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Comment by pests | Hacker News Reader

This is a repeat of the reddit API backlash and protest. Moderators deciding to close down subs or to change the rules to hurt reddit at the expense of their users and community.

Many of which have already backpedaled or opened up. It was important to look involved during the important parts of the protest but now that its blown over subreddits are silently reopening and back to business as usual.

Some subreddits have taken to outright lying to their community in order to continue with the reddit-bashing or as an excuse for bad moderation or other issues.

I forget the subreddit but AutoModerator comments on every post making sure to mention how the API limits don't allow them to use the tools they need to moderate properly, blah blah, etc.

Except Reddit confirmed that only ~8 bots total on the entire site were going above the free usage limits and were willing to help or work with them.

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My issue had nothing to do with morals. If I cant use Apollo, then I wont use reddit. All of the other clients are awful, and I dont miss the content enough to justify using the official app, or finding other ways to circumvent the restrictions.

Thats fine and no one is forcing anyone to use a site. I personally don't think the offical app or website is that bad. I was just talking about moderators closing down subreddits for everyone.

You didn't approve, but many people did. "at the expense of their users" isn't a fair characterization.

Why are you turning "at the expense of their users" into "at the expense of all their users"? Most people using a forum don't speak. They're readers who visit, gain some value, and leave.

You're even contradicted by the mods themselves: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65855608

> They said they wanted Reddit admins to realise that they rely on moderators to operate the site and felt that the only way to send a message was by harming Reddit's traffic.

That traffic was users, most of whom had no say in the matter.

That's also why statements like this were especially ridiculous:

> "Our entire community is supporting us against this change," they said.

r/DIY was a community of 24 million people with decades of posts. A few dozen people got upset, queried a few hundred of those tens of millions, and now a significant chunk of the internet is just gone.

Content the moderators didn't own and didn't write is forever locked behind a monument to their tantrum.

> Why are you turning "at the expense of their users" into "at the expense of all their users"?

I'm not. But "at the expense" implies that it's not what the users in general want, and I'm pretty sure the users in general wanted it for at least a whole bunch of the subreddits.

> queried a few hundred of those tens of millions

Polls are usually pretty accurate.

> tantrum

You can call it a tantrum, but if we're using language that strong then the action of the admins is a betrayal that hasn't been walked back in the slightest.

> I'm pretty sure the users in general wanted it for at least a whole bunch of the subreddits.

No, they didn't, most of the users never even spoke.

r/DIY mods never asked before going from the original 48 hrs to permanently deleting.

> Polls are usually pretty accurate.

I hope you're being facetious and realize a time limited self-selective poll where most of the population can't even vote is not accurate.

Polls are accurate when you put work into making them accurate. They're not magic.

> the action of the admins is a betrayal that hasn't been walked back in the slightest.

So what? If you feel betrayed, remove the content you own and walk away instead of locking away content you don't own off the internet and enticing people to post porn of John Oliver.

Tantrum is the perfect word to describe what these people did.

> r/DIY mods never asked before going from the original 48 hrs to permanently deleting.

Okay that's bad then, you didn't mention that one before.

> So what?

So... you should be blaming them a lot too.

> remove the content you own

That's still a tantrum, isn't it? And even less likely to get results.

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