In the 1970s in the United States there grew an idea: Simply put, that people could help other people by building a decent place to live, at no profit for the builders. This idea grew from a charitable concept into a movement that would grow far past its original hopes and expectations. By the late 1970s this idea had expanded; today, Habitat for Humanity operates in every state in the USA but also in over a third of the countries in the world.
Habitat for Humanity volunteers do not work for wages. They volunteer their time to create something better than existed before; they often provide their own tools to make construction more efficient and safer for themselves and all around. The Habitat fund provides materials and the volunteers do the rest, creating and improving spaces for people to live in and enjoy. Without the volunteers, Habitat for Humanity could simply and fundamentally not exist. As such, the volunteers are treated with dignity and respect; they create wonderful things for strangers for no other reason than the love of so doing.
In the mid-2000s, Reddit was created. Reddit, Inc. has provided the framework and material for the site to survive, and a group of volunteer moderators has created tools and volunteered time to build spaces for people to occupy and enjoy. For the past 18 years this has been successful: Volunteers have created and curated spaces, and users have created content and everything that has filled those spaces.
On May 31 of this year, Reddit unilaterally announced that it was changing the pricing structure for all third-party applications using its servers and, in order for apps like Apollo, Bacon Reader, or RiF is Fun to continue to function, they would be required to pay Reddit, Inc. some tens of millions of dollars per year effective 30 days hence. The net effect of this is that
Reddit plans on ending the ability for ALL third-party applications to function. This will mean destroying the ability of users to interact with the site on their favorite platforms. This will affect not only moderators but also every user who chooses to use a third-party application to view the site;
THIS DIRECTLY AFFECTS YOU.
Habitat for Humanity could not function without its volunteers and the tools and skills they bring to the table; Reddit cannot function without its volunteer moderators and users and the tools and skills they bring to the platform.
Reddit is making these changes solely to serve you more advertisements, facilitate more spam, and track and sell your personal user data to other marketers and platforms. This has no benefit to the user, but we have seen this pattern
before with other platforms.The animosity of Reddit towards third-party app developers, moderator staff, and users alike is telling and it does not bode well for the future of the platform. Reddit's actions are bad for
everyone.
If Habitat for Humanity volunteers were treated thusly they would, sadly, pack their tools and move on and think at least of the good they have managed to do for people.As volunteers for Reddit, we are now preparing to pack our tools and move on. Reddit's clear avarice and contempt for the people who have spent millions of hours for free building and populating their communities is coming to a head.
The takeaway from this:
In protest, r/cars will be closing all access as of June 12 and will be dark through June 14, perhaps longer. The mod staff is unwilling to continue to work with restricted functionality and in the face of such shocking disregard from Reddit, who has effectively been our pro bono client for the entirety of the site's existence. During this time you will not be able to read, comment, or participate in the subreddit at all.This is not something the mod staff does lightly: This is done after many hours of discussion recently, and multiple years of discussion more broadly. We do not want to have to this, and it is with great reticence that we take this action. We love what we have built: This is the Internet's largest automotive forum by several multiples. We love the discussion here, and we are all invested in not only the subreddit but also the content therein. We're all enthusiasts first and moderators second, and shuttering -- and preparing to abandon, if necessary -- the thing that we have built is painful.
However, this is where we are at this point of time.What can you do?
- 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.
- Spread the word. Discuss this on related subreddits. Suggest that anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /r/ModCoord. Do NOT attempt to doxx, threaten, harass, or promote violence towards anyone.
- Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th: Instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
- 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.Thank you. We hope for a positive resolution in this matter. This is the hand that we must play.
Thank you.
--The
r/cars mod staff
