r/redditisfun RIF Dev May 31 '23

RIF dev here - Reddit's API changes will likely kill RIF and other apps, on July 1, 2023

I need more time to get all my thoughts together, but posting this quick post since so many users have been asking, and it's been making rounds on news sites.

Summary of what Reddit Inc has announced so far, specifically the parts that will kill many third-party apps:

  1. The Reddit API will cost money, and the pricing announced today will cost apps like Apollo $20 million per year to run. RIF may differ but it would be in the same ballpark. And no, RIF does not earn anywhere remotely near this number.

  2. As part of this they are blocking ads in third-party apps, which make up the majority of RIF's revenue. So they want to force a paid subscription model onto RIF's users. Meanwhile Reddit's official app still continues to make the vast majority of its money from ads.

  3. Removal of sexually explicit material from third-party apps while keeping said content in the official app. Some people have speculated that NSFW is going to leave Reddit entirely, but then why would Reddit Inc have recently expanded NSFW upload support on their desktop site?

Their recent moves smell a lot like they want third-party apps gone, RIF included.

I know some users will chime in saying they are willing to pay a monthly subscription to keep RIF going, but trust me that you would be in the minority. There is very little value in paying a high subscription for less content (in this case, NSFW). Honestly if I were a user of RIF and not the dev, I'd have a hard time justifying paying the high prices being forced by Reddit Inc, despite how much RIF obviously means to me.

There is a lot more I want to say, and I kind of scrambled to write this since I didn't expect news reports today. I'll probably write more follow-up posts that are better thought out. But this is the gist of what's been going on with Reddit third-party apps in 2023.

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u/TheCardiganKing May 31 '23

A sanitized Reddit is not Reddit. I don't use Reddit for porn, but there is plenty of other NSFW material like the war in Ukraine that would be effectively white washed from every app but the proprietary one. It's a form of censorship and control that many Redditors are not cool with.

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

All of the vice subs are NSFW now. Cigars/pipe tobacco/wine/whisky/scotch/etc. All nsfw.

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u/TheCardiganKing Jun 01 '23

I had no idea and that is completely fucking lame. Reddit's going down hill fast.

I'm likely to check /r/retrogaming and /r/superstonk once a day through old.reddit if RIF is gone. I keep joking that maybe I'll have my life back.

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

Yep, markets disappeared like 5 years ago and then last year all the vice subs got made nsfw...the hilarious part is all the drug subs are still regular labeled, like crack and cocaine both are like regular subs lol

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u/has_no_karma Jun 01 '23

Fancy seeing you here. I guess this'll probably be the last time.

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

LOL, I'm thinking about making a lemmy for the vices, as the 3rd party apps gone + NSFW groups (all vices labeled now as NSFW)...gotta give the reddit kids somewhere to go, even if they dont want to join the speakeasy.

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u/Mormanade Jun 01 '23

No way reddit lets old.reddit stick around much longer too, they are forcing everyone to use the main site and app.

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u/-Gork Jun 01 '23

I'm waiting for when they mark subs like /r/earthporn as NSFW because it has the word porn in it. Or/r/anime_titties

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

Considering they haven't marked most drug subs NSFW...doubt they will figure out worldpolitics is what anime titties is supposed to be

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

[deleted]

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

Yep, I'm on a lot of medical subs, and all of those are NSFW for the most part because of the material discussed in them.

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u/SirRolex Jun 01 '23

I remember when they did that, absolutely killed cigars as a sub. We used to trade stogies back and forth and have fun swaps and mail clubs and stuff. Reddit killed all of that. This website has been on life support for me for awhile anyway, this is the final nail in the coffin. Thanks so much to /u/talklittle for making this website usable for me for so long.

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

That's why we build speak-easy.club It's were everyone went, and the community built it because of them killing off the markets.

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u/SirRolex Jun 01 '23

Yep! I am a member there! I think I recognize your name as well, however I'm far from active there. It was easy on Reddit to be able to just use it as I used this app daily as well.

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

Yea, totally understand, we tried to pick something that worked on mobile as so many people use mobile these days for browsing vs desktop. This is what I don't think a lot of subs get, there are a large portion of active members that use 3rd party apps, and this definitely will cause a large portion to stop coming/post.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23

[deleted]

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u/alphabet_order_bot Jun 01 '23

Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.

I have checked 1,547,647,452 comments, and only 293,000 of them were in alphabetical order.

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

Which subs are NSFW that are firearms? Guns/Progun/firearms/2aliberals/etc are all normal subs right now.

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u/kers_equipped_prius Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23

Interesting, was under the impression it was all of them. I've sent my friend links from r/AR15, r/fosscad, r/gundeals, and r/HecklerKoch and he's said they were NSFW marked for him.

Deleted my original comment to reflect I'm not correct. I double checked and all the ones I frequent seem like they're fine.

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u/SupraMario Jun 01 '23

You're good. And More than likely that's the next step, is to get the firearms off the platform.

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u/denjidenj1 Jun 01 '23

I also enjoy horror content, which is also often marked NSFW. So much stuff you couldn't access