Talk about your day. Anything goes, but subreddit rules still apply. Please be polite to each other!

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.

On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader. One week on and less than a month to the changes being implemented in July, developers for popular third party apps like Sync are still kept in the dark when it comes to how they can even try to work with the new API changes, never mind the fact that the cost of operating these apps will run into the millions.

Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface.

This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free. Despite the admins' response, many of us remain skeptical of their intent and ability to prioritise these changes, much less deliver based on their responses as well as historical record. You can read more on this here.

r/Singapore has largely remained neutral when it comes to site-wide activity over the years, but the urgency and drastic change brought about by this policy cannot be understated. Over the past day, many of you let us know how these changes would affect you too, especially when it comes to how you access Reddit and r/Singapore. The majority of you have indicated that these third-party apps are what you use to access our subreddit and have agreed with the blackout.

What's the plan?

On the midnight of June 12th, r/Singapore will be going dark for 48 hours to protest this policy alongside many other subreddits. You will not be able to read, vote, submit or comment on any and all posts throughout the blackout.

To be clear, this isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit and this community, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.

The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of r/reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message /u/reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on r/reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at r/ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favourite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

Other Resources

• ELI5: Why are subreddits "going dark"?
• Reddit is killing their brand in the worst possible way by YouTuber Louis Rossmann (13m38s)
• Image Summary

9 June Update

There's a lot of uncertainty across subreddits for what the response here will be, given the recent developments. We're keeping a very keen eye on the collective actions of other communities as well as waiting out for further communication on the part of Reddit. I don't have a lot of confidence in having any concerns addressed at the AMA on r/Reddit, but this extra time should be sufficient for everyone to come to a decision as a whole.

In the meantime, I'd like to hear from everyone on whether we should take subreddit down indefinitely instead. To be clear, this means that the subreddit will be set to private with all posts unaccessible. We're acutely aware that Reddit as a forum is unparalleled in terms of scale for Singapore, but I have every reason to believe that our subreddit, just like other communities, will not ever be the same again. Let us know either way, sentiments from everyone here will play a key part in our decision, as it had for us to get on board in the first place.