Eight hours ago, admin /u/lift_ticket83 posted this update on /r/modnews, titled "Reddit Data API Update: Changes to Pushshift Access."
I think their TLDR sums it up pretty well:
TL;DR: Pushshift is in violation of our Data API Terms and has been unresponsive despite multiple outreach attempts on multiple platforms, and has not addressed their violations. Because of this, we are turning off Pushshift’s access to Reddit’s Data API, starting today. If this impacts your community, our team is available to help.
Essentially, Reddit is removing access from pushshift in order to take it offline. This will impact projects like /r/BotDefense, which rely on it. The admin admits this, saying:
We understand this will cause disruption to some mods, which we hoped to avoid. While we cannot provide the exact functionality that Pushshift offers because it would be out of compliance with our terms, privacy policy, and legal requirements, our team has been working diligently to understand your usage of Pushshift functionality to provide you with alternatives within our native cowtools in order to supplement your moderator workflow.
And they say that they are trying to work with users:
We are already reaching out to those we know develop cowtools or bots that are dependent on Pushshift. If you need to reach out to us, our team is available to help.
Personally, I doubt Reddit will be of any help to the many mods that rely on pushshift, or literally any deleted content hosting site like reveddit.
Users React:
There are so many uses for pushshift and ban flow/removal reasons are at the bottom of that list
The Admin who made the post chimes in with a downmarseyd reply
Not surprisingly, this conversation has spanned multiple teams at Reddit who are all working to ensure mod workflows are minimally impacted by these changes. We’ve hosted a number of calls and research sessions with mods prior to this but would love it if you could elaborate on how you use pushshift so we can make sure we’ve accounted for your use case. ? Tagging in /u/sn00byd00 and /u/Flyinglaserturtle for visibility.
A mod reply to the original post:
Users have questions abut their favorite removed content service
Does this destroy cowtools like removeddit? Because I use that website constantly.
And most people are just fricking mad about it.
Thank you for killing off a useful tool many of us use daily.
/u/thespookiestuser has some words for the admins
Let's cut to the chase here:
You expect us to sympathize with you over Pushshift, for some reason, despite the fact the changes you're making are going to frick up a lot of third party apps and cowtools that lots of mods (and general users too) use daily.
Well, we don't.
You probably do not actually care about this and will not deviate from whatever plan corporate has set out. Reddit will probably not actually see that big of a blow to its metrics, but I can foresee a small dip and a lot of mods leaving, perhaps protesting / closing up shop on the way out.
You continually fail to understand that you have staked the operation of your entire website on thousands of unpaid and unmanageable volunteers, of which you're now pissing off continually in half-baked schemes to wring more money out of the site. Even if this doesn't kill the site, it will definitely lead to a decrease in overall quality as the people who care more about having good communities are pushed out in favor of those who instead like seeing numbers go up when they get to mod more subs.
But it's likely you don't care about this either, because quality ≠ profit, engagement does.
This message will also be ignored and tossed in the shredder, like all the rest. The most I can really hope for is that the low level technicians and community managers actually give a darn even if corporate and shareholders don't.
Personally, I saw this coming since the API announcement
This is horrible for Reddit and it's communities, and only moves this platform to a bots world that we have to live in. I hate this. Frick their IPO.
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This is funny but i don't know why.
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Larson seriously probably has no idea why he made that comic.
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Oh. I had no idea about this
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He talked about it in one of his books. He said his mistake was making one of em look like a saw. They were meant to be completely alien to humans.
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The joke is that the place is called "Sneed's Cow Cowtools" which is clever in itself and quite funny to those with a mature sense of humour but what's really just hilarious about it is that if you look closely at the front of this store, Sneed's Cows Cowtools, you can see a line that reads "Formerly Chuck's". Now, this might go over the average viewer's head as this, THIS, is peak comedy. I doubt anything will ever be as funny as the joke about Sneed's Cow Cowtools. Are you ready for this one? So, like I said, the place is called "Sneed's Cows & Cowtools" and that when Chuck owned the place, well, I don't have to tell you...
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Neighbor you not supposed to answer. Laugh and move on, goddarn.
Ol' opinion havin butt. You the neighbor that ask for the manager because your the waitress flirting at another table. You the neighbor that puts political bumper stickers on your car. You the neighbor that watch 24/7 news and repeat all that shit like its facts. You the neighbor that squeeze all the goddarn tomatoes before you decide you don't want one tonight. You the neighbor that actually takes the darn surveys after a service call. You the neighbor that tell the telemarketer about how offended you are she called. B-word got a job! She don't give a frick about you, but you don't care, cause yo butt got something to say. You count calories for everybody but your goddarn self. You the neighbor that use a recipe from the internet, then put a comment under it about how much you liked it after you changed every goddarn ingredient
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