this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
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they fumbled so hard. they could have had millions of new subscribers if they locked the api key under reddit premium and allowed 3rd party app to enter user api keys
50 a year isn't terrible depending on your use case, but they burned so much good will
IMHO one of the biggest mistakes made early on in the development of the Internet is that everything should be free and ad supported. That is how we ended up social media that is destroying our socitey in the name of driving up engagement and thus ad revenue. I think things would have been much better if every one was just expected to pay a few bucks a month for the services they use.
Nobody "decided" that. Paid subscription services have been around just as long as ad support. The ad support model grew organically out of the converging desires of users to have unfettered access to content, and the desires of advertisers to have unfettered access to new monetization opportunities.
Well said. Honestly while I'm sure many, especially those that have made it here, would have paid an ongoing subscription for a perpetually unshittified Reddit / other social media, the VAST majority of users are going to flock to a free version. We didn't get where we are by accident.