The issue goes far beyond just alternate frontends, mods of a popular subreddit for discussion of esports related to a game I play said that the API changes would greatly impact how the subreddit runs to the point where it may well be impossible(they make heavy use of bots and moderation tools to facilitate discussion etc.). Also consider accessibility and the problems that have surfaced related to it.
>you can't just give away the community's content to train LLMs
The API has always existed, it's just a lot more expensive so if OpenAI really wanted to, they still could train their LLMs on Reddit comments just fine.
And as other users said, this is yet another platform catering solely to shareholders and giving no second thought about the users of the platform before making decisions that only maximise profits, which is a discomfort to lots of users to say the least.
>But do 99% of users really care?
I use the website and official mobile app, but if a subreddit that I really enjoy stopped being enjoyable because of these changes, I do indeed care(and so do thousands of users across so many different subreddits).
>Most people browse Reddit through an official UI. Instagram, Snap, a bazillion other private social networks don't have 3rd party apps
Well atleast their UI is better than Reddit's, and as far as I can tell, a lot more accessible than Reddit's official UI . Also those platforms went down the "maximise profit margins by not caring about users" route a long time ago, this move from Reddit feels like the last straw for a significant enough amount of the userbase to participate in these blackouts.
You may not have a horse in this race but I think it's worth understanding exactly how this impacts you as a user before bringing out the "but I don't care" take(which is fair enough, but I would be slightly surprised if that was still your take after fully understanding the implications of these changes).