Technology
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That sounds unnecessarily complex. Just force an authentication of the client (ergo, make it so you can't access the API without logging in) and add api rate limits per user, maybe with higher limits on users that have the paid Reddit membership tier.
But I don't think that was the point anyway. It's less work to just start charging for the API. That way they can charge companies like OpenAI, and drive others to use their main app, letting them sell targeted adverts to them too.
For the sake of poking on a solution further. Auth would limit web scrapers, which they don’t want given how valuable user comments and posts were. Rate limiting can cause perf issues depending on how calls are being made and you’d have to make considerations based on metrics of usage, clients, calls per client etc etc, which is even more complex than full blown access to a “managed/sanctioned” client. A sanctioning system gives them full control of the pipeline, with the trade off being that it’s a bit more work on their end to vet them.
But yeah, clearly a solvable problem, but it’s just malice at this point on their part.