Asking third-party reddit app devs to consider Lemmy after recent Reddit API changes.

I've also cross-posted this post on other third-party apps' subs:

EDIT: Forgot to write a bit of an introduction of myself, hello to everyone here, long time redditor and someone who also happens to mod a lot of subs on reddit such as r/electricvehicles, r/trulyunpopularopinion and etc!

Though I love to moderate and contribute to this communities meaningfully, I never liked reddit, as a huge FOSS fan, and these recent API changes are freaking stupid as well, there wasn't a better reason for me to not consider moving to Lemmy. I will be speaking with a lot of other reddit mods in my own mod teams and some other friends, hopefully I can bring some subs/people here.

Speaking of bringing people, please do consider checking out these posts I've linked above, and consider upvoting them if you agree, this situation with third-party apps are a great opportunity for Lemmy, hopefully it reaches to the devs, and even if not all apps make a move, even one would be a win.

Thank you!

EDIT 2: Hey guys! I missed some third party apps on the list above, just updated them, and the new added ones are RIF, Joey, Get Narwhal and RedReader. UPDATE: Added ReddPlanet.

Please do consider visiting those that I just added and upvote them, so hopefully they can reach to respective developers!

Cougar,

This is a genius idea. Imagine all app developers get together and once reddit stops working they ALL from their app's interfaces recommend switching to a lemmy instance, and mention that lemmy will be supported on their app in near future.

This could be a massive blow to reddit since the traffic these apps contribute to is huge.

JackFromWisconsin,
@JackFromWisconsin@midwest.social avatar

Oh that's you! Happy to see that you spread the word.

Archit,

Hey!!

dessalines,

I will be speaking with a lot of other reddit mods in my own mod teams and some other friends, hopefully I can bring some subs/people here.

Also thank you for doing this. @nutomic and I would rather be spending our time coding, and less time telling people about Lemmy. Its something I'm not very good at, and don't like to do too often, and greatly appreciate it when others are willing to help us out there.

Archit,

No problem man! Glad to be helping, huge fan of what you've been doing here, I see this third-party API changes on reddit as a huge opportunity for Lemmy, even if not Apollo, even if any ONE developer of third party app makes the jump here, then others are more likely to consider. I certainly don't want to see the fantastic third-party ecosystem die with reddit, instead move here where it's open source and API would probably never go behind paywall as per my understanding.

And totally get you, especially at this stage I get that devs would want to focus on the development side, doing my best to get the word out! Love ya for your efforts!

dogmuffins,

The reluctance of redditors to move to lemmy always amazes me.

Not surprisingly, there's a lot of posts in a lot of subs about the recently announced changes. In every post the same pattern is repeated ad-nauseum:

  • "i hate reddit, it sucks here, I've always wanted to leave, I'm never coming back once this happens"
  • "maybe we should move the sub to lemmy so we won't have this problem in future?"
  • "but what about all our data, the wiki & post history and such"
  • "but there's no users on lemmy"
  • "but that would split the community!"

This is the case even in the subs I would have thought would be really keen to jump ship, like /r/selfhosted

I think this type of approach is the right idea though, a better ecosystem can only be good.

Neuromancer, (edited )

Lemmy is just the latest in a very long line of potential reddit successors. Historically, you can't move a subreddit to a different platform because redditors are users of reddit, not users of your particular subreddit.

dogmuffins,

This is true, but of course individuals can choose to move.

This may not be a warm fuzzy thing to say, but I don't feel much of a "community" in reddit subs.

What I mean is that to me, 100 people reading a sub on lemmy once a week is just as useful as 1000 people reading a sub on reddit once a month. As in, I don't really care if the specific users from a reddit sub are here, just that there are some engaged users here.

Rhabuko,

undefined> “but there’s no users on lemmy”

I mean that's a reasonable point. The amount of users is always important for a platform adaptation. But I see a good chance for Lemmy if/when Reddit removes/restricts all porn subs.. IF there's a place for it in Lemmy.

Zagaroth,

I suspect there will be specific servers/communities that support that content.

orclev, (edited )

I've yet to see one. It's one of the handful of things that don't exist yet on Lemmy that I'd actually miss from reddit. There's a few speciality subs that don't have any parallels on here but there's nothing stopping that content though. Porn on the other hand seems to be universally banned on every Lemmy instance I've ever seen. I guess moderating that content is just too much of a headache for most people.

RoaringSilence,

Maby the change to come regarding NSFW or 18+ content is the trigger a lot of people need.

If the cards are played well it could aggregate a lot of people. In regards to mature content in general not only "porn" orientated.

russjr08,

I guess moderating that content is just too much of a headache for most people.

Yep, plus I can only imagine just how worse that headache would be for whomever is probably the first to offer it.

themadcodger,
themadcodger avatar

I think it's exactly that no one wants the headache of moderating that. But I'm certain someone will spin up an instance that allows it as soon as Reddit bans it.

BlinkerFluid,

There's no users on Lemmy?

Then who are you people!?

asexualchangeling,

We are you and you are us

krolden,

Maybe you're just developing schizophrenia

artic,

The voices of the abyss join us

Haunting_Tale_5150,

It just makes me roll my eyes, they act like it's all so hard to join or leave, when really it isn't. When tumblr had it's nsfw ban, I joined reddit. Now that Tumblr is recovering, I rejoin with a new account. When reddit is having it's api exodus, I join lemmy. All you need is an email and a username, the rest is up to you.

The only real concerns that are in the list are:

  • The wiki (which could just be a simple copy-paste), though I wouldn't like Lemmy communities to be exact copies of the subreddits. There's many gripes I have with certain subs that should be avoided with Lemmy. As for data, if there's information you think is important to keep, share it. Find communities to share that info with, create ones if there isn't one for the certain thing you want to share. Don't just keep it hanging on reddit. As tvtropes says, keep circulating the tapes.
  • Splitting the community could be an issue, but a lot of subreddits simply AREN'T community based anymore. I can honestly only think of maybe three off hand that still feel like a community. One of which is only so due to it's somewhat more active discord server.
dessalines,

Its funny to me that those of us posting viable alternatives in those threads get drowned out by doomerism (there's nothing we can do!!!). There are alternatives out there to reddit, and they're already better experiences.

Magusbear,

It's really baffling. Especially because there are some solid but really small communities that would have a fairly easy time migrating but are still not even considering doing so because of the small userbase over here. These communities don't even benefit from the bigger userbase on reddit because the discussions are solely between the users that are subbed to the subreddits.

sexy_peach,

Hmm I think that normally it is legit hard to move a community to a new server/system. Even a small one. It was tried with a german subreddit to feddit.de and it failed.

Right now there's a lot of momentum, probably because reddit fucked up.

AnotherOverHeaven,

I don't expect the average person to move to Lemmy but I do think they're silly for criticizing it for it's low userbase when they themselves could be the users that populate it, currently this place has 2k (if I'm in the right space) people who've at least checked the site out.

If anything it should be easier considering there's a boost like reddit client for Android on the app store currently.

Magusbear,

Yea, a real mass exodus will probably not happen, but I would love it if at least a sizable community can grow out of it. There are a couple of smaller subreddits I would rather not abandon if they don't jump ship but if I can get the rest of my "content needs" from Lemmy I'd gladly take away from my reddit browsing time to come here instead.

Wiredfire,

If Mastodon teaches us anything it’s not about the size of the community but the engagement. If we end up with smaller, but more engaged, groups here and elsewhere in the fediverse then we’re in for a good time!

Magusbear,

Which German subreddit was tried to move?

sexy_peach,

reddit.com/r/dachschaden. But I think the move wasn't to feddit.de, sorry. It was to a server that doesn't exist anymore, 161.social. It never caught on I think.

Magusbear,

Too bad...seems like the kind of community that would rather not be on reddit after the IPO. Ideology wise I mean. But seeing that 161.social is dead now it definitely raises the question if staying was the better move. But I guess that's the point. If you don't get everyone to move then the alternative will likely die sooner or later.

sexy_peach,

161.social never had any active users, that was the problem I think. They tried mirroring some posts form the dachschaden sub, but that didn't attract anyone.

Magusbear,

I see. I'm looking forward to how Lemmy does in the future. Even with the disruptive changes to reddit it's hard to imagine a real mass exodus happening. But a semi sizable community might be enough to at least split my browsing habits between Lemmy and reddit.

sexy_peach,

I split my browsing habits between Lemmy and Reddit like a year or two ago. Mostly I browse reddit and when I see funny or interesting content I post it here.

Magusbear,

Seems like a good way to go about. I'll probably follow suit. I'm not sure if it will be possible to establish some of my favorite subreddits here but we'll see how it goes.

SineNomineAnonymous,

deleted_by_author

    •
    penguintech1,

    @SineNomineAnonymous @dogmuffins EXACTLY, I was on Reddit saying the exact same thing yesterday, why don't people just start using that better alternative ( that doesn't target them with intrusive ads ) but when FB first started out, I remember everyone was asking how to sign up, ( they didn't think no one is using it ), I think "follow the crowd" mentality is the problem when it comes to mass adoption :rickdrink:

    aksdb,

    I think they just don't want to change what they got used to. Having an excuse then makes it easier to stay where you are, hoping that circumstances get better. Basically typical conservative behavior that lives in most of us.

    Zach777,
    @Zach777@fosstodon.org avatar

    @penguintech1 @SineNomineAnonymous @dogmuffins Yall just have to start posting replies to everyone Lemmy's comments to make it seem like everyone is moving over lol.

    penguintech1,

    @Zach777 @SineNomineAnonymous @dogmuffins 😭

    Yoreo,

    "but there's no users on lemmy"

    It's definitely a chicken and the egg situation.

    I've been lurking here the past few days when I saw lemmy as a reddit alternative. I decided to sign up today as lurking isn't doing this place any favors. Hopefully more people will sign up, and the momentum will build and continue.

    russjr08,

    It's a chicken and egg problem for sure, but what I find a bit funny in every case like this (Reddit -> Lemmy, Twitter -> Mastodon, etc) is when someone says "X doesn't have any users!" it makes me want to reply with something like:

    Well of course, if X had anywhere near the population amount of [Reddit, Twitter, Etc] then its likely that these changes wouldn't be happening in the first place, to avoid a migration...

    These companies think they (and unfortunately in a lot of cases, are) too big to fail, if there was a competitor out there that had another sizable slice of the pie, then I doubt they'd be making idiotic changes like this nonsense over the API.

    I know that this is just how the network effect works, but it does make me laugh for a moment every once in a while.

    Yoreo,

    It's obvious that reddit had someone run the stats on what percentage of users would abandon the site completely and who would bite the bullet and eventually migrate over to their app. Obviously there must be more potential earnings with whatever projected percentage of users actually swallow their pride and use their app. All that Metadata must be worth a fortune to them.

    mFcGlNBcfr,

    I've been on lemmy for about a year, and this is the first time I've seen lemmy this consistently active.

    It actually reminds me of reddit in the earlier years :')

    Minty,

    I'm here because of you. Loving your idea, and hoping they go for it. Because what the hell, Reddit.

    Archit,

    Welcome! I hope you have a good time here man, if you got any questions don't hesitate to shoot em up :)

    Minty,

    I only wonder what's the best way to advertise c/wish and why it or !wish isn't automatically made into a link :p

    GuyDudeman,
    @GuyDudeman@lemmy.ml avatar

    Reddit banned him! They're freaking out so much.

    Krusty,
    @Krusty@feddit.it avatar

    Thanks for this 💜

    mordekaiq89,

    It's true, infinity for reddit is finite, it should be infinity for infinite websites ^/_^

    saba,

    @mordekaiq89 @Archit I just learned that "finity" is a word! Finity for Reddit!

    TerrorBite,
    @TerrorBite@meow.social avatar

    I love using Relay, and if it ever adopts Lemmy support then I'd be using it for sure.

    a887dcd7a,

    Maybe you want to address mastodon client devs as well… they are familiar with the protocol.

    DudeDad,

    I've been using iOS app Ivory for Mastodon, and it's FANTASTIC. Little did I know, they also make my favorite calculator app, Calcbot.

    I would love it if they swooped in and developed for Lemmy.

    readbeanicecream,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    christian,
    @christian@lemmy.ml avatar

    I use redreader too, I was happy to see the developer post that they were considering reworking it for Lemmy. Hopefully they decide it's worth their effort.

    liaizon,
    @liaizon@wake.st avatar

    @Archit this is a really great start! I upvoted all your posts over there...

    cavemeat,

    Great job dude, hopefully it inspires more migration.

    veroxii,

    Let's get a hackathon going. Maybe it's possible to have a project which allows these apps to work with lemmy. I created a sub on reddit for it: https://www.reddit.com/r/apihackathon/

    But maybe that's not the right spot - happy for someone to create a similar community here too.

    MDKAOD,

    Message received. Hello from reddit!

    derivator,

    I wonder how hard it would be for Lemmy to expose a Reddit compatible API. That work would only have to be done once, and then all the apps could just switch endpoints instead of each app having to implement the Lemmy API.

    DrQuint,

    This is just an uninformed take, and I don't want to give the idea I know what I'm saying:

    Probably very hard for things beyond the most basic browsing within one instance. There's unavoidable interoperability features we would want here but have no equivalent in a reddit environment, and such apps would just feel too limited versus using a browser with the current Web UI. For example, a user posts from another instance and you click to check their posts, which turns out are all over the place in federated space. Even if we create an API layer that condenses all those requests to a simple single call we would do on Reddit, how to label those results for wherethey reside is still another small UI headache. And that's one problem view out of a couple dozen in the app, while merely assuming single-instance browsing.

    But more drastically, Lemmy's moderation tools are probably heavily different from those on reddit. Even if they're similar in actions - they're absolutely going to be dissimilar in completeness, Reddit is much older than Lemmy and has that time advantage. I know a large part of people who moderate reddit did it using third party apps for ease of use on a phone, and that's a demographic that probably can't be captured very easily.

    derivator,

    Some things certainly don't map 1:1, but my own uninformed take is that it's probably not that big of a problem.

    For example, a user posts from another instance and you click to check their posts, which turns out are all over the place in federated space. Even if we create an API layer that condenses all those requests to a simple single call

    Doesn't Lemmy already do this? I am posting from feddit.de, but when I click your username, I can see your posts on lemmy.ml - inside feddit.de, served by feddit.de. The only requests my browser makes to lemmy.ml are for things like avatars.

    The only way to find out how big of a problem it really is is to try, which I think I will do if no one beats me to it.

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