I agree that there is a lot of commercial use of reddit that reddit fails to monetize. I have no idea how much of that is moderation, but it doesn't really matter: restricting API usage is the wrong way to solve this problem Instead, the easy fix is to update the standard ToS to be non-commercial use only and introduce paid plans for commercial use. I'm pretty confident that would be way more lucrative than advertising anyways.

Optionally, follow up with a badge or something that tags all content from commercial accounts as such, and allow users and mods to report commercial content that doesn't have such a badge.

This is pretty much what Reddit is doing. All the major 3rd party apps fall under commercial usage. The main issue is the price is insanely high for commercial apps.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/7/23752804/reddit-exempt-acc...

I guess FOSS apps are also commercial, cause 0 income is more than... 0? Maybe reddit uses floats...

Those third party apps aren't commercial use of Reddit. I am the user, not the app. That's like saying you can't use Chrome to view some website that prohibits commercial usage. That argument makes no sense.

They are seeing it as commercial use because those alternative apps have their own advertisements from which they make the majority of their money, which is specifically banned under the new terms.

Ads have nothing to do with the API changes. First of all, there's bot, to which ads are completely irrelevant, yet they're still affected by the API changes. Second, although there are 3rd party Reddit apps with ads, not all do. For example, Infinity for Reddit is ad-free (and open source), yet they're also affected by the API changes. In fact, Infinity's only monetization is via Infinity+, which has no extra features whatsoever, and only exists as a way to support Infinity's developer. Ads, or monetization at all, should have nothing to do with this.

Edit: sorry if I phrased something badly or was contradictory, I'm a bit tired :P - good night!

You're missing my point here. I realize that the broader discussion is about the API, but this specific thread is about a different kind of commercial use, which could be using the official reddit app or web client. We're talking about user behaviors that are inherently commercial; that's orthogonal to the way those behaviors are actually implemented (official client vs direct API access vs indirect API via third party apps vs...). For example, a PR firm could organize an AMA with an actor to promote an upcoming movie, but that actor could be using the official Reddit client. That's clearly commercial use, but Reddit gets nothing from that.

My point is twofold: first, I think this kind of commercial use is probably the much larger missed financial opportunity for Reddit. Second, if Reddit's intent with API restriction actually is, in fact, to try and capture some revenue from these kinds of behaviors, then they're clearly ignoring the much more targeted, and much more effective, approach of updating the ToS and directly restricting commercial use.

Using the above example, the PR firm would be required to have a commercial account, and Reddit would be free to set the pricing for that commercial account however they wanted. This is better for Reddit (they can charge way more than they would earn via API calls), it's better for users (more transparency re: what is or isn't commercial content), it doesn't affect third-party apps (no restrictions of API usage), and, if the pricing was right, it would be acceptable for the PR firm as well (paying for commercial exposure is standard practice basically everywhere else).

This would also give them a way to distinguish between commercial API usage like third-party clients, where the API is acting on behalf of individual users, vs commercial API usage like "scan reddit for mentions of this keyword and notify me", which is providing a direct commercial service without ever actually interacting with other users. These different kinds of usages could then be funneled into different pricing tiers for API access.

From a strategic perspective, I can't imagine a scenario in which Reddit's current approach is the right move here.

Is there list what subreddits are probably moderated some pr or other companies.

Many mods are paid?

I think the situation is the opposite of what people believe is going on. Reddit just wants its biggest profiteers to start paying for what they’re taking.

The changes actually won’t hurt normal users at all. Users somehow don’t understand that this is not about them. The proposed changes are about limiting exploitstion from a handful of commercializing individuals.

Free access to the API is getting expanded, from 60 calls to 100 calls per minute. Developer resources will continue to be protected for non-commercial use. And bots and mod extensions are to remain unaffected.

But yeah, meanwhile regular users somehow think they need a call to action, even though nothing will change for them… except maybe the guy who runs Apollo will kill his app, but not because Reddit killed it. It’s because he doesn’t have the time to rewrite his code to be more efficient.

> the guy who runs Apollo will kill his app, but not because Reddit killed it. It’s because he doesn’t have the time to rewrite his code to be more efficient.

That’s not a fair summary of his position. If you read his testament, they really screwed him over, lied to him, and didn’t give him a realistic chance to turn any reasonable amount of his revenue to Reddit.

Even if he could lower the average number of API calls per daily user, they’re not even in the same ballpark, expense-wise.

> he doesn’t have the time to rewrite his code to be more efficient.

Reddit demands so much to make it impossible

I started a sub with 100k users and nobody has ever contacted our mod team to try and pay for placement

Maybe this is happening for subs over a million only?

Companies don't need to pay for mod placement.

Mods are given to most active and helpful users, those who are paid to be on Reddit for a living have an advantage.

Additionally, mods are not needed for influencing the content of a subreddit. Active users are.

It's worth saying that commercial moderators are against mod guidelines or TOS.