Here is an explainer of what is going on, and here is a nice infographic explaining some consequences to users. Many of these directly affect us, and it's important to join in with this type of protest as an industry that really relies on free online spaces in order to network and manage our safety. One of the biggest issues with this API change is the fact that moderating NSFW content will be hugely affected, and bots used for spam removal and preventing, say, people who post in hardcore porn subreddits from also commenting on selfies of underage kids in r /teenagers will be severely limited if not completely disabled. Not only this, many people who require assistive software to access reddit, such as the users of r/blind, will be totally unable to use Reddit's native app, as it is not compatible with assistive software. Reddit has promised to fix this, but their promises have hardly been kept in the past, let alone in a timely fashion, and they have given the third party apps a 30 day window to decide whether to pay millions for API access or be forced offline... with no real action on fixes for these issues on their side shown.

When I took the subreddit offline, there were talks taking place with Reddit's administrators. These did NOT reach satisfactory conclusions. The biggest issue I foresee with our community, other than the annoyance of having to increase my policing of spam, is the potential for Reddit to simply decide that hookers are not allowed here. This is kind of one step closer to that end.

Going forward

With that in mind, I have been researching alternative platforms for us to use as a backup, as I don't believe it is good to rely upon this website any longer for the entire community's needs. We have 14.8k users, and while most of you are lurking non-sex workers, this is important for those who use and read it who are peers. To head off any questions on this: no, I will not be making any new space restricted to verified users, because this is exclusionary and limits the ability of newer sex workers who don't have any connections to find us and find information that is important. There are private spaces out there, and it is up to those spaces to vet their users; they have a different purpose to this space. Do keep in mind when posting and commenting anywhere that this is a public space.

For the meantime, this subreddit is RESTRICTED. That means it is not accepting new posts, but you can comment on older threads, and maybe this will encourage people to actually search for answers instead of asking the community to do work that has already been done!! I felt that keeping us offline past the 48h was restricting access to info that might keep people safe, and that's why I put us back up.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here or send a modmail.