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YouTube Down

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241–250 of 318 posts

Re: YouTube Down

#241

With the amount of attention around this outage, it feels like YouTube has become completely ubiquitous in modern society. I can't imagine a future in which YouTube just ceases to exist. The company has already become tied to the livelihoods of so many people, and has spawned too many significant subcultures. It's a strange feeling to be alive just after all of the significant technology companies were created and st…

> YouTube has only existed for fifteen years, but it might continue to exist for centuries.

> AOL has only existed for fifteen years, but it might continue to exist for centuries.

Things change. No one can predict how, or why. But time marches on.

Re: YouTube Down

#242
post #233

With the amount of attention around this outage, it feels like YouTube has become completely ubiquitous in modern society. I can't imagine a future in which YouTube just ceases to exist. The company has already become tied to the livelihoods of so many people, and has spawned too many significant subcultures. It's a strange feeling to be alive just after all of the significant technology companies were created and st…

> YouTube has only existed for fifteen years, but it might continue to exist for centuries Get a grip. Media companies come and go. They always seem unassailable at their apex.

Can you give an example of a major media company that no longer exists? CBS,NBC,ABC,Fox, etc have existed for ages.

Re: YouTube Down

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of them are. IIRC the whole fiasco with YouTube-dl was because the repository had tests indicating how to decode DRM protected videos.

IIUC part of the fiasco was the tests needing to use certain non-libre videos as they were the only ones with the worst DRM, but the RIAA also argued that the simpler obfuscation of normal videos was a “rolling cipher” and an “effective prevention mechanism” or whatever the DMCA legalese for DRM is as well.

Something people seem to forget is circumvention isn't always illegal. You may circumvent copy protection for a work you own the rights to view, so the complaints about youtube-dl are poorly founded.

Re: YouTube Down

#244

With the amount of attention around this outage, it feels like YouTube has become completely ubiquitous in modern society. I can't imagine a future in which YouTube just ceases to exist. The company has already become tied to the livelihoods of so many people, and has spawned too many significant subcultures. It's a strange feeling to be alive just after all of the significant technology companies were created and st…

I can imagine a world without YouTube. People would just watch videos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Netflix, etc. etc.

Re: YouTube Down

#245
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or WinAmp?

Is WinAmp still alive? I last used it a couple of decades ago!

That llama's ass ain't gonna whip itself!

https://www.winamp.com/

There's a 2018 copyright date in the footer, so I guess that's as alive as it needs to be.

Re: YouTube Down

#246

Downdetector seems like a great place to advertise. You have a bunch of people who were forced to abandon the provider of whatever type of service that your company may offer. What a great opportunity to show customers your competing product.

At least one vlogger I follow posts duplicate content on Bitchute (which is up).

Wow, the front page of bitchute is 100% conspiracy. Is that... umm... what it's known for?

Re: YouTube Down

#247

With the amount of attention around this outage, it feels like YouTube has become completely ubiquitous in modern society. I can't imagine a future in which YouTube just ceases to exist. The company has already become tied to the livelihoods of so many people, and has spawned too many significant subcultures. It's a strange feeling to be alive just after all of the significant technology companies were created and st…

The notion of media that "actually helps" you is itself just as constructed as YouTube. Interrogate where it comes from and what sort of cultural work it's doing. Does "help" mean that it makes you a better worker? Why doesn't YouTube help you, and is that a bad thing? Second, the good old days of "before" we were enterprising enough to invent big data etc. is retroactively constituted, and not apparent until its dem…

So, I think there's one (or two) easily carved exceptions to your "YouTube doesn't actually help you" statement.

One, Veritasium. Content like this didn't (perhaps even couldn't) exist before YouTube. The science TV shows and even many books don't go into as much user-friendly depth as this does. You'd have to go to college and pay to get content even remotely close (and still, based on prior experience, not as good).

Two, any one of many How To DIY channels. They show you how to do things you're unlikely to find elsewhere. Where else will you find someone willing to tell you how to change your oil and filter on a [random year & model] car for free? How to wire up a light switch to code? How to clean your sink drain? Certainly not the paid professionals.

Re: YouTube Down

#248

With the amount of attention around this outage, it feels like YouTube has become completely ubiquitous in modern society. I can't imagine a future in which YouTube just ceases to exist. The company has already become tied to the livelihoods of so many people, and has spawned too many significant subcultures. It's a strange feeling to be alive just after all of the significant technology companies were created and st…

The notion of media that "actually helps" you is itself just as constructed as YouTube. Interrogate where it comes from and what sort of cultural work it's doing. Does "help" mean that it makes you a better worker? Why doesn't YouTube help you, and is that a bad thing? Second, the good old days of "before" we were enterprising enough to invent big data etc. is retroactively constituted, and not apparent until its dem…

I find some media to be actually helpful if it is instructive. I frequent YouTube for how-to videos all the time and there are tons of videos that have saved me time and money by making rookie mistakes that someone more experienced in a particular field mentions off-handedly in a video. It's great for software projects, electrical engineering projects (like Raspi and Arduino stuff), and a lot of other miscellaneous things where people with hands-on experience can share tons of wisdom in short video.

That said, there is also a lot of junk YouTube content, which feels similar to browsing Reddit, Facebook, or eating donuts for that matter... It's a guilty pleasure to watch some videos. Even the "cute" ones, like cat videos, or "funny" fail compilations, or impressive parkour videos. These can be entertaining on the surface, but I find they do the opposite of inspire me. They're temporarily exciting to watch, but overall do not any value to my life and in the big picture, I find them to be more of a distraction than anything. Some people have a balanced media diet and can consume it moderately. For me, it's too easy to spend several hours in any given week watching completely useless videos - especially with the ever growing mechanisms to try to keep your eyes glued to the screen (auto-play features, suggested playlists, etc).

I compare it to a type of drug use. Some people handle it well, others don't. Like most things, YMMV.

Edit: I also feel like with YouTube's insane growth over the past decade, there are way too many people trying to game the system. It leads to some very good content, but also a lot more junk content that just manages to add better keywords for searches, or a more attractive title/thumbnail to catch your eye (I'm sure many people are familiar...).

Re: YouTube Down

#249
post #233

With the amount of attention around this outage, it feels like YouTube has become completely ubiquitous in modern society. I can't imagine a future in which YouTube just ceases to exist. The company has already become tied to the livelihoods of so many people, and has spawned too many significant subcultures. It's a strange feeling to be alive just after all of the significant technology companies were created and st…

> YouTube has only existed for fifteen years, but it might continue to exist for centuries Get a grip. Media companies come and go. They always seem unassailable at their apex.

That would be the case if YouTube wasn't acquired by Google and totally an independent company, it would most likely be dead by now. Like other social networks and media companies, they come and go with the times.

An example of a non-media company wanting to exist for 'centuries', I guess Evernote is dreaming to join the ranks of IBM, Nintendo, etc when they still want to be a 100 year old startup. [0] I think reality says other wise.

[0] https://www.fastcompany.com/3012870/evernotes-quest-to-becom...

Re: YouTube Down

#250
post #213

Now that YouTube is back up I take this opportunity to put this thread to a good use and ask what does it take to create an alternative to YouTube? Would love your opinions/wish list/must haves.

Our opinions and wish lists don’t matter. Content creators make money from being on YouTube. If you want to create an actual alternative, be ready to subsidize the income of a couple thousand content creators to the level that they can afford lambos. Then maybe you can create a competitor. Maybe. Because the step after that is to throw money at global infrastructure and still somehow make a profit.

The question wasn't so much what the content creators want as much as what the average viewers wants. I get that viewers are seeking creators' content, but going a step beyond that what are some of the things in the first place that if implemented would create a viable alternative to YouTube?
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