I feel torn about this: reddit has to bear server costs when 3rd party apps use their API, and those apps aren't generating revenue for reddit, if anything they "steal" revenue by preventing users from seeing ads, promoted posts, etc.
it makes sense reddit wants to charge for API use
but, the official reddit app sucks, and I want more freedom and variety of choice on the internet, not less
maybe the compromise is making the price per call lower?
Yeah third party devs have said they are willing to pay but Reddit seems to have designed the fees specifically to kill the apps.
Sorry I missed this post -- it's a good one.
The only thing I'd suggest here is that third-party APIs have been tolerated in the past because even though they don't produce direct revenue, they tend to increase valuation for a company that goes/is public because they bolster user engagement numbers. Twitter jacked up their prices intentionally to kill the API, because it's now a privately held company that is very reliant upon ads.
As Reddit looks to go Public, alienating a large swathe of their userbase has the real potential the devalue their IPO, which is why it's all the more confounding to me that they moved forward with this.
