• celerate
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    3322 years ago

    Dear YouTube, if anyone there ever reads this.

    I tried not to block ads, I would let the preroll go and usually not skip it.

    I started skipping ads when they started getting long. I recall some were several minutes long at times.

    I started leaving videos part way through when there were mid-roll ads, and those got long enough that I’d often forget what I was even watching.

    I started blocking the ads outright when I would be watching a relaxing video, and a very loud mid-roll ad would blow out my goddamn eardrums.

    Fuck you YouTube. You abused your users, you chased off good content creators, and now you’re offering people no carrot and all stick. How about you offer to match the volume of the ads to the videos, limit the length of ads to something reasonable, and nicely tell viewers that you are making ads less annoying and that unblocking the ads helps pay the content creators.

    • Random Dent
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      1392 years ago

      I used to make animations for YouTube, which weren’t monetized because I hate ads, and one day they copyright struck me for some very provably public domain music, but the way they did it was to insert ads into my video without my consent so they could monetize them to send the money to the scammer who flagged me. So I just deleted my entire account, fuck them.

    • @BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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      402 years ago

      if they’re anything like cable ads, they actually make the ads louder than the regular programming on purpose to try to make sure you hear it if you tune out or just walk away. no relaxed, unfocused watching for you!

    • @Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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      92 years ago

      Lmao “you purposely made your stuff shit. Now, if you offered a basic service without all the shit, I might pay for that.”

      Bruh, you don’t pay for something because it’s not shit, you pay for something because it’s good. By paying for a basic service simply because it’s not shit, you are incentivising them to enshittify their service and offer a premium “not shit” version, instead of actually improving their service.

      It’s just like the people who buy the new iPhone because it actually has a headphone jack this time.

    • @JasSmith@sh.itjust.works
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      12 years ago

      They get away with this because people don’t use the alternatives. Odysee and Rumble are actually good alternatives. No, they’re not as good as YouTube, but they’re good enough. We just need creators to also upload to those platforms. Since YouTube keeps banning and demobilising them, this problem might solve itself.

        • @JasSmith@sh.itjust.works
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          -72 years ago

          If your feed is “100% fascist Nazi bullshit” may I suggest you watch less Nazi bullshit, and stop subscribing to them?

          • Oshka
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            132 years ago

            Lmfao. I had literally never heard of Rumble. I opened up a private browser window and pulled it up for the first time ever…the “Featured” was fucking Newsmax TV. Now obviously this isn’t indicative of the whole site but damn that does not help your point when that’s the featured for a brand new potential user

            • @JasSmith@sh.itjust.works
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              -52 years ago

              I’m not claiming it doesn’t have Newsmax on it. I’m claiming the service is solid. If you subscribe to people you care about (and you can find creators you like) it’s a good platform alternative. I’m the first to argue we need more YouTube creators to cross-post.

                • @JasSmith@sh.itjust.works
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                  2 years ago

                  There are Nazis on YouTube, Reddit, and Lemmy. Why are you here? You are not automatically associated with Nazis just because they might use a platform. This is like saying veganism is evil because Hitler was a vegan.

  • Hal-5700X
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    1132 years ago

    If you’re using uBlock Origin. Go to “Filter Lists” and Purge All Caches. That may help.

    • MoogleMaestro
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      322 years ago

      I imagine they’ll eventually find a way to prevent us from blocking ads. Twitch TV for example has found some ways to make adblock useless.

      It’s a shame, and it’s really just a side effect of google racing to the bottom of the adspace game. If ads weren’t as cheap as they are today, they wouldn’t be trying to maximize the amount of users who are forced to see advertisements.

      • @logicbomb@lemmy.world
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        632 years ago

        I suspect ad blocking will always be an arms race. The server can only ask the client to play the ad, and then rely on the client to truthfully report whether it did so.

        • @shamrock@lemmy.world
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          72 years ago

          It’s only a matter of time before they start embedding them into the video like podcasts do and you won’t be able tell the difference between ad and video with software.

      • I_Miss_Daniel
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        312 years ago

        Someone will create an extension to mute the ad and overlay it with suitably timed bite sized cat videos.

        • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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          22 years ago

          Oh, that’s just brilliant! Instead of being interrupted by intrusive ads, I’m seeing videos of fluffy cats doing adorable and funny stuff all the time.

      • Hal-5700X
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        172 years ago

        Will to be fair, Google is an ad company. We should have seen this coming.

      • @stardust@lemmy.ca
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        72 years ago

        Worst case scenario I think I’d just resort to downloading the videos to watch. Live videos is the challenge, but luckily I don’t watch live streams.

          • AnonTwo
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            52 years ago

            To be fair, he was talking about live streams, as in watching people in real-time.

            That can be a fairly different experience, especially since downloaders don’t grab the chat at the moment. Also for unarchived streams, they can only be downloaded if you are aware and able to download at the time that the stream is still active.

        • @Chailles@lemmy.world
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          42 years ago

          I don’t think they’ll resort to that because that would mean getting rid of their own source of income. YouTube may not be getting ad revenue, but they still collect data and that’s where the real value is.

  • @lemmesay@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1062 years ago

    to people saying YouTube is a moneysink for google:

    yes it is, if you just look at direct expenses of running it. but you’re overlooking the fact that it has enabled google to amass so much data(we’re taking about 500 hours worth of videos being uploaded per minute) that they can train anything with it.

    it’s a service that’s too big to fail. even whole governments, courts, and other institutions depend on it. so, I refuse to believe that YouTube will be non-existant because a sliver of users refuse to be profiled by invasive advertisements.

  • @rwhitisissle@lemmy.world
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    902 years ago

    It’s an end of an era. I’ve been on reddit for over a decade, and on youtube for even longer. Crazy to think I might be giving up both of those services within a few months of each other. Feels like the internet is dying. Oh well. Maybe I’ll go back to reading a shitload.

  • @anewbeginning@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I haven’t watched live tv in almost 20 years because I refuse to sit through ads, and I definitely won’t sit through them on YouTube. If it was a banner or some thing on the page or the side of video that would be more acceptable, but sitting through ads to watch a YouTube video….there’s just no way.

      • @Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        I basically don’t subscribe to any streaming services, but we got the family plan years ago and share it with a few friends and family that chip in a couple bucks each.

        It’s so affordable and the content on YouTube is second to none.

        I’m so happy to help content creators earn a living content I genuinely care about rather than studios led by c-suite committees.

      • Polar
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        -392 years ago

        Lemmy users only want to use foss and not pay a single penny. How dare you suggest they pay a tiny amount to help pay for servers and the creators they’re watching!

        • @FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world
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          132 years ago

          It feels like a culture war between corporations and the OG user base. They reeled us in and monopolized the market with the idea of “free”. Now that competitors are few and far between, they want to change the game and reel in literal billions. I have absolutely no sympathy for their “lost profits”. They are making enough as-is, and I have no problems saying that out loud.

  • Margot Robbie
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    872 years ago

    I don’t really know how people can even use YouTube without ad blockers. Sitting through minutes of advertisement is not going to make me want to buy your product if I start mentally associating your product with frustration and annoyance. If these video ads are going to be repetitive and annoying, at least make them funny.

    It seems like there is nowhere on the Internet to get away from ads currently, even here, where you thought you are safe, you are now reading an ad for my newest movie (you know the one), now also available on streaming!

  • @net00@lemm.ee
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    802 years ago

    Youtube is getting on cable tv levels of bad. On a regular ~10min video you will first deal with a few preroll ads and at least one is unskippable, then the creator will have a 2+ minute sponsor segment (I don’t mind those since they are usually well presented). There will also be multiple midroll ad spots.

    Depending on video length, it’s gonna soon be literally more ad than video. They are still stealing and selling your data though, and also making the web worse for everyone with DRM shit.

    Fuck. Google.

    I had already migrated to Invidious since last year because I degoogled everything. Seems like now its time to look for real youtube alternatives.

  • 👁️👄👁️
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    752 years ago

    Yeah I could care less about people saying they’d watch ads of they were less intrusive. I’m not, I don’t give a fuck about YouTube’s sustainability who happened to still have major growth while I ran an AdBlock this entire time.

    Maybe I’d consider paying if YouTube was the actual product I was paying for. Instead I get privacy invasive spying and my data being harvested, while am paying to do so. The product I’d want to pay for would have zero privacy invasive stuff involved. Which that isn’t going to exist, so I’m never going to pay.

  • @Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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    692 years ago

    If you’re using UBlock Origin do the following:

    Go to settings. Go to Filter Lists. Click purge all caches. Click update now.

    That’s it, this message should disappear entirely.

    • @trump10@lemmy.world
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      142 years ago

      What youtube is trying to achieve is technically impossible, unless they merge the advertisements into the videos.

    • Cosmic Cleric
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      22 years ago

      If you’re using UBlock Origin do the following:

      UBlock should just add code that automatically does that every time you start the browser, or daily.

      • TWeaK
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        32 years ago

        Not everyone would want the cache cleared all the time. Cache is useful, it prevents you from reloading everything every time. If he was to add the functionality it would probably need to be an adjustable setting.

        • Cosmic Cleric
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          22 years ago

          Not everyone would want the cache cleared all the time. Cache is useful, it prevents you from reloading everything every time.

          Yeah I understand how cache works and it’s benefits, but my point was, if the only way to fix the issue is to clear the cache, and if changes are coming down daily that requires you to clear the cache daily so you don’t see commercials, that they might as well automate that.

          That if you do not want to see commercials you lose the benefits of having a cache, basically.

    • @KneeTitts@lemmy.world
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      12 years ago

      If you’re using UBlock Origin do the following:

      Go to settings. Go to Filter Lists. Click purge all caches. Click update now.

      That’s it, this message should disappear entirely.

      I think there is going to be a time when ublock alone cannot simply program their way out of this, they will need help eventually from a completely different approach like anti ablock killers or some other app that hide the blocker itself from detection

      https://openuserjs.org/scripts/reek/Anti-Adblock_Killer_Reek

  • Karyoplasma
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    2 years ago

    Does anyone else remember back in the days of VCR, the networks wanted to push a technology that disallows you from fast-forwarding through ad breaks on the stuff you recorded?

    Pepperidge Farm remembers.

    • @random65837@lemmy.world
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      22 years ago

      I also remember when TiVO got their asses temporarily handed them by ReplayTV, which didn’t even record the commericials!

  • @drathvedro@lemm.ee
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    572 years ago

    Unpopular opinion: They should’ve just started charging big creators, kind of like Vimeo. Mofos be having youtube ads, sponsorships, built-in ads, courses, merch stores and patreon, and then they whine when youtube wants them to comply with advertiser’s demands.

  • NutWrench
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    572 years ago

    I haven’t turned off ad-blocking in 20 years. That’s because I “don’t allow” companies to use my home and my computer as their place of business.

      • @Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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        2 years ago

        Capitalism is driven by the idea of a free market, where competition and the law of supply and demand determine prices, production, and distribution. Manipulating you to buy stuff you don’t need is the result of human greed, not capitalism. That’s such a monothink way of seeing the world.

        Imagine living in a small town in the middle ages. You’re growing corn, your neighbour has a chicken farm, then there’s also a bakery, blacksmith etc. Say you now need nails. Where do you go? To the blacksmith obviously. Does he just give them to you? No, he wants something in return. Well you offer corn because that’s what you have plenty of but what if he doesn’t want corn but wants eggs instead? Well you can go to your neighbour and ask if he would like to trade some eggs for corn which you could then further trade for nails. Maybe that works, maybe it doesn’t, but that’s still a bit of an hassle. That’s why people came up with money. You can just sell your corn, get cash, buy those nails with said cash and the blacksmith can then go buy eggs with that. That’s capitalism.

        • @lath@lemmy.world
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          212 years ago

          Capitalism is the concentration of society around capital, hence the name capital-ism.

          Here’s a definition of capital:

          : a stock (see STOCK entry 1 sense 1a) of accumulated goods especially at a specified time and in contrast to income received during a specified period also : the value of these accumulated goods (2) : accumulated goods devoted to the production of other goods (3) : accumulated possessions calculated to bring in income set capital and land and labor to work —G. B. Shaw see also VENTURE CAPITAL b (1) : net worth : excess of assets over liabilities (2) : STOCK sense 2a see also CAPITAL GAIN, CAPITAL STOCK, EQUITY CAPITAL c : persons holding capital : capitalists considered as a group d : ADVANTAGE, GAIN make capital of the situation e : a store or supply of useful assets or advantages

          So Capitalism doesn’t give a shit about free market, workers, ethics, consumers, nation, environment etc, only about capital. Which is why Capitalism is good for the stock holders, yet bad for everyone else. Because stock holders will do anything for their capital.

          • @TheFonz@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            I’m not sure why you’re defining “capital”.

            capitalism

            /ˈkapɪtəlɪz(ə)m/

            *noun

            an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

            “an era of free-market capitalism”*

            This includes your labor: you are the private owner of your labor. Capitalism is not possible without free markets.

            • @lath@lemmy.world
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              42 years ago

              Mostly for myself.

              The pointing i’m failing to make is you speak of Capitalism the same way others speak of Communism, of an ideal stateof mind where everyone plays nice and does what they’re supposed to. But few people do. Most play dirty and don’t respect these definitions. Like you say, the imagination is nice, however it’s reality that annoys and people come to hate and harm each other when profit is more important that coexistence.

              • @TheFonz@lemmy.world
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                02 years ago

                I don’t think there is an inherent ethical value ascribed to capitalism…it’s just a description of an economic system. It can be good or bad. It’s a broad description at that too.

                • @lath@lemmy.world
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                  32 years ago

                  It is apt to say capitalism inherently lacks ethics. And in a world where competition is the main attribute describing society, that lack is what breeds success. Which is why one could even exaggerate and say that capitalism fosters sociopathy. Individuals that grow to lose their sense of ethics are favoured and more likely to succeed in positions of power, while those restricted by their morals are quickly pushed aside. So while we say capitalism can be good or bad, it is more likely that it leans towards the bad.

              • @Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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                -12 years ago

                I defend capitalism because I don’t want to live under communism. That doesn’t however mean that I’m a huge fan of the status quo either. Ofcourse I want more fair distribution of wealth, and that factories stop dumping waste into rivers etc. What I don’t want, however, is that we throw out the baby with the bathwater. I don’t advocate for that we just pull the plug on capitalism, whatever that even means. I’d much rather try and fix what’s wrong with it with better rules and regulations. Even if you think that’s impossible, it still sure is easier that rebuilding the whole thing from the ground up, and thinking you’ll succeed on the first try.

                • @lath@lemmy.world
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                  22 years ago

                  Capitalism depends on the selfishness of the individual and their ability to extract the highest value with the lowest cost. Communism depends heavily if not fully on ethics. We are definitely not an ethical people. So you are correct the former is more preferable to the latter, because it’s easier to implement. You cannot depend on ethics unless those ethics create the highest value at the lowest cost for the individual. So the key would be to make restrictions that inspire the ethical approach over cutting corners. If that is possible, then whichever system is used, they are more likely to be better than the alternative.

          • @Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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            2 years ago

            That’s cool but, what does it have to do with the topic at hand?

            capitalism

            : an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

            Source

          • @Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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            02 years ago

            My definition is almost word to word the same that merriam webster gives. You can go have a look yourself.

          • @TheFonz@lemmy.world
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            -12 years ago

            What are you talking about? Capitalism is inherently reliant on free markets. Otherwise what you have is a planned economy. You know, the opposite of capitalism?

            • @emberwit@feddit.de
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              2 years ago

              Capitalism is reliant on a free market. That does not make it the same nor does that mean that a free market is reliant on capitalism. The concept described above is a free market, not capitalism.

        • @TheFonz@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          Dude, you’re talking to 14 year olds that skimmed Das Kapital one time and binged second thought on yt for the sum of their economic education.

          Edit: your downvotes can’t hurt me. You know I’m right. Go back to watching Hasanabi or something.