Reddit users have hit out against CEO Steve “Spez” Huffman in the latest launch of r/Place, the open canvas project designed to encourage collaboration between users on the platform.
The criticism and tirade of expletives all over the canvas aimed at Spez comes after changes to the site’s recent API changes which affected third-party apps.
What is r/place, the pixel canvas?
Reddit Place is a collaborative experiment which allows any user to choose the colour of an individual pixel on a large open canvas.
Each pixel has its own five-minute timer, which means that no individual or group can keep spamming their shapes. This means people can collaborate to produce art, flags, or words.
The project was originally launched on April Fools’ Day in 2017. The second edition took place in May 2022, and the third launch of r/place is taking place today – Thursday 20 July.
R/place was created by Josh Wardle, who later went on to create Wordle. He said that the aim of the project was to “
enable humans to communicate and collaborate in ways they have never been able to before”.“My hope is that the success and collaborative nature of projects like Place will encourage other internet companies to take some more risks when exploring ways that their users can interact,” he said back when it was first created.
Reddit users hit out at u/Spez
Soon after the launch of this year’s r/place, the canvas was taken over with explicit messages aimed at Reddit’s CEO, Steve Huffman.
Sub-Reddits collaborated to fill the canvas with the phrase “f**k Spez,” which is Steve’s name on the site.
Also included on the canvas is the phrase “Never forget what was stolen from us”, which refers to the third-party apps that were shut down following API changes to the platform.
On June 30, the biggest third-party app to lose access to the API, Apollo, shut down.
Twitter reacts to Reddit protests
As expected, people have taken to Twitter to discuss the situation.
One user described this year’s r/place as an “ill-conceived attempt to draw users back to Reddit” and wrote that the results are “several murals calling the site admins various insults”.
Another commented: “Not really sure what reddit were expecting doing another place thing right now.”
Meanwhile, a third Twitter user said that they think r/place “won’t be happening again for a while” after this year’s antics on the canvas.
The post Reddit users hit out at Spez in new 2023 r/place pixel canvas appeared first on HITC.
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