As Reddit continues to deal with the mess created by high API prices, CEO Steve Huffman has written to employees to seemingly downplay the impact of network-wide subreddit closures are having.
When it became clear that the prices Reddit will charge for access to its API will put apps like Apollo (one of the best Reddit apps around) out of business, many subreddit moderators said that they would act. That meant that subreddits under their control would "go dark," or effectively be made private so that nobody could see or post to them.
The protest doesn't seem to have worried Huffman, though. And he says that the whole furor will pass.
No significant revenue impact
In an email to employees leaked to The Verge, Huffman said that he expects that many of the subreddits that are now dark will come back online on Wednesday. However, since Huffman's comments, it already appears that some have changed their plans — and their subreddits will remain dark indefinitely.
Not that Huffman will be worried. "We have not seen any significant revenue impact so far and we will continue to monitor," he told employees, adding that "there’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen."
Continuing, Huffman says that "like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well." But with an impending IPO on the table, does Huffman have the time that he needs for that to happen?
While suggesting that everything is being blown out of proportion, Huffman does go on to say that people "please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations."
It goes without saying that Reddit's employees aren't the ones making these API decisions and as such shouldn't be on the receiving end of any of the frustration currently being caused by Huffman and this API call.
