Author Topic: No more YouTube - too many ads  (Read 5076 times)

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
No more YouTube - too many ads
« on: October 20, 2023, 08:28:53 AM »
For a while now I've been on the fence with YouTube. There's some genuinely wonderful content, but more and more the dreaded algorithm has become bothersome. Yes, YouTube, I'm a straight dude into tech and a few video games. No, YouTube, that doesn't mean I want scantily clad women in my feed. Same for videos of violence. And sportsball. For how smart Google is, it's amazing how dumb it is. It feels like we're living out the trajectory of decline predicted in Idiocracy.

In any case, the only thing that made YouTube somewhat worthwhile was running an ad blocker. Now that Google has disallowed that, it's just not worth it. Probably a good thing since it's a time suck. I still occasionally bring up YouTube in a different browser w/o ad blocking to watch DIY repair videos, but man, the ads are terrible.

Anyone else giving up YouTube? Or maybe you found a way around the ad blocker blocker?

iris lily

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6187
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2023, 08:41:44 AM »
No, i will not give up You Tube. Give up Andrea’s renovation of tiny Toronto apartments? Miss Garret LeChic’s decir guidance?
And give up my new obsession, Rajiv Surenda, where he guides us in living an aesthetically wonderful life?

Naw, I will pass, will tolerate the ads.

Phenix

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 350
  • Location: Ohio
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2023, 08:45:45 AM »
I'm getting very close to suspending my use of YouTube as well. I used to just get relevant ads (outdoor gear, solar generators, etc.), but now I'm bombarded with betterhelp ads, some game called Evony, and a male stimulation device. They really need to have an option to say this ad isn't relevant to me (especially when I'm watching family appropriate content with my kids and those ads pop up).

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2023, 09:13:00 AM »
No, i will not give up You Tube. Give up Andrea’s renovation of tiny Toronto apartments? Miss Garret LeChic’s decir guidance?
And give up my new obsession, Rajiv Surenda, where he guides us in living an aesthetically wonderful life?

Naw, I will pass, will tolerate the ads.

Interesting. Thanks for weighing in. Over the years I've gotten into some interesting YouTube channels, but haven't found anything that really strikes my fancy in recent years. But if I'm going to pay for video, I'd much rather pay content creators directly so I may go this route.

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2023, 09:14:23 AM »
I'm getting very close to suspending my use of YouTube as well. I used to just get relevant ads (outdoor gear, solar generators, etc.), but now I'm bombarded with betterhelp ads, some game called Evony, and a male stimulation device. They really need to have an option to say this ad isn't relevant to me (especially when I'm watching family appropriate content with my kids and those ads pop up).

Agreed. It's a mess.

Blackeagle

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 316
  • Location: Ivins, UT
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2023, 09:40:51 AM »
Perhaps antimustaschian, but if YouTube ads really bother you, it is a problem you can solve by throwing money at it:

https://www.youtube.com/premium

GuitarStv

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 25331
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2023, 09:45:30 AM »
Screw that.  Just don't log in, view videos in incognito mode, and enable your ad blocker in incognito mode.  Then your ad blocker works fine and you can watch videos as usual.

simonsez

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1688
  • Age: 38
  • Location: Midwest
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2023, 09:51:18 AM »
To each their own.

Some of the DIY projects and car maintenance vids are so valuable that I don't mind 5-15 seconds of ads.

How often are you watching vids?  Like daily browsing without a purpose or just when you want to look something specific up?

I don't even pay much attention to what other vids that get recommended.  I have like 5 subs, 3 of which only post videos every several months or so and that's mostly how I use YT - and then the occasional DIY stuff as mentioned plus some occasional live music performances when something I listened to or read about sounds interesting and I want to see the footage (e.g. recently I watched Billy Joel's live version at the Grammy awards for River of Dreams after reading how he did a 20 second pause in the middle of the song in protest for how Frank Sinatra had the music come on and play him off stage when accepting his lifetime achievement award).

Yesterday one of my subs posted a new vid and one of the recommendations I glanced at (didn't click on, just saw) was the Toyota ammonia engine by some creator I'd never heard of.  Sure, that sounds interesting but I don't care enough to watch videos like that as my primary source.  I'd rather wait until I hear some buzz from my engineering friends or read journal articles about it or at least do the wiki tangent dance first.

But if YT has more negatives than positives for you, I'm glad you're cutting it out!

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2023, 10:14:33 AM »
Screw that.  Just don't log in, view videos in incognito mode, and enable your ad blocker in incognito mode.  Then your ad blocker works fine and you can watch videos as usual.

Good idea, thanks!  Seems to work for now. Will do this as needed to occasionally watch.

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2023, 10:23:32 AM »
To each their own.

Some of the DIY projects and car maintenance vids are so valuable that I don't mind 5-15 seconds of ads.

How often are you watching vids?  Like daily browsing without a purpose or just when you want to look something specific up?

I don't even pay much attention to what other vids that get recommended.  I have like 5 subs, 3 of which only post videos every several months or so and that's mostly how I use YT - and then the occasional DIY stuff as mentioned plus some occasional live music performances when something I listened to or read about sounds interesting and I want to see the footage (e.g. recently I watched Billy Joel's live version at the Grammy awards for River of Dreams after reading how he did a 20 second pause in the middle of the song in protest for how Frank Sinatra had the music come on and play him off stage when accepting his lifetime achievement award).

Yesterday one of my subs posted a new vid and one of the recommendations I glanced at (didn't click on, just saw) was the Toyota ammonia engine by some creator I'd never heard of.  Sure, that sounds interesting but I don't care enough to watch videos like that as my primary source.  I'd rather wait until I hear some buzz from my engineering friends or read journal articles about it or at least do the wiki tangent dance first.

But if YT has more negatives than positives for you, I'm glad you're cutting it out!

It was more occasional than anything, mostly centered on a handful of channels:

Practical Engineering - super interesting and educational. Just enjoy learning about "boring" infrastructure.

Engineering Explained - I'm not really a big car person, but love the way Jason breaks down big problems/questions as math on a whiteboard.

BibleProject - Great source for understanding what the Bible says in it's historical cultural context, from a guy with a PhD in ancient Hebrew, so not a random internet nut with an ax to grind.

And then some random DIY stuff, though honestly even this stuff is getting worse. The amount of time people drone on and on before getting the meat of the video is obnoxious.

Imma just stay logged out and spin up a private browser tab w/ ad blocking as long as this works.

Luke Warm

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 984
  • Location: Ain't no time to wonder why
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2023, 10:59:57 AM »
If push came to shove I would get rid of my other paid channels and pay for Youtube. I find a bunch more interesting things to watch on YT than on Amazon.

PMG

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1930
  • Location: USA
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2023, 11:32:33 AM »
I just started a free student trial of YouTube Premium and plan to keep it at the discounted student rate for a while. Student status was verified via IDme (or something similar). We try not to have subscriptions but we have a toddler and there are some really good Ukrainian and English language shows for toddlers on YouTube, but the ads were alarming and not what we want the kid to see. Since paying for it, I’m really enjoying it. There are a few channels I enjoy watching, as well as the music option. 

The incognito method above might be a good option as well.

iris lily

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6187
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2023, 12:26:52 PM »
To each their own.

Some of the DIY projects and car maintenance vids are so valuable that I don't mind 5-15 seconds of ads.

How often are you watching vids?  Like daily browsing without a purpose or just when you want to look something specific up?

I don't even pay much attention to what other vids that get recommended.  I have like 5 subs, 3 of which only post videos every several months or so and that's mostly how I use YT - and then the occasional DIY stuff as mentioned plus some occasional live music performances when something I listened to or read about sounds interesting and I want to see the footage (e.g. recently I watched Billy Joel's live version at the Grammy awards for River of Dreams after reading how he did a 20 second pause in the middle of the song in protest for how Frank Sinatra had the music come on and play him off stage when accepting his lifetime achievement award).

Yesterday one of my subs posted a new vid and one of the recommendations I glanced at (didn't click on, just saw) was the Toyota ammonia engine by some creator I'd never heard of.  Sure, that sounds interesting but I don't care enough to watch videos like that as my primary source.  I'd rather wait until I hear some buzz from my engineering friends or read journal articles about it or at least do the wiki tangent dance first.

But if YT has more negatives than positives for you, I'm glad you're cutting it out!

Oh right, I constantly look up YouTube videos on MacBook stuff.

jinga nation

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2802
  • Age: 248
  • Location: 'Murica's Dong
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2023, 12:48:06 PM »
Or maybe you found a way around the ad blocker blocker?

Firefox/Chrome with Enhancer for YouTube and SponsorBlock for YouTube.
Firefox is for my personal browsing, Chrome for my work (employer uses G-Suite), Edge for my customer client (M365 based).

Haven't noticed any issues.

Other browser add-ons I use (and recommmend):
Old Reddit Redirect
Privacy Badger
Shut Up: Comment Blocker
The Camelizer
uBlock Origin

Also, I have a pi-hole (with Tailscale) running to block ads and trackers for websites (doesn't block ads in YouTube and Prime Video on the TV).

When I'm accessing websites from mobile devices, I use Firefox for its built-in ad-blocking, as well as running the Tailscale VPN client to connect to my pi-hole.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2023, 12:50:03 PM by jinga nation »

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2023, 02:29:37 PM »
Or maybe you found a way around the ad blocker blocker?

Firefox/Chrome with Enhancer for YouTube and SponsorBlock for YouTube.
Firefox is for my personal browsing, Chrome for my work (employer uses G-Suite), Edge for my customer client (M365 based).

Haven't noticed any issues.

Other browser add-ons I use (and recommmend):
Old Reddit Redirect
Privacy Badger
Shut Up: Comment Blocker
The Camelizer
uBlock Origin

Also, I have a pi-hole (with Tailscale) running to block ads and trackers for websites (doesn't block ads in YouTube and Prime Video on the TV).

When I'm accessing websites from mobile devices, I use Firefox for its built-in ad-blocking, as well as running the Tailscale VPN client to connect to my pi-hole.

Yeah, I've been running ad and tracking blockers for a long time. However, recently YouTube detects the blockers and denies access. This does seemed tied to one's account, so running in private/incognito mode gets around it, at least for now. My guess is that YouTube is doing something like tracking how many ads get served per user ID to detect which users are getting around ads. So for now, running while not logged works well enough for me.

kenner

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 170
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #15 on: October 20, 2023, 02:36:09 PM »
Or maybe you found a way around the ad blocker blocker?

Firefox/Chrome with Enhancer for YouTube and SponsorBlock for YouTube.
Firefox is for my personal browsing, Chrome for my work (employer uses G-Suite), Edge for my customer client (M365 based).

Haven't noticed any issues.

Other browser add-ons I use (and recommmend):
Old Reddit Redirect
Privacy Badger
Shut Up: Comment Blocker
The Camelizer
uBlock Origin

Also, I have a pi-hole (with Tailscale) running to block ads and trackers for websites (doesn't block ads in YouTube and Prime Video on the TV).

When I'm accessing websites from mobile devices, I use Firefox for its built-in ad-blocking, as well as running the Tailscale VPN client to connect to my pi-hole.

Yeah, I've been running ad and tracking blockers for a long time. However, recently YouTube detects the blockers and denies access. This does seemed tied to one's account, so running in private/incognito mode gets around it, at least for now. My guess is that YouTube is doing something like tracking how many ads get served per user ID to detect which users are getting around ads. So for now, running while not logged works well enough for me.

UBlock Origin still seems to work for YouTube ad blocking, but I had to disable Ghostery

GuitarStv

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 25331
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #16 on: October 20, 2023, 02:59:28 PM »
Or maybe you found a way around the ad blocker blocker?

Firefox/Chrome with Enhancer for YouTube and SponsorBlock for YouTube.
Firefox is for my personal browsing, Chrome for my work (employer uses G-Suite), Edge for my customer client (M365 based).

Haven't noticed any issues.

Other browser add-ons I use (and recommmend):
Old Reddit Redirect
Privacy Badger
Shut Up: Comment Blocker
The Camelizer
uBlock Origin

Also, I have a pi-hole (with Tailscale) running to block ads and trackers for websites (doesn't block ads in YouTube and Prime Video on the TV).

When I'm accessing websites from mobile devices, I use Firefox for its built-in ad-blocking, as well as running the Tailscale VPN client to connect to my pi-hole.

Yeah, I've been running ad and tracking blockers for a long time. However, recently YouTube detects the blockers and denies access. This does seemed tied to one's account, so running in private/incognito mode gets around it, at least for now. My guess is that YouTube is doing something like tracking how many ads get served per user ID to detect which users are getting around ads. So for now, running while not logged works well enough for me.

UBlock Origin still seems to work for YouTube ad blocking, but I had to disable Ghostery

You'll still get the messages occasionally with uBlock when logged in, that's the ad blocker that I use.

daverobev

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4047
  • Location: France
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #17 on: October 20, 2023, 03:02:50 PM »
Invidious if you want to go in-browser, FreeTube if you want a separate program (which I suppose has a stripped down Chromium and then just shows Invidious-streamed stuff).

I use FreeTube and it's pretty good. You can hide a load of stuff, there is auto skipping of sponsored segments in videos, Google isn't tracking you...

Yeah love it. The only thing of course is that the content creators aren't getting any money via me. But... what's a view worth? A fraction of a penny, I'm sure.

Daley

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5384
  • Location: Cow country. Moo.
  • Where there's a will...
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2023, 03:25:34 PM »
Just gonna leave this here...

The Cobra Effect: Why Anti-Adblock Policies Could Hurt Revenue Instead

If only there were also a freetube that would automatically remove all this stuff and do subscriptions without a Google account, too, that didn't require cobbling together some janky setup like switching browsers to Firefox and using a lousy plugin like uBlock Origin and having to manually paste in some random string of letters in the personal filter settings, like maybe...
Code: [Select]
youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.openPopupConfig.supportedPopups.adBlockMessageViewModel, false)
youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.adBlocksFound, 0)
youtube.com##+js(set, ytplayer.config.args.raw_player_response.adPlacements, [])
youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.hasAllowedInstreamAd, true)

Who wants to do that when Google's own browser dev team doesn't view ad blocking necessary anymore, and even wants to go so far as to embed DRM into websites. Clearly our Do No Evil overlords turning massive profits off on Youtube for years already with the adblockers in place know what's best for us! Paying for Premium will fix everything!

PeteD01

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1799
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2023, 03:44:08 PM »

If only there were also a freetube that would automatically remove all this stuff and do subscriptions without a Google account, too, that didn't require cobbling together some janky setup like switching browsers to Firefox and using a lousy plugin like uBlock Origin and having to manually paste in some random string of letters in the personal filter settings, like maybe...
Code: [Select]
youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.openPopupConfig.supportedPopups.adBlockMessageViewModel, false)
youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.adBlocksFound, 0)
youtube.com##+js(set, ytplayer.config.args.raw_player_response.adPlacements, [])
youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.hasAllowedInstreamAd, true)

Nice!

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2023, 04:01:00 PM »
Invidious if you want to go in-browser, FreeTube if you want a separate program (which I suppose has a stripped down Chromium and then just shows Invidious-streamed stuff).

I use FreeTube and it's pretty good. You can hide a load of stuff, there is auto skipping of sponsored segments in videos, Google isn't tracking you...

Yeah love it. The only thing of course is that the content creators aren't getting any money via me. But... what's a view worth? A fraction of a penny, I'm sure.

Aha, FreeTube... amazing. Thanks a ton! I came here to rant and you guys responded with excellent ideas.

I remember looking into FreeTube a while ago, but the last time I checked it wasn't very usable. Much much better now. Like, wow, exactly what I've been wanting. All subscription and user data local, plus the ability to remove Shorts from my subscriptions.

This also helped solved another conundrum we've had with the kids and their access to YouTube.

SmashYourSmartPhone

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 329
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2023, 01:11:21 PM »
Never got into it.  I might play a video a month someone links to, but I've long since not enjoyed "creator video" in the convergence that the style is, and I don't feel as though I've missed much.

Yes, YouTube, I'm a straight dude into tech and a few video games. No, YouTube, that doesn't mean I want scantily clad women in my feed. Same for videos of violence. And sportsball. For how smart Google is, it's amazing how dumb it is.

It's not dumb at all, in that sense.  It knows that for some meaningful number of people in your category, showing those videos means more time watched.  That's all it cares about: Time watched goes up.  If you watch X hours of YouTube, it shows you these videos and you watch X/2 afterwards, but someone else watches 2X because of "women gamer NordVPN fan reacts to war violence" videos or whatever, that's still an increase of time watched.

It shows those because it works.  Same for the conspiracy theory content, radical content, etc.  Shown to enough people, the time watched goes up.  I don't believe in the slightest their algorithm knows that it's a flat earth video, simply that "30% of people I've shown this to have watched radically more YouTube afterwards, so the more people I show this to, the better."  If you've not lost an afternoon in Universal Paperclips, I suggest a playthrough (once).  It's that sort of stupid "Maximize this metric, at all costs!" sort of thinking.

Just stop watching it.  There's far more interesting stuff to do with life than watch a lot of little flickering dots in a big glowing rectangle.

FINate

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3402
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2023, 02:35:40 PM »
It's not dumb at all, in that sense.  It knows that for some meaningful number of people in your category, showing those videos means more time watched.  That's all it cares about: Time watched goes up.  If you watch X hours of YouTube, it shows you these videos and you watch X/2 afterwards, but someone else watches 2X because of "women gamer NordVPN fan reacts to war violence" videos or whatever, that's still an increase of time watched.

It shows those because it works.  Same for the conspiracy theory content, radical content, etc.  Shown to enough people, the time watched goes up.  I don't believe in the slightest their algorithm knows that it's a flat earth video, simply that "30% of people I've shown this to have watched radically more YouTube afterwards, so the more people I show this to, the better."  If you've not lost an afternoon in Universal Paperclips, I suggest a playthrough (once).  It's that sort of stupid "Maximize this metric, at all costs!" sort of thinking.

No, it really is dumb. I worked as an engineer at Google for 10 years. The amount of data they have on users is embarrassing. They could do so much better in terms of promoting useful, meaningful content. But they don't. Which tells me this is a business decision to exploit base human impulses to temporarily boost revenues. What has made YouTube attractive (up to this point) is that it has maintained a relatively decent signal to noise ratio. However, as creators observe what the algorithm rewards, they will naturally produce more of the same. So at some point the dregs of the internet eclipses everything else: low quality sexualized and/or violent content, hormonal teens, bots, state sponsored actors, etc. That's when advertisers start backing out, schools start blocking it, and people start tuning out. It really is a dumb long-term business strategy.

Just stop watching it.  There's far more interesting stuff to do with life than watch a lot of little flickering dots in a big glowing rectangle.

I get the sentiment of what you're saying. We cut cable way back in 2001 before this was really a thing, and we're generally very media light with no streaming subscriptions or other such things. Yet there are a few things on YouTube that are still genuinely useful for me that I can't easily replace elsewhere. Channels with actual subject mater experts (not "internet experts") that are educational and have enriched my life in meaningful ways. So..... I'm gonna just keep using FreeTube while it works

Metalcat

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 20407
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #23 on: October 21, 2023, 03:51:01 PM »
People watch YouTube for more than the occasional "how to" video?

I don't think I've ever even noticed what YouTube recommends for me, you mean the videos on the right?

Don't those inevitably lead you to conspiracy theories if you click on enough of a them? Lol.

Yeah. I absolutely love YouTube for when I need it, but other than paying the price of watching a brief ad to figure out how to fix something with my house/car/computer, I just don't engage with it.

Wouldn't really know how to...

Kris

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7813
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #24 on: October 21, 2023, 04:04:39 PM »
People watch YouTube for more than the occasional "how to" video?

I don't think I've ever even noticed what YouTube recommends for me, you mean the videos on the right?

Don't those inevitably lead you to conspiracy theories if you click on enough of a them? Lol.

Yeah. I absolutely love YouTube for when I need it, but other than paying the price of watching a brief ad to figure out how to fix something with my house/car/computer, I just don't engage with it.

Wouldn't really know how to...

They do indeed. Qanon is a phenomenon almost entirely driven by people spending shitloads of aimless time on YouTube getting eventually led down a rabbit hole created to keep them engaged and sucked in.

But yeah, I don’t consume content on YT that way. I only go on there to get a DIY tutorial or something similar for a particular purpose, and then I click out.

Chris Pascale

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1460
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #25 on: October 21, 2023, 10:33:36 PM »
Because it's my primary source for listening/watching, I pay for Red.

My phone, 2 TVs, and my daughter's phone are logged into 1 account.

LD_TAndK

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 433
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #26 on: October 22, 2023, 05:06:07 AM »
I find Youtube how-to videos insufferable to navigate with ads. Usually when I search for a how-to video, I'll open five or so videos because most of them will end up being irrelevant. I jump past their minute intro fluff, then jump around their way too long video, and maybe find the ten seconds that contain the actual information I'm looking for. With ads, this becomes a ten minute project full of distraction just to find information. I wish we'd put more information written out on the web.

Metalcat

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 20407
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #27 on: October 22, 2023, 05:56:44 AM »
I find Youtube how-to videos insufferable to navigate with ads. Usually when I search for a how-to video, I'll open five or so videos because most of them will end up being irrelevant. I jump past their minute intro fluff, then jump around their way too long video, and maybe find the ten seconds that contain the actual information I'm looking for. With ads, this becomes a ten minute project full of distraction just to find information. I wish we'd put more information written out on the web.

I agree, that's why I watch so few YouTube videos. Only when I really need them because it is so frustrating.

It's like before online recipes had "jump to recipe" buttons. I don't care about your love of fall or some story about how much your husband loves sweaters, I just want to know if there are any mushrooms in the recipe.

Josiecat22222

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 763
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #28 on: October 22, 2023, 06:24:55 AM »
OMG. OMG. OMG.

Usually you guys lead me to great places with your recommendations.  I just went to "freetube.com" thinking it was the ad free youtube.
IT IS NOT. 

It's a porn site.

Apparently Freetube is an ap.  So, learn from my mistake.  DO NOT GO TO FREETUBE.COM.  (I mean, unless that's what you are looking for)


GilesMM

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2465
  • Location: PNW
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #29 on: October 22, 2023, 06:40:28 AM »
Scotty Kilmer alone is worth the ads.  I don't notice the ads, really though. 

sonofsven

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2581
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #30 on: October 22, 2023, 06:45:46 AM »
Scotty Kilmer alone is worth the ads.  I don't notice the ads, really though.

"The entire industry is crapping their pants"; love Scotty, and hyperbole.
I watch more YT than anything else. I don't have any ad blockers, I just skip through the ads when possible.
Mainly I watch my subscribed channels, but occasionally the algo will throw something new at me that I enjoy.

It's hard to watch "normal" tv now, I'm so used to "on demand".

GuitarStv

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 25331
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #31 on: October 22, 2023, 07:57:21 AM »
People watch YouTube for more than the occasional "how to" video?

I don't think I've ever even noticed what YouTube recommends for me, you mean the videos on the right?

Don't those inevitably lead you to conspiracy theories if you click on enough of a them? Lol.

Yeah. I absolutely love YouTube for when I need it, but other than paying the price of watching a brief ad to figure out how to fix something with my house/car/computer, I just don't engage with it.

Wouldn't really know how to...

There are a butt-ton of videos for using with your bike trainer!  However, if you don't use an ad blocker they'll interrupt the hour long videos with ads multiple times and completely disrupt the flow of the workout session.  That's why I started looking into blockers.

Daley

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5384
  • Location: Cow country. Moo.
  • Where there's a will...
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #32 on: October 22, 2023, 07:58:23 AM »
OMG. OMG. OMG.
[snip]
DO NOT GO TO FREETUBE.OMG.  (I mean, unless that's what you are looking for)

Instructions unclear, going to freetube.omg. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

For the record, when someone doesn't give you a URL to an app or service or you're unsure what the domain is, it's typically wisest to use a search engine instead of assuming. This is how the classic 90's porn site, whitehouse.com, got so much traffic and shocked so many people. In this day an age, given the level of domain squatting, all the simple domains taken (usually by porn and frequently by malware spreaders) and ten bajillion TLDs, use a search engine first. Duckduckgo.com is a reasonable one, though the AI garbage generated content-pocalypse is making every search engine worse these days.

Also, sometimes people don't want to directly link to these sorts of projects in an effort to help keep them a little lower profile while still sharing the info. Even then, though, don't just randomly trust anyone on the internet. If you do happen to find an app with that name, check to make sure you got the right one from the right website (check to see if there's a github page or something to help confirm, nudge-nudge), and even then, send the file and/or download link through a service like virustotal.com (yes, that is a real domain that runs files against multiple antivirus systems - but search for it anyway to do your own due diligence, as even it can occasionally have false positives from some of the goofy AI heuristics systems, and don't just trust random a-holes on the internet) because you shouldn't be running random applications from the internet or going to random domains on the internet.

I mean, this forum is a higher class of random a-holes, but we're still random a-holes....

Metalcat

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 20407
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #33 on: October 22, 2023, 08:09:26 AM »
People watch YouTube for more than the occasional "how to" video?

I don't think I've ever even noticed what YouTube recommends for me, you mean the videos on the right?

Don't those inevitably lead you to conspiracy theories if you click on enough of a them? Lol.

Yeah. I absolutely love YouTube for when I need it, but other than paying the price of watching a brief ad to figure out how to fix something with my house/car/computer, I just don't engage with it.

Wouldn't really know how to...

There are a butt-ton of videos for using with your bike trainer!  However, if you don't use an ad blocker they'll interrupt the hour long videos with ads multiple times and completely disrupt the flow of the workout session.  That's why I started looking into blockers.

Bike trainer?? You mean the stationary bike that I do 5-10 minutes a day of zero resistance, slow peddling on that I don't even turn on because there's no point?

I think you are RADICALLY over estimating the function of my legs my friend.

Chris Pascale

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1460
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #34 on: October 22, 2023, 12:42:52 PM »
OMG. OMG. OMG.

Usually you guys lead me to great places with your recommendations.  I just went to "freetube.com" thinking it was the ad free youtube.
IT IS NOT. 

It's a porn site.

Apparently Freetube is an ap.  So, learn from my mistake.  DO NOT GO TO FREETUBE.COM.  (I mean, unless that's what you are looking for)

Sorry you had this experience. It's like the Bible says - Knowledge = Sorrow.

Chris Pascale

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1460
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #35 on: October 22, 2023, 12:47:20 PM »
I find Youtube how-to videos insufferable to navigate with ads. Usually when I search for a how-to video, I'll open five or so videos because most of them will end up being irrelevant. I jump past their minute intro fluff, then jump around their way too long video, and maybe find the ten seconds that contain the actual information I'm looking for. With ads, this becomes a ten minute project full of distraction just to find information. I wish we'd put more information written out on the web.

"Today we're going to show you how to plug in your mouse. But before that, don't forget to finger-blast that like and subscribe button, and head over to our site Super IT Bros for all your IT Bros needs and t-shirts. This video has been brought to you by breadsticks. Have you ever been waiting for your food and were like, 'I'd like a little something to eat right now'? Me, too, until I found breadsticks. Breadsticks are a carb-composite food specially designed to address unique needs that have to do with not wanting to wait to put additional food into your face-hole while also not wanting to pay any money for it........"

Cranky

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3954
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #36 on: October 22, 2023, 12:57:08 PM »
There are a number of people that I follow on YouTube- frugality, sewing, knitting, gardening. I absolutely can NOT watch it on my phone, where there are many ads, some quite lengthy.

Strangely, there are a lot less ads on my Fire, and they don’t interrupt the video.

daverobev

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4047
  • Location: France
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #37 on: October 22, 2023, 01:19:51 PM »
I find Youtube how-to videos insufferable to navigate with ads. Usually when I search for a how-to video, I'll open five or so videos because most of them will end up being irrelevant. I jump past their minute intro fluff, then jump around their way too long video, and maybe find the ten seconds that contain the actual information I'm looking for. With ads, this becomes a ten minute project full of distraction just to find information. I wish we'd put more information written out on the web.

"Today we're going to show you how to plug in your mouse. But before that, don't forget to finger-blast that like and subscribe button, and head over to our site Super IT Bros for all your IT Bros needs and t-shirts. This video has been brought to you by breadsticks. Have you ever been waiting for your food and were like, 'I'd like a little something to eat right now'? Me, too, until I found breadsticks. Breadsticks are a carb-composite food specially designed to address unique needs that have to do with not wanting to wait to put additional food into your face-hole while also not wanting to pay any money for it........"

It does blow my mind that people use specific stock phrases. "Please like, comment, and subscribe: it really helps the channel!"

And the stupid banner with a mouse pointer clicking on 'Subscribe' which goes red.

Perhaps I, and we, are just wired differently, that this stuff really grates? Mainstream is just... disgusting, somehow.

I mean, that's one of my filters. If a video opens with that, I'm pretty sure it's going to be "a video made for the purposes of making money" rather than "I'm doing something and I want to show it".

I don't *always* not watch videos that have that stuff in. There's one guy who slips youtube stickers on the sides of things and puts them in shot - it's a bit cleverer/tongue in cheek while still making the ask. But the vast vast majority are junk (or at least it's hard work getting the actual content out of the self-promotion).

LennStar

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4299
  • Location: Germany
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #38 on: October 22, 2023, 01:35:05 PM »
If push came to shove I would get rid of my other paid channels and pay for Youtube. I find a bunch more interesting things to watch on YT than on Amazon.
How many of those are on Nebula? (The Hydraulic Press Channel for example is not unfortunately)

Anyway, I am not going to pay YT 144€ a year just for not showing ads. I'll simply stop watching if they also close the private browser loophole.
(I did watch one out of curiosity. It showed me 2 ads every 2,5 minutes. Of course 3/4 of the time the same ad for something I will never use. How can people endure that???)

Quote
plus the ability to remove Shorts from my subscriptions.
That sounds interesting. Iam still scatching my head why I can add more on the subscription page, but not less of those things.

Quote
I wish we'd put more information written out on the web.
Damn yes!
For 90% of stuff, that is sooo much easier and often better than a video!

Tasse

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4013
  • Age: 31
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #39 on: October 22, 2023, 07:51:58 PM »
Screw that.  Just don't log in, view videos in incognito mode, and enable your ad blocker in incognito mode.  Then your ad blocker works fine and you can watch videos as usual.

I also recommend the extension "DF Tube," or Distraction Free Youtube. It removes the algorithmic suggestions so you can just focus on the video you are watching.

I subscribe to like 3 channels that update regularly, go straight to my subscriptions page, and watch their videos without ever seeing recommendations.

evme

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 392
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Arizona
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #40 on: October 23, 2023, 02:02:28 AM »
AdBlock Plus extension in Chrome browser remains working for me -- still no ads when watching YouTube.

LennStar

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4299
  • Location: Germany
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #41 on: October 23, 2023, 05:17:06 AM »
AdBlock Plus extension in Chrome browser remains working for me -- still no ads when watching YouTube.
That surprises me a bit.
As the devils advocate that might have something to do with teh current efforts of reworking the way that ads are delivered to be even more under google's control.
"You can show ads, but only in Chrome and only if you use our system, at the moment for an introductory price!!!"

daverobev

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4047
  • Location: France
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #42 on: October 23, 2023, 05:49:41 AM »
Firefox isn't perfect, but it is not Google.

Chromium is fine (I think), but actual Chrome? If you care about privacy at all to begin with (which I know is difficult considering just how much tracking there is and how much of an arse it is to begin to grapple with it), switching to Firefox and enabling tracking protection... at least then Google isn't hard-wired into the browser itself.

Just Joe

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7697
  • Location: In the middle....
  • Teach me something.
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #43 on: October 23, 2023, 09:35:28 AM »
For the record, when someone doesn't give you a URL to an app or service or you're unsure what the domain is, it's typically wisest to use a search engine instead of assuming. This is how the classic 90's porn site, whitehouse.com, got so much traffic and shocked so many people. In this day an age, given the level of domain squatting, all the simple domains taken (usually by porn and frequently by malware spreaders) and ten bajillion TLDs, use a search engine first. Duckduckgo.com is a reasonable one, though the AI garbage generated content-pocalypse is making every search engine worse these days.

Whitehouse.com was the very first place I went the first time I went on the web. I had dialup, I had my first internet capable computer (used 486DX2 with 14.4K dialup) - hmmm, what do I do with this internet thing?

The news was playing on the TV and a WH press conference about something was mentioned. I'll try that...

Yeah just about crashed the computer with all the media. I genuinely wanted to see some useful internet stuff.

YttriumNitrate

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1945
  • Location: Northwest Indiana
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #44 on: October 23, 2023, 09:46:04 AM »
Anyone else giving up YouTube? Or maybe you found a way around the ad blocker blocker?
I generally watch YouTube videos at 2x speed, so the ads come fast and furious without a blocker. Since I watch too much YouTube as it is, I was kind of looking forward to having my account blocked, but after a week of threatening messages from YouTube things just went back to the way it had been.

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 23592
  • Age: 67
  • Location: NorCal
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #45 on: October 23, 2023, 09:51:02 AM »
Apparently it's useful to have non-mustachian friends...

We had one such friend spend the weekend with us. He's a former producer and his tech skills run circles around ours. His list of interests is delightfully esoteric. He is apparently hooked on YT, so he linked our TV to his YT premium account and said we could keep it, because his account allows sharing. We all watched a couple of airplane crash investigation programs and found them strangely riveting.

OTOH, he did teach us a card game called "Tens", which we played every night into the wee hours. It's a great game for using up old decks of cards that have lost their snap.

Just Joe

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7697
  • Location: In the middle....
  • Teach me something.
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #46 on: October 23, 2023, 11:03:25 AM »
Anyone else giving up YouTube? Or maybe you found a way around the ad blocker blocker?
I generally watch YouTube videos at 2x speed, so the ads come fast and furious without a blocker. Since I watch too much YouTube as it is, I was kind of looking forward to having my account blocked, but after a week of threatening messages from YouTube things just went back to the way it had been.

Same. Tons of hobby and project stuff on YouTube that has been useful for me. Just wish our Roku would allow 2x speed playback. It did for a few weeks.

Slipped back into several hobby forums that I used to read years ago. SO MUCH useful information there too. Those folks that want to document and teach how to do this or that are golden. Just like here.

I have several workflows for saving pictures and descriptions so if the forum disappears - I can still review diagrams and descriptions of ideas I value. I use a screen clipper in Linux that has all the right tricks for my needs. 

YttriumNitrate

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1945
  • Location: Northwest Indiana
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #47 on: October 23, 2023, 12:04:13 PM »
Same. Tons of hobby and project stuff on YouTube that has been useful for me. Just wish our Roku would allow 2x speed playback. It did for a few weeks.
The hobby/project stuff on YouTube is fantastic. The crazy thing is that I've bought thousands of dollars worth of things based on the recommendations found in YouTube videos (not sponsored videos, but usually things mentioned in passing), but can't recall ever buying anything as a result of seeing a YouTube ad. If YouTube added unobtrusive links to the products mentioned in the videos those would be ads I would be okay with, and might even click on.

Luke Warm

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 984
  • Location: Ain't no time to wonder why
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #48 on: October 23, 2023, 12:34:19 PM »
I've wondered why YT doesn't target adds for me instead of stuff I don't care about and will never buy. Then it occurred to me that maybe they don't make money off of advertising so they play the same intolerable adds over and over in hopes of getting me to pay for their service.

YttriumNitrate

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1945
  • Location: Northwest Indiana
Re: No more YouTube - too many ads
« Reply #49 on: October 23, 2023, 01:46:31 PM »
I've wondered why YT doesn't target adds for me instead of stuff I don't care about and will never buy. Then it occurred to me that maybe they don't make money off of advertising so they play the same intolerable adds over and over in hopes of getting me to pay for their service.
So as an experiment, I tried watching some YouTube with a browser that doesn't have an ad blocker. Good God the ads were terrible! About 2/3rds were for real estate scams while the rest were for products or services that I would never in a million years purchase. You may be on to something about YouTube playing super annoying ads as a method of getting people to sign up for their subscription.