this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Lurkers using third party apps were in many ways worse impacted by the API changes than those actively participating. The high cost of API access is only worth as much value as the service is to you, and if lurking that's going to be lower and less likely to be worthwhile in the few third party apps switching to the subscription model.
I was a lurker on the first-party reddit app for the 99.9% of the time I was on there. The ads had just gotten out of hand with not being able to block an ad to get a different ad, I was so tired of getting “He Gets Us” trash so I switched over to Apollo. A week later they announced the API changes. I work in software dev so it’s just frustrating seeing this happen to all of the people out there trying to support their hard work.
Yep, I used Relay Pro previously but seeing the cost breakdowns the dev posted for the new subscription was disheartening. The dev's portion of the subscription fee is near zero if you use near the limit of you subscription's monthly API requests. So at that point even subscribing isn't really supporting the dev as much as supporting the company that forced these changes upon us. So I chose to not take part.
Lemmy definitely isn't perfect, especially for smaller communities. But it's definitely workable and something I'm happy to contribute to.
Yeah Reddit really made the cost just impossible for any slightly active app unable to continue without any form of meaningful profit. I would have loved to support whatever Third Party app but yeah wouldn’t have been enough to keep them afloat.
For Lemmy not being perfect, it feels like it’s just more of a number of users issue vs an actual technical problem. Sure fediverse stuff can be complicated, but after signing up and searching communities you can pretty much do some normal Reddit feeling stuff IMO. I’m trying to revive the Twitch Lemmy community if anyone wants to help with that (I have no clue what to do)!
Edit: also adding that I didn’t think about moderation or tools that Lemmy may or may not have in place since I’ve never been a mod for any of that. So maybe a technical problem somewhere.
I lurked on the reddit app for a year or more before I started contributing. One of the first things I learned about 'internet forums', is that you lurk first, until you get a feel for the community. I began contributing more because the 3rd party app I started using had me more engaged; which meant that reddit gained more content
But Reddit made the API changes for 3rd party apps unsustainable, to push people toward their own ad revenue. They assume that they're too important to fail, and that the loss of users/content was worth the squeeze of those who didn't know how to leave. A standard cost-risk scenario. It's a short-term goal to try and carve out a piece of the centralized internet that the big corps envision. A move toward trying to win at monopoly
The "forum" is a relationship between "user contribution" and the host's 'personal time, money, effort'... a personal cost-risk for anyone that hosts. Is it worth my time? Do I enjoy what I'm hosting?
When the goal becomes so obviously "increase host revenue", without increasing user experience; you create an imbalance.
We all lurk online until we find something we wanna talk about. Reddit was trying to use (is using) their influence to increase profit for themselves, and (the way in which they chose to do so) actively decreasing user experience. The 'host' only gave a shit about themselves and decided that user-created content was a 'benefit' of being there, rather than the reason.
Lurkers are half of the equation. Lurkers often become contributors when they enjoy the community. Contributors bring more lurkers. That's kind of how the balance works
Reddit feels they can do without the lurkers who refuse to use their app, while simultaneously increasing ad revenue. And they'll be fine financially in the same way Facebook is... clinging to the smallest user-base that makes them the most profit, while slowly becoming irrelevant.
Because contributors will move on eventually, and so will the lurkers.
Case-in-point... my comment. I'm a lurker, until I'm not.