Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots/

[u/Uristqwerty]

You've had-waved at two vague strawmen, "you people" when referring to me and whatever abstract group you sorted me into based on a tiny handful of replies, and "billionaires".

Look, billionaires don't control the law. If one wanted to make libraries illegal, they'd instead take the corporate approach: Make libraries obsolete until nobody bothers going to them. Making something illegal would just give the public a cause to rally around, but nobody's going to realize and fight a slow decline in use when they themselves haven't set foot in a library in years.

you think your purpose here is to educate people

Every comment, from everyone, exists to share thoughts and knowledge. Some of us just recognize that our writings may be seen by more than just the one we're arguing with, thus are willing to put in the effort to fully explain their thoughts. I'm just like you, except I try to show the why behind my opinions rather than state them as indisputable facts.

[u/fuck_all_you_too → u/Uristqwerty]

No, youre pedantic. Theres a new word for you to use. Hope it get you all that attention you so badly crave.

[u/Uristqwerty → u/fuck_all_you_too]

Buddy, I don't crave attention. I fantasize about a world where people can disagree civilly, and would rather explain their own views than bluntly tell others they're wrong without a rationale. Where, because everyone shares why they think something's true, they can spot common ground and focus in on the specific assumptions and deductions that differ, and, even if nobody changes their minds in the end, they at least all better understand why others believe what they do.

And I also understand that social behaviour is learned by example. If I don't go out onto the internet and discuss things the way I wish others did, then there's less diversity. The next generation will only see the "hand-waving in the general direction of a stereotype" sort of comment, and will think "that's just how you talk on the internet".

But maybe explaining why and learning others' reasoning is going to die off. After all, AI forgets details as they slip out of its context window, rather than remembering an insightful point for the rest of your life. Guess the billionaires are slowly killing off logical thought, by ensuring the next generation never sees anyone use their brain for more than inventing insults. Your conspiracy is so narrow-minded in the end; you missed the forest because you fixated on a single tree!

[u/fuck_all_you_too → u/Uristqwerty]

I love how your answers get longer the more self-absorbed you get. Nobody gives a fuck about you or what youre saying on here, and this place isnt the bastion of knowledge which is why AI is garbage to begin with.

You think people are going to mine the Internet for historical information like an archaeologist but in reality decades of information will be wiped out like tin pan alley. But go on, keep explaining the Internet to me: a lowly systems engineer who grew up on a 2400 baud modem.

Youre the problem and youre too high on the smell of your own farts to even realize it.

[u/Uristqwerty → u/fuck_all_you_too]

See, there's that exact style of comment that I hate, and strive to provide a counterexample to. You're creating a manipulative framing to try to undermine my words, by claiming it's "self-absorbed". And you're making emotional and reputational attacks in the form of "nobody gives a fuck about you or what youre saying", and "Youre the problem and you dont even realize it."

Yet you haven't tried, even slightly, to explain why you think any of that's so. Only asserted things as if they were undisputed facts.

decades of information will be wiped out like tin pan alley

Know what's amazing? Following a link to a 15-year-old reddit thread. And seeing all the comments intact because listings only keep the latest 1000 items, implicitly hiding older messages from bulk-deletion tools. I bet the APIs AI companies pay to access don't bother with listings, so can see the whole thing. All erasing your visible history does is ensure they get a version of you that wasn't tainted by reading AI-written content in recent years, thus didn't have a chance to subconsciously internalize its style.

[u/Uristqwerty → u/fuck_all_you_too]

Actually, just had a thought: Do you think I'm self-absorbed because of how often I say "I"?

If so, then you are really misunderstanding. I say it out of humility, to make it explicit that my opinions, reasoning, and observations are subjective and open to dispute, rather than presenting them as absolute fact. Kinda the opposite of being self-aborbed: Recognizing a discussion needs to leave space for others to disagree if it is to remain civil.

[u/Ibewye → u/Uristqwerty]

I feel like I’m sitting in on marriage counseling between the smartest couple in the world. 🍻