Protest — Blog — Healy Chen

Uh, what to do?

How are you handling the great Reddit blackout? Every subreddit that I care to go to have gone private in protest of the onerous API fee changes Reddit is set to implement by the end of this month. There goes the last bit of social media that I use! Though I would say Reddit is more like discussion forums. I quit twitter about a month ago, and you can’t pay me enough to use the Chinese spyware that is TikTok.

Interesting to see the (let’s call them) NSFW subreddits have not participated in the blackout protest. I guess horniness is still the dominant factor above all else…

The protest is only suppose to last a few days. But because Reddit refuses to backdown from the untenable API changes (effectively dooming any third-party clients), many subs have decided to stay private indefinitely to force a change. I say, good for them. A vibrant Reddit is good for the Internet. Plenty of times I’ve googled something, and ended up on Reddit with the correct answers to questions. Let’s take some momentary pain now, for a better long term future. (So un-American!)

Reddit is nothing without its army of volunteer moderators, and the millions of users contributing content. I am surprised the company have decided to essentially go to war with the people that made it great in the first place. The problem is: it’s extremely difficult to charge for something that was once free. Excellent third-party apps have sprouted up because the access APIs have been free. To now charge for those APIs, exorbitantly to the point of detrimental, is going to make people incredibly unhappy.

It doesn’t help that Reddit’s own official app is utterly garbage. The best way to surf Reddit is via browser, with an ad blocker on. Sorry, not sorry.

Will the Hong Kong passage be open?

I have a selfish concern regarding my annual year-end trip back home to China. As per usual, we are flying into Hong Kong and then taking the train into Guangzhou. Normally there’d be no problem with this, and I’ve always enjoyed spending a bit of time in the city before heading for true home. This year, however, as you may all know, there’s massive protests going on in Hong Kong, and as it stands right now, I don’t see it abating any time soon.

So the selfish question is: am I going to have issues getting through Hong Kong? I mean, protestors did shutdown the airport a few weeks back; it’s difficult to predict if it will escalate back to that level again. I’ll be slightly annoyed if my well-prepared travel plans get altered due to the protests.

That is not to say I don’t sympathize with the people of Hong Kong in fighting for a no strings attached governance from mainland China. As a person who lives in the free West, I think democratic values and basic freedoms are worth fighting for, and if Hong Kong feels like this is the moment to die on the proverbial hill, then all the power to them. One can certainly disagree with the protestor’s tactics or their demands in general, but for those of us on the sidelines looking in, I think we have to remember that we don’t live in Hong Kong, the protestors do, and I trust they’d know best what they want for their future.

That is also not to say I’m antagonistic towards China. Guangzhou is my hometown, and I have many family members there; I am not going to state (or tweet) anything negative towards the communist government that can potentially get me banned from entering my home country, to be cut off from my extended family. That is my skin in the game, and the incentive is to preserve my entry and exit privileges. I simply want to make a trip home every year without fuss.

Because of the situation in Hong Kong, this year we are not heading into the city proper, and instead, taking the shuttle bus to Guangzhou right at the airport. It’s a shame because I absolutely adore Hong Kong, and would have loved to sightsee there for a few days.

Maybe next year.