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RIF developer counters Reddit CEO’s claims that he didn’t want to work with Reddit
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2023
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Reddit bought AlienBlue, yes, but it didn't turn it into their own app. Their app doesn't even closely resemble AlienBlue. I still have no idea why they purchased it since they never used it.
Maybe it was an acquihire, looking to hire a team capable of building a new Reddit app.
Little of column A, little of column B. I think they were hoping that offering the official Reddit app under the "pedigree" of the (at the time) most popular third party client would convince users to stick around even after seeing how shitty it was. Especially after Alien Blue did spend a little bit of time itself being "the official Reddit app".
It was ruined because they just had to insist that the official app match the design language and have all of the feature bloat of New Reddit, which is ultimately what made it such a a mess. They were looking to sell the idea of New Reddit through the app in addition to the site, and were probably afraid that the app continuing to provide the cleaner, better experience of Alien Blue would drive people away from New Reddit.