I just saw this post over on r/modcoord which is basically a massive list of subreddits participating in the blackout protest. If I’m being honest I haven’t seen this much anger and coordinated frustration since the era right before the digg exodus.

Assuming more and more subreddits join in, it’s going to send a pretty massive message to the users who interact with a blacked out subreddit. Then I’m trying to imagine what happens if after a massive coordinated blackout, Reddit continue on the current trajectory. Is Lemmy even prepared to handle the amount of potential incoming traffic that API closure could lead to? It’s absolutely bonkers to me that the Reddit team might just stay the course…

  • TheTrueLinuxDev@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Honestly, I want Reddit to fail altogether and have people flood into Lemmy by hosting their own instances. It’s like ripping off the band-aid, it’s just better to get on with it.

  • backseat@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The blackouts will make no difference to Reddit’s plans. The API charge will come in. The content creators and moderators will leave. The content will go stale. The smart shareholders will cash in early; the dumb ones will hang on for the prospect of a greater return which won’t materialise. Once the content is stale, the readers and lurkers will leave. Reddit will become a has-been, a memorable item of internet history like so many other sites.

    • Rentlar@beehaw.orgEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Hot take from me: They were planning to just add ads into the API, remove NSFW so that ad agencies don’t get mad and maybe put a more modest premium to access the API.

      They spark the outrage then basically paint users and subreddits that supported the blackout as ‘heroes’ when the walk back the changes partially and exclaim “We did it Reddit!”. All when it would have been the plan from the get-go. The silence from their reasons behind this has me very suspicious of something like this.

      • DM_Gold@beehaw.orgEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I agree with you. Standard tactics with this sort of shit. Say you’ll do something outrageous and when folks get mad enough roll back your plans enough that don’t quite fuck over users as hard. Repeat ad infinitum. Users think they’ve won but in reality they’ve given up another inch.

  • アルケミー船長@lemmy.oneEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    I do have to wonder if Reddit knows something we don’t… This is… wayyy too much to ignore. I assume they’ve done analysis of the worse cases and mass user departure. The only reason I can assume they’re not backing down is due to the very high upfront costs of Reddit. Less users = less costs which theoretically means more profit. You have a very good point, and its something all Lemmy server owners need to be prepared for, which is a huge influx of users joining on the blackouts, even then, it may not be enough, unintentional DDOS attacks are still DDOS attacks. This is a golden opportunity of a lifetime for Lemmy, but I fear with even a 10th of Reddits current userbase, Lemmy admins won’t be able to keep up… I feel for all the developers and admins that make Lemmy possible, and I really hope it goes well for everyone involved. Donate to server admins and the main project if you have a few dollars spare, or if anyone is comfortable with coding I’m sure they need some devs.

    • noodlejetski@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Reddit knows something we don’t

      they know that they can circumvent moderators’ lockdown and make subreddits public at will and sack the mods who don’t agree with the change, and they’ll still have tons of people willing become a moderator for the sense of pride and accomplishment that you get from ruling your tiny little castle.