“Why are people pissed” and “why are people surprised” are very different questions! I’ve been expecting reddit to give me a reason to leave the platform for years. That doesn’t mean I’m not pissed, because it didn’t have to be this way. If reddit wanted to start charging for API access, they could have handled it less shittily by giving more warning and negotiating a reasonable pricing model. If they really just wanted to get rid of third party apps, they could have started by making the official app better so that they aren’t just killing functionality for users.

It’s not surprising to me that they didn’t decide to do either of those things, because for some reason companies don’t seem to think that public goodwill is worth anything, so they’re always happy to throw it out if there’s even a chance it could save them a couple bucks. But that is, itself, a reason to be pissed off! Without users, the site is worthless, but they show how low their opinion of us really is when they act like we won’t leave if they treat us badly.

Well, news for them, I left.