Why?

People go back & forth all the time on whether or not a $100,000 a year salary is rich, upper middle class, or middle class. There’s a ton of nuance in that question - $100k for a single person living in Little Rock is very different from $100k for a family of 4 in San Jose. Long story short, $100k is enough to have modest, comfortable life, but you aren’t exactly living large off that salary.

That, and $100k isn’t that high of a bar to clear anymore, at least in America. Plenty of career fields have a clear path $100k, with some time, effort, and the right set of skills. It is estimated that 18% of working-age Americans currently make over $100k annually, and about 32% of Americans can expect to make at least $100k at some point in their lines.

But a $200k a year salary is almost universally considered “well off” by most people’s standards. The $200k club is a lot more exclusive than the $100k club; only 3% of working-age Americans make over $200k. So, Redditors who are in the $200k salary club - what do you do & how did you get there?

Hello, Reddit, this is u/spez, your usually confident CEO. But today, I'm here in a different capacity, as a fellow Redditor who's made a big oopsie. So here it goes... TIFU by deciding to eliminate third-party apps, and as a result, unintentionally creating a crisis for our beloved platform.

Like most TIFUs, it started with good intentions. I wanted to centralize user experience, enhance quality control, and create uniformity. I thought having everyone on the official app would simplify things and foster a better, more unified Reddit experience.

But oh, how I was wrong.

First, the backlash was instant and palpable. Users and moderators alike expressed concerns about the utility and convenience that these third-party apps offered. I heard stories of how some apps like RiF had become an integral part of their Reddit journey, especially for moderators who managed communities big and small.

Then came the real shocker. In protest, moderators began to set their subreddits to private. Some of the largest, most active corners of Reddit suddenly went dark. The impact was more significant than I'd ever anticipated.

Frustration mounted, and so did regret. This wasn't what I wanted. I never intended to disrupt the community spirit that defines Reddit or make the jobs of our volunteer moderators harder.

Yet, here we are.

I've made a monumental miscalculation in assessing how much these third-party apps meant to our community. I didn't realize the extent to which they were woven into the fabric of our daily Reddit operations, particularly for our moderators.

In short, I messed up. I didn't fully understand the consequences of my decision, and now Reddit and its communities are bearing the brunt of it.

So, here's my TIFU, Reddit. It's a big one, and I'm still grappling with the fallout. But if there's one thing I know about this platform, it's that we're a community. We're in this together, and we'll figure it out together.

I'm listening. Let's talk.

TL;DR - Tried to unify Reddit under the official app, phased out third-party apps, caused chaos, possibly destabilized the platform, and learned a lesson about the value of diverse user experiences.

Edit: a word

Note: this is a parody