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Hey gentlewizards, did you hear about this? Reddit has recently gone up in arms after the site recently announced that it will begin charging for access to its API. Yeah, apparently, they need more money to keep the servers running and pay for all the juicy stuff being scraped by AI.
Anyway, this change has angered developers and users alike. Many subreddits are going dark in protest and popular apps like Apollo for Reddit will be shutting down. That's right, no more Apollo for Reddit. Which is a shame, because I really liked that app. It was the only way I could browse Reddit without seeing all the ads for Viagra and Russian brides.
But hey, maybe this is a good thing. Maybe this will make people spend less time on Reddit and more time on productive things, like watching YouTube videos or playing Candy Crush. Or maybe they'll just switch to another platform. Like Twitter or Facebook or TikTok. Or maybe they'll just go back to reading books and newspapers and magazines. Or maybe they'll just stare at the wall and cry. I don't know, anything is a better fate than being on reddit.
Anyway, I thought I'd give my thoughts on this, because quite frankly, there's no point in getting upset over behavior that's about as predictable as a story generated by ChatGPT.
Reddit is a corporation. Worse, it's a multi-billion dollar corporation. They have expert financial advisors in their arsenal. They can get away with making decisions that many would consider "stupid" at first glance...but financially, they're not that stupid. They know it won't hurt in the end, and no matter how much you scream and pout, statistics show you're in the minority.
We saw it with Google when they made all their stupid decisions with YouTube. We saw it with Microsoft when they made all their stupid decisions with Windows. What makes you think reddit is any different?
Your little outrage is cute and all, but corporations are not your friend. They only care about themselves and maximizing profits. They always have been. Hopefully this will be your wake-up call.
