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A comment on Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Continuing Blackouts.

Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by capableweb on Thursday June 15, 2023 @07:33PM (#36348502)
One thing I don't quite understand is how the CEO first claims that only 3% of the user base is using 3rd party apps, and then later claims that "And the opportunity cost of not having those users (3rd part app users) on our platform, on our advertising platform, is really significant" (from https://www.npr.org/2023/06/15/1182457366/reddit-ceo-steve-h... )

Is that 3% of the user base really having such a big impact so it's worth all this drama and continue to alienate the users of the platform?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by flutas on Thursday June 15, 2023 @07:45PM (#36348684)
That 3% probably consists of a majority of the 1% who post content, and the .1% who moderate content.

Without either of those, the site becomes stale and overrun by trash content.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by zozbot234 on Thursday June 15, 2023 @08:00PM (#36348876)
So, the users who are actually creating value for the site. And spez keeps antagonizing them, even though by all indications, 90%+ of the userbase will never use anything but the first-party Reddit app? This would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by capableweb on Thursday June 15, 2023 @07:57PM (#36348841)
He also claimed most mods don't use 3rd party apps:

> Huffman said 97% of Reddit users do not use any third-party apps to browse the site. He said "the vast majority" of moderators also do not rely on third-party apps.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by flutas on Thursday June 15, 2023 @08:08PM (#36348958)
The big issue is you can hide a lot in statements like that.

I can't find super trustworthy numbers (and I can't verify this due to that), but if there are about 3.4m subs and only 140k of them are active, every single active sub could have a mod that uses a 3rd party app and you could still claim "the vast majority" don't use them.

I also find it fairly interesting he would quote a percentage for users, but not for mods.

[0]: https://www.businessdit.com/how-many-subreddits-are-there/

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by margalabargala on Friday June 16, 2023 @04:46PM (#36363611)
Yeah there's a lot of different ways to count something like that to get the result you want. Torture the numbers and they will confess.
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Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by galleywest200 on Thursday June 15, 2023 @08:03PM (#36348906)
Most mods seem to use the old.reddit.com website, possibly utilizing Mod Toolbox as well. It seems most mods do not use an app for moderating at all.
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Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by Karellen on Thursday June 15, 2023 @07:56PM (#36348824)
I suppose it depends how active that 3% of the userbase is.

If those 3% of users are responsible for e.g. 20% of the page views, and therefore potentially 20% of ad placements, maybe they are really having a big impact?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by capableweb on Thursday June 15, 2023 @08:06PM (#36348938)
Isn't most of the income (or all?) for reddit from ads and awards? So the people actively adding value/content gets punished, while the amount of people seeing ads remain the same? Seems even more crazy if true then.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by itsthecourier on Thursday June 15, 2023 @08:41PM (#36349278)
I use reddit a lot and I hate all these blackouts. I pay reddit premium because I like what the platform gives me back.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by midoridensha on Thursday June 15, 2023 @09:55PM (#36349966)
Sounds like you're interested in volunteering your time to be a mod then, right?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by itsthecourier on Thursday June 15, 2023 @11:35PM (#36350825)
They can stop modding, but they shouldn't close the door when they leave.
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Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by mellow-lake-day on Thursday June 15, 2023 @09:18PM (#36349621)
Was that number taken during the blackout period?

Without any more context that is a completely meaningless number.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by hn_throwaway_99 on Thursday June 15, 2023 @09:20PM (#36349644)
I have never used any third party apps, and I primarily used old.reddit.com on mobile to browse Reddit.

Yet this whole brouhaha got me to delete all my posts going back years, delete my accounts, and block reddit on my phone. To start, I think reddit management has just acted like total douchebags throughout this whole event, and I'm not interested in supporting that.

More importantly, though, the majority of time I spend on reddit is just a bad habit that I'm happy to now be breaking. All these social media companies are basically just "the drug dealer planet" from my favorite episode of Star Trek TNG: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis_(Star_Trek:_The_Ne...

Truth be told, we don't need it, and in many ways are better off without it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by realusername on Friday June 16, 2023 @02:14AM (#36352177)
It's just pure corporafe BS, Reddit never even tried to make ads available from the API in the first place. If that was such a problem, they would have tried something.

Then ads are half abandoned even on their official platform itself, they polished the avatar NFTs instead... Reddit has probably the most outdated ad market of all the social networks and they cannot blame third party apps for that.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by LittleShaman on Friday June 16, 2023 @03:46AM (#36352939)
Could you share a source for the 3% number? I only managed to find an AMA post about 3% of *mod actions" coming from third party apps: https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_...
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Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by capableweb on Friday June 16, 2023 @04:21AM (#36353199)
It's from the same article:

> Huffman said 97% of Reddit users do not use any third-party apps to browse the site.

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/15/1182457366/reddit-ceo-steve-h...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by squintychino on Friday June 16, 2023 @12:46PM (#36359715)
> One thing I don't quite understand is how the CEO first claims that only 3% of the user base is using 3rd party apps, and then later claims that "And the opportunity cost of not having those users (3rd part app users) on our platform, on our advertising platform, is really significant"

People lie. It's really that simple. They give no data to back up their statistics, and we're expected to believe it as truth since they are in a position of power.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reddit Threatens to Remove Moderators from Subreddits Con... by jasondozell on Friday June 16, 2023 @02:03PM (#36361003)
I guess because future plans could be negated via 3rd party apps. Getting rid of them now will ensure future plans can be enacted without risk they'll be circumvented.
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