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Youtube is now unusable without a frontend

I have an extension that can individually disable all the most useless/addicting components of the Youtube site, such as shorts and whatnot. On the search page, I have turned on:

hide Shorts

hide For You

hide Trending

hide 'People Also Searched For'

hide Search Categories

hide Promoted Videos

hide Promoted Websites

hide Suggested Products

Do you know what Youtube has started doing? They are now inserting engagement slop DIRECTLY into the search results, as seen in the image above. It's literally a short, yet it's inserted like a video so you're forced to see it. The only possible way to remove it is by using a privacy frontend, as even on incognito mode, Youtube will look at the three videos you've watched and start inserting shit based off that.

Louis Rossman is right, they all have rapist mentalities... "just let me stick it in"

whotookkarl ,
@whotookkarl@lemmy.world avatar

Unusable for me with ads as well. Grey loading screen and choppy audio instead of actually loading ads, never gets to the video. If I reopen the video a few times to skip the ad the video loads fine. No problems with online gaming, streaming services, etc so I know it's their shit Roku app and ad network and not me. Ad blockers make it actually usable.

siriusmart ,
  • Here's an extension which turns YouTube into an Invidious-like site, removing all addicting elements.
  • If you're using Linux, I wrote the youtube-tui a few years back, very similar to the extension where you get nothing but the search bar and subscriptions.
ILikeBoobies ,

🦀

TangledHyphae , (edited )

Holy shit this is incredible. I have wanted a way to permanently hide shorts forever, thanks for sharing. Also it's actually recommended by Mozilla which means it has active security audits on it, impressive.

krolden ,
@krolden@lemmy.ml avatar

OK but what does that have to do with privacy?

mukt ,
@mukt@lemmy.ml avatar

They can't do what they are doing here without an intent to violate privacy.

krolden ,
@krolden@lemmy.ml avatar

How so

mukt ,
@mukt@lemmy.ml avatar

What how so? They already have taken a deceptive consent from every registered user to show ads profiled on per user basis, and serve numerous clicks on their website that offer ads or ad-like stuff.

What is your alternative theory of why they are doing all this?

utopiah ,

Has been for years already sadly. I recommend https://github.com/user234683/youtube-local to watch directly and https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl to download. They both remove the dark patterns trying to abuse the attention of viewers.

PhAzE ,

In using smarttube on my shield and search works perfectly, and revanced still works on mobile. I never use thd Tube on desktop, is there no good solution on that platform?

Daft_ish ,

You guys still using youtube?

Gonkulator ,
@Gonkulator@lemm.ee avatar

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    Daft_ish , (edited )

    Alternative to using youtube? I bought a bike recently. Maybe try that.

    Gonkulator ,
    @Gonkulator@lemm.ee avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    Daft_ish , (edited )

    How about autofellatio or no you're already an expert at that too.

    firefly , (edited )
    @firefly@neon.nightbulb.net avatar
    • 21 ALTERNATIVES TO YOUTUBE *

    The Internet Archive https://archive.org offers over 1.8 million free movies and over 12 million free videos.

    Here are more options. Most are browser-based. A couple require an app.

    ODYSEE
    https://odysee.com
    VIDLII
    https://www.vidlii.com/
    INVIDIOUS
    https://invidio.us
    TIKTOK
    https://tiktok.com
    9GAG
    https://9gag.com
    BITCHUTE
    https://www.bitchute.com
    BILIBILI
    https://www.bilibili.tv/en
    RUMBLE
    https://rumble.com
    PEERTUBE
    https://peertube.tv/videos/overview
    NEWPIPE
    https://newpipe.net
    TWITCH
    https://www.twitch.tv
    TED TALKS
    https://www.ted.com/talks
    VIMEO
    https://vimeo.com/
    VEOH
    https://veoh.com/
    LBRY
    https://lbry.com/
    DAILYMOTION
    https://www.dailymotion.com/us
    UTREON / PLAYEUR
    https://playeur.com/
    THE OPEN VIDEO PROJECT
    https://open-video.org/
    STORYFIRE
    https://storyfire.com/
    DLIVE
    https://dlive.tv/

    @Daft_ish

    Ultragigagigantic ,
    @Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

    Thanks, hope peertube takes off

    0x2d ,

    removedute

    Anticorp ,

    TikTok as an alternative to YouTube because of ads and intrusive videos? That's just replacing one poison with a stronger poison.

    Agora ,

    Lol TikTok

    0x2d ,

    also, i don't really consider tiktok an alternative

    firefly ,
    @firefly@neon.nightbulb.net avatar

    There are twenty alternatives in the list. Did you try any of them?

    I added No. 21, DLIVE https://dlive.tv/

    StereoTrespasser ,

    It's amazing how hard some of you work to make YouTube enjoyable. Here's a tip: stop watching YouTube.

    Yerbouti ,

    The problem is no other platform has that much content. Looking for an obscure scene from an old tv show? It's probably on YouTube. Wanna know more about Brigitte Bardot's career? Someone has a nice channel about her. The fact that the platform sucks amd his own by effing google doesn't change that there is just so much great niche content to be discovered. Hopefully we'll have a fully working foss alternative soon enough. I'll gladly pay for that if the money goes back to creators.

    ouigol ,

    What I have noticed is that if you add “before:2025” (or any other future date) it doesn’t show the unrelated stuff.

    SexDwarf ,

    I've used Vanced, ReVanced, Newpipe, LibreTube etc. for years and finally just gave up with the neverending third part app hassle, got YouTube Premium and disabled watch history. Sure it's costly, but at least everything works, there are no ads and shorts don't work without watch history. Win some, lose some ¯⁠\⁠⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠⁠/⁠¯

    DNOS ,

    You sparked my interest, in which way YouTube premium is better than newpipe ?( I'm using the sponsor block version) I mean you won't convince me to give my money to such evil company but I'm curious about what convinced you ...

    LinusSexTips ,

    I was a YouTube premium family account owner. Paid for myself, my partner and three friends accounts (think it was five slots?)

    The recent price hike was too much, so I've been using frontends as of late.

    The YouTube premium experience is seamless, much faster than the frontends but at the same time your getting shit shoveled down your throat at every chance.

    I've had lots of issues with libretube servers as of late. Pipe pipe is better but overall since I dropped my sub I've been watching far less on YouTube as a whole.

    BigFatNips ,

    Some people just don't like the hassle. In my opinion, having had premium and used revanced with sponsorblock, revanced is better.

    DNOS ,

    Yeah I understand it's a personal point of view for me setting up my card and remember to pay is way worse hassle, on the other hand also installing newpipe and learning a new interface it's not that easy ...

    SexDwarf ,

    Out of those I mentioned, Newpipe was actually my favourite (LibreTube felt too beta, only used it for a week at most) and I've used it for years. Vanced was great too. But there's always something, like what happened to Vanced for example. I don't know, I felt like I was spending way too much time installing third party apps, trying to get them to work properly after Google's endless shenanigans. Paying them is more convenient / less time consuming.

    dataprolet ,
    @dataprolet@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    Good for you, but this is the wrong sub for you then.

    SexDwarf ,

    You're totally right, I wasn't paying attention to the sub, my bad.

    Agrivar ,

    Same here. I know we're pariahs for admitting something so obvious, but sometimes the easiest way to get good service is to actually pay for it. Youtube Music alone is worth the monthly sub, since it is VASTLY superior to Spotify.

    Broken ,

    The problem is that YouTube music is vastly inferior to google play music.

    I'm not a fan of services that make themselves worse and then charge you for it.

    The paid experience is a decent one, but it isn't the same as service that I want. I want to control what I watch and not be fed what they think I want to watch.

    But I don't disagree that paying for a good service is worth it.

    Syrc ,

    Aren’t playlists still broken? I remember shuffle not working, repeating some songs and then going off with unrelated videos before the playlist was even over.

    possiblylinux127 ,
    @possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

    Not good for privacy

    mhredox ,

    Upvoted for BoC

    Omega_Haxors ,

    I remembered there was a thing that came out not too long ago that proved that silicon valley executives literally don't know what consent is.

    IsThisAnAI ,

    "Literally UNUSABLE!"

    Meanwhile 99% of the planet uses it just fine.

    Omega_Haxors ,

    99% of the planet are sheep who just click the first thing that shows up, if not enables autoplay while it feeds them incel nazi conspiracy shit.

    possiblylinux127 ,
    @possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

    Or even worse, feeds them modern clickbait news.

    voracitude ,

    No, they all hate it too.

    IsThisAnAI ,

    1.3T visits in 2023. 100M are paying for premium. They are doing just fine.

    voracitude ,

    Oh, sorry, I thought we were talking about how much people who use YouTube hate YouTube's shitty design, based on the fact that this whole thread is about YouTube users hating the enshittification of YouTube.

    But you're not here to engage with anyone, are you. You're here to shill for a corporation 🤡

    hexagonwin ,

    also be sure to disable cookies on youtube, it gets rid of weird suggestions and usually only suggests videos related to the current one

    MonkderDritte ,

    Uh, yeah. Use <search engine of choice>, give search term, go to <video> tab or corresponding functionality.

    Why would you use youtube's internal search anyway? It's age-old knowledge that such platforms use algorithms to "engage" (manipulate) you.

    BaumGeist , (edited )

    Louis Rossman is my Alex Jones. He's angry, compelling, and talking about something that makes him seen like a conspiracy theorist to normies. Unlike Jones, though, he's usually right (if not always, I haven't fact checked everything he's ever said). It's extremely cathartic to see someone use such extreme rhetoric to talk about privacy and software ownership and right to repair; e.g. it's not "advertiser's entitlement," it's "rapist mentality."

    Ironically, youtube's inability to completely differentiate between people at the same IP has accidentally gotten my non-techie roommate into him too. I never shared his videos with her, never said anything about him, and one day I hear his voice as she browses the web. I'm so proud of her.

    My least favorite thing about the "engagement friendly" slop in youtube's search results is that it takes up HALF of the results. Because clearly what I expect from SEARCHING for something is to dredge up a bunch of shit that ranges from tangentially related to completely unrelated.

    For example, I too just searched a song. Let's see how that went:

    7 results
    4 "people also watched" videos
    5 results
    2 "More from [band name]" videos
    2 results
    3 "people also searched for" suggestions
    2 results
    3 "For you" vids (IS IT THE FUVKING SEARCH RESULTS I ASKED FOR???? BECAUSE IF NOT, IT'S NOT REALLY "FOR ME," IS IT?)
    2 Results
    3 "From related searches"
    2 results

    That's 20 results to 15 irrelevant pieces of ADHD triggering visual clutter. Luckily the results were actually relevant, unlike whatever you're getting.

    To all the commenters saying "I have X, I don't have this problem": I have adblock, I don't have this problem, YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT:

    YOUTUBE SEARCH IS BROKEN BY DEFAULT. The largest video sharing site on the internet is BROKEN BY DEFAULT. It shouldn't require extra software to function properly when functioning properly requires less work on the server's side

    Bartsbigbugbag ,

    I loved Rossmann, but he made a sharp turn to reactionary politics and selfish ideology about the time he really took off. His views on just about anything outside of right to repair are usually so far from right as to be entirely wrong. He also has this idea that because he’s good at repairing things, he must have great takes on everything, and started making so many ridiculously terrible politics videos it became almost impossible to find actually useful content. He’s a smart dude, but like many smart dudes, he’s an idiot in most ways outside his specialty.

    chonglibloodsport ,

    I agree with him on right to repair and other rights issues but I can’t stand the guy. He’s incredibly abrasive and annoying. I’m interested in people who have interesting things to say. Long, angry rants about stuff I already agree with are just a waste of my time.

    dojan ,
    @dojan@lemmy.world avatar

    I feel this, to an extent. I rather like the guy, I like what he stands for (for the most part, I don't agree with his stance on at-will employment), but I don't generally watch his videos for the same reason; angry preaching to the choir. I already agree, it's mostly a waste of my time to watch.

    unreasonabro ,

    It's not that it's broken by default, it's that it's broken deliberately. They don't want you to just be able to find what you need and then leave, because that's the civilized way of doing things, and they are GREEDY FUCKING BARBARIANS.

    TheChargedCreeper864 ,

    Deliberately broken by default?

    XTL ,

    Broken As Designed is generally broken by default, yes.

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