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YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

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661–670 of 781 posts

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#661
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also feels awful to be called a beggar and a panhandler just because you're trying to find a balance and build a sustainable project by having a donation popup (that can be disabled) in your software. Interrupting someone's browsing experience to ask for donations is both providing a poor user experience and is in poor taste. I think it's fine to solicit donations in the browserAction popup, the settings page or…

A donation popup is shown once a year, and only when you use the extension, it does not randomly interrupt your browsing experience. Te popup can even be disabled from the extension's options. It is similar to a donation prompt being shown when an app is opened, once a year. That's what this person was complaining about, that they've seen a donation prompt once when they've initiated an image search with the extensio…

> Once your projects grow past a certain size, threats of physical violence also become a regular occurrence, here's a milder email I have received last year: https://i.imgur.com/LKJQq1p.png

That's not a threat of physical violence at all.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#662

This is of course bringing up the discussion on the "morality" of Adblocking. I'd like to point out something that I don't think is getting enough attention. There was a point in the past where video platforms were competing, and by no means was it clear that YouTube would end up dominating this area to the point of being close to a monopoly. When YouTube won that race, they won it with a given set of parameters, inc…

> And no, I won't pay for YouTube Premium — because that wasn't part of the deal either. There's also the ridiculous fact it is literally impossible to pay to remove the ads without also getting the horrible Youtube Music service.

Heck, it won't even remove all ads. A significant number of creators have sponsor segments, and YT Premium won't get rid of that. Why would I pay the Premium tax to get rid of some of the ads?

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#663
post #639

This is of course bringing up the discussion on the "morality" of Adblocking. I'd like to point out something that I don't think is getting enough attention. There was a point in the past where video platforms were competing, and by no means was it clear that YouTube would end up dominating this area to the point of being close to a monopoly. When YouTube won that race, they won it with a given set of parameters, inc…

Do realize that viewers are not YouTube's only "customer". They spend a lot of time and energy courting video creators as well, and their monetization program is one of the few that allows even mid-sized creators to record videos for a living.

YouTube's partner program pays relatively little, though. Pretty much all mid-sized creators I follow also have sponsors and/or a Patreon - that's their main source of income.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t follow. “Not a lot of people use ad blockers” “quite a few telemetry enabled Firefox users do” “but Firefox users are a tiny share of total users and probably way more likely to ad block than most web users” Where’s the straw man?

Do you see how you used the word “probably” to signify that the thing you’re claiming is just your opinion and not based on fact?

It’s a fact that it’s probable.

Do you want to pretend-argue with me, or to positively assert that Edge, Chrome, and Safari users ad block at a rate similar to Firefox users? This is silly.

Also, that’s not what a straw man is.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#665

Not sure this is the best topic to ask this. This is not a domain I am knowledgeable about but : if Youtube detects (somehow) when an ad is blocked , why don't adblockers become "adfastworwarders" ? I am using a bookmarklet to play Youtube videos faster & I noticed the videos are also played at the same speed. Couldn't "adfastworwarders" detect the start of an ad & like play it at x10 or x20? It would still create a…

This plugin does exactly that, works for me so far.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fadblock-friendly-...

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> doing so elsewhere would deservedly be criticized. I suggest that these people express their criticism by not using the software in question. I doubt the typical purveyor of free-as-in-* software who's stuck between a rock and a hard place re: monetization particularly cares what somebody who doesn't understand the personal specifics of their dilemma thinks about their chosen solution to it.

I totally agree with this sentiment. Could I also bill the creator for my time invested in learning the software and adjusting my workflows for it, all the hours invested before the hidden anti-features showed the true intention of the software? Otherwise this whole argument could legitimize spyware. I could not reasonably decide to stop using the software before I was informed of the anti-features, regardless of how…

It's definitely a strange proposition, but you could try it yourself.

Install Signal on your phone and start using it, in a couple of months you will be shown a donation popup a single time when you open the app. At this point uninstall the app and contact Signal's development team to send them an invoice for your invested time that has now been ruined when that donation prompt has interrupted your messaging experience.

Also call them beggars and panhandlers, after all that's perfectly reasonable, and even respectable.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#668
post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> uBlock+FF inside of a container without being logged in on my laptop Would love to see more newbie guides (perhaps videos hehe) on how to set this up. > couldn't believe how many ads there were. It was unwatchable. I'd go further, a single ad makes it unwatchable for me. That includes on work computers where I'm not (and can't) logged into my google account to access paid youtube without ads.

Just use this addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-conta... And then never login. If you have uBlock Origin you won't see ads

Firefox supports containers natively nowadays.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#669

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree with this sentiment. Could I also bill the creator for my time invested in learning the software and adjusting my workflows for it, all the hours invested before the hidden anti-features showed the true intention of the software? Otherwise this whole argument could legitimize spyware. I could not reasonably decide to stop using the software before I was informed of the anti-features, regardless of how…

It's definitely a strange proposition, but you could try it yourself. Install Signal on your phone and start using it, in a couple of months you will be shown a donation popup a single time when you open the app. At this point uninstall the app and contact Signal's development team to send them an invoice for your invested time that has now been ruined when that donation prompt has interrupted your messaging experien…

For the record, I get that donate popup on Signal every couple weeks, and it's all the more annoying because I donated for several years until they recently removed SMS support.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#670

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know if Rumble is sustainable? Just curious

No way in hell, it's currently just a vanity project financed by untrustworthy billionaires (the main financier is literally a snitch for the FBI https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-fbi-informant-ch... ).

haha, you think the fact that Peter Thiel talks to the FBI is the worst thing about Peter Thiel? :)
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