Over the past few days I have seen various people debate the API changes, blackouts and all sorts of things related to that subject. As such, I have also seen various people bring toolbox to the conversation.

The Context

Reddit recently announced changes to their API which ultimately ends in Reddit's API moving to a paid model. This would mean 3rd Party developers would have to pay Reddit for continued and sustained access to their API on pricing that could be considered similar to Twitter's new pricing. The dev of Apollo did a good breakdown of this here and here.

^{Yes, stolen from the RES announcement because they did a nice job of writing it.}

The impact on toolbox

There are two ways to look at the impact these changes have on toolbox:

1. The immediate technical impact on toolbox.
2. The other side of the coin.

The immediate technical impact on toolbox

This one is simple. Toolbox only uses the reddit API, so isn't impacted by things like pushshift not being accessible. The API policy in general also isn't likely to impact toolbox in the foreseeable future. Simply due to the nature of it being a browser extension and effectively making use of the reddit session.

This also has been said as much by reddit themselves.

The other side of the coin

Toolbox is currently not directly impacted. Hooray! That doesn't mean there is no impact on toolbox. In fact, these API changes are part of a downward spiral where reddit as a platform is closing up more and more. Reddit is gone from a platform where the code was open (I even still have the badge to prove it) to one where a once vibrant third party developer community has been dealt blow after blow. This clear signal reddit is sending to the world also impacts any future toolbox might still have.

Toolbox development already has slowed down to a crawl over the past few years. The two of us still maintaining it still do it out of a sense of obligation and a bit of pride.

In an ideal situation, there would be plenty of people ready to step in and help out. In the past this actually was the case as we have had dozens of people contribute with varying levels of activity. But, that simply isn't the case anymore. The same is true for similar projects like RES.

For a bit more thought on the matter, you can also see my comments in the modnews announcement thread.

Closing words

I felt like I should make this post as I have seen people use toolbox in their discussions about whether they should join protests or not. This post isn't here to make that decision for anyone. I just felt that instead of selectively being quoted from various posts and comments, I'd just provide the information in a single place here.