Jeez. The speed at which I've gone from "man it sucks that Apollo is shutting down but I still really enjoy Reddit and will suffer the first-party client" to "wow, Reddit is really trying to destroy their service and it's probably best I don't invest any more time there" is insane... going to draft up some thoughts and a probable farewell message for my frequented subs and followers there. End of an era.
this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2023
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Stages of grief Speedrun any%
It's one thing to test a new idea or a UX tweak or similar on a small portion of users - but just turning off a key way to access your service is so just so weird to me. How many of Reddit's decisions at this point are some version of, "hey, how angry do they get? What can we get away with?"
People need to understand that this is about tracking your eyeballs. Reddit viewed on a webpage does not provide the metadata they want. What metadata does the app provide? Things you wouldn't think about wanting as a human, but the aggregate is very valuable.
Stuff like how long did you watch that video Ad? Where did you click on screen and at what time? What content were you viewing and what course of action did you take to get there? Web viewing only shows the landing page you arrived on reddit from and the exit page that took you away from reddit. Performing these actions in the app provides metadata cookie crumbs like a trail of roach shit to every single thing you've done on reddit in micro activities.
I'm not sure. I've worked at companies using amplitude and hotjar that can record all click event and sessions on web
Users can block those with extensions so the data isn't as reliable
That's probably a big part. Web browsers can do ad blocking. Within the official Reddit app that's way more difficult.
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Honestly this is so absurd it's funny. Peak business brain to think that people in 2023 are willing to download an app and register an account to simply access content.
It's unbelievable how's user hostile all of these major site have become. I deleted my 11 year old Reddit account today and while it hurt a little it's important that we send a message and not use Reddit at least until they repeal this bullshit.
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They're tearing it down one brick at a time!
I can honestly say since Twitter did this I’ve hardly ever used it
They just keep digging
Reddit is officially on a bankruptcy speedrun.
Reddit's unwavering stubbornness to continue spiraling is just plain sad. What a way to go.
Reddit had so much community favor too. The whole awards thing was born from people wanting support the website. If they really struggle to make money could have rolled out an optional subscription or something with a message that everyone would have fallen for. The incompetence is incredible.
This is the natural result of having MBAs make any decision
Between this and Twitter, I feel like "enshittification" is really the word of the past year. It's incredible to watch these massive social networks completely turn on their users in the name of profit.
They were always going to. The pre-enshittification stage of a modern capitalist website consists of burning VC money to collect users to later exploit.
Twitter probably opened the floodgates when they managed to shaft users and cut API access without outright killing themselves. Now everyone else is emboldened to ask "why can't we do that too?".
*without outright killing themselves YET.
Steve saw Elon's work at twitter and thought, "Watch me. I can ruin a company faster."
Honestly, mobile browing (even using old.reddit) has been garbage for years because they detect your mobile OS and constantly try to push their app on you. Click on link, do you want to open in mobile app? let me open the playstore for you. And then you also get limited comments. To see more comments open in mobile app... You could do a case study in how to alienate your customers into leaving your platform on just mobile browsing reddit.
They're really trying to speedrun killing their site lmao
Monetization at all costs it seems. They really want that IPO bag.
They already made the mobile site practically unusable by constantly reminding you to use the app. The mobile browsing experience was just terrible. They can just show the same adds in the mobile browser...
Ironically, I'd just set my browser to desktop mode, and use the old reddit desktop interface. The more they modernized, the more entrenched I become.
Not surprised. They need to milk every last drop of revenue from their users free content for the upcoming IPO.
Having already rather violently shot himself in both feet, spez has started aiming for his other body parts.
I am not aware of Reddit experimenting with blocking mobile browsers. However, it's important to note that information and developments can change over time.
To get the most accurate and up-to-date information about Reddit's policies or any potential changes related to blocking mobile browsers, I recommend checking official Reddit announcements, news articles, or Reddit community discussions that might provide insights into any recent developments. Additionally, you can visit Reddit's official website or their support pages for any official statements regarding this matter.
This happening in the middle of the API gate seems like a pretty dumb move, even for Reddit.
Blocking all mobile access except for the official client is the whole point of “API gate”. Don’t want people to just fall back on something with equally poor monetization, gotta show them all the ads.
Are they legally allowed to just do that? Just shadow ban certain users temporarily for an 'experiment'?
If so... Why is that legally allowed??
This is both informative and unfortunate.
I, for one, welcome my Louis Rossmann overlord.
Earlier today, I was reviewing some Lemmy information in Google, and one of the links was to Reddit. I didn't think anything of it, but I clicked and saw the message that's given to mobile users saying you have to view NSFW content in the Reddit app. Fine, I've got the garbage app installed already for situations just like this. I click the link, and it throws an error stating my third party app (Boost, in this case) must be uninstalled in order to open links in Reddit.
No it doesn't, Reddit. And why do you care what's installed on my phone?
Check the app permissions, and revoke the one that allows it to see other installed apps. In fact, revoke everything it shouldn't have.
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Reddit speedrun to ruin their site
What were they thinking doing this experiment in the heat of the third-party app protest?? Are they trying to aim for their foot?
They are trying to force users into their app is what they were thinking.
Some asshole at Deloitte is going to make a ton of money writing case studies about this.
And someone from McKinsey & Co. is currently making money from this as a consultant
Don't worry, PwC will make a ton of money when they're asked to help cut costs after this crashes and burns.
Are they actively trying to make people stop using the site?
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