As everyone knows, reddit’s going through some… changes.

Reddit gave less than a fiscal quarter notice to implement some extremely stiff API access charges across the board effecting all 3rd party app functionality. Some would even call the charges more along the line of “the fuck you price” as in the charges weren’t set to match what the market is actually and fairly asking, which would give 3rd party apps the opportunity to keep up, but more or less to put any and all 3rd party app developers out of business. In fact, it was blatantly stated as such to the popular 3rd party app, Apollo in a weird ass set of conversations -.

With the abrupt changes and boxing out of 3rd party access super moderators across reddit held an AMA with reddit’s CEO where he answered all of maybe 8 questions. This left a lot to be answered on the labor end (moderators end) of running this site. With the API deadline looming (July 1st, 2023) and no other communication from lé reddit CEO, super mods of the site organized a blackout protest earlier June. This sub participated in that protest, despite not being (or wanting to be) a super mod. Personally, I had my concerns that this site is taking a dark turn for the worse but was happy to spend two days in private mode to see what could come of it.

What came of the initial protest was lé CEO basically called the whole reddit community names in the news while he simultaneously told his staff to ignore the protest. That it’ll blow over. Thus the blackout on a lot of subs remained. This sub included. From there it has just become more and more evident that the old egalitarian community we’ve all come to know, appreciate, and love is on its hard way out.

As the protest continued, mods who wanted to stay dark began getting threat letters of being deplatformed for doing so and some mods who went public again still got deplatformed … it’s a bizarre mess because taking an established mod team off really any subreddit is a foolish call to make. There’s no way that developed relationship could be insta-replaced and reddit sure as hell ain’t paying mods so…. unless reddit leadership genuinely doesn’t care about mod community relations (they don’t) and criteria for controlling hate speech trolls, spam, phishing, and porn overtaking the site (they don’t), then I’m not sure what the real game plan is here. Lastly, it doesn’t help the image of reddit leadership when lé CEO tells the press how much he admires what Elon Musk did with Twitter…

And so we area few days out from the API flip. What you will see going forward is most likely an influx of negative astroturfing style accounts take reddit over and probably steadily declining comfortable discourse as original users leave the site. I personally don’t expect the whole community to return to before everything blew up. Even if lé CEO gets removed. As stated in my last post a lot of core queer subs aren't coming back and now subs for people needing support with addiction and health issues are starting to bail. It’s pretty clear reddit leadership doesn’t value reddit for what it was and thinks it can be remade in the eyes of how Musk runs twitter… so basically more garbage and less pragmatism? I honestly don't know because I don't do twitter. I hear it sucks. What any of this means for this community begins with…

What are 3rd party apps?

A third party app can be anything from an app that just lets you access, read, and organize reddit posts like Joey, RedditIsFun, or Apollo. But it can also be something that helps people who are reading disabled gain access to reddit so they too can participate - Apollo apparently does this. Another thing a third party app can be is something that helps organize, aggregate, and search your sub’s data way better than reddit’s apps do. r/AskHistorians use this type of feature to curate and run their sub.

** Why would reddit want to kill them?**

Because reddit wants to keep all of your data in one centralized place for their corporate value in order to please shareholders. Currently 3rd party apps process a portion of your data. Reddit wants that data fully and completely. In fact they want it so bad that if you want to delete what they do have on you, despite CCPA regulations, they are actively refusing to delete it and reversing anything you do personally delete.

How does it apply to subs?

I guess I kind of explained it above but being able to track bad actor accounts is helpful to say, for example, city and neighborhood related subs since we get a lot of out of region/state hate trolls.

For DTLA?

Again, I can track accounts using my 3rd party app so I know who is coming in and being weird. r/DTLA and other neighborhood and city based subs are in a unique position right now. Mods of these kinds of subs understand the community they mod for hold vulnerable populations to hate groups, big real estate development astroturfers, and regional scam artists. We can’t just leave our communities like some subs can in this mess because we realize that leaves our vulnerable communities to fend for themselves from the wolves.

And so ... with all the aforementioned said this community is currently in restricted mode and in order to maintain and protect the community we have to play by the site’s current policy in letting the community decide how it wants the sub to continue on. As such I’ve put together two poll for how you think our small sub should move forward in this new era of reddit. Mind you, beyond these polls it’s really better to begin thinking of moving off reddit, elsewhere to sites like…

• https://kbin.fediverse.observer/list
• https://join-lemmy.org/
• https://squabbles.io/
• https://tildes.net/
• https://feedly.com/

And if you really must use reddit - it can be helpful to use apps that block certain types of media that reddit is holding of higher value than its community... ijs.

Please note / IMPORTANT - for the polls below - if you vote then leave a comment so I can track votes. We are aware the sub polls are being brigaded so in order for your vote to count please leave one comment on the thread below after you voted. We will not know WHO voted what so don't worry about that. Your privacy is safe and off reddit's platform.

poll ended - results were literally I voted and another r/DTLA user voted. I had a few troll votes as well from 7 day old reddit accounts. Will publish soon but am currently learning the Fediverse. <<

Poll ends Friday, June 30th at noon. If I don't get any votes I'll probably just leave it in restricted/read only.

Thank you!

In congruence and solidarity with some of the bigger LA based subs that were forced to open and because reddit has sent just about every moderator a threat letter, this sub is now restrictedly open. When I get some time this weekend I'll post a poll for the direction this small userbase might want to go.

I can say that a good number of the queer based subs are gone and the long standing chronic illness subs are now starting to fold. This is huge because these groups housed and offered safety to some very vulnerable populations and were very established on reddit. It also means that spez's assertion that this protest would "blow over" is very wrong. The trajectory isn't looking great.

Anyway. I hope everyone has a great Friday, offline - at least. I'll post a better explainer and poll soon. Take care of yourselves.

This subreddit will be joining in on the June 12th-14th protest of Reddit's API changes that will essentially kill all 3rd party Reddit apps.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.

On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.

Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .

This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.

The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do as a user?

• Complain. Message the mods of /r/reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message /u/reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /r/reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.

• Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join the coordinated mod effort at /r/ModCoord.

• Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!

• Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

What can you do as a moderator?

• Join the coordinated effort over at /r/ModCoord

• Make a sticky post showing your support, A template has been created here you can use or modify to your liking, and be sure to crosspost it to /r/ModCoord.

Thank you for your patience in the matter,

-Mod Team

Now known as "Art Night". Info here.

I just want to grab a drink or two. Down to drink with you internet strangers.

I’m going to an event in Downtown soon and it starts around 10pm but I dont know when it ends and I’m worried I may be stranded if the show goes on too late. Any parking recommendations are appreciated.

Trying something new. Same "don't be mean" or spammy rules generally apply here too.

https://youtu.be/ECW_QTV8Bis

https://youtu.be/CFhdCBygsis

My Spectrum bill was $45/mo for the first two years, the $55 for a year, now it went up to $80. Are there any decent alternatives downtown?

​

full of orangey potential

Basically, while many of us live in Downtown because we love the walk ability and proximity to bars and restaurants, a lot of our friend groups are either work related (and still working from home) or don’t live in DTLA. I would love to put together an “all are welcome” hh club that meets at different places once or twice a month. The idea is to make community but also network/make friends/make partners/whatever. Mostly just to hang out and have a few beers with cool folks. Let me know if there is interest and I will start planning our first one.

I'm pretty picking about pizza regular Domino's or Little Caesars wont cut it for me.

Title

Where do people go to get their car washed in the immediate DTLA area?

Opinions or experience with https://goo.gl/maps/2ETWirUG6rjsGHwd7 Downtown Car Wash?

I don't need a total 'hand wash' but I'd like to pay someone to do quick vacuum and hand dry.

Hotel in DTLA for couples?

Hey everyone, I’m visiting LA with my girlfriend soon. During which, it’ll be her birthday and I was wondering what the best hotel would be for couples in downtown LA?

Things I’m looking for:

• rooftop pool/pool
• bar/restaurant with a nice view
• gym
• breakfast
• free/available parking

None of these are dealbreakers (except for the parking) they would just be nice to have. My budget is $500usd

I was looking at the Conrad or the Hoxton but I don’t know. I figured I’d ask someone here with personal experience.

Thanks everyone!

edit: Went with Conrad. thanks so much for those who took the time out of their day to help me out :)

I don’t have social media so I am out of the loop but I want to start running again. A running club sounds like a great way to motivate myself to do it.

join oasis house show in downtown los angeles for an intimate, curated experience guiding us into collectively supported grief.

learn about the state of healthcare in Los Angeles and the US, and what we might do to improve it, while financially supporting the movement for healthcare for everyone nationally.

friday 12/2

7-10pm

entry by pre-sale only (sliding scale based on your means): tinyurl.com/griefso

Anyone else hear the annoying hum coming from outside? What is it? Some sort of machinery? It's been going on all day.

Edit: It's been close to 48 hours now of this:

https://recorder.google.com/share/4ceb552c-d69c-4761-83a1-7ffd16b06c37