Assuming you're serious, I'm curious why you think Reddit's CEO shouldn't be chastised under that same category. Selling ads next to user-generated content, rent seeking with demands of extortionate API fees to serve that content, relying on unpaid volunteers to operate the site, proudly shipping terrible first-party UX, all while providing zero additional value sure doesn’t sound like a sustainable business. But maybe it’s the `hard hitting memo` obstinacy of a CEO that seems the biggest feature here?
2) Building and maintaining an API is as rent seeking as building any kind of subscription service, I don’t see the issue.
3) Why would you pay a volunteer? They’re volunteering. In exchange they wield incredible power over the community, which is the real reason they volunteer.
4) The UX sucks, but there’s still old.reddit.com, so you have options.
5) What additional value can be provided? It’s a giant forum and people post comments, there’s not much more you need, that is the value.
Third party apps can just raise their fees and users will pay a couple more dollars. But it’s not about money, it’s about power. Reddit users are very entitled and care more about optics. They don’t want to surrender a fist full of dollars for a website they use everyday and probably are addicted to.
Charging for the API wouldn't be a problem if it was either cheap and short term notice, or expensive and long term notice. The biggest problem is that it is both extremely short term notice (a month) and expensive as hell. You don't do this in good faith if the goal is to provide a sustainable business; you do it if you want to kill the API, but have a fallback "despite our best efforts" angle to work in PR pieces.
Providing a per app, per user API key would be the most sustainable way of doing business with 3rd party app developers while keeping users that are willing to pay happy. Plenty of the users that use 3rd party apps already pay something to use them, so it's not out of the question that they would be willing to pay even more to keep using them. I know I would.
Yes, but all other social networks are GOOD at it and make a fuck ton of money. That’s the issue. Reddit has had plenty of chances to turn profitable, but they can’t seem to figure it out. Now they’ve run down the checklist and apparently “kill 3rd party apps” is their newest brilliant idea to make money.
Honestly I thought I was only exaggerating a bit.. I thought it was top 3. Crazy how far off it is from the top half. Not to say that’s any excuse for them failing to turn a profit for so long but damn I thought they had more users they could shovel ads onto.
It had just started to become profitable right before Elon bought it. Granted that’s like 1 or 2 profitable quarters out of dozens, but still counts I guess
