Reddit is promising new accessibility tools for moderators, a response to recent backlash over charges to third-party developers that disrupted accessibility resources for disabled communities.
The backstory: About a month ago, Reddit decided to charge third-party developers for access, causing some accessibility resources to be lost.
* Vocal members of disabled communities protested this move, accusing the company of eliminating third-party apps that enable them to use the site.
Moving forward: To placate protesters, Reddit announced “accessibility improvements” to its moderation tools on its website and mobile apps, set to roll out from this Saturday.
* Plans include improvements to moderation tools, messaging, and control settings for user approval and bans.
* Reddit, which boasts around 57 million daily users, explained these changes through a director of product, joyventure, in a post on June 23.
Reaction to changes: While Reddit is pressing forward with these accessibility improvements, moderators remain skeptical.
* They view these changes as a hurried, short-sighted attempt to placate communities with disabilities.
* r/blind moderator Noah Carver argued that Reddit themselves had created the problem.
This comes amidst protests: Nearly 9,000 subreddits went dark after Reddit decided to charge third-party developers to access the site via data from the company’s application programming interface (API).
* CEO Steve Huffman commented that the decision upset “a small group”, but the greater community just wanted “to participate with their fellow community members”.
* In response, Reddit warned that moderators keeping their communities “private” in protest would lose their status.
Concerns over accessibility: Many users, particularly the disabled, rely on third-party apps for accessibility due to lack of basic accessibility features on Reddit’s official website and app.
* Developers like Apollo, a popular third-party developer, said the excessive new fees may lead to shutdown of their apps.
The demand: Moderators want to see a more comprehensive corporate response addressing the broader community’s concerns.
* Reddit was applauded for prioritizing these features, but their approach to accessibility has drawn criticism, doubting the company’s commitment to improving accessibility for the long term.
* Carver considered the proposed updates to be insufficient, as they fail to provide full functionality required by moderators.
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