Good-bye, Reddit Gold

Last night Reddit announced that they’d remove the current award system by September 12 and eventually replace it with something simpler that would still allow users to reward others for great content. This also means that Reddit Coins will go away and starting today you won’t be able to purchase them anymore.

In general I think that’s a good decision. The whole system has become quite bloated. While I really enjoy seeing all these funny awards being handed out, there are just too many of them. If I want to say “thank you” to someone I usually scroll around for a minute or more just to find the one award I want to use in that particular situation.

On the other hand, though, I think the timing is a bit unfortunate. Especially with the recent API pricing changes, deprecating a mostly beloved system that contributes a lot to Reddit’s atmosphere without also announcing details of the replacement isn’t ideal. That being said, I’m looking forward to learning these details “in the coming months”.