Reddit has been a particularly strange place in recent weeks.
Although puns and memes are regular currency, the ongoing protests over the website’s API changes have transformed some of the biggest subreddits into an active haven of niche in-jokes, many of which come in the (undeniably glorious) form of John Oliver-themed content.
And now, these protests have combined with another source of frustration for Redditors: the end of Reddit Coins.
Reddit removes years of chat and message archives from users’ accounts
Previously, Reddit users were able to buy virtual coins that they could spend on giving awards to other users (such as little Gold or Platinum badges, some of which would bestow Reddit Premium perks or more coins). All that is going away though, to be replaced by a new system Reddit is yet to reveal any detail about — they’re supposedly working on it.
The upshot? r/pics(opens in a new tab), a subreddit with more than 30 million subscribers that has been one of the leaders of the API protests, is currently filled with images of John Oliver captioned with offers of coins.
Basically, Redditors have until Sept. 12 to use their coins or they disappear, so many have taken the opportunity to simply give their coins away. r/pics still has a rule in place that “John Oliver” must be featured in post titles, and this slightly strange combination is the upshot.
Reddit has made a string of unpopular decisions recently. Along with charging developers for API access and removing coins without having a replacement ready, the app also recently deleted years of users’ private chat and messages without warning anyone beforehand.