• waspentalive@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    As fill-in ads are a vector for computer viruses and other malware I for one will NOT be disabling my ad blocker unless YouTube is willing to provide a lifetime subscription to something like Life Lock and make me whole for anything lost to whatever malware arrives as a part of an ad.

    Where else can I watch sci-show, Linus-tech-tips, and all the other channels I subscribe to?

    • beatniak@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      Just use newpipe. It’s youtube without the ads. Doesn’t have casting support, but it allows you to download the videos. You can also listen/download to the audio of videos, without fetching the video.

      • blank_sl8@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        Newpipe will probably be blocked as well if youtube is doing this. Honestly not sure why youtube hasn’t blocked yt-dlp and others already.

        • KindnessInfinity@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          It’s not easily block able as it scrapes the YouTube website. They’d have to stop having a website for that to happen.

          • dan@lemm.ee
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            2 years ago

            The problem with scraping is that while it’s difficult/impossible to block completely, it’s pretty easy to keep making changes to your site to disrupt scrapers. The work required by the scraper to adapt to those changes is usually way more than the work you put in to disrupt them.

            So if a commercial site wants to make scraping unreliable and impractical, they almost certainly can.

  • nighty@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    They have really gone all out on the whole enshittification process during the past couple of years, haven’t they?

    • NotBadAndYou@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      2 years ago

      Just wait until they figure out how much more $$$$ they can make by putting all content behind microtransactions:

      Imagine a world where, instead of grappling with complex tokens and crypto jargon, you have a digital wallet connected to your Web browser. This wallet would automatically handle microtransactions as you browse and consume content, creating a seamless and simplified experience, reminiscent of exchanging tokens at a funfair or arcade

      This transition to the Great Paywall isn’t just about the monetization of content; it’s about balancing the scales and recognizing the value of content creators in the digital ecosystem. In the next chapter of the Web, users aren’t just passive consumers but active participants whose attention carries tangible value.

      • nighty@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        Let’s not forget that, if we do go down the microtransaction hell of an internet path, we’d be screwing things up big-time for the coming generations…

  • LostCause@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    When will companies finally understand that some people won‘t watch ads no matter what tricks they employ. I‘d rather watch no video at all than a single ad. If that is their goal, fine.

    • SuperZutsuki@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      And the percentage of people using ad blocking has to be crazy low. I’ve never seen another person in public with ad blocking. Every time I happen to see someone watching youtube, there’s ads playing.

  • ram@lemmy.ca
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    2 years ago

    You can watch any YouTube video on Invidious, Peertube is a federated alternative to Youtube, Odysee is a blockchain based Youtube alternative that kicks back to creators and users, and many creators use Nebula as a subscription platform that directly pays them.

  • manned_meatball@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    oh boy, I wish youtube kills itself like reddit is doing right now so decentralized alternatives can become widely adopted

    • burak@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      Right there with you on that one. The biggest problem is video hosting is a pain in the rear, particularly at such a grand scale. Hopefully, video hosting platforms will go niche, thus reducing bandwidth costs for each platform and “YouTube” will be the whole federation.

    • pinwurm@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      YouTube is a bit of a different animal.

      YouTube allows creators to monetize content - so there’s a sense of shared success. Channels from Tom Scott or Captain Disillusion are amazing, because their production in part relies on that revenue model.

      YouTube also understands that without paying for popular content, you won’t get the consistent cavalcade of medium content from people that want to earn a living or notoriety through YouTube. And that include anything from videos of cats falling over, blogs about life in remote places, DIY home improvement or niche guitar technique lessons.

      Meanwhile on Reddit, if a user gets thousands of upvotes and a million page views for a short story they wrote exclusively for the platform, Reddit won’t pay them a cent. The very thought is laughable.

      The other thing to consider is that the technology just doesn’t exist for there to be a viable ‘federated’ YouTube. YouTube has 800 million videos - many in HD and many are hours long. That’s a big ask in terms of storage and maintenance - even several thousand videos.

      Video compression has a long way to go before that changes. For now, it makes sense for leave that storage to the companies with resources.

      Text, however… well, all of Wikipedia can fit on around 20 gigs - 60 million odd articles. And for the record, that can pretty much fit on an iPod from 2002.

      I do wish that YouTube wasn’t a monopoly. Twitch is the only thing that’s close, and it has it’s own special lane for live streaming. Back in the old days, there was some competition - including Google Video. But that went away when Google bought YouTube. I guess there’s Vimeo, but they’ve got a very different approach.

      I mean, the Justice Department is suing Google for monopolizing ad tech - and I think we could see antitrust laws used in the next few years to breakup YouTube. Maybe the successor companies would federate - like when Bell was broken up into what became Verizon and ATT - who now directly compete for customers.

      • Link@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        The other thing to consider is that the technology just doesn’t exist for there to be a viable ‘federated’ YouTube.

        Well, Peertube exists. But I agree it is very hard to get close to the amount of videos YouTube hosts without it becoming too expensive. But that is even true for companies like Google, which is why they are pushing these changes. It seems like people need to accept that a video platform must either show ads, make you subscribe, or receive substantial donations.

        I almost can’t believe Wikipedia is only 20GB btw. Does that include all the pictures on there?

        • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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          2 years ago

          I almost can’t believe Wikipedia is only 20GB btw. Does that include all the pictures on there?

          That’s English compressed text only, decompressed text is closer to 90GB

        • PureTryOut@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          Does that include all the pictures on there?

          It can’t. 60 million odd articles with pictures only taking 20GB? I doubt it. Just the text taking up so few space that I can believe.

    • RoqueNE@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      Decentralized services also cost money to operate. Servers, bandwidth, developers. Where is the money for that supposed to come from?

  • dan@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    Then I’m going to begin not fucking watching YouTube.

    • kadu@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      There is a federated version of YouTube…

      But storing video is a massive challenge, way harder than dealing with a Lemmy or Mastodon instance.

      • dan@lemm.ee
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        2 years ago

        My rational mind realises it’s such an expensive system to run that it’s reasonable for them to charge or show ads. The problem is they’ve been extremely aggressive with ads and pushing subscriptions, to the point where I’m pretty resentful of the idea. Plus they’ve neglected so many things (like allowing aggressive copyright predators and refusing to implement sensible human-based appeals processes) that they really should have dealt with and instead embraced an algorithm that I’m pretty sure is at least partially responsible for the radicalisation of large groups of people.

        I… don’t mind paying for shit. I just don’t want to give them money.

        Also: wow there’s federated video sharing? Bet that’s not cheap to run.

  • donio@beehaw.org
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    2 years ago

    When you have a goose that produces a reliable daily supply of golden eggs do you:

    1. keep collecting your daily egg
      or
    2. see if giving it a good kick or two gets you more eggs
    • Zifnab25@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      As YouTube increases the number and length of ads, the amount of traffic behind blockers rises accordingly.

      This is also just… a function of the evolving digital space. The consolidation of the internet ownership sphere and the modernized APIs/coding tools afford server-side content warehouses more and more power over what the end user receives.

      Because AWS owns all the fucking rack space, because ISP monopolies are the defining feature of western net access, and Microsoft force-feeds people their proprietary interfaces, we’re moving away from the point where clients control what they display and closer to the point where everything’s just a dumb-terminal for big business.

      We’re effectively backpeddling from Web 2.0 to Terrestrial TV.

    • Link@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      Youtube most likely never made any money. Hosting these vast amounts of video is expensive. Google stopped telling us how much they money youtube made them lose. You would think they would start bragging when they could make a profit off of it.

      That being said, this still sucks of course.

      • naoseiquemsou@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        Although they don’t profit directly from youtube, it’s a strategy they take to impede competition from arising and keeping their name as the main one. It’s the kind of strategy only multibillionaire companies can do, and, in my opinion, something that should be restricted, because it affects smaller businesses to the point of becoming inviable.

        • Zifnab25@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          More notably, its a strategy they can do when borrowing costs are functionally zero.

          A lot of this shit is just the consequence of Fed Rate Policy. No more cheap money means these loss leaders are actually being expected to generate profit, not to just act as clearing houses for propaganda.

  • Landor Dragen@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    YouTube is the only Google service I use on a regular basis. Happy to leave them behind if they continue with this type of behavior.

    It would be less convenient, but it is what it is and if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s ads.

    • hugz@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      The great thing about using free open-source software is the immunity from corporate shenanigans.

      • datendefekt@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        Well, all the open-source Reddit clients are pretty drastically affected by Reddit’s shenanigans.

        • hugz@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          RedReader isn’t actually. Reddit granted them an exemption, partially because it’s FOSS

    • Petri@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      Damn straight - they can take my NewPipe from my cold dead hands :-)

  • pineapple@lemmy.pineapplemachine.com
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    2 years ago

    I actually do not understand the widespread hostility that people have toward this kind of thing. I watch a lot of content on YouTube, and I don’t want to see ads, so I pay for premium. I watch a lot of content on Twitch, and I don’t want to see ads, so I pay for turbo. Hosting a major video streaming website isn’t cheap. It’s not like these things are unreasonably priced. If you hate the ads so much, then why not pay for the service that the platform is offering you, and for the content that creators are providing on it? And if you don’t watch often enough for ad-free viewing to be worth a few bucks a month to you, then why get so worked up about having to sit through an ad every now and then?

    • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      I can’t speak for everyone, but I block ads and don’t pay because I hate Google. In addition to their repeated violations of user privacy, they go out of their way to disable OS features unless you pay them. Like disabling background play or PiP with Safari on iOS. Those features use the same open standards as foreground web browsers, so it literally takes extra effort to break them. Effort that could instead be used to fix the numerous problems with their platform, which they don’t. I refuse to reward that behaviour.

    • LostCause@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      I hate ads with a passion due to my experiences in the marketing industry and will go out of my way to never watch any. I also don’t want to pay for random internet content, especially not to companies on the stock market. (Though I do use Patreon a bit for some content creators)

      Can‘t explain it much more than that. If youtube locks me out due to that, so be it. I don‘t get worked up either, I simply state my opinion on it where I please and if I‘m not wanted I leave. That‘s about it.

      • pineapple@lemmy.pineapplemachine.com
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        2 years ago

        I simply hate ads with a passion due to my experiences in marketing and will go out of my way to never watch any. Can‘t explain it much more than that. If youtube locks me out due to that, so be it. I don‘t get worked up either, I simply state my opinion on it where I please and if I‘m not wanted I leave. That‘s about it.

        Why don’t you pay for YouTube premium? This removes all platform ads.

        • LostCause@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          I edited to clarify my dislike for big companies too, but if I think about it, it also just doesn‘t make sense. I watch maybe an hour of youtube a week at most, usually less. I‘d rather spend that amount somewhat more direct with Patreon on the few people I want to support.

    • foxuin@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 years ago

      And if you don’t watch often enough for ad-free viewing to be worth a few bucks a month to you, then why get so worked up about having to sit through an ad every now and then?

      There is an awkward gap where most services (not just YouTube) don’t offer reasonable pricing for consuming small amounts of content. So if you consume a lot of YouTube, the subscription price is justified. If you consume very little YouTube, you can probably suffer through some ads. But if you’re somewhere in the middle, there isn’t a great option.

      YouTube probably makes fractions of a cent off of ads on a single video it shows me, but I can’t pay fractions of a cent to watch one video.

      I’d consider this to actually be a pretty widespread problem across the internet, where it’s frustratingly difficult to buy small amounts of content for a reasonable price. It’s either the subscription or nothing for a ton of services.

  • Rumblestiltskin@lemmy.ca
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    2 years ago

    We did the Twitter to Mastodon migration. Now we are doing the Reddit to Lemmy/kbin migration. When are we doing the YouTube to Peertube migration?