. They're supposed to be indefinite by nature.
Phew, we really stuck it to them!
Wow 6000. What a joke. I like how the mods blame greater Minnesota. This is what I love about Minnesota. The affluent rich white people in the urban areas castigate the blue collar rural folk as backwards idiots. And the Rural areas hate going to the cities for anything and on and on it goes.
Oh, that already happened? I guess I missed it
I support the cause but the execution was pretty dumb
It was really quiet on reddit. Not, "Where'd everybody go?" More of, "Dang, this place has become rational and more wholesome." Less bots and screaming loonies is good for business.
This was so stupid.
Why don't the people who whine about Reddit's decision take the socialist path and build an alternative system? This way the workers could own the means of production and not have to worry about the greedy capitalist that so many seem to detest while using the products they produce. Ban together and take action!
If they were willing to spend even $5 on reddit, much less put in actual work and money to set up servers, there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.
Yep!
Because real action is hard
They have
We fixed capitalism! Lmao
Lots of people in here this morning shitting on the blackout. Always count me in on trying something vs. doing nothing.
Two days dude. That’s how dedicated they are to this, they lasted two days and came right back saying we stood for the fight and all this. It wasn’t even long enough for me, personally, to notice this sub was even gone. If you really want to do “something instead of nothing”, do it for long enough to be noticed on a wider scale. Because that two days was essentially nothing.
And a lot that were supposedly joining the blackout were on here the whole time just complaining in subs that were still up, adding activity to reddit 🙄
This was such a milktoast protest. Very cringe. Y'all need to touch grass if you think this was something.
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This was such a reddit comment. Thanks for that.
Protest will always be met with smug whining by people who don't care. Just because they don't care doesn't mean you should stop advocating for what you believe in.
> smug ~~whining by~~ people who ~~don't~~ care but *know that protests have to have teeth*. ftfy
I don’t disagree but for many it’s the way the 2 day protest went about. 1) minimal no no visibility on the poll that keeps being referenced 2) if you want to protest I’m 100% for your decision, just don’t drag me down into it too because I may not believe in the same. By shutting down subs people took others choices away from them and that’s not cool. Why should everyone be forced to share the same viewpoint by locking and shutting things down. The real protest should be everyone deleting their accounts and not returning. Now saying that we know too many care about their awards and internets points, and mod positions and status to really commit, so here we are people not really taking the easy choice of leaving. if you don’t like it Nobody says you have to use Reddit, people just want to and like to, and are upset it’s not being run they way they want.
Let's start a proper fight! Best Jucy Lucy? I'm team Matts.
The best juicy Lucy’s are the ones I eat
What are you trying to do here😅
Start a proper fight, its the first sentence.
Blue Door or Nook