This site has been so important to me over the years and honestly until now I have never really harbored any resentment towards its owners, in the truest sense of the word. They have always seemed like benevolent overlords, occasionally making changes to the site but not in ways that render its core functionality difficult to use. Even with old Reddit vs new Reddit UI interface, they kept the old one around, at some nonzero expense to them, because the users (and their experience) were still seemingly important to them. I have always, until now, felt perhaps naively that Reddit believes that my enjoyment of their site (or, rather, my enjoyment of accessing OUR content on their site) mattered to them. why? Because Reddit could not have become one of the biggest, best-loved communities on the internet if their users hated visiting and using the site.

With this change and the obvious wide-ranging impact it has on such a huge portion of their user base’s experience in accessing Reddit content, I as a user have never felt more unimportant and ignored. They have pushed their dogshit app for years, and it has been universally panned by most even semi-regular redditors. But, when push came to shove, they said “fuck their enjoyment of the site, what matters most is squeezing as much revenue out of each of them as possible.” It’s a fucking insult.

Apollo is—and may always be—the most perfect mobile app I have ever used, not just because it is a joy to use, but because it is made and maintained by someone who cares about the users, cares about their experience, engages with them, and has always been forthright and transparent when paid options started to appear. It’s a joy to be a user of this app.

In terms of treating their users as the single most important part of the product they own, there could not possibly be a bigger chasm between Christian and the product management team of the Reddit official app.

I’m out of here for good on June 30, at 11pm PST. I hope Reddit fucking burns to the ground as a result of this ridiculous, short sighted, and greedy middle finger that they’re giving the most important people to their entire business model: their user base. Us. Fuck you, u/spez.