第1858期:Why Are Thousands of Subreddits Going Dark?

Reddit is a social media website where people with common interests can have conversations by posting comments, videos and images. Posts are grouped into communities, called subreddits, based on different subjects. Thousands of popular Reddit communities, including groups about technology, gaming, and music, locked out their users recently in protest. People who organize the communities, called moderators, are protesting the company’s plan to charge for access to its data. Starting next month, Reddit said third-party app developers, people who make apps but do not work for Reddit, will have to pay for its application programming interface (API). It is a programming system that permits a data provider and end-user to communicate with each other.

Reddit 是一个社交媒体网站，有共同兴趣的人可以在这里通过发表评论、视频和图片进行对话。根据不同的主题，帖子被分组到称为 subreddits 的社区中。数以千计的热门 Reddit 社区，包括跟技术、游戏和音乐有关的组等最近因其用户被拒之门外以示抗议。组织社区的人，称为版主，正在抗议该公司对访问其数据收费的计划。从下个月开始，Reddit 表示第三方应用程序开发人员，即开发应用程序但不是为 Reddit 工作的人，将不得不为其应用程序编程接口 (API) 付费。它是一个允许数据提供者和最终用户相互通信的编程系统。

Reddit plans to charge developers that require higher usage limits $0.24 for every 1,000 API calls or less than $1 per user every month. One such third-party app is the Apollo app. It is popular among Reddit users as a way to get content from the official Reddit page. Apollo said that with their current usage, the charges would cost more than $20 million a year. And the developer added that the costly charges have “made it impossible” to continue offering the service. Christian Selig, the creator of the Apollo app for Reddit, said that the service will close on June 30.

Reddit 计划向需要更高使用限制的开发人员收取每 1,000 次 API 调用 0.24 美元或每位用户每月不到 1 美元的费用。一个这样的第三方应用程序叫 Apollo 应用程序。作为从 Reddit 官方页面获取内容的一种方式，它在 Reddit 用户中很受欢迎。阿波罗表示，按照目前的使用情况，每年的费用将超过 2000 万美元。开发商补充说，昂贵的收费“使它不可能”继续提供服务。Reddit 的 Apollo 应用程序的创建者 Christian Selig 表示，该服务将于 6 月 30 日关闭。

One of the reasons that Reddit is making the change is generative artificial intelligence (AI). Generative AI can create new content, like images, videos, music, text, or other forms of data. Conversations on Reddit have a lot of data that can be used to train generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. While some of this data can be collected in an unstructured way, Reddit’s API makes it easier for companies to directly find and collect the data. Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman told The New York Times in April that Reddit’s data “is really valuable.” And he said he does not want to “give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free.”

Reddit 做出改变的原因之一是生成式人工智能 (AI)。生成式 AI 可以创建新内容，例如图像、视频、音乐、文本或其他形式的数据。Reddit 上的对话有大量数据可用于训练生成式 AI 工具，例如 ChatGPT。虽然其中一些数据可以以非结构化方式收集，但 Reddit 的 API 使公司更容易直接查找和收集数据。Reddit 首席执行官史蒂夫霍夫曼在 4 月份告诉纽约时报，Reddit 的数据“非常有价值”。他说他不想“将所有这些价值免费提供给世界上一些最大的公司。”

Thousands of subreddits, including r/Music, r/gaming, r/science, and r/todayilearned, are protesting the move. They all have more than 30 million followers. Unlike most other social media services, Reddit is heavily dependent on community moderators who police their subreddits for free to deal with offensive or illegal content. And the moderators planned a blackout during which their pages will go private. That means millions of users will be left without access to those communities. Huffman noted the anger among many moderators of Reddit communities. But he said the company cannot let companies use large amounts of its data for free and Reddit needs to be able to support itself.

包括 r/Music、r/gaming、r/science 和 r/todayilearned 在内的数以千计的 subreddits 正在抗议此举。他们都拥有超过3000万的粉丝。与大多数其他社交媒体服务不同，Reddit 严重依赖社区版主，他们免费监督他们的 subreddits 以处理攻击性或非法内容。版主们计划了一次抵制，在此期间他们的页面将被私有化。这意味着数百万用户将无法访问这些社区。霍夫曼注意到 Reddit 社区的许多版主之间的愤怒。但他表示，公司不能让其它公司免费使用其大量数据，Reddit 需要能够自给自足。

access 访问 I need access to the company's database to complete the project.（我需要访问公司的数据库来完成这个项目。）

ap 应用程序 I just downloaded a new app that helps me learn languages.（我刚下载了一个新的应用程序，可以帮助我学习语言。）

interface 界面 The new software has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to navigate.（这个新软件有一个用户友好的界面，方便操作。）

generate 生成 The solar panels on the roof generate enough electricity to power the entire house.（屋顶上的太阳能电池板产生足够的电力来供应整个房子。）

blackout 停电 There was ablackoutlast night, and we had to use candles for lighting.（昨晚停电了，我们不得不用蜡烛照明。）

substitute 替代品 I forgot my lunch at home, so I had to buy a sandwich as a substitute.（我忘记把午餐带在家里，所以我不得不买一个三明治作为替代品。）