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Weekly Questions Thread (Newbie Friendly) - Aug 28, 2023
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this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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It's unlikely that anyone will write an app using reddit's API, because this is a huge financial risk (the blackout was about this).
You are probably right.
I am aware of Reddit's change in policy that went into effect in July. $12,000 for 50 million API requests and free for "non-commercial accessibility apps" (Reddit's term). Since Reddit is a for-profit business and is owned by a company (Advance Publications) that wants to be publicly traded, this all makes sense to me. 50 million API requests is probably a pretty high bar to meet for an app that facilitates a move from Reddit to the Fediverse, and if the app received non-commercial status it would be fine. And an app could use a subscription policy to cover API costs, which some of the Reddit apps have moved to.
From a practical standpoint, I don't see this as a "huge financial risk". I see it as a solvable problem. I don't think there's enough obvious benefit to motivate a developer to expend the effort, however.
I'm not quite sure about that. I'm missing something, because you should be right, but the effort is already expended, yet still many reddit apps have shut down rather than switching to a subscription model. There was no technical change to the API. For example sync for Reddit and sync for Lemmy could be the same app and you just pay if you want to use the Reddit part, but that's not the way the devs decided. They preferred writing off their investment into the Reddit API.
I find this confusing.
As do I. It comes across to me as more of an idealistic choice than a pragmatic one.
AFAIK, the changes for API usage were announced on very short notice (less than a month), the main developper of one of the main apps was treated as a lier by the reddit CEO, and there was neither any trust or time to test new usage and to work out pricing.
Since the price for API usage seemed to have been designed to kill off 3rd party apps, most app developers preferred to shut down immediately, rather than to try and make things work in the short run -;if their pricing for their apps was off, they might have gauge financial problems, and if somehow it would have worked out, reddit could have raised fees anytime.
I understand. I read the Apollo developer's comments on this situation. I don't recall if he was treated unprofessionally, but I remember that the pricing structure was just untenable in his view because his API transaction volumes were so high.
I obviously don't know what the Reddit folks were thinking, but all of the information in all of the subs on Reddit is a valuable asset. It makes sense from a business perspective to want to optimize revenue/cost for that asset. I'm certain Reddit management traded the benefit of that revenue against loss of users and loss of third-party support. At the moment, their gamble seems to have paid off, but it's very early yet.