Reddit CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down: our full interview
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down: our full interview
“The blackouts are not representative of the greater Reddit community.”
Anyone else read this? The arrogance is palpable.
I can't believe this POS got away with lying about the developer of Apollo threatening to blackmail them. Why aren't these interviewers asking about that?
Christian Selig is too decent and mature for his own good. In his place, I'd probably make the [immature, bad] decision to go scorched earth.
I imagine there’s legal repercussions involved too, accusing publicly someone of blackmail
I hope he's got his mouth shut under advice of a lawyer while they prepare a defamation lawsuit.
When he says the API was never meant for viewing apps he's completely ignoring that for the longest time reddit didn't even have an official app.
And had to buy a 3rd party app themselves
Also, their official app is LITERALLY based on a third party app! When everything was transitioning to new reddit they tried to build an app and it was fucking terrible so they bought out the most successful third party reddit app for iOS; Alien Blue. Even if you go into the theme settings on the android app the default theme is still called Alien Blue.
It's amazing seeing a company try to give itself Galapagos syndrome.
It's just so tone deaf. And he's totally lying about users not supporting the blackout. All the subreddits I was on where the mods asked people what they wanted to do, most of the comments were in favor of keeping them dark indefinitely. The rest were agreeing to the blackout in general. I don't remember seeing a single person objecting.
He's probably relying on the fact that the numbers are now skewed in favor of people against the blackout because those of us who were pro are extricating ourselves from the site and not posting/commenting/interacting with content as much, if at all.
Pretty much - I took a look at Reddit today and the attitude regarding that blackout has done a complete 180. I don't know if Reddit managed to push the narrative or what, but all I've seen is users complaining about "activists mods" and how they were never in favour of the blackout to begin with
I don't remember seeing a single person objecting.
Depends on where you look, I suppose.
We did a poll in r/snowboarding (a subreddit that it's in its off-season, and currently just frequented by our most "loyal" users) about whether to continue the blackout, and after two days of voting, it was literally a 50-50 split, and the majority of the comments were against the blackout. On the week before the blackout, the vast majority of support was there for the 48 hour blackout. If we'd done that same poll in February, I have a feeling that the majority would have voted to not continue the blackout. In that sense, I don't think spaz is too far off the mark.
What the lying piece of corporate crap is ignoring is the fact that alternatives have grown considerably, traffic has gone down, and entire mod teams are quitting in protest. Reddit is going to be around for many many years, but this is the first time that I see a true push to create something different, not just for a few undesirables (i.e. Voat), but for the larger community in general.
Casual users probably just want shit to work and didn't know about the black out until it was happening. They won't notice why they should care until their app of choice goes offline or communities start falling apart due to modding issues. The issues coming from mods being pushed out, leaving, or having fewer tools.
There was a subreddit that I used to frequent that was all about returning to normalcy, and pretty much thought the blackout was an inconvenience. I let them know I wanted nothing to do with them, I unsubbed and haven’t logged into Reddit since that day actually. I was disgusted.
A lot of them have polls that are probably still up on the blacked out subs.
Here are my takeaways. Correct me if I'm wrong.
- Third party apps monetized Reddit better than Reddit did by actually making a profit, and spez seems pretty butthurt about it and wants it to stop.
- Third party apps have better accessibility options, but jeez, guys, they're working on it and you'll have better accessibility!
- Third party apps offer a better experience for the mods and users that use them, but jeez, c'mon! They're working on that, too! Besides, look at all of these casual users who don't care about that stuff!
It's hard to make a feature rich app with good accessibility features and a proper user experience when those aren't your priorities, but instead drown it in adds and focus on how to make money from it.
This is the richest part of all of it. They’re taking tools away from people with no time frame for replacements. I’ve been using Reddit for 16 years and the only things I’ve ever seen them ship are new Reddit, rewards, premium, and avatars. The fact that it’s 2023 and they have accessibility issues is appalling. If they can’t handle screen readers then mod tools ain’t coming.
His tone deaf approach has already led to heaps of people fleeing / reassessing their options. Wouldn't of known about these sites if it weren't for this prick
I have had a Reddit account almost since the beginning. After seeing the way the CEO's threats have started working and subreddits opening back up, I have decided to delete my Reddit account. Fuck them. My new home is here now.
That entire interview is so full of shit.
"We’re perfectly willing to work with the folks who want to work with us, including figuring out what that transition period will look like. But I think a deadline forces people, us included, to negotiate that."
Tell that to all the app devs that reached out to reddit only to be ignored and attempts to negotiate shot down.Yup, this interview was one of the main reasons why I finally deleted my account(s).
I also made sure to use Power Delete to overwrite every post and comment with a tutorial for Lemmy and the Power Delete Suite. Oh, and a final fuck u/spez for good measure.
Any link to that tutorial?
The way spez characterizes accessibility apps as exempt because they carry the cost of adding value to the Reddit experience while implying Apollo doesn’t do the same is disappointing. It’s obvious spez has it out for Apollo and RIF on a personal level, especially considering the transcripts Christian Selig shared.
The fact of the matter is, Apollo enhances the Reddit experience tremendously, and the official app and new UI don’t even get close to feature parity. And Christian has had to do the labor to make that happen.
The only thing I can assume now, because of the suddenness of it all and because of recent layoffs, is that Reddit is financially bleeding and this is a way to try to quickly appease investors.
@phill
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-blackout-protest-private-ceo-elon-musk-huffman-rcna89700Might have something to do with him “admiring” what Musk did at twitter.
Of course 🤦♂️
Why do these top executives always sound like they don't care about their product? In this case, reddit, like they are running it into the ground! Maybe its just a facade?
Executives aren't there to care about the product. They are there to lead the company to make a profit. That's what he's prioritizing. I don't really hold it against him personally myself. I'm just going to hang out here instead.
"The power of Competitron lies in the boardroom, not the product, Nygma!"
Every once in a while in cities, there’s a protest. And I think that’s what we’re seeing exactly right now. We, even in disagreement, we appreciate that users can care enough to protest on Reddit, can protest on Reddit, and then our platform is really resilient enough to survive these things.
Oh yeah and if the authorities just ignore the protests out of greed than your city experiences braindrain. But like the politicians he doesn't care about future problems as long as he can secure his bag of greed
He's deployed the pepper spray, tear gas, and water cannons. He's getting his bag and fuck anyone who gets in his way.
This guy can lick my hole. Look, I left Twitter after fourteen years of dedicated use, because of that clogstomping moron, Elon Musk. If Lead Paint Huffer-Man wants to be a greedy dick, I can leave Reddit, too. I was there for four years, but I'm more than willing to find a new place to hang out. Don't test me, man! I shot my Neopet just to watch it die!
Dude is such an abrasive shithead.
On the bright side, only reinforces my decision to never go back.
Come on reddit lets show this guy whos in charge
#reddit #protest #opfightback
https://kbin.social/m/internet/t/37737/Lets-show-Reddits-CEO-who-s-in-charge@Alba70r if reedit is really a democracy driven company, why so hard defending this just let the users vote, maybe only the premium subscribers or people that have been using it for years, just to prove it the sentiments yknow
Steve isn't backing down, but cowardly mods certainly are!
Indeed.
I guess people really did prefer their little space where they hold any power.
He is just digging a deeper hole for himself.
Wow, this guy is an unbelievable prick.