If you haven’t heard, Reddit users are organizing a blackout June 12-14 in protest of technical changes to Reddit’s back end; some subs even intend to stay dark indefinitely. You might have heard about this in context of 3rd-party apps like Apollo, but the issue is much bigger than that.

In an attempt to simplify summarize:

• Different parts of the internet communicate with each via API (application programming interface). This is a way for websites/software/whatever to exchange data in a secure, standardized way. As an example, if you play any mobile games that allow you to connect to Facebook friends - that’s an API.
• On April 18, Reddit announced it would change pricing for commercial API use. That’s not unexpected; providing API infrastructure costs them money.
• However, the price they are asking is 10-20x more than similar services. Many 3rd-party apps, bots, and other services have already announced their closure as they see the writing on the wall.
• r/AskHistorians is an example of a big sub that relies on API access to be the high quality community that it is. This post goes into detail on how these changes will harm them.

While this is a small sub that doesn’t require a lot of effort to moderate, I’ll note that we wouldn’t be here without Jane Austen, an avid reader and brilliant writer, who wrote the beginning of the novel Sanditon after a lifetime of eye issues and increasingly worse eyesight. The fact that visually-impaired users are being left in the cold by Reddit (whose own iOS app and mod tools are inaccessible!!) makes it feel important to participate.

And that’s the rub—Reddit wouldn’t exist without volunteer activity by moderators and contributions from users like you. Therefore, we deserve a significant say in major decisions like what Reddit announced on April 18. That hasn’t been given, and the black out is an effort to demand it.

From June 12-14, this sub will be set to private. I’d also encourage you to:

1. Not login to Reddit
2. Use an adblocker if you must use Reddit
3. Uninstall Reddit’s mobile app if you use it
4. Ask Reddit to appropriately price their product and prioritize human-centered development: message the mods of r/reddit, message u/reddit, and/or submit a help request.

Here are some Sanditon-adjacent activities to fill your free time while you're avoiding Reddit:

1. Rewatch (duh 😆)
2. Go on a Sandi-ger Hunt (h/t u/angelaperegrina)
3. Catch up on reading Sense and Sensibility so you can join the discussion at r/JaneAustenBookClub once they're back.

ETA additional posts about the Black Out worth reading:

"Mods of r/Blind reveal that removing 3rd party apps will effectively remove the blind from reddit. and advocates for a reddit wide protest blackout in response on June 12th"

"AITA for blocking your go-to time killer from June 12-14?"

"[META] Tomorrow AskHistorians will go private"