My problem with the "free API" is there are no control mechanisms for it. What's to stop Reddit from discontinuing the free contract if they decide to develop their own specific use App? A creator or developer of any said App will be beholden to bend or subjugate themselves to the whims of Reddit admins, any controversial comments or events like that of Apollo could nullify the free API if they don't approve of your actions.

It's a slippery slope and we've already been shown that Reddit can and will change/vilify anyone who doesn't fall in line especially when IPO time comes.

It turns out though, the mods are also users. That's the whole free labor market Reddit has tapped into. They don't have to pay mods and so users are mods. Yet now they are trying to monetize just half and completely failing to understand what their user base even looks like. I don't know many mods but the ones I do know are users first and moderators because they want the community to be decent.

It's almost like they never considered that moderators use the same third party apps as the rest of their users, either.

Though based on the leaked internal memo, it looks like Reddit doesn't think very much of their users at all.