Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script? • Hacker News Board

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#281

Post by CubsFan1060 » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:22 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #266

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

> If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? I can't speak for anybody else but my content will still get made. > Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Maybe, maybe not, whose to say what Google will do. Maybe they will value the influence or the goodwill more than the lack of income. Maybe some of the content will be free and other bits w…

> I can't speak for anybody else but my content will still get made.

How will your content get served? If you say you'll just pay to serve it, I think that's a fine answer.

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#282

Post by CubsFan1060 » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:24 PM UTC

irrational wrote: post #274

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

This reminds me of a business colleague of mine who truly does not understand why anyone would write software and then release it for free. There are many people willing to do that, and many people willing to create content on YouTube for free. We aren’t all driven by the almighty dollar.

I think that is totally fine. Serving it, of course, is not free. Content may not have been my best choice of words.

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#283

Post by guerrilla » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:25 PM UTC

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

jacquesm wrote: post #234

What is most interesting about this whole adblocking war: we're winning. If we weren't youtube/Google wouldn't be making such a fuss. So keep it up. I can also heartily recommend the 'unhook' browser extension, it takes care of all of those upsells and feeds.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

This has nothing to do with content. Patreon, non-profit and other models exist for this purpose.

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#284

Post by EA-3167 » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:25 PM UTC

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #281

jacquesm wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? I can't speak for anybody else but my content will still get made. > Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Maybe, maybe not, whose to say what Google will do. Maybe they will value the influence or the goodwill more than the lack of income. Maybe some of the content will be free and other bits w…

> I can't speak for anybody else but my content will still get made. How will your content get served? If you say you'll just pay to serve it, I think that's a fine answer.

Unless you're a VERY large and successful YT channel, you aren't making bank on YT itself, it's merch and sponsorships, Patreon and so on that make the money. Monetized Twitch-like feeds are another winner, and again not dependent on YT monetization.

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#285

Post by jonathanstrange » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:26 PM UTC

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

jacquesm wrote: post #234

What is most interesting about this whole adblocking war: we're winning. If we weren't youtube/Google wouldn't be making such a fuss. So keep it up. I can also heartily recommend the 'unhook' browser extension, it takes care of all of those upsells and feeds.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

I personally prefer free content made by volunteers and would like the whole web to be ad free. It would be fine for me if Youtube stopped operations and if all "income-oriented" content producers went away. I feel the same about websites. The Internet was fine before it became commercialized. I'm both creating and consuming free content (why not?) but I'm not willing to waste my time on watching ads or anything like that. For other things, I'm willing to pay.

Other people's mileage may differ, of course. It's just a personal preference.

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#286

Post by idiotsecant » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:26 PM UTC

dageshi wrote: post #278

beeboobaa wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because those companies are just taking the piss. They are like an abusive boyfriend that wants to know what you're up to all the time. They pretend you can pay them off so they won't have to stalk you, but the prices they ask are greatly exaggerated and exist solely to try and fool regulators. But if you're happy to pay whatever is asked of you, that'll be a 100 dollars thanks

Youtube premium is £12.99 / month or £19.99/month for a family plan. That really doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

I agree, and I think its also important to fund the creators making the content we consume. Artists need patrons and YouTube has made that possible and practical on a scale humanity has never seen. That's a valuable thing, and if google wants to get paid for it, I don't begrudge that.

Ads are phycological warfare and must be eradicated with prejudice but asking the audience to chip in a couple bucks a month seems reasonable to me.

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#287

Post by bko » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:26 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #266

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

> If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? I can't speak for anybody else but my content will still get made. > Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Maybe, maybe not, whose to say what Google will do. Maybe they will value the influence or the goodwill more than the lack of income. Maybe some of the content will be free and other bits w…

YouTube is incredibly expensive to run which explains why there's such little competition.

Think about it, anyone can host gigs of videos perpetually indexed for free. What percentage of videos have fewer than 100 views?

Google has killed off profitable projects. If you think they'll dump tens of billions every year hosting videos that no one watches, you're kidding yourself.

And what we noticed with paying is that people are very unwilling to pay even a small amount for a service. For instance FB makes around over $50 per user in North America. What percentage of users do you think would pay $50 a year to use Facebook?

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#288

Post by CubsFan1060 » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:28 PM UTC

simiones wrote: post #264

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

> They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I think it's only worth $y, so I'm going to just block ads completely). That just means, by definition, that the prices YouTube are trying to charge are too high, doesn't it? What we're seeing is basically a negotiation tactic: you either reduce the price, or we'll keep using ad blockers. Not to m…

Maybe. I think "too high" is probably subjective to each person.

But, I'm in the camp of "if it's too high, just stop using it". I think this isn't different than most things. If I think the price of electricity is too high, my option isn't to say "well, your price it too high, so I'm going to use electricity for free".

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#289

Post by smallerfish » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:28 PM UTC

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

jacquesm wrote: post #234

What is most interesting about this whole adblocking war: we're winning. If we weren't youtube/Google wouldn't be making such a fuss. So keep it up. I can also heartily recommend the 'unhook' browser extension, it takes care of all of those upsells and feeds.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

> If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made?

I'd argue that _content_ is a fairly gross word that we've all come to use because we're in the industry -- "I need some _content_ around my ads so that we get some impressions". There are plenty of other words that are less marketing associated and more clearly connotative with creatively produced material - article, report, essay, story, paper, proposal, manifesto, gallery, video, photographs, exhibit, website, blog post - even material. _Content_ is efficiently produced filler. As such, yes, in the extreme less _content_ gets made, and in the absence of _content_ there is organically more of the latter category.

You can still make money on the internet without ads. Ads have in recent history been an easier, higher margin route. If the entire online ad industry fumbles, will we be substantially worse off? I don't think so: the number and size of websites would for sure shrink, but those left would have a much higher signal to noise.

Re: Does uBlock Origin bypass the latest YouTube anti-adblock script?

#290

Post by account42 » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 1:28 PM UTC

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #259

jacquesm wrote: post #234

What is most interesting about this whole adblocking war: we're winning. If we weren't youtube/Google wouldn't be making such a fuss. So keep it up. I can also heartily recommend the 'unhook' browser extension, it takes care of all of those upsells and feeds.

What does winning mean in this context? If we take this to an extreme, doesn't content just not get made? Do you think Google is going to go to a model where things are freely accessible without ads? Feels like even when a company provides a way to get rid of ads, many people still won't pay. They _say_ they will, but I find often people will want to substitute their own terms (Well, youtube premium is $x, but I thin…

Most "content" is not made with intent of monetization. Having less cash grab "content" and more genuine expressions would not be a bad thing.

If centralized hosting of such "content" becomes unsustainable then that's even better.