Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?
Reddit’s 2023 blackout over API pricing and third‑party app shutdowns is widely seen as a tactical win for the company but a strategic loss for community quality. Commenters say overall traffic and new users appear to have recovered, yet many “power users” and moderators left, niche subreddits hollowed out or migrated to Lemmy, Discord, or private forums, and what remains feels more generic, bot‑ridden, and ad‑driven. For a notable subset of former heavy users, the episode was also a catalyst to quit Reddit or social media altogether, often framed as a net positive for their time and mental health.
Overall outcome
- Many see the blackout as a tactical win for Reddit: policies (API pricing, stance toward 3rd‑party apps) did not materially change, most subs reopened, IPO plans continue.
- Others argue it was a Pyrrhic or long‑term loss: core “power users” and good mods left, niche communities hollowed out, and the site’s character shifted toward low‑effort, mass‑market content.
- Several people frame it as a stalemate: Reddit got its way, but at the cost of reduced depth, lost trust, and a slow “zombification” risk.
User behavior changes
- Large number of anecdotes of usage dropping from hours per day to minutes per week or effectively zero, often after Apollo/other 3rd‑party apps died.
- Some used the event to “kick an addiction,” reporting better mental health and more time for books, hobbies, or focused work.
- A minority report “no change at all” and still like Reddit, especially via desktop with ad blockers or paid ad‑free plans.
Content quality & community health
- Widespread perception of lower quality: fewer in‑depth posts, more reposts, ragebait, TikTok‑style videos, spam, bots, and shallow “Ask” prompts.
- Many niche and technical subs shrank, closed, or migrated (sometimes to Discord or independent sites), and often failed to reconstitute.
- Some larger or local subs stayed healthy or even grew, but now feel more like Facebook groups: more fear‑mongering, low signal, and “Reddit humor.”
- Mods report substantial drops in posting volume in hobby subs; fewer contributors means garbage stands out more.
Third‑party apps & UX
- Killing Apollo, Reddit Is Fun, Sync, etc. is widely seen as the single most consequential change, driving user exits and time‑on‑site collapse for many.
- The official app is often described as slow, ad‑heavy, confusing, and hostile to longer reading and commenting.
- Some technically inclined users still patch old apps with personal API keys; most consider 3rd‑party clients effectively dead.
Alternatives & migration
- Lemmy, kbin, Mastodon, Discord, Tildes, and classic forums all saw noticeable but uneven influxes. Many communities “moved” but then withered.
- Lemmy is praised for tech subs but criticized as buggy, under‑moderated in places, and politically/ideologically fraught; growth from the blackout has partially receded.
- Many ex‑Redditors chose not to replace it at all, or split their time across multiple smaller sites rather than a single “Reddit killer.”
Data, bots, and uncertainty
- Disagreement over metrics: some point to apparent drops in subredditstats; others note that API changes broke those measures and internal stats show continued growth.
- Several suspect increased bot/LLM activity on Reddit; others think human low‑effort posting explains the perceived decline.
- Overall trajectory of Reddit (continued growth vs long slow decline) is viewed as unclear.