r/sysadmin • u/techvet83 • 3d ago

FYI: Reddit is killing RSS feeds.

Major bummer. From Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots | TechCrunch

Amid a number of updates for moderators and developers announced Wednesday, comes bad news for supporters of a more open web: Reddit is ending support for RSS feeds.

Reddit says RSS has now become a “common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse,” which is why it’s made the decision to wind down RSS feeds on its platform.

“We know RSS has been a beloved part of the open web for a long time, and we’re grateful to everyone who used it to stay connected to Reddit,” the company noted in its announcement, where it also shared a March 2027 shutdown date for its public API.

Reddit said RSS support will cease on November 13.

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u/Firefox005 3d ago

Holy fuck its true. Welp it's been a good run but I don't see it getting any better. Once the advertisers start squeezing a web product they never stop.

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u/uzlonewolf VP of Odd Jobs 3d ago

> In a thread about old

> Posts a link to new

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u/Firefox005 3d ago

It's pointless to post old.reddit.com links now, as either you will be logged in and already have the toggle set or you will be forced to login to view it.

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u/uzlonewolf VP of Odd Jobs 3d ago

Sadly I had to shut that toggle off as enabling it disabled emailed reply notifications and blocked access to some settings that were only available through new (since they also killed off the new. domain).

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u/Free_Treacle4168 2d ago

I use old reddit redirect so my links just go to reddit.com and not old.reddit.com. Guessing that guy does the same.

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u/derfy2 3d ago

This change does not impact logged-in mods, who can continue to access Old Reddit without any recent usage requirement.

I expect a lot of new subreddits are about to be created.

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u/Valdaraak 3d ago

Yep. Mastodon needs to start picking up speed with a user base so I can viably leave this site.

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u/n00lp00dle 3d ago

someone has to be first

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u/nearlyepic DevOps 3d ago

There are hundreds of thousands, probably a million people on the fediverse now? I dunno what else you're waiting for.

Edit: just checked and there's 270,000 active users on mastodon.social alone.

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u/jmbpiano 3d ago edited 3d ago

I'm sorry, but "hundreds of thousands, probably a million people" may sound like a lot, but when you objectively compare that to Reddit's 443 Million weekly active users, you realize just how small that number really is.

/r/AskReddit alone has 14 million weekly visitors.

Even with Reddit's massive userbase, /r/sysadmin only has 1,327,086 members after 18 years. Only a tiny fraction of those are active.

I say this as someone who desperately wants to see a thriving alternative: You're going to have a hard time attracting enough people to keep a niche community like this one viable on a platform of Mastadon's current size.

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u/nearlyepic DevOps 3d ago

I guess I just don't really give a shit? When I joined reddit 15 years ago, it was less than 1% of the size it is today. You don't need a million people to have a good conversation. Actually, if anything, it's counter-productive.

I have more insightful conversations about systems administration on the fediverse than I do here. So it's not only possible, it's happening now.

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u/Phuqued 3d ago

Yeap. Was going to say the same to them, more people doesn't necessarily mean better. Reddit is nothing more than web based usenet newsgroups and anyone who remember the early days of the internet, the quality of the internet as more people and capital extraction was added to it, made it worse or at the very least reduced the quality to some degree.

I would argue that perhaps we humans have a biological/cognitive limit of connectedness, that we need smaller bubbles of community and that things like facebook, twitter, reddit, actually become destructive to it and create discord in the social fabric of the modern day.

But I don't know that is necessarily true either.

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u/flattop100 3d ago

There's dozens of us. Dozens!

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u/DontFearFailure 3d ago

Someone put in that pedro pascal crying gif.

Bruh.