this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2023
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Reddit Migration
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Ironically this API issue will kill bots, which was needed.
It will only slow them temporarily you don't need api for bots
Yeah, it'll only kill the useful ones in the long run.
Yeah. The unethical bots will just use scrapers, as they already do for the many websites that don't offer APIs. They're already violating ToS, so they don't care. Ethical ones won't have that option (at least not past the fairly low quota).
Correct. Now the bots will be constantly scraping the pages of every post which will be a much bigger burden on their servers.
It's funny, years ago websites switched to openly available APIs specifically to lessen server burden because of bots. Now they're swapping away from APIs because of bots, but those bots are just gonna go back to scraping.
Sounds like Reddit has a skill issue.
Exactly spez forgot why they needed an api
From my understanding, they already aren't using the API.
If the spam bots were using the API, then Reddit would have been able to shut them down trivially. Part of logging in via API requires a "client ID" that uniquely identifies the creator of the app/bot being used.
They could theoretically have each bot account create its own client ID, but even that would be a pretty obvious thing to look for.
Spam bots don't really need the API access level that calls for the increased fees.
Nah bots will still function
You think they're asking permission to access the API? lol