Reddit Community "Transcribers Of Reddit" Closing Due To Changes In API And Disapproval To Company

JAKARTA - A Reddit volunteer group that transcribed the media from other subreddits is closing their communities. Partly due to changes made by the company to the API. The community, r/TranscribersOfReddit, will close on June 30, one day before Reddit began charging API access fees.

The group transcribed the media from about 100 subreddits. The aim is to provide an interim solution to the missing accessibility feature of Reddit, such as alternative text, while urging the company to address these "lacks", as said by Rebekah Ginsburg, one of the moderators of Transcribers Of Reddit.

As reported by The Verge, Ginsburg (known also as u/halailah) also became chairman of the Grapheas Group, a nonprofit organization that provides the technology used in many of these community transcription jobs.

"In the light of recent events, we now recognize that Reddit as a company has shown serious tender in fixing the core problems of this platform," Ginsburg wrote. "It's clear that these problems come from above, and we don't believe that these problems can be fixed. Unfortunately, even though this is a very difficult decision for us, this situation means we can't continue this project anymore."

Ginsburg added that "the change in API and the realistic limit on how much work we can take, as well as our lack of trust in Reddit as a platform and the lack of attention from Reddit as a company to accessibility" made it "Mustail" for the team to continue this project.

While Reddit has said that it will grant exceptions to several third-party accessibility apps from API access payments, community members say that applications such as RedReader, Dystopia, and Luna do not have adequate "moderation function" for visually impaired and visually impaired moderators.

Reddit declined to comment on The Verge on these issues. A previous spokesperson said the company was "exploring several things" regarding accessibility across its platform. Meanwhile, it seems that it will be more difficult for some people to use Reddit.

Last month, Reddit announced that it would begin charging fees for access to their API, which third-party developers have used to build applications (such as apps for moderation and accessibility) revealing to the platform. The move caused a stir in the community, and several third-party apps, including those used by tens of thousands of people to access Reddit, shut down their services as a result of the changes.

However, Reddit continues the new policy. CEO Steve Huffman also said that he plans to make changes that allow members of a subreddit to more easily issue moderators who make unpopular decisions. Some moderators consider similar comments from a Reddit administrator as a direct threat, after thousands of subreddits became private to protest over changes in the API.

Reddit has also reportedly removed moderators from sudden subreddits deemed unsafe to be seen in the workplace. In addition to that these communities allow pornographic content for the first time as a protest against changes to the API, stating the subreddit as NSFW (Not Safe for Work) means Reddit cannot monetize the subreddit-subreddit in accordance with its advertising policy.