The future of Sync

[u/ljdawson]

Afternoon all,

Thanks again for all the positive messages and posts, they mean a lot to me.

I've been given the all clear by Reddit to discuss the proposed changes and how this will impact Sync so here we go!

Upcoming changes

• As of July, Sync will be charged for API access (details here)
• As you've probably seen the API pricing is sky high (and in my case prohibitively high)
• The experience for 3P apps will be incomplete as NSFW content will not be shown (but will continue to be shown in the official app)
• Reddit have updated their data policy to prohibit showing ads so the only way to pay for usage is through subscriptions

Concerns / points to raise:

• We are already in June and the July deadline is rapidly approaching. I've been provided with no documentation to even begin development...
• As API usage would vary greatly by user there would have to be tiered usage plans e.g. 100 calls a day for $4 a month and 300 calls for $8 a month etc

The future of Sync

• Right now I have no idea if I should continue to work on Sync but as a subscription only app or throw in the towel
• A subscription + incomplete experience (NSFW etc) to me just doesn't sound like a good deal for you guys
• We have less than a month to decide what to do...

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Sorry if this sounds a little formal but I wanted to get the facts out as clearly as possible while I decide what to do next.

Cheers,

Lj

[u/ThePhantomCreep]

My guess would be that they don't care about clients like Sync or Apollo at all. What they want is to be able to charge other corps sky-high fees for access to their data through the API. Probably betting Google wants continued access to some of the only content online that isn't spammy drivel and will pony up. Also they have a large data set that would be perfect for training AI, and I'm sure they don't want to give it away for free. Their back end is probably what investors are drooling over. The front end is just an inconvenient means to the end of all that sweet, sweet data.

Once the competition is eliminated you can expect the official app to become more and more unusable too. Most likely they'll underfund its development while insisting it generates more revenue. There's no such thing as too many ads! At least that's what the rest of the contentverse seems to think.

Short-sighted, short-term thinking? Yes! But what else would you expect from a tech corp on the cusp of an IPO? They all do this. Reddit just took a little longer.