Reddit’s app icon returned to its usual appearance in a new iOS update released Monday, which had previously featured an altered appearance for promoting r/Place.
Multiple subreddits have reopened after spending over a month protesting Reddit’s API pricing changes, which caused popular third-party apps such as Apollo to shut down, with the largest being r/malefashionadvice.
1. r/Kids
Reddit is an online news aggregation, content rating, and discussion forum. While Reddit can provide helpful information, it hosts inappropriate material such as war zone images, subreddits for sexual work and drug use, and conferences devoted to child molestation. Many parents worry that their children access this material; many seek ways to prevent them from accessing such sites and tips on protecting their kids.
A r/Kids user shared his story about his former wife on Reddit earlier this year, noting how she hadn’t called back after picking their son up from school and assumed it must either be due to being busy or her phone was broken.
He became intrigued with parenting tactics that may have been acceptable when he was growing up but are considered toxic today. So he started a thread asking if anyone had similar experiences and to share old-school tactics that should no longer be considered normal, such as yelling and punishing children for bad behavior. This teaches children not to accept responsibility and respond by lashing out against others.
2. r/Malefashionadvice
Subreddit r/malefashionadvice stands out as a rare place on the internet that encourages intellectual discussion about fashion, with over ten years of life as proof. Its longevity can be attributed to various factors, including clear rules, persistent engagement, and an encouraging environment.
Subreddits began as a place for posting fit photos from men. Still, over time, it evolved into something more significant: becoming a hub for fashion microculture enthusiasts such as raw denim fans, Antwerp Six historians, and Rick Owens devotees. Members of these groups were recruited from other communities on Reddit and gradually integrated with r/malefashionadvice. “MFA used to have a relatively close-knit community, with most mods solely moderating MFA and maybe one or two clothing-related subreddits,” according to user GloriousStonerHoes; however, with key members leaving and an increase in new mods who don’t understand its history or the people that built it up over time such as Zach.
Reddit API pricing changes caused r/malefashionadvice to protest by taking its subreddits offline and becoming inaccessible to users, although still boasting over 5 million subscribers. While other subreddits that went private have now reopened for public access again, only moderators remain allowed into r/malefashionadvice for now.
But the MFA community isn’t giving up. To keep the flame alive, some MFA users have taken matters into their own hands by creating a subreddit called r/fashion-advice; their inaugural post seeks suggestions on “timeless 1700s men’s style.” Hopefully this can keep things burning brightly!
3. r/Blind
Reddit recently unveiled changes to their API pricing structure that threaten to alter how blind people access Reddit, potentially limiting how Sam Proulx and Noah Carver from r/Blind use their platform. We interviewed them regarding these alterations to see what their community thinks.
Reddit introduced its new API pricing system in July with promises that apps created with accessibility in mind would not incur fees. However, this has yet to be defined fully, leading some apps like Apollo (one of the most widely-used third-party apps) to report being unable to afford these higher fees. Apollo helps users read text aloud, describe images and videos, navigate Reddit, and more!
But if fees become prohibitively expensive, apps could begin breaking even or closing entirely – this would be devastating to blind communities. Yet, Reddit may make no concessions to preserve such tools.
Reddit recently initiated a roadshow series designed to address these concerns, featuring mod roadshows that will take place throughout 2017. They have also introduced trophies and flair into r/ModSupport and an answer bot to assist mods in finding Help Center articles, with plans in the pipeline for merging their mod and user support spaces.
Although it remains to be seen if any of these efforts will help mend Reddit’s tenuous relationship with its moderators, they could offer hope to the community that Reddit is listening and willing to address some of their concerns. Moderators from r/Blind have stated their intent to protest until some of their issues have been discussed by Reddit. Meanwhile, they have created a subreddit criticizing CEO Steve Huffman on API pricing changes and any associated statements.
4. r/Apple
Users have taken to Reddit’s collaborative canvas in response to layoffs at Apple and a controversial AMA with CEO Steve Huffman. Many creative designs have emerged – the most eye-catching being an alien that screams out Huffman like Clippy from “Mythbusters.” Unfortunately, targeted hate speech or harassment violates Reddit rules, so these may not stay up for long.
Reddit recently updated its iPhone and iPad apps with some exciting new features, including a subreddit weather data display. When “Subreddit Weather” is turned on, when visiting city-based subreddits (like r/Toronto or r/London or r/Denver), Apollo will show weather information of that location using Apple’s WeatherKit framework – something pretty neat!
Reddit also fixed several bugs in this update, such as one that caused Apollo’s timeline to crash on some devices and one where the “Add new Custom Feed” button overlapped other user interface elements in the Custom Feed screen. They added functionality that’s already available on Android: double-tapping on images to zoom in or out.
Reddit’s latest mobile app upgrade introduces a “Mod Helper Program,” featuring trophies and flair for mods in r/ModSupport, an answer bot to assist mods in finding relevant Help Center articles, as well as an improved merger between both apps’ Mod Help centers. As of late, relations between Reddit and its mod community have been tenuous; such efforts may help thaw things out considerably.
Reddit recently unveiled an iOS update that flags apps that snoop on content copied onto clipboards from devices. LinkedIn and TikTok adjusted their apps by disallowing access to any information copied onto user clipboards.
5. r/Place
Reddit is home to numerous communities. This social media site hosts subreddits dedicated to games, consoles, and film genres. Yet, one experience that best represents Reddit’s collaborative spirit is its r/place experience – this unique social experiment has previously taken place in 2017 and 2022 and is now in its third iteration!
At previous iterations of r/place, the internet produced stunning collaborative artwork. From flags and memes to video game icons and character portraits, our global community came together to create magnificent pieces demonstrating internet collaboration’s incredible power. The finished images proved that online collaboration could result in truly spectacular artwork.
The r/place canvas is currently being used to voice discontent towards “spez,” the Reddit CEO whose recent decisions have caused strife within the community. Pixelated protest art ranges from simple statements like “F*ck Spez” all the way through to full-on cartoon depictions of him or her. It remains to be seen if this trend will continue with subsequent iterations of experience. Still, it appears platform management is trying to bring peace between its dissatisfied users and themselves.
If you want to join, the Reddit community drawer offers the r/place experience. Previous events of this event have yielded incredible digital works, which we invite you to view here and discuss in the comments.
