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SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

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Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#401

Post by nj5rq »

drdaeman wrote: post #377
richardreeze wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's as simple as "if ads didn't work, YouTube, Facebook, Google, et al wouldn't exist"

If ads would have actually worked as preached by the industry, ad blockers wouldn't exist. ;) But it's Google's and Facebook's best interest to make people believe that they do, no matter the reality. What they actually do is increase sales by some measurable margin (not always great, but not zero either), while causing all sorts of negative effects (spam, scam, misinformation, all those "influencers" and "engagement…

> I (a nobody internet weirdo) hold an opinion that it harms society more than it does it good by boosting the economy.

I agree with that, but precisely because of how effective they are on manipulating people into consuming and wasting their time.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#402

Post by jaderobbins1 »

hnburnsy wrote: post #392

Two questions. 1) if I skip ads on a video via Smart Tube Next, does this directly reduce the creator's income? 2) why do creators ask for likes and subscribe, does this directly increase income?

By no means an expert, but these are my thoughts:

1) probably not directly. Eventually the advertisers might notice a decrease in effectiveness lower their investment in that area (either by lowering the amount they are willing to give the creator for a sponsored segment or not doing sponsored content entirely). Eventually if they think the ROI isn't there they will reduce their spend.

2) You have to feed the algorithm beast to be successful. Even channels with high subscriptions still get a tremendous amount of views from YouTube's recommended algorithm. One big part of that algorithm is "Engagement" which includes the number of subscribers, likes, and any other engagement on the video (such as comments, which is why you'll see a lot of comment-bait questions in videos now like (if you disagree let me know in the comments).

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#403

Post by kjkjadksj »

ndriscoll wrote: post #393
kjkjadksj wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that its a caricature of rich nepo babies under consumer capitalism vs socialism. In a pure socialist society (good example of this is US government or military jobs) you still work and there wouldn’t be such striking wealth inequality on display.

Sure, but then you're either not providing UBI (e.g. it is conditioned on working), or requiring forced labor so actual jobs are still done.

Jobs can still pay on top of ubi which would be enough incentive to hold them. You may as well ask why any navy cook would strive to be general when peeling potatos is less stress. The answer is also higher pay.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#404

Post by fwn »

sdoering wrote: post #97
chankstein38 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that sucks is I pay for YouTube Premium to remove ads then youtubers always have sponsored segments. It makes my $20/mo useless because I'm spending time watching ads still. I don't have a solution I'm just stating my perspective on it. That said, SponsorBlock has been around for years. I've been using it for as long as I can remember. Basically any decent-sized channel's videos already have the sponsored s…

Exactly why I instantly stopped paying for Spotify. They even went so far as to have regular advertising before podcasts. Not paying for shit like that, only because they put a clause in the TOS that says ad free only means ad free music. I have no qualms using any ad blocking option available. And I am happily paying for creators using patreon or other means they provide.

Oh Spotify does not have ad free music and there is no subscription level that makes Spotify music free of advertisements.

They hunt me with banners and popups for random musicians almost every day.

What they provide is an ad free music "listening experience", meaning: it is not audio ads. It's a really sneaky and toxic product in that way.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#405

Post by anticensor »

alkonaut wrote: post #292
sheerun wrote: post #291

Skipping is not anonymous by default: "So, if you watch a video, and it does have segments, and you do skip a segment, then the server does get access the that segment ID, which is directly linked to the video."

What do you mean by "not anonymous" here? Obviously the server will receive what video you are looking at, as well as anything it can deduce from your request (such as IP) in order to work. Whether it just gets the video (required to work at all) or an individual segment (not quite required but could lessen the payload size) doesn't matter for the level of anonymity does it?

SponsorBlock is 20-anonymous: https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/wiki/K-Anonymity

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#406

Post by hnburnsy »

jaderobbins1 wrote: post #402
hnburnsy wrote: post #392

Two questions. 1) if I skip ads on a video via Smart Tube Next, does this directly reduce the creator's income? 2) why do creators ask for likes and subscribe, does this directly increase income?

By no means an expert, but these are my thoughts: 1) probably not directly. Eventually the advertisers might notice a decrease in effectiveness lower their investment in that area (either by lowering the amount they are willing to give the creator for a sponsored segment or not doing sponsored content entirely). Eventually if they think the ROI isn't there they will reduce their spend. 2) You have to feed the algorit…

thx

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#407

Post by ndriscoll »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #403
ndriscoll wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but then you're either not providing UBI (e.g. it is conditioned on working), or requiring forced labor so actual jobs are still done.

Jobs can still pay on top of ubi which would be enough incentive to hold them. You may as well ask why any navy cook would strive to be general when peeling potatos is less stress. The answer is also higher pay.

> A majority (53%) of Gen Zers surveyed considered influencing a respectable career choice, and a similar percentage would be willing to leave their current jobs if they could sustain their lifestyle as an influencer.

There's some wiggle-room on what "their lifestyle" means, but I doubt that the positive answer is biased toward e.g. HENRYs, and in fact it's likely biased in the other direction. If UBI can match whatever their current lifestyle is (or even exceed it, e.g. paying for a personal living space instead of roommates), then these people are essentially saying that they'd be happy not to work.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#408

Post by sdoering »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #199
sdoering wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they want to make money, they are totally free to have a website hosting their content behind a paywall. Than I can decide if their content is worth money to me (let me tell you: in 999 out of 1000 "creators" it isn't). But I already pay for a few select content creators. And happily shell out more than I would pay YT for an adfree experience.

Spoilers: the 1 out of 1000's won't get your money either because of any number of arbitrary reasons unrelated to their craft that is conjured up. - Slow website/video host? Great now they need to pay for a better host or pay a web dev to optimize their site. - Not responive? now that dev/service needs more money. - pay is too much (meanwhile they still can't even make minimum wage)? Well, their fault for valuing the…

They receive my money, as I pay them the way they ask for it.

I am actually not responsible for their choices of how they spend it.

Everybody has to invest something to deliver their craft. A handyman needs tools and materials. A carpenter as well. They pay taxes. And so on. That’s the reality of doing business. If they are not business savvy enough to turn a profit. Not my responsibility.

That’s called free market capitalism by the way. Everybody is free to try to make money on their terms in any given environment. But nobody is entitled to actually make money. That’s how the market actually acts as an agent for economic and business evolution. Not the worst thing there is, given how well real existing socialism worked. I grew up next to the GDR. I know how "strong" their economy was. How successful their companies were.

Other aspects, like creating a social net to mitigate the worst effects of capitalism on the people is a topic for a different thread imho, though.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#409

Post by sdoering »

fwn wrote: post #404
sdoering wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly why I instantly stopped paying for Spotify. They even went so far as to have regular advertising before podcasts. Not paying for shit like that, only because they put a clause in the TOS that says ad free only means ad free music. I have no qualms using any ad blocking option available. And I am happily paying for creators using patreon or other means they provide.

Oh Spotify does not have ad free music and there is no subscription level that makes Spotify music free of advertisements. They hunt me with banners and popups for random musicians almost every day. What they provide is an ad free music "listening experience", meaning: it is not audio ads. It's a really sneaky and toxic product in that way.

Couldn’t agree more. Enshittification as a symptom of (hopefully) late stage ~~cancer~~ capitalism.
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