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YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

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Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#221

Post by fluoridation »

JAlexoid wrote: post #211
fluoridation wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then you're watching the wrong videos. Re-read the sentence you're replying to. "99% of videos on youtube ", not "99% of videos I watch". >You can easily skip these, not sure what the issue is here. You can also ad-block. The issue is that even paying for YouTube isn't enough to not see any ads on YouTube. >Additionally, there has never been a greater investment made on storing and distributing video like the one Go…

> "99% of videos on youtube", not "99% of videos I watch". And in the context, this is even less sensible. 99% of content on Netflix is what "you" don't watch. So there's literally no difference on that point for YT and Netflix. > The issue is that even paying for YouTube isn't enough to not see any ads on YouTube. Native ads are skippable and are already providing revenue for the creator - skipping them doesn't affe…

>99% of content on Netflix is what "you" don't watch.

"I don't watch this" and "I would never watch this under any circumstance" are different.

>Have you ever worked at a production company? Because providing legal, logistical and marketing support is also what production companies do - that is what YouTube provides to creators. If you apply the same logic, then Universal Media Group isn't a production company - because they also primarily provide those functions.

What you're saying is that production companies provide logistics, and YouTube provides logistics, therefore YouTube is a production company. Socrates is a man, and I am a man, therefore I am Socrates.

>Not to mention that YouTube has produced, may even still produce, original content.

Sure. But the vast majority of the content that drives traffic to YouTube is not produced by them.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#222

Post by acdha »

beej71 wrote: post #209
Workaccount2 wrote: post #15

It strikes me as so odd that people readily pay for netflix, hulu, HBO etc, but when the idea of paying for youtube comes along, who directly profit shares with small creators you adore, people fall over backwards in disgust. I guess it has to do with initial value proposition. If you hand out lemonade for free, people are going to be pissed when you start charging a dollar, regardless of how good of a deal it is. Ev…

Google is immorally trying to control the web, is a significant difference. I pay creators through patreon or their tip jars, and it's rather more than they'd make from me paying Google.

If you don’t want to support Google, you need to stop using YouTube even with an ad blocker. Your activity still counts in the usage stats and choosing to watch there tells the creators of the videos you watch that they have to stay on YouTube because it’s where their audience is.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#223

Post by hysan »

bravoetch wrote: post #94
Workaccount2 wrote: post #15

It strikes me as so odd that people readily pay for netflix, hulu, HBO etc, but when the idea of paying for youtube comes along, who directly profit shares with small creators you adore, people fall over backwards in disgust. I guess it has to do with initial value proposition. If you hand out lemonade for free, people are going to be pissed when you start charging a dollar, regardless of how good of a deal it is. Ev…

People might be less disgusted with paying for YouTube if their model was "make a good product for end users" instead of "premium is to make the experience less worse by removing the worst part of a bad experience".

Same. I’m still waiting (8+ years now) for their *promised* “better” replacement for subscription collections.[1] Until that day comes (along with all the other features that I used to use but have since been removed (not replaced)), I will not pay for a still not as good as the past subscription service.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19954740

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#224

Post by fayalalebrun »

gretch wrote: post #175
HlessClaudesman wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If YT only live streams content, content caching services will strip out the ads, and play with a delay. Youtube will never monetise tech savvy users and should just stop trying. We only need to be slipperier than the average gazelle and the lions will never catch us.

> content caching services will strip out the ads, and play with a delay. To achieve this, you’ll need computation, storage, and bandwidth on the scale of YouTube. Do you think whoever offers that service will do so without ads or payment? Your whole scheme is based on hoping “kind” and knowledgeable volunteers do free labor for you. Good luck. I for one am tech savvy and am happy to pay $20 for the ad free service.…

If you play with a delay, then why would you need any more storage than what is required to play a single video?

Personally I would not pay any amount to Google, as I believe it is unethical to support such a company. Google has a monopoly in several markets, to the point of being an unavoidable part of our lives.

No single company should have that much power. Especially since due to its nature as a for-profit corporation, Google's interests are at odds with yours.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#225

Post by matheusmoreira »

freshchilled wrote: post #218
matheusmoreira wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still has ads hardcoded in videos. Still has Google surveillance capitalism. Still sends other people videos for free which means you're paying for the privilege of segmenting yourself into the upper echelons of the market where the people with disposable income are, driving the value of your attention up and making them want to advertise to you even more.

> Still has ads hardcoded in videos. You're talking about when the content creator puts an ad in their video? What would you have Google do about that?

> You're talking about when the content creator puts an ad in their video?

Correct.

> What would you have Google do about that?

Block them. Just like we do.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#226

Post by acdha »

scubbo wrote: post #165
lacoolj wrote: post #155

"Help us pay for the services we provide or don't use them" Why is this a strange message for everyone to digest? Ads pay for the content you watch, or your subscription fee covers it. Getting mad at the ad-blocking avoidance is like getting mad you can't walk into Disney Land without a park pass.

> Why is this a strange message for everyone to digest? Because the services were previously provided for free, and the bait-and-switch feels bad; and because the perception (admittedly inaccurate) is there is no service being provided, that the content is what is paid for (the average consumer has no conception of the costs involved in storage, transmission, recommendation, content auditing, legal compliance, etc.)

They were never free: you might have broken your end of the agreement but they’ve been ad supported since the 2000s.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#227

Post by eddythompson80 »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #96
mvdtnz wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well it's their server, they will serve what they want to whom they want.

We're okay with that. They're free to return 402 Payment Required. If they try to use my computer to display ads, I will block them. If they try to detect my blocking, I will stop them.

so you get your "402 Payment Required".

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#228

Post by cykros »

nvy wrote: post #105
JAlexoid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you consuming any YT videos, then? Why are so many people feel entitled to YT videos without ads?

Candidly? 1. These corporations are so user-hostile, hypocritical, and scummy that I derive a small bit of enjoyment from the pennies I cost them when I pirate their stuff. 2. The overwhelming majority of content on youtube isn't worth paying $15/mo for. I grew up in the 90s when "Information wants to be free" and "fuck corporations" were still part of the mainstream zeitgeist, and I guess I still carry a bit of that…

Especially with their censorship campaigns underway. How many got demonetized or blocked for suggesting COVID may have been a lab leak, right on up until Jon Stewart said the same thing on Colbert's show? How many had the same situation over vaccines with myocarditis, right on up until (and maybe since even) Pfizer released data about the incidence of it as a side effect? And how many videos have been actively taken down that dare to tell the truth about what's going on in Gaza?

We KNOW Google takes its marching orders from the 3 letter agencies, thanks to Ed Snowden. Why anyone would shed a tear for them losing ad revenue is beyond me. Do I wish the creators would move to Rumble? Yes, and many for whom it is a sensitive matter do, actively. In the meantime though, I'm not going to stop watching; I'll just keep blocking, because no matter how much they want to persist in this little game, they're never going to whack more than 90% of the moles.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#229

Post by arrakeen »

i was a YouTube Premium subscriber ever since i was grandfathered in with the closure of Play Music up until last month. every single new feature worsened my experience until i couldn't take it anymore and cancelled. i gave feedback with every new feature and trial but i never got a reply and things just kept getting worse and worse. the worst offenders:

* forcing Music content in my YouTube feeds -- i use YouTube solely for videos and Music for music. even so, i would say around 1/2 of the items on my YouTube feed are music and useless playlists. you cannot turn this off

* forcing Shorts down my throat -- i'm sure their numbers shows huge engagement numbers with Shorts but it's the exact opposite kind of content i use YouTube for. i watch longer-form videos, not short form clips. they show up in my feed, in my search results, and i'm pretty sure one time i was A/B'd into the app launching into Shorts by default. you cannot turn this off

* Search is abysmally bad -- for each query, it will return 2 or 3 videos maybe possibly related to all synonyms of all the words in my query OR'd together, followed by unrelated Shorts, followed by completely unrelated videos i've already watched, followed by completely unrelated videos with inappropriate clickbait thumbnails, and on and on and on. you cannot turn this off

* did i mention they were forcing Shorts down my throat? because the straw that broke the camel's back was when they informed me that they were introducing Music Shorts. as if the playlistification of music listening turning music into muzak weren't bad enough, now we have Shorts which incentivize yet another race-to-the-bottom for music. i understand my music listening preferences do not match those of the masses, but there's no way i can turn it off.

for those reason and plenty more i don't feel like typing out, google can lick my asshole. adblock forever.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#230

Post by matheusmoreira »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #227
matheusmoreira wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're okay with that. They're free to return 402 Payment Required. If they try to use my computer to display ads, I will block them. If they try to detect my blocking, I will stop them.

so you get your "402 Payment Required".

Not really. They insist on sending it to me for free with ads included.
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