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Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

andadinosaur.com

81–90 of 152 posts

Re: Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

#81
post #72
post #6

So they are charging people to remove ads so that the content creator doesn't get any ad revenue from their views? So ethical.

I'd happily allow ads (to an extent) if the content creator were in control and would actually receive 100% of the revenue. But this is not what's happening: YouTube controls when to play ads and how many and only a small percentage of the revenue - if anything - goes to the creator. This can have consequences bordering on the absurd, e.g. if someone uses a YouTube video in their presentation and is forced to interru…

100% of the revenue can't go to the content creator - hosting and serving mind boggling amounts of video is extremely expensive, especially if you consider the vast majority of it won't make any revenue (people's wedding or vacation videos for instance).

Re: Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought it. Here's the actual code it injected for a video: https://pastebin.com/fue6KWME

How do you think they got that source url?

If it was me, I would have looked at how youtube-dl does it.

Re: Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

#85
post #12

Installed this and it's great. That said, it's embarrassing how many iOS extensions I have installed just to work around today's shitty websites. AdGuard to make the web usable, AMPlosion to avoid AMP nonsense, Open in Apollo to avoid mobile Reddit dark pattens, now this (which I installed because YouTube's new embed widget starts playing on touch-start instead of touch-release, so it triggers while scrolling...)

> it's embarrassing how many iOS extensions I have installed just to work around today's shitty websites The user-hostile design of web sites in 2021 is appalling. Even simple text articles or blog posts have become horrible. I was just reading a blog post linked from HN which featured 3 different popups: two modals and a modeless sidebar popup that follows you as you scroll. No, I don't want to subscribe to your ema…

In the current state of things, having a straightforward website is a competitive advantage. There's a reason I prefer StackOverflow links and completely avoid Pinterest.

The website I live from counters all of these patterns. Nothing appears above or in the content, only below it. There are no popups, no calls to actions and no GDPR notices. It's just one page of uninterrupted text. Everything else appears under the article. This has worked really well for me.

The way I see it, if your business model involves adding friction, you're doing something wrong.

Re: Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t necessarily think ad funded content is bad. But YouTube seems to do it the worst. 2 ads at the start, sometimes they can’t be skipped. Ads in between at weird places. Now there are 2 ads at the end too. Spotify is ok. Ads. Bunch of uninterrupted songs. Ads. Like radio. Many Anime streaming services are similar. Ads bookend the content. YouTube could have spent time curating good content and building a platfor…

Would you consider paying for YouTube and Spotify instead? Both are available ad-free.

If you pay a company built around ad revenue to remove ads in one particular product, you now have a big flag “has money and willing to pay” on your profile.

No ads on that product, sure, but very much not coincidentally you cannot opt out of all ads across Alphabet, and the flag is a very strong signal for elsewhere you will be shown ads (even if it’s not made directly available to advertisers in targeting settings).

Re: Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

#88
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Advertising is disgusting honestly Again, they give you the options: subscription model or ad-based model. This covers the cost of infrastructure, paying creators, and paying developers. It doesn’t make sense that they or any other company will host and send you video for free at a financial loss to themselves because you’re watching it on “your computer.” Then again, we live in a world where drugstore makeup needs…

> Again, they give you the options: subscription model or ad-based model. They offer those options, but the fact remains that there is a third option: ad-free no-subscription model. As a user of the ad-free no-subscription model, I give them two options: internalise the costs of people taking the third option, or spend time and resources trying to make the third option technically impossible.

As a user of the ad-free no-subscription model you can’t become their customer. There is no requirement for any business to offer to sell you exactly what you want.

You can’t buy a word processor without non-English dictionaries, buy a fivepack of beer, buy half an apple, etc.

That’s no reason to then find it reasonable to take that, let alone take that for free.

Re: Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

#89
post #15

Unrelated, but has anyone else had issues with embedded YouTube videos playing just by swiping your finger over them while scrolling the page on iOS? I’m sorely tempted to block YouTube at the network level, it’s so annoying.

> I’m sorely tempted to block YouTube at the network level, it’s so annoying

I've done this. One of the best decisions of my november 2021. I do not miss it one bit.

Re: Vinegar: Safari extension that replaces YouTube embeds with HTML5 video tags

#90
post #60
post #12

Installed this and it's great. That said, it's embarrassing how many iOS extensions I have installed just to work around today's shitty websites. AdGuard to make the web usable, AMPlosion to avoid AMP nonsense, Open in Apollo to avoid mobile Reddit dark pattens, now this (which I installed because YouTube's new embed widget starts playing on touch-start instead of touch-release, so it triggers while scrolling...)

Stopthemadness should also help you to avoid AMP, but also does a bunch of other stuff. Might be worth a look.

I had to disable Stopthemadness because while it does do some really useful things, it also caused a lot of problems.
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