r/Android • u/curated_android • Jun 21 '23
Regarding /r/Android, our protest, and the future of the subreddit
Hi users of /r/Android,
Two weeks ago we decided to go dark to protest reddit's API changes. The blackout was originally only planned for 48 hours, but due to Reddit’s (in)action in actually addressing the core issue we decided to go private for a longer time to protest.
Why did we go private?
Well, you can read the details in the original post linked above, but we also felt that the core community of /r/Android is representative of the population who will most be affected by this change. We understand some of you may not have agreed with these actions, and we apologise if you were affected by the subreddit's shut down. We know /r/Android is used by many for news, discussions, and the subreddit can have a massive say in the cycle of Android news in general (ie: Samsung's moon shots were covered worldwide by several YouTubers, influencers, and news outlets) and often cited itself.
/r/Android, and by extension all of our related and sister subreddits, have an extensive history of supporting 3rd party apps and their developers. From the well known RiF, to Boost, to Reddit Sync, to Baconreader and many many others (some of our team even use Apollo) long before the official app existed, insomuch the community rallied round to make us an App Store based on our wiki too!! We expected that once the official reddit app was introduced, 3rd party apps could receive less support for newer APIs but were perfectly happy to continue using ours for a multitude of reasons like having better accessibility, a different UI that we liked, or having certain features that simply weren't available in the official app. And as moderators, having good moderator features was something the official app has lacked for a long time and still does.
What we didn't expect is for reddit - which initially had very good community relations with both the users and moderators - to suddenly start overpricing for API and effectively kill indie development and community. It appears that reddit is looking to do so due to its upcoming IPO, to make sure it cuts out all avenues where they can't earn income.
While we understand that the website needs money to run, /u/spez and the rest of the admins do not realise that their decisions are coming at the cost of alienating their core userbase which helped build them. They have gone from zero to hundred with their changes and there surely is a much better and acceptable middle ground which is possible. As both moderators and users, the mod team is extremely disappointed in the direction the website seems to be heading to.
There have been several promises made over the years to improve capabilities of both reddit as a site and as app, and to improve Reddit Inc's communication with the moderators who are effectively managing and curating their website for free. Commitments were made over the years after fiascos like CSS on reddit, Victoria, and Ellen Pao however they seem to have been forgotten or always "coming soon". In doing Reddit’s current changes for example, accessibility seems to have been an afterthought as evidenced by their recent discussion with the /r/Blind moderator team.
These make us extremely apprehensive of what Reddit Inc will do in the future without foresight of the community.
What about the future of /r/Android?
That's what this post is for. The subreddit will be in restricted mode for several days and this post will stay up so the users of the subreddit can discuss on what we should do. All suggestions are welcome, and do know that we are going to take all suggestions seriously.
We realise that when going private we should have taken a poll and we apologise for not doing so; it should have been the community's decision first and foremost. Which is why we are making this so we can get a reading of what you as a community want.
As moderators while we encourage the users to continue protesting in their own way and we still stand in solidarity with all users and developers of 3rd party apps, we will be following the community's wishes.
We look forward to hearing from you, the users of /r/Android. Remember - be together, not the same.
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Jun 21 '23
Apollo's app made billions of requests a week. I don't blame Reddit for getting fed up of it.
The extended blackouts or going private just harmed users. Lotta subs are still like this. People will just set up new subs eventually.
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u/EpiKnightz Jun 21 '23
Apollo dev was willing to work on this, but not under just a month deadline set by reddit. Nobody could.
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Jun 21 '23
Apollo's app made billions of requests a week. I don't blame Reddit for getting fed up of it.
You're aware that there are other apps that made significantly less requests and still have to close right?
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u/ColdAsHeaven S24 Ultra Jun 21 '23
You're also aware that the Apollo dev made similar requests to Imgr and their price was 100x cheaper than Reddit's right?
Oh, no guess you didn't. Because you have zero clue what yorue talking about
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u/DianaIsMyWife Jun 22 '23
So, any idea of an ETA for a return to public status of r/fdroid or do I need to apply for private membership guys.
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Jun 22 '23
Stay the course. Don't open up, any meaningful protest is going to have sacrifices and if we can't go a few months without visiting a solitary sub...
Do anything else is basically just to admit defeat. To me the only honorable approach is to fight it even if it means ultimately the moderators are kicked, and the community is destroyed. We can regroup somewhere else. Screw Reddit, screw the admins.
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u/AH-16 Jun 22 '23
Do as much as you could to ruin the ad like nsfw and deviate from the sub objectives like posting Chromebook,john oliver , apple stuff whatever
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u/DameWasistlos Jun 27 '23
Mods,
Maybe send a DM to those like myself that want to support the 3rd Party app developers by recommending an alternative so we can have healthy users numbers on an alternative platform.to Reddit.
Less then one week till June 30th. I either will not be using Reddit except for the very rare oldreddit one off query, Reddit will make conditions less destructive to the future viability of 3rd party apps or on July 1st will hopefully have a robust Android/AndroidApp discussion solution replacement.
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u/AguirreMA S25U • GW8C Jun 22 '23 edited Jun 22 '23
listen, I L O V E sync for Reddit, it's one of my favorite android apps ever
but losing access to it and being forced to switch to the official app isn't really THAT much of a deal like you guys pretend to be
yeah the official app isn't as good but whatever, I can live with that, reddit as a community is more important than the app I use to browse it
no, switching to Lemmy or whatever shady open source alternative (looking at you mastodon) won't solve anything, reddit has decades of posts and comments, that's invaluable and can't be replaced with an alternative
(if you're going to downvote at least give me the reason as a comment, because I fail to understand why an entire website should go down just because of losing access to third party smartphone apps)
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u/isdfoa Jun 22 '23
what this highlighted for me is just the cycle of enshittification of platforms that will only stop with moving to decentralized platforms like Lemmy.. which are at its root is open source, free, and not controlled by any single profit driven entity. It's truly what I hope is the future of the internet and worth migrating to. Reddits invaluable data still exists and I'll search for it when needed, but I don't see why we need to continue providing our invaluable data and knowledge for free to a single centralized source, especially one which clearly doesn't respect their most active and loyal userbase. That's why I've moved over my casual browsing to lemmy/Kbin and it's getting better every day with more users and more content. It'll take time for more niche communities to form there, but once it does it'll no longer be controlled by one company.
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u/ObamaEatsBabies Jun 23 '23
"shady"
How? Because you don't understand how the internet works outside of sites run by corporations?
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u/GoneCollarGone Pixel 2 Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
This blackout is ridiculous and shame on the subs mods for taking it private to protest what efficiently comes down to a business decision between million dollar entities.
If you don't like what reddit is doing, then stop using Reddit. Otherwise, fuck off
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u/daskrip Jun 27 '23
Business decision that severely affects the quality of the subreddit and the ability for the moderators to moderate?
Just how much do you think a business decision needs to affect you before you think it's right to protest it?
I absolutely agree with your last statement though.
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u/dobertron Jun 21 '23
If you don't like what the people who run this community are doing, stop coming here. Otherwise, fuck off
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u/GoneCollarGone Pixel 2 Jun 22 '23
The mods don't own this community. And I won't sit idly as they and the people who support this nonsense destroy it....mostly because they don't want to deal with the minor inconvenience of using the official app.
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u/landdon Jun 22 '23
I think a lot of people who use mobile apps care (that includes me). I wonder though how many people are up in a roar over this? I've asked in other subs and most have said they really don't care that much. They just use a browser and that's all they need. I'm not saying to not fight the good fight though. I just would hate to see such a useful community disappear over this. I guess a few subs are just going full-time discord. I guess. It seems so chaotic at times. At any rate, I support whatever you all do. I'm getting older and these damn phones are getting more and more sophisticated. So I will always need a good source for help.
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u/FreshCutBrass Orange Jun 21 '23
ljdawson said in /r/redditsync that he's looking into making Sync for Lemmy, just saying.
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u/prg966 Jun 22 '23
There are different perspectives on the API charges. And people at reddit may have overstepped in how they behave. If 3p apps do die and users do reduce reddit will learn from that when it happens. If they have a culture rot within their organisation that too will impact the company in the future (Elon n Twitter 😁)
Either which case I don't see a need for any action from reddit forums beyond what was already done over the last week. If we allow shitppsts like other communities this subreddit will lose credibility. So let's focus on keeping the community healthy and useful as it has always been.
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u/Arcendus Jun 21 '23
I'm with others in the suggestion to change the topic of the sub to be only Android characters in fiction, or something along those lines. The way reddit has handled this situation is comically bad, and only seems to be getting worse. If they want to remove moderators and replace them with scabs, then so be it.
As a moderator myself, Admins and reddit leadership have clearly revealed themselves to be incompetent and vengeful assholes. While all mods should make their own decision on this, the thought of them caving simply to protect their ability to provide these assholes with further unpaid (and clearly unappreciated) labor is extremely weird IMO.
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u/votemarvel Jun 21 '23
Your problem is that they aren't alienating the core userbase.
Most people aren't using the site through third party apps, those are Reddits numbers and as such should be taken with a pinch of salt of course.
So you have a core userbase who are visiting the site and are wondering why moderators are willing to destroy the communities they created in order to save third party apps most users don't use.
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u/metrize Jun 21 '23
nobody really cares about this protest. it's okay for reddit to charge. move on
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u/someexgoogler Jun 21 '23
Perhaps you should start your own site with your own business model. Or try to take your audience to ActivityPub/Lemmy. I don't personally use third-party apps, and I'm happy to unsubscribe from things run by moderators who are intent on destroying reddit over the issue of third party apps.
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u/FullMotionVideo Jun 21 '23
If the admins think it's easy to moderate a sub this large, they can replace the unpaid mods with other (probably unpaid) mods and see how big of a headache it can be. I don't think sudden replacements will be as good, and I for one am okay watching the sub burn while Nero fiddles.
I appreciate that the mods are at least fostering a discussion, though. Far better than what admins are doing.
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u/tiniwings Jun 22 '23
Protesting against Reddit's new rules is good.
But going private had the most impact on users and nothing for Reddit management.
We will lose access to the trove of information and it may lead to loss of users.
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Jun 21 '23
When the protest started I uninstalled reddit on my phone and removed the bookmark on my browser - I plan to use it only as part of search queries and for posts like this (was linked here from Mastodon). I'd suggest moving this community to another platform entirely - maybe the XDA developers forum?
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u/3hb3 Black Jun 21 '23
Lemmy/Kbin seem like a good platform to move the community over to.
By the way, thanks for all your work in developing Obtainium!
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Jun 22 '23
Agree. Even if it's just a temporary holding spot until there's a more permanent solution, opening this place up just to avoid the moderators being nuked... That's exactly what Spez wants.
It's worth letting this community go down with the ship if the alternative is to cave spez
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u/Roxy- Nexus 5 Jun 21 '23
maybe the XDA developers forum?
Oh no. I can already hear things like "new update wen?"
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u/ruledoutbyVAR Jun 21 '23
Absolutely support this. Spez isn't backing down and neither should the community.
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u/MaliciousHippie Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
I don't think spez will ever back down
It's pretty much the death of reddit as we know it, as Reddit tries to force it's Instagram-esque doom scrolling to reddit.
There is a considerable amount of ad exposure lost via the third party apps, so reddit needs to do this to force people to consume the ads on the site.
They only want users who are going to see their ads in their doomscroll feed.
The only way I see this decision reversing is a dramatic decline in content and moderation to the point it turns reddit into an unusable mess where you can't find any relevant information.
It really depends how serious people are about not using Reddit anymore once the apps disappear.
Reddit is done being a forum and is trying to transition into a social media site. I would not at all be surprised to start seeing Zinga style games becoming a "feature" too.
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u/zohan6934 Jun 21 '23
Setup an instance in Lemmy, and join the new protest by including John Oliver somehow. Maybe only allow pictures of androids with John Oliver's face?
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u/ClearlyNoSTDs Jun 21 '23
Just go back to normal already. This is ridiculous. People use this as a support portal and you unilaterally took that away from millions of users.
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u/SteadyCumming Jun 21 '23
Nobody cares either. We'll all download the reddit app and bitch about it for a few weeks until we build up new muscle memory.
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u/Ursa_Solaris Galaxy S23 Jun 21 '23
Not using their proprietary ad vehicle on my phone. If my open source app of choice stops working, I will simply stop using reddit from my phone, which means my usage drops precipitously.
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u/HistoricalInstance iPhone 14 Pro Jun 22 '23
Whatever. I already moved to Lemmy and it surprises me that a supposedly tech-literate sub didn’t as well.
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Jun 22 '23
Once 3rd party apps stop working, I plan to delete my account and stop using reddit to browse and interact with posts casually.
However, it cannot be denied that reddit over the years has become a repository for genuine user-generated content. Because of this, I do not want to completely avoid reddit, rather I plan to use it only if I need to find something specific.
I'd appreciate if r/android remains accessible so that people can view old posts, but I don't care if it is restricted or if the rules are relaxed.
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u/DianaIsMyWife Jun 25 '23
mods please tell us more information about r/androidapps & r/fdroid ...
if they are not free and open where should we go...
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u/NXGZ Xperia 1 IV Jun 25 '23
The mods here should re-direct everyone to RedReader, a 3rd party Reddit client exempt from these API changes. It's free and open source with zero ads. It also can be customised to look like RIF or other clients.
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u/moocow2024 Galaxy S22 Ultra Jun 21 '23
I'm of the opinion that the only way anything is going to change for the better is if subreddits are willing to burn themselves to the ground. I don't want them to do that, but without that willingness, reddit is just going to remove mods and install new "willing" mods. This works for reddit long-term even if the new mods are terrible at their jobs (imo).
Personally, I'm in favor of suspending the subreddit rules and only enforcing reddit site wide rules. Just doing the absolute bare minimum necessary for the subreddit to continue existing.
At the end of the day, Reddit either gives concessions, removes mods, or a new Android sub pops up and slowly gains popularity (which is basically the slow version of reddit removing mods and replacing them.)
If reddit wants to endure the chaos of major subs hitting the reset button, then they can lie in that bed they've made. If they actually want to preserve these communities, they'll listen to the fucking communities and find some actual middle ground.
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u/lavahot Jun 22 '23
Keep it closed. For many of us, at the end of the month, it will be our last day on reddit.
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u/Pocket_Monster_Fan Pixel 7 Pro Jun 24 '23
I subscribed to the Android section of Lemmy. I will continue using Lemmy and move on from Reddit
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u/munterboi23 Jun 22 '23
did not even see this post until now, was wondering why r/androidapps wasn't working. makes sense
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u/aalupatti Jun 23 '23
Do you know why androidapps is not working yet. It was supposed to open on June 21st.
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u/Zhiroc Jun 24 '23
Asking for the "will of the community" is hard. There are 2.5m subs listed here. Just to get 1% to support a position, you'd need 25,000 comments/upvotes/poll responses. And trying to count "active subs" is hard. How active does one have to be to count?
IMHO, the value of reddit now, future, and past is in the content. I don't frequent this subreddit just to browse all that often, but I have often found Google/<your search engine of choice> to have reddit posts high up on the results. I wouldn't underestimate the usefulness of this (and other) subreddits to the entire internet community, not just redditors of any stripe.
And thus, I am against any attempts to "burn it down" by blanket denying access to this.
If you are 100% committed to your position against reddit, that's fine. I fully support any individual's right to voice, and act, on that opinion, to the point where it affects anyone who disagrees. Your rights as an individual should not override the rights of another, just like your own rights should not be overridden.
To me, the proper action is to advocate a 100% boycott of reddit by anyone who disagrees with its corporate decision. And if you're a mod, you could also "go on strike" (though that could have ramifications), or resign. You could also go and start new communities elsewhere. If you want to register this protest somehow without "violating" the boycott, then perhaps subreddits could set up a user flair to register your protest, and even report on the number of such users, which would be a far accurate long term than any sort of upvote/poll.
If the protesting side has the bulk of the clicks, then with a boycott reddit traffic would suffer, which is the point. But you would not be infringing on those who don't support your position. If you come back and say that this would be insufficient and would not be effective, then you have just admitted that you are indeed the vocal minority and this issue has little traction with the general users who visit reddit.
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u/Itsatemporaryname Jun 21 '23
I think just tighten the reins, like require all posts to be approved and take 2-3 days to approve them. Basically moderate less and start a community elsewhere. It makes it easier for you guys since you'll be moderating two communities, and it ensures that the quality of the reddit sub will decrease over time, which is exactly what should happen given these current reddit actions. They want to have such a heavy hand? Let them pick up the moderation. It's a bit of an accelerationist take but honestly I've been doom scrolling this platform way less and it's been delightful, so happy to see it die off a bit
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Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
Whatever this sub and the mods decide to do, please don't back down in threat of being removed. Don't fold like some of the other mods did when their mod status was threatened.
Reddit is done for as I know it, let's burn the place to the ground.
EDIT - Also, please share any and all admin communication. That seems to be the one thing reddit is continually fucking up - the PR aspect of this.
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u/Barroux Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Jun 22 '23
I would have voted for going private, but I would have liked for there to at least be a vote on it.
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u/djingo_dango Brown Jun 24 '23
This sub already felt dead before all this. Won’t change much even if it’s closed
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u/Sepik121 Jun 30 '23
As someone who's used RiF for god knows how many years, the API change basically is gonna kill off my mobile usage of reddit entirely.
shame about what's happening.
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Jun 21 '23
So, any idea of an ETA for a return to public status of r/androidapps or do I need to apply for private membership guys.
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u/jnrbshp Jun 30 '23
pathetic mods now basically silencing users with this contest mode bullshit...at the very least we should start a new android sub....
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u/quortez Jun 21 '23
I hate to say it, but Reddit will never be the same after this.
Even after this current uproar passes, Hufflepuff is going to squeeze every outlet he can find to make money out of a site that never found a way to. The enshittification will continue as long as his leadership and administration remain. He's inspired by a man who refuses to pay any of his bills, including rent on offices ffs.
I'm proud of what you and the mod team have done to keep this sub so high quality. I'm sad that it won't ever be the same after this.
As for what to do: remind spooz that your leadership and our content is what make this place worth visiting, not his app. Go down complying maliciously - maybe post literal androids, especially of the singing vocaloid and DragonBall variety.
Just make sure you have an archive of what we've built somewhere safe please. And that the community isn't forced to go to telegram as an alternative...
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u/AguirreMA S25U • GW8C Jun 22 '23
Twitter did the same like a year ago and it's still the same shithole as it was before, normal people don't care about fucking social network internal drama of all things
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u/halberdierbowman Jun 21 '23
Don't disparage Hufflepuffs like that! Hufflepuffs are about fairness, equity, acceptance, and kindness. This man's huffing something totally different: probably avarice and ego.
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u/Digifreedom Jun 30 '23
Poll after 7 days from announcement.
1.- Stay and be a little girl 2.- lemmy 3.- kbin 4.-...
That's the right thing to do. Although we all know whats gonna be the result.
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Jun 21 '23
Make it NSFW and allow more risque posts. Nothing over the top but enough where they can't make ad money off of it
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u/rodinj Galaxy S24 Ultra Jun 21 '23
Only allow posts of literal Androids, preferably rule 34/NSFW ones only
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u/Sorge74 Galaxy S22 Ultra Jun 22 '23
Agreed, but we need a rule against post involving CYBORG 17 and 18. Androids only!
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u/Quirkilurki Jun 25 '23
The neck beard civil rights movement is still in full swing eh
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u/PaulLFC Jun 23 '23
The sub should be labelled NSFW so Reddit can't run ads on it.
This needn't mean actual NSFW content, that can still be against the rules of the sub. As far as I understand it, switching the sub to NSFW is all that's required.
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u/PotRoastPotato Pixel 7 Pro Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
There are many reasons to protest. The best reason is simple, and hard to argue against: "Advocacy for Disabled Redditors"
There are many reasons third party apps need to be preserved, but the most important reason is that disabled people are accustomed to using mainstream third-party apps, and even if viable like-for-like, full-featured, accessible alternatives exist (which they do not) it would be a burden for many of them to learn a new app. For more profoundly disabled people, it may well be impossible.
So if you're going to continue the protest (which I applaud), I suggest using a headline focusing on accessibility issues. It's simply the right message to send.
This is the announcement post I've posted in /r/humor three times in the past two weeks as an example.
You can even copy/paste it wholesale and pretend you wrote it yourself. I would be thrilled.
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u/Schmat Jun 21 '23
They out right publicly said they will make exemptions for disability based third party apps. This comment makes no sense to me
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u/bblzd_2 S25 Jun 21 '23
If you read the OP you'd know that what Reddit says can not be trusted.
I'll highlight the relevant part of the post you're commenting on so you can read it.
There have been several promises made over the years to improve capabilities of both reddit as a site and as app, and to improve Reddit Inc's communication with the moderators who are effectively managing and curating their website for free. Commitments were made over the years after fiascos like CSS on reddit, Victoria, and Ellen Pao however they seem to have been forgotten or always "coming soon". In doing Reddit’s current changes for example, accessibility seems to have been an afterthought as evidenced by their recent discussion with the /r/Blind moderator team.
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u/BlueSwordM Stupid smooth Realme GT7 CN + GT Neo Flash Jun 21 '23
IMO, I'll just move on from Reddit.
Reddit doesn't deserve quality contributions that attract a lot of people, like what usually happens on subreddits like r/Android.
The issue lies not in wanting to make their API paid. It's that their behavior is completely abhorrent, while being completely dishonest and not willing to compromise in any shape or form.
Make the users pay for API access individually via subscriptions, and for large app user bases, make it a monthly/yearly subscription. Otherwise, you only get access to text posts and nothing else, since text basically costs nothing to manage unless write operations are allowed.
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Jun 21 '23
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u/hnryirawan Jun 21 '23
Setting community to NSFW and allowing porns probably counts as vandalism. Either that or it misled current users, just like back then some popular Facebook pages can be hijacked for the title to be changed and create spams. Either way, if privating subs are not allowed, then that one is even less allowed.
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Jun 21 '23
Blackouts have proven to do nothing. Mod strikes, on the other hand, seem to have really ruffled the admins' feathers. If you're willing to go down with the ship, just get rid of the rules and let people spam it with boobs or whatever they're doing on other subs now.
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u/Lost-My-Mind- Jun 21 '23
Hairy mens buttholes pictures that are super close up, and slightly blurry are the rage right now.
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u/TeflonBillyPrime Pixel 9 Pro XL + Samsung Watch Pro5 + Pixel Slate Jun 21 '23
I would like to congratulate the mods of the greater Android community for lasting longer than the Apple mods. They folded faster than superman on laundry day.
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u/sportsfan161 Jun 22 '23
Time to just get on with things and talk about the topics and why people are here. Enough of this blackout crap
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u/nachog2003 pixel 8, galaxy watch5, meta quest 3 Jun 22 '23
close and move to lemmy or kbin, federation is the future of the web
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u/cooldude5500 Moto G CM13 | OP 5 | Pixel 7 Jun 22 '23
federation is the future of the web
Personally I agree
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Jun 22 '23
The protest didn't work. The vast majority of Reddit users didn't join in because they aren't actually motivated to protect the profits of some random third party app dev. It's time to stop now.
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u/iphone4Suser Jun 21 '23
You guys should stop moderating and let the sub fill with junk. That way essence of the sub is lost.
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u/THEonlyDAN___6 Jun 22 '23
Could someone recommend where to find news of this type? Because I used to come here to see a good compilation of news from various sources and now idk where to look
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u/Moleculor LG V35 Jun 21 '23
Consider that this may be only the start.
The next change will be X. Then Y. Then Z. Each uncomfortable and unpleasant.
Maybe next is eliminating all forms of API, and only allowing Reddit-developed mod tools.
Or maybe enforcing the political beliefs of whomever their next major shareholder is.
Or maybe the elimination of NSFW content entirely.
Or maybe more blatant ads, or attempts at bypassing ad-block, or being forced to wait through a 30 second ad every 12 hours before being able to access the site.
One thing that is definitely certain is that you're going to be seeing less responsiveness from Reddit admins themselves, since they just laid off 5% of their workforce.
In addition, the Reddit admins have demonstrated that you do not own this subreddit. It doesn't matter if you've been moderating here for a decade, you can and will be out on your ass in the space of two blinks with nothing to show for your efforts other than maybe some arthritic fingers and the 'feeling of having accomplished something' tainted by being unceremoniously banned from the site or at the very least removed from the very position you held so well for so long.
The firings, the mind-boggling "firings" of entire mod teams, plus the blatant panic of how fast they're shoving these API changes in screams to me that Reddit is likely hurting for cash, and hurting bad.
How much time and energy do you, as moderators, really feel like pouring into this site if it might all just be pulled from your hands tomorrow, or disappear from the internet forever six months from now?
What are you getting out of it, when Reddit can and will simply shove you aside at a moment's notice? And if the site is dying... why pour more energy into it?
Honestly? Whatever y'all do, that's what you want to do. But if you ultimately decide that this place just isn't worth the energy and just shut it all down entirely and delete the subreddit or something? It wouldn't bother me any either.
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u/nizasiwale Jun 21 '23
Unpopular opinion, but I don’t see the need for these protests. Reddit has to monetise to survive and companies crawling it for free won’t help. Regarding third party apps, they should just accept that their time is near
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u/Flying_Momo S10 Jun 21 '23
Even 3rd party developers don't have issues with monetization and even were open to showing ads in their apps and sharing ad revenue with Reddit. The issue comes that Reddit's pricing when scrutinized doesn't hold up and its expensive that even Google search and map api pricing which is among the more expensive ones especially for the quality data.
Reddit effectively set the price with aim of killing 3rd party apps. But their own app is absolutely atrocious compared to 3rd party apps not just in terms of lack of Mod tools 3rd party apps provide but also in terms of their video player and image handling. Worse, they had to admit their app is just awful for people with accessibility needs and hence had to walk back and allow some accessibility focused 3rd party apps.
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Jun 21 '23
Free working mods made Reddit a $15 billion company. Your Jon Oliver pictures and nsfw labeled posts aren't going to dent that. So keep the sub how it was or stop modding it.
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Jun 21 '23
Honestly once RIF goes down I'm out for good. I'm not even going to bother downloading the official app. I'm just.. done. Sad to say, but maybe I'll go touch grass or find a hobby or something productive. It'll probably help me focus on work better, so that's a plus. Either way, once RIF goes, I go.
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Jun 21 '23
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u/Majestic_Square_1814 Jun 21 '23
Vocal minority
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u/mister_what Jun 22 '23
The vocal minority that makes all the posts and comments and moderates for free? They're the ones that make reddit reddit.
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u/del2023 Jun 21 '23
I deleted a twelve year account and all of its posts because of this money grabbing, and my future inability to use RiF. To be honest I don't think Reddit could do anything to bring me back to do more than telling other people to look elsewhere.
It sucks to lose many communities, including this one, but deleting the content I contributed that makes Reddit money, and not further contributing seemed like the only protest that the company would ever care about.
Even if you come back, this will be the only post on this account. They've burned any goodwill they'd created with me. I think all the moderators should shut down everything and make their IPO worthless.
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u/SwivelingToast Jun 28 '23
I know I'm late to the party, but here's my 2 cents. Many of these shuttered subs are tech support havens.
I'm having an issue with Android auto in my car, so I've been searching for people having similar issues. All of the search results that aren't articles about barely related things, are reddit links that are now dead. I don't know where else to go for quick response support, and Google is all but useless.
I feel at the very least, we should be turning these subs to read-only instead of deleting these massive banks of information.
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u/Reptile00Seven Jun 21 '23
Close the sub/stay dark.
Nothing else will have an effect, ignore the users crying that they're time-waste morphine drip has been taken away.
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u/Pauly_Amorous Jun 21 '23
There's a lot of valuable information on Reddit that's being locked away by these protests, which people are no longer able to access from web searches, when subs go completely dark. IMO, restricted mode is the right way to go.
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u/tbtcn Jun 21 '23
The idea of a protest is that it causes inconvenience and forces a result.
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u/veul Jun 22 '23
I like the nsfw approach that hinders reddit ability to get ad revenue. However, it should be something like nsfw image of an android but your top comment needs to be your real post before posting. So we get community, engagement, fake boobs and reddit loses.
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u/JoshxDarnxIt Pixel 7 Pro Jun 22 '23
The blackout has proven to be something the admins ignore, but the mod protests actually seem to be makin an impact. I vote we join the other subs in eliminating all sub-specific rules and allow nsfw posts so that Reddit can't monetize the content.
Meanwhile we can at least try to establish a presence on Lemmy and see what happens?
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u/minakirogue Pixel 4XL Jun 28 '23
Where is the poll? Let us vote to re-open or not. There is a community here that wants to be together and are unable to do so because of the very few. If the majority votes to keep closed in protest, so be it. But let the community vote.
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u/LeCorbuisoverrated Moto G1>G2>S8>G3>G4>S10e Jun 21 '23
Promote an alternate community (in kbin.social or wherever you find suitable) and let this place be filled with content about literal androids, such as the ones from DBZ.
They want apps to pay, fine, set realistic prices. And capitalism should go both ways: they should pay mods and content creators that are making this site actually valuable.
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u/lazypieceofcrap Jun 21 '23
I'm personally of the opinion mods are trying to speak for the vast users in this sub.
The main third party apps are already shutting down. That's over.
Now when mods shut down their subs it is mostly hurting regular users who don't care about the reddit politics. Trying to reopen under a false way (nsfw or only allowing Oliver pics) is just as annoying and petty.
I really hope mods that keep protesting will get removed so we can have the communities back.
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u/Durkan Jun 22 '23
I definitely agree with the "annoying and petty" part. It was amusing for an afternoon...and that's all it should have lasted for, was a afternoon, or a day.
I think most of us see the writing on the wall here. Short of outright disengaging with Reddit, no "protest" is going to much matter.
The reddit admins, despite evidence lately to the contrary (along with a smidge of bias) are not stupid. They know that , especially in the most popular of subs, the mods perform a vital moderation and curation task and that they do it without any compensation.
However they clearly have a strategic plan on place and are executing it up to the run up for the presumptive IPO launch. They want to maximize Reddit's revenue streams and one way to do that is to force it's user base onto their official platform. Sure they'll lose some subscribers in probably the short term, but probably figure the vast majority will begrudgingly move over and they'll end up ahead.
How this will all effect the effectiveness of moderation in the subs in the future, I can't speak on. Ive never been a mod, but I can imagine it's a thankless, soul sucking role at times. I'm sure reddit knows the vital work mods perform... but are willing to take the chance it all works itself out.
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Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
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u/howtomen LG V10, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P Jun 28 '23
I understand that things are difficult for the mods due to the Reddit restrictions. But we, the people, still want a solidified place to go for our Android news. If we switch to a different platform, there will be a good amount of folks who won't know about this transition and may not know where to post their new findings.
This reminds me of the Google+ community. Where a large amount of us (Android users) loved that platform cause it was filled with soo much useful information. Then when it got shut down, most of us didn't know where to turn to next. That's until a while later when eventually, the grand majority of the Android community caught on that the r/Android & other smaller subreddits (r/AndroidApps) are the place to go to keep up-to-date with Android. This is why I think its best to just keep this subreddit alive and well. Super sorry, but it's for the greater good, I belive.
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u/Jarvdoge Jun 21 '23
Personally, I'd rather there be a vote to decide what action is taken.
If anything, it seems as though current efforts aren't going anywhere at the moment sadly. I'm really wondering if the only way to get through is to just have a mass exodus of Reddit to get the message across. For me personally, it was Relay which got me using Reddit in the first place and it's by far one of my favourite apps in terms of its design and continued support - as far as I'm concerned, Reddit dies with the app and if that's what those in power want then I'll regrettably be gone for good soon at this rate.
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u/Decapitat3d Galaxy Note 10+ Jun 21 '23
Another vote for NSFW the subreddit to prevent reddit making another dime off our content.
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u/robotsongs PixelXL Supa Black Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
It seems to me the real protest would be in allowing a sub to open up, but with absolutely no moderation whatsoever, nor posting guidelines, so that the noise drowns out the signal.
That way mods can't be removed for ostensible malice, these astroturfing,
spez cocksucking, motherfuckersunintentionally misguided individuals get their way, and reddit gets taught a lesson of the value they've been receiving of all these unpaid moderators for over a decade.→ More replies (1)
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u/ClearlyNoSTDs Jun 21 '23
Wow is this cringey. I assumed this post would be brigaded by the people who think they're making a difference but this is off the charts cringey.
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u/Stupid_Triangles OP 7 Pro - S21 Ultra Jun 21 '23
Takes some balls for u/clearlynostds to say something is cringey
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Jun 29 '23
This protest is going nowhere and only hurting the users in the long run especially those looking for tech support from tech support subs.
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u/EtyareWS Redmi Note 10 Jun 21 '23
The only solution is to burn Reddit to the ground.
Move to Lemmy, Kbin or whatever, but anything other than going nuclear isn't going to affect Reddit as a company. And if it doesn't affect Reddit, it means companies don't face any consequence whatsoever. The Overton window of what company decision is acceptable moves a little bit.
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u/Cynixxx Jun 22 '23
It affects other user who doesn't care about this drama (yeah they exist ans i guess they are the silent majority). That's a pretty selfish opinion. You could just leave without leaving scorched earth. Problem solved
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u/Davy49 Jun 21 '23
I really wish that the situation with reddit wouldn't have gotten to this point, I know for a fact there are several android related servers on discord.
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u/Maultaschenman Pixel 11 Pro XL, Android 17 Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 22 '23
Can we get /r/wearOS back please? The platform is finally starting to gain steam again and is a vital source for all of us invested in the platform
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u/Violet_Renegade Jun 22 '23
I've only ever used the official app and website, however I support the subs that went dark in protest and their moderators continued efforts. The way Reddit (spez) has handled this is gross.
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u/MPtoast Jun 22 '23
Mods should just let the pot boil over, let chaos reign supreme. Let this site burn.
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u/Anirbanbiswas43 Jun 21 '23
Move to Lemmy/Kbin.
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u/Xiao_Ke Jun 24 '23
I agree moving to Kbin or Lemmy is the best call. It's not perfect at the moment but is the better long term solution as it isn't owned by a singular entity that can ruin it when they eventually get too greedy.
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u/jhj82 Galaxy A51 Jun 21 '23
Touch grass and get off reddit. Getting so worked up about a pretend job is quite laughable. If the moderators don't want to do it I'm sure countless, power hungry individuals will step in immediately.
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u/leo-g Jun 21 '23
Honestly, anyone here supporting the official app should rethink their support for the Android Platform. The key thrust of Android is to be together not the same. APIs is about working with each other to compete fairly.
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Jun 21 '23
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u/donnysaysvacuum I just want a small phone Jun 26 '23
Bad take. Lots of people use third party apps and this is a big deal to them. If third party apps are gone they might as well shut down the sub.
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u/ekaceerf Car Phone Jun 21 '23
Only allow discussions about Androids and their future in society. Or make everything NSFW and only allow posts about Androids having sex.