/r/ColoradoAvalanche will go dark on June 12th in protest of Reddit’s API changes that will kill 3rd party apps

Good afternoon,

After discussions within the mod staff, we have unanimously approved participation in the protest many communities site-wide are planning for next Monday.

Starting on July 1st, Reddit has unilaterally decided to impose exorbitant charges on third-party app developers(Relay, RIF is Fun nee Reddit is Fun, Apollo, Baconreader, Narwhal etc.) for utilizing their API. This decision [has far-reaching consequences that not only hinder app developers](https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_call_with_reddit_to_discuss_pricing_bad/) but also affect the experience of moderators and users alike. The lack of maturity in Reddit’s official app has made it difficult for us to fulfill our responsibilities as moderators efficiently (both Apollo and RIF are used heavily within the staff), and it has also left many users dissatisfied with their browsing experience.

For you, this means a lack of options. There is a huge array of third-party apps for Reddit on desktop that augment the experience (RES, Toolbox, etc.), as well as two supported platforms, oldreddit and newreddit. However, this is clearly not what Reddit wants for non-desktop platforms. July 1 will be the death of options on mobile. The first party Reddit app is controversial, for good reasons. It’s relatively sluggish and bloated; most people come here for subforums rather than chats, avatars, NFTs, RPAN, etc., but are served these as priorities. Apollo, RIF, Relay, and more provide a more familiar option on mobile. Even if one of these apps stays live after July 1, it will be hindered by other restrictions Reddit is enforcing in the new terms.

For us, the administration [has tried to ease tensions with its unpaid moderation](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/141oqn8/api_updates_questions/) by mentioning that mod bots will not be affected, but this misses the core frustration and why 3PA are necessary to moderation — usable UI/UX on mobile for moderation. There are some commitments to work being done in the pipeline, but this isn’t enough — July 1 will kill these already functioning apps. Sports subreddits are quite challenging to moderate, as there are huge spikes in activity (short term as games, long term as playoffs); we need effective tools to make this work. The first party Reddit app simply cannot do this right now.

Additionally, for 3PA devs, the administration [has been dismissive and unrealistic](https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/13wsiks/comment/jmmptma/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) about how expensive it would be to run these apps under the new model. This behavior and directives from the top levels of management on this site, and the terrible PR they’ve been doing as this controversy has unfolded, is simply unacceptable.

In solidarity with other communities, we will be participating in the 48 hour blackout. /r/ColoradoAvalanche will be going dark on midnight, June 12, and will be reopened at 11:59 PM June 13th. [We encourage users to join our sister Discord.](https://discord.gg/HzvKebH)

We’ll be happy to answer questions. [You can learn more about this issue here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/)

by AvalancheMods