Reddit is following in Twitter’s footsteps and charging third-party apps for entry to their APIs. The outcome: Apollo, one of the well-liked Reddit apps for iPhone, is shutting down solely after figuring out that the brand new pricing would price it $2 million a month. RIF, one other well-liked app, is calling it quits for a similar purpose. After the API information, a number of main Reddit communities are blacked out this week in protest.
Reddit has each proper to cost for its API, legally talking, and it stands to achieve if extra individuals use the (horrible) official app. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman argued in an AMA that the adjustments are being overblown. Feedback in that thread are, let’s say, lower than pleasant to the corporate line.
If all of this leaves you questioning what may occur to the posts and feedback you’ve made on Reddit over time, you’re not alone. David Brownman, a programmer primarily based in San Mateo, California, was questioning precisely that.
“I’ve put a lot into Reddit over time, and I didn’t like the concept of it being inaccessible to me,” he tells me. “It’s my content material, and I’ll have to be a steward of it if Reddit received’t. I additionally reference outdated posts of mine quite a bit, so having full textual content search was necessary to me.”
With these issues in thoughts, Brownman wished an offline archive of his posts. Right here’s how one can get one too, both by asking Reddit or by utilizing a instrument Brownman constructed to obtain it your self.
Ask Reddit for Your Knowledge
Reddit has a type the place you may request a duplicate of your information. The method can take as much as 30 days, after which you’re going to get a non-public message in your Reddit a depend with a obtain hyperlink. The information comes within the type of CSV recordsdata that you may open utilizing Microsoft Excel or any textual content editor. There are separate recordsdata on your feedback, your posts, your voting historical past, and your chats, amongst different issues.
This methodology has just a few downsides. First, CSV recordsdata generally is a little unwieldy, particularly if you wish to search. Second, there’s a delay, which is annoying should you simply wish to obtain the info and transfer on along with your life. Nonetheless, it’s simple, and for most individuals, that is in all probability the easiest way to again up their Reddit content material.
Obtain Your Reddit Knowledge Your self
When you’d reasonably not look forward to Reddit to ship your information, or would favor to maintain your information in a searchable archive, you should utilize Brownman’s instrument, reddit-user-to-sqlite. This command line utility can obtain the whole public archive of any Reddit person and compile it in an SQLite database file. Simply needless to say this methodology will cease engaged on July 1, 2023, when the API change happens.
Brownman provides a weblog submit outlining the instrument with just a few directions—should you’re comfy with the command line, I like to recommend following the directions there. For everybody else, don’t fear: It’s not as laborious because it sounds.
First you’ll need to set up Python. For Home windows customers, that is finest performed by downloading and working the installer on your laptop. After putting in Python, you’ll need to set up pipx. On Home windows, that is finest performed with the next instructions, which you’ll be able to run within the Command Immediate or PowerShell: