Submitted 6 months ago by VitabytesDev@feddit.nl to mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
https://feddit.nl/pictrs/image/abde9f16-c0a6-409e-ab0f-15e26b5e7847.png
I don’t use Reddit anymore, but I wanted to search something that I couldn’t find anywhere. This is what I saw. After killing all the other apps, Reddit now is trying to force us to use their own spyware app.
This is why they removed the apps. They want to be driving traffic through the app, and the 3rd party apps prevented that from happening.
They went from providing value to extracting it.
They made the service more shitty! We need a long word to describe that process.
I think the worst part is they entirely ignored the most painfully obvious solution of implementing a “reddit plus” or “reddit premium” or “reddit red” and just gated third party app access behind a $9.99/mo subscription. I have a hard time believing most reddit users’ ad views are worth anywhere near that much per month. But instead they decided to burn a significant sum of goodwill on questionable premises and pissed off a significant number of power users.
The feeling I got from all of the communications was that /u/spez was jealous of Apollo and just wanted to kill off Apollo. Which would explain why they took such a scorched earth approach in trying to kill all third party apps
That is basically what they did. There are a decent amount of third party apps around that work. I personally use Narwhal.
The further we get from the whole third party app debacle, the more I think this was just a way to kill the most popular apps. The ones that people said made reddit worth using. The ones that got shouted out in Apple keynotes.
Are they just trying to divert as much traffic as possible through their app?
Yeah, there is 0 way that reddit reviews even 10% of of the content, probably even 5%, if even that. There’s just no way. This is just a scare tactic to get you into their walled garden, to download their app, sign you up, and become a metric.
Yep, why would the subreddit be safer inside their own app xD
That is exacly what they try to achieve, satansmaggotycumfart.
But why?
Do they somehow get more personal data that way?
I thought closing access to the API was for my own protection!
Yep, if you request the desktop version you don’t get that redirect.
Yep. Reddit has gone full corporate.
Pro tip: add old. in the beggining of url. Reddit still has such answers for niche questions
Still works for the NSFW stuff too
There are browser plugins that do this for you, as well.
The only browser plugin you need for Reddit is LibRedirect to automatically redirect all Reddit links to a private frontend called Redlib
I’m going to guess enabling “desktop mode” in Chrome (idk if other browsers have it) would probably work as well, but would throw off the layout most likely.
or change reddit to safereddit
Or use LibRedirect to do it automatically
Yeah but old works like crap on mobile.
Better than not working.
Also he just needs the info
Boost still works with some finagling with mods
You can’t access old.reddit.com with VPN these days. I wouldn’t be surprised if reddit killed it soon.
You can’t access the normal Reddit site behind a VPN either. The only solution is to use a private frontend like Redlib with LibRedirect, to automatically redirect all Reddit links to Redlib.
Enshittification
The only decent way to browse Reddit nowadays is a private frontend called Redlib. You can use the LibRedirect browser extension or the UntrackMe Android app to automatically redirect all Reddit links to Redlib. It’s better for privacy, since you don’t need to access Reddit directly and thus your information isn’t exposed, it works without JavaScript, it doesn’t have ads or trackers and works behind a VPN or Tor. It also lets you view NSFW content without any limitations.
They’ve had this for a while. The cheat code is to change the url to old.reddit.com.
Or just “request desktop website”.
no offense but who the fuck cares, you know what i mean? that shithole can go to hell
And like, why are people surprised it’s only getting worse? Of course it is, we knew long ago the removal of 3rd party app was the beginning of the master plan to monetize our communities.
They’re surprised because they’ve already gotten used to the previous thing.
the beginning of the master plan to monetize our communities.
I think it was closer to the middle of the plan.
The Enshitification will continue until moral improves.
After morale improves, enshittification will accelerate.
Love the absence of logic in these messages. Next time it’ll be “pay $2 to continue” or “do a barrel roll to continue”.
Drink a verification can to continue
do a barrel roll to continue
Reddit hasn’t been that fun in a long time.
On android, I would recommend using Stealth or Geddit to browse reddit. Stealth has a mode where it scrapes old.reddit.com (and bypasses the API), and Geddit uses the RSS feed to pull content instead of API.
Downside is neither app will let you interact, but I don’t have any desire to generate content for reddit anyways.
Those apps’ days are numbered I’m sure
They’ve been working since the API price change, so nearly a year now.
RedReader also still works due to their disability stuff.
I know it has nothing to do with protecting the users, but how exactly is the app supposed to make viewing unreviewed content safer?
They make more money that way, ergo safer for investors.
I think what’s even more annoying is when you actually do use the app, every community you visit, it pops up a notification that says “turn on notifications so you don’t miss updates from this community!”
Easy fix is to update the url to use “old.reddit.com” rather than the base “reddit.com”.
That sends you to a version of the site without a bunch of the crap.
This doesn’t work anymore. I just refresh it and stop somewhere in the middle and it sometimes works.
Old Reddit works for me. Does it just not work in general for you, or does it not work when not logged into an account?
any idea how reddit keeps banning my alt accounts ? I am suspecting chrome broswser is complicit.
Many ways to detect this, but let’s start with the basics: Are you using the same Ip address?
Dear Spez: I AM NEVER EVER GOING TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FUCKING APP
Dear Steve.
He ain’t ever going to read that. Can we stop talking about our ex yet?
It is still unbelievable to me that a site as “valuable“ and large as Reddit still has content screening filters that can be avoided by simply putting three letters and a period in front of the URL. That has been a workaround for years. They literally can’t be bothered to fix that.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it exists. But how unprofessional, right?
Don’t think of it as them being unprofessional, think of it as them having a safety valve to relieve the pressure of some people wanting to leave Reddit for Lemmy or elsewhere, because of their bs.
Someday, when they’re confident enough that they have customer retention locked in, that methodology of bypassing will be removed.
That's prolly next on chopping block.
They recently blocked logins via old.reddit
They are testing. I’ve seen the option vanish and reappear over the past week.
the thing is, the one and only purpose of this dialog is to increase metrics of engagement, like how many users download the app. they don’t need to convert every mobile web user to an app user immediately. as long as that dialog is driving the engagement metrics apps, it is doing its work correctly. obviously at some point there will stop increasing engagement, so the middle managers will turn and try to squeeze a bit more by removing the loopholes, but it is not an urgent problem. it even might be intentional so they can squeeze a bit more later
the one that i am surprised at how bad it is is Twitter, that is still hosted at twitter.com . even going to x.com just redirects to twitter.com . i assume that there’s some major engineering problem that is preventing them from switching, but still, it has been almost 10 months and the clown at chief really pushed for the rebranding
They are doing everything they can so you download their app.
Who cares?
Oh no! Our poor sensitive little eyes might be offended by something we see! I need a nanny-state to go through everything I have access to so I don’t get confused!
All I’m gonna say is I’ve been using my banned account and I can still browse any sub.
I literally can’t interact in any way but can still see every post.
It's been like this for quite some time now.
And anytime you use a browser, you'll always be nagged to continue viewing through browser or use their app. It comes up so obnoxiously and I swear it slows you down. They also make the viewing experience subpar unless you use the app.
use old.reddit.com allegedly it lets you through if you click a “yes i am 18” button
Cryptobros, e-thots, and ads. That’s Reddit these days.
Firefox+libredirect solves all your woes.
“Download our app and consume ads on it because… becaaaaauuuuuusssseeeeee, um, let’s say SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN? Maybe terrorism? Just pick a reason you’d believe and get the app, okay?”
I mean yeah, reddit fucking sucks. That’s why we’re all here. Stop going there.
I haven’t been back since the exodus
Get you to download their app so they can harvest your user data.
Theyve been doing this for years
BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Old.reddit.com
ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I am not going to like the day they remove that.
bolexforsoup@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 months ago
I bet you have to developers at Reddit use it.
Either way you should just leave Reddit.
DarkThoughts@fedia.io 6 months ago
https://github.com/redlib-org/redlib
There's some redirect browser addons like LibRedirect that can automatically redirect you to redlib instances.
sp6@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Unfortunately they block old reddit for VPN users now
CyanFen@lemmy.one 6 months ago
That’s not true, at least not for all vpns
Patquip@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Gotta shuffle VPN servers until you find one that works.
moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
is there any firefox extensions/userscripts to make it more tolerable on mobile? the buttons are always way too small.
LittleTarsier@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
I use “Desktop site” mode and just zoom in lol
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Yes, actually. Look up Oldlander addon for Firefox.
It’s new and kinda of rough but it definitely helps.
johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 6 months ago
There’s a beta of RES for mobile now, but I haven’t tried it yet. I mostly use lemmy instead on mobile (but it’s not really the same thing).
lemmyng@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
Or just request the desktop version.
Interstellar_1@pawb.social 6 months ago
Rdx.overdevs.com is another mobile frontend that works well