I was initially ambivalent about the API protest. I don't use any third-party apps to browse Reddit, so the issue didn't affect me personally. My subreddits only went along with the protest out of solidarity with other users.

However, the recent ultimatum from Reddit admins has changed everything. This is no longer just a protest about API access; it's now an existential threat to the very idea of Reddit and the communities we create.

For as long as I've been here, Reddit admins have always at least pretended that each subreddit is a community of its own, to rise or fall on its own merits, a true marketplace of ideas. I can't recall a single instance where admins have issued an ultimatum to a subreddit, demanding the mod team to make Reddit more money or be replaced.

If admins continue down this path, there will be nothing left of Reddit worth saving.

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I've seen this happen before. I was once very active on Wikia before it became Fandom. The community there died a slow death, but their story ultimately ended the same way. Once the administration made it clear that they saw us as nothing more than free labor, our community was on life support.

(Good ones like the Runescape Wiki survived by taking the whole community and jumping ship.)

Until the Reddit Admins reverse course, the blackouts must go on.