reddit is still messed up

Reddit has been in disarray since mid-June, when thousands of communities went dark for 48 hours in protest against the company’s API pricing changes. Now, it’s a pixelated mess.

Site users have been vocal in their disagreement about Reddit’s API pricing changes and the company’s handling of the situation. Many communities have tried to remain dark or private, making these communities inaccessible to their members. This has resulted in Reddit removing the moderator and taking over the moderation of these subreddits to reopen them, as happened this week with r/MaleFashionAdvice.

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Now, the company has decided it’s a good time to bring back the event it reserved for April Fools in years past.

This is the third time that r/place is open to Reddit users. It works as a blank canvas where each user can add one pixel every five minutes. The idea is to collaborate as a community to create a digital artwork made up of over 16 million pixels representing Reddit users and communities. In years past, subreddits used to brainstorm what to make and flock to cover an area of ​​canvas.

This year was no different, but the message from many users on r/place was clear. As soon as the canvas went live, users began writing messages insulting the CEO, Steve Huffman, who has the username u/spez. One subreddit, r/Save3rdPartyApps, has added a field that says, “Never forget what was stolen from you!”

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Other art that is not part of the protest against Reddit soon began to appear, and the canvas now more closely resembles previous years, including flags, fictional characters and logos from various countries around the world – with the occasional profanity directed at the CEO mixed in.

Reddit launched r/place the same week it forcibly took over the community of r/MaleFashionAdvice, the largest subreddit, which was closed due to protests. The account u/ModCodeofConduct took over the subreddit, which has 5.4 million members, re-opened it, and posted a request for a new moderator.

Changes to Reddit’s API access program, which resulted in the shutdown of several popular third-party apps, went live on July 1. As the deadline approached, several users and moderators of the site decided to protest. This led to more than 9,000 subreddits going private for 48 hours in mid-June and becoming inaccessible to users – some being closed indefinitely.

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The changes in July made access to Reddit’s API too expensive for small third-party apps to maintain operations. This forced the closure of some such as Apollo, RedPlanet, Sync and BeaconReader. These third-party apps were popular because many of them were available before they became official Reddit apps in 2016. They also introduced accessibility options for the visually impaired which the official app does not.

The goal of the protesters was to inspire Reddit to negotiate with these smaller developers in order to keep the apps alive. However, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman was against the conversation and was inclined to wait out the backlash.

The website continues to be a battleground for users and moderators. Still, amid the wreckage, it seems one message prevails: The community is largely powerless in its efforts to inspire conversation on Reddit. The third-party apps users were trying to keep safe were shut down in early July, and Huffman and Reddit leadership haven’t budged an inch.