COMMUNITY DISCUSSION: API Protest Blackout

[u/thisdodobird]

Degooglers:

We originally planned to go dark only for Monday and Tuesday in support of the protest against Reddit's API price changes, which seem crafted deliberately to destroy third-party clients. But Reddit CEO Steve Huffman raised the stakes considerably when he distributed a memo which included the following text:

We have not seen any significant revenue impact so far and we will continue to monitor.

There’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen. Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well.

Personally, I probably wouldn't have given much attention to the API price increase until I realized how it affects the disabled communities. I am disabled myself and I, like millions of others, know how it feels like to be marginalized in the name of profits or inconvenience to the powers that be.

This underhanded methods (raising "prices" to the point that they're utterly unaffordable) and then the characterizing widespread user protest as "noise" to ignore until it "blows over" has hardened my resolve to see this to the end. I don't intend on backing down.

However, I don't own this sub. I love it, I contribute to it, and I moderate it, but I don't own it. We all, as /r/degoogle contributors, own the sub collectively. So we're opened up again in Restricted mode for 24 hours (2023-06-17 01:00 to 2023-06-18 01:00, GMT+3) to get direct community input.

I sincerely hope that Reddit's management publicly acknowledges its debt to Reddit's users and starts taking their issues seriously, in which case we can simply reopen the sub and go back to business as usual. But it seems foolish to ignore the possibility that Reddit management will continue doubling down, so it's time to start talking about long term options.

Below, you'll find comments with our options moving forward, so long as Reddit management continues to ignore and belittle widespread user protest:

• Return to blackout (Private mode) indefinitely
• Remain in Restricted mode (no new posts) indefinitely
• Reopen r/degoogle immediately
• Close the sub permanently, and create a new home for the community elsewhere

Please upvote whichever option(s) you prefer—and/or you may also use downvotes to express disapproval of options you want no part of. If you feel strongly about the topic, please talk about your decision in the talk thread here as well: your comment in the talk thread is, essentially, a "signed" vote, and the opinions of folks who have been active in the sub mean the most.

Regardless of what happens with the sub, I will not personally continue to moderate or participate if Reddit management stays as arrogant as it is right now. My days as a moderator and user of this platform will come to a permanent end along with many others who have decided on the same.

Thank you all.

[u/thisdodobird]

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[u/thisdodobird]

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