Reddit goes to let customers spin Reddit gold into actual cash as a part of its new “Contributor Program,” the corporate introduced on Monday. It additionally shared particulars on the alternative for its previous Reddit Gold system that allow customers present additional appreciation for posts or posts that they appreciated.

Let’s begin with the Reddit Gold replace because it’s a crucial a part of that Contributor Program. Below the brand new gold system, you’ll be able to long-press an upvote button on cell or hover over it on desktop to have the ability to purchase gold. Reddit will supply six completely different buy choices for awarding gold, beginning at a $1.99 possibility to purchase one gold and going as much as $49 for 25 gold. After you give your gold, you’ll see what Reddit calls a “golden upvote” subsequent to the remark or put up.

The earlier system allow you to give a bunch of various awards along with Reddit gold, together with awards customized to particular person subreddits. However Reddit Cash formally went away as of September twelfth, so you’ll be able to’t use them to award gold beneath this new system.

I requested Reddit why it didn’t let folks switch over their cash to spend within the new system. “Up to now, there have been each paid and free cash that had been distributed, making it extremely difficult,” spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt stated. “After loads of consideration, we decided it was higher to begin from scratch.”

Crucially, should you earn a golden upvote, it’d contribute to your skill to earn actual cash from the Contributor Program. If you happen to’re eligible for this system and undergo a verification course of, you’ll get month-to-month funds based mostly on the gold and karma you earn on “eligible contributions.”

Right here’s how Rathschmidt defines “eligible contributions”:

Gold may be given to posts and feedback, until they embrace sexual content material, content material with graphic violence, or characteristic sure mature themes (e.g., alcohol, playing). As well as, gold can’t be awarded on content material posted in a Not Protected for Work (NSFW), quarantined, or trauma assist neighborhood. Equally, content material on a redditor’s profile web page isn’t eligible to obtain gold — you’ll be able to solely buy it in communities, in feeds, and on the put up web page. 

Right here’s how Contributor Program payouts will work, in keeping with info Rathschmidt shared with The Verge: 

• In the usual “contributor” tier, you’ll get 90 cents for each gold you earn. However to have the ability to money out, you’ll have to have earned a minimal of 10 gold and obtained between 100 and 4,999 karma over a 12-month interval. 
• As a “prime contributor,” you’ll get $1 for each gold you earn. To money out, you’ll must surpass that 10 gold minimal and earn greater than 5,000 karma over a 12-month interval.

To be eligible for the Contributor Program, you’ll have to be older than 18, stay in a “supported location” (which at first is simply the US), and your account will have to be in “good standing.” If you’re eligible, the verification course of ought to solely take a couple of minutes to get via, Rathschmidt stated. Each common customers and moderators can take part.

With the introduction of the Contributor Program, thanking a form stranger for supplying you with gold takes on a brand new that means. The system appears designed to encourage folks to put up high quality content material to Reddit (just like the kinds of posts you employ Google to seek for) and probably earn cash for that work.

However I’m nervous the system might change the tradition of Reddit. A part of what makes Reddit so helpful is that almost all nice posts aren’t made with an expectation of fee, that means that folks share their experience, a helpful tip, or a humorous joke simply because they wish to. That makes me belief them extra. The carrot of actual cash for posts might change the location in a significant means; simply take a look at the way in which X (previously Twitter) has modified partly due to the annoying posts from verified X customers attempting to earn money from its revenue-sharing system.

I’m additionally nervous that unhealthy actors would possibly discover methods to abuse the Contributor Program to earn a fast buck with out really making significant contributions. Once I requested how Reddit would possibly stop unhealthy actors from profiting from the system, Rathschmidt stated Reddit will use issues like inside security indicators, Know Your Buyer screenings, gold buy limits, person reporting, and audits by admins (Reddit staff). I additionally requested how Reddit will guarantee moderators, who can set guidelines for posts of their communities, don’t sport the brand new program, and Rathschmidt stated that moderators who’re eligible for this system must abide by the Moderator Code of Conduct and the contributor monetization coverage.

Reddit’s new gold system begins rolling out on Monday, and it is going to be accessible on “eligible content material” on Reddit’s native cell apps in choose communities, with extra communities getting it in “the approaching week.” The characteristic will likely be accessible on the net “later this 12 months.”

The Contributor Program can be rolling out beginning Monday, and it is going to be accessible on the net and Reddit’s cell apps. You’ll be capable of see should you’re eligible to be verified for this system by checking your profile.

Some Reddit customers weren’t glad with the choice to drop the previous Reddit Gold system, which added to frustrations over the corporate’s introduction of usage-based API pricing that in the end made some main third-party apps shut down. Whereas the protests throughout the location over the API pricing have largely died down, some customers expressed their unhappiness towards CEO Steve Huffman throughout the latest run of the r/Place interactive canvas.