Do you think this will cause the threadiverse to gain more users?
Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots
https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots/Open linkView original on piefed.social
63 replies
well, I'm a new user.
I've been churning accounts on reddit for a long time because you get banned by some subs just for posting or subscribing to other subs, then you post there not remembering the preemptive ban and bam, permaban. fed up with that noise, and having to churn accounts like a fucking outlaw.
Welcome, I hope you have a better experience here
Closed systems and the degradation of the network. Connecting to the information super highway is going to become Mad Max
not really. Anyone who relied on the API has already left
Not entirely. I tried to leave when they enforced the initial API changes, but there's just not enough content on Lemmy to satisfy me. I ended up finding Relay for Reddit which uses the API and costs me a couple dollars a month. I still won't contribute to Reddit anymore (no voting, posting, or commenting), but it was a great way to get content from my long curated lost of subreddits. Now I won't be able to use the Relay app anymore. I'm never using the Reddit app, so that leaves browsing on mobile using Firefox with uBlock Origin and Reddit Bouncer to cut through all the shit. I'm not sure I'll actually browse that way, but I didn't think I'd go back at all after the initial API changes either.
I think most of us transplants here took the less content on Lemmy as a sign to reduce how much scrolling we do, because of reddit.
its the niche content, i had some niche questions recently that really isnt on lemmy at all, and reddit had already asked and answered the quesiton.
With revanced/morphe it's possible to patch an app like Sync to be able to use reddit for free.
Yeah I've been doing this since the API change and it's the only reason I still use reddit.
redreader still officially works too
It's not just the API (and rss) that is getting axed, automoderator and old reddit have also officially moved to the chopping block.
Interesting side effect that this will probably kill off some of the Reddit repost bots over here
Sanitation and his army of bots operate through a Firefox extension so I think we'll still get the trash posts from reddit, at least!
Is there anywhere to track him?
SMCF posted a list not too long ago but I'm not sure where it is.
Sanitation, Time2lose, oldmanalex, grumpus_maximus, mustachio_grumpus (or something), noralenderbee, liquorice. Those are the ones I remember
Saved. I'll see if I can find the whole list some time. It's amazing he tried to deny he's the same guy yet talks in such an idiosyncratic way...
Seems unlikely. If someone is invested in making those bots, they'll find a way. Running a browser in a VM and simulating clicks is totally doable. If that's what it takes to make money, they'll do it.
I'm happy with how it is now. There's still a bunch of power mad mods here, but, by and large, it's so much better than that cesspit.
Agree that mods are more of a problem here than Reddit. Never been banned from a sub on Reddit in +15 years, here it took a couple months, but everything else is still better. The constant ads made to look like posts was the last straw for me.
I think mods on reddit used to be worse honestly. Maybe like a decade ago or slightly more. Just my opinion though.
Mods here be fuckin losers though tbh. Like just shut up and remove the spam bots you dweebs
i think people will relent, and make a account to login instead. tiktok, instagram,fb did this.
some will move here though.
the only other way is reddit starts banning alot of people again, but then they will just lose too much USER-generated content for AI again.
It usually comes in waves whenever reddit does this. We'll see a modest bump. Some will stay, some will go back. It's just on us to welcome those who come over and hope they stay.
when they fully force a login from lurkers, people might come.
Hopefully they don't get scared off by one of our resident trolls
Maybe they'll feel more like at home
luckily its easier to block then on reddit.
I found out on Reddit there's a maximum amount of usernames you can block before it stops you lol
its about 1000, and hten they stop muting them, whats the point lol. even blocking someone still allows you to see them. i have a feeling reddit eventually will make it difficult to block people.
The limit is much less for communities or subReddits as well. I would block or mute communities I didn't want to see, until I hit a limit and it started randomly unblocking some. Not even an error, it would just unblock them on it's own.
Extremely annoying. Especially when their algorithm is so terrible sometimes. Like I remember it kept showing me Indian Subreddits like India News, India Sports, ask an Indian, casual Indian talk, etc. I'm not even Indian, I can't even read their languages, stop showing me that 😂
I think a handful but, not a another max exodus.
Some nonzero amount, sure. But there's never going to be a mass exodus where the entire userbase jumps ship.
Look at how many people still use Twitter even now.
Back in my day we had the Digg to Reddit exodus.
It’s pretty impressive how effective and total that migration was. I don’t think it could ever happen these days.
reddit effectily captured all the forum migrants/digg, and then Y'answers too. and other niche forums where you wont get astroturfed by the uptight mods in those forums who have total control over the whole site, and if they have something against you they will "stalk" you throughout that forum.
It's much bigger now.
During the first migration it was mostly techie people and college kids who all could keep up. But now there's completely non-tech aware people on Reddit daily and exceptionally niche forums without another real alternative.
digg+ y'a answers, i was on the latter for quite a long time before i discovered reddit had more of what im asking before trumps first term. originally it was super useful for physics questions from textbooks.
things like, your sports related content is all on reddit, movies/shows, individual series all on reddit, reality shows. the "largest draws" are the askreddits and adjacent subs. also your "whattodo subs"
well, i literally just spun up a instance because of it
here in an overview to the thrediverse defederations. Maybe its a bit to much at first to show this but now its an opportunity to use a bookmark so im gonna use it
https://sopuli.xyz/post/49459437
Definitely toyed with doing the same when I joined
Nah, I don't really think so. People who use Reddit don't use RSS or the API.
I kinda like that they're becoming more openly hostile. It's fun to watch.
They’re going the way of Twitter and Facebook. They started with rich, open, and supported developer platforms. They actively courted devs. Once they hit critical mass (thanks to devs making the platform good and attracting users), they rug-pulled and became what they are now. Same thing is happening with Reddit.
reddit is now only used for google to scrape AI data from. and to that end they are forcing logins, and forcing out bots that arnt vetted by reddit.
I still can't believe they just came out and said that new users switching to Old Reddit is a problem that needs to be fixed, by removing their access to Old Reddit. You'd think they'd try to word it in a more deceptive manner at least. Or just keep it to themselves.
they want people to use the ugly and cumbersome new reddit UI, with the doomscrolling, and curated feeds.
Another great example : )
Some ppl might say that a company whose product is user generated content would try to be more like honey and less like vinegar.
Probably some. I would guess that it would be less-significant than the influx with the third-party-client fiasco.
Those people will show up and see all the soapy tiddy memes and know that this is home
Man i was so confused, my first run in with the soapy tiddies memes was some Sheila with cambells soup cans over her boobs talking about soapy tiddies.
Then I scrolled further and it all came together.
It's the new beans
And beans were the new moths!
God bless you, Lemmy.
Part of me hopes so, part of me does not.
On the one hand, I'm finding that the turnover for new posts doesn't seem to be as great as on Reddit; once I go through my digest here: that's it. Of course, with an influx of new people come the riffraff.
Nope. Reddit appeals to the same type of people that use AI. It’s army of bots will tell them exactly what they want to hear, and the authoritarian clowns that mod that shithole will ban anyone for speaking out against the hive.
So, as long as you agree with everyone and are okay with everyone agreeing with whatever you say in subs that don’t allow anyone to speak freely, you’ll be fine.
Basically, it’s the social media equivalent of a HOA nightmare.
I'll make a wild guess that you too came here from reddit. That makes you one of those people. We're all just redditors telling ourself a comforting story about how we're better than those people over there.
I certainly make no bones about it, I miss parts of it. Reddit had fervent hobby subs that just aren't here or are barely here. Memes are cool, and news is important, but unless gaming or Linux are your primary hobbies, this place is severely limited. And I've heard the old "be the change you want to see" adage , but I have no interest, no idea how, and no time for starting or moderating a community. Hell, I can barely make myself post when I think I have a subject of interest because I might have to answer too many replies/comments. But man, what I would give for an active bonsai or diy electronics comm.
Is a rat fleeing a sinking ship still a ship's rat? A fair few people moved to reddit from Digg, and 4chan once the /pol/ cancer metastatised all over it a bit later on. I preferred forums personally until reddit ate most of them, and now reddit is a shithole I'm on Lemmy and have nothing to do with reddit, don't even lurk there now. The kind of people with a low threshold for moving aren't necessarily representative of the group they're leaving; I don't think we'll see a really massive migration from reddit, and I don't think we'd actually benefit from it either.
You have to enjoy a place while you can, either outright failure or Eternal September awaits every online community eventually. One day people will bang on about this being Lemmy's golden age, before the legions of dopamine jockeys found it. Personally I quite like how discussions taking place over days rather than hours makes Lemmy genuinely pretty different from reddit, even if it's mostly made up of ex-redditors.
it's gonna bring over a few more techie folks. yay?
TBH I'm not convinced enough real humans still use reddit for a new exodus to happen.
there are some bots but they only make up a small percent and are easy to spot
found the bot /s
Yes.
No.
A dev team that is serious about growing the platform.