"Why are people pissed" and "why are people surprised" are very different questions! I've been expecting reddit to give me a reason to leave the platform for years. That doesn't mean I'm not pissed, because it didn't have to be this way. If reddit wanted to start charging for API access, they could have handled it less shittily by giving more warning and negotiating a reasonable pricing model. If they really just wanted to get rid of third party apps, they could have started by making the official app better so that they aren't just killing functionality for users.

It's not surprising to me that they didn't decide to do either of those things, because for some reason companies don't seem to think that public goodwill is worth anything, so they're always happy to throw it out if there's even a chance it could save them a couple bucks. But that is, itself, a reason to be pissed off! Without users, the site is worthless, but they show how low their opinion of us really is when they act like we won't leave if they treat us badly.

Well, news for them, I left.

There's something I find quite concerning: on a recent poll on r/redditalternatives the "best" alternative by a large amount is squabbles.io, then beehaw, fediverse "regular" instances (kbin, lemmy) only coming in 3rd and 4th position.

If that poll really reflects the opinion of the average reddit Joe (I tend to take external polls with a grain of salt as they can easily be brigaded), not only people are voting en masse for a centralized solution - again, but also they're favoring the maverick fediverse instance over proper ones.

Even more concerning, this snippet taken from squabbles.io's privacy policy:

Disclosure of Information
We may share your personal information in the following circumstances:

With your consent or as otherwise necessary to provide our services
With trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website and services
When required by law, or in response to a valid legal request
In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case your information may be transferred to the acquiring entity

To put it bluntly: brace yourselves, we will sell your data (and likely the company) as soon as we get enough dough from it.

Interesting read, people should not stop halfways downvoting you because of the hurtful truth. We've been feeding the beast for years hoping it would grow into a unicorn, alas it was a nightmare all along.