The last major holdouts in the protest against Reddit’s API pricing relented, abandoning the so-called “John Oliver rules” which only allowed posts featuring the TV host. It's the official end of the battle. The Reddit protest is over, and Reddit won.
The Reddit Protest Is Finally Over. Reddit Won.::Reddit corporate claims victory over its disgruntled mods as r/aww, r/pics, and r/videos abandon the "John Oliver rule."
Lemmy feels like the first real alternative to reddit. Everything else was a ghost town or had no moderation so only banned subs would move. This recent exodus won't kill reddit but it created a viable reddit alternative for when they inevitably do something worse. Reddit ran as a number 2 to digg for years before digg screwed up. I can see the same happening here.