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

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

#331

Post by ulrikrasmussen »

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…

No, but I also don't expect Google to change, I want their business model to become untenable so better alternatives can get a larger market share. If content creators don't think they get anything out of enabling advertising on YouTube, then they'll stop or move to other platforms which are not based on providing algorithmically generated feeds with interspersed ads based on user profiles. I hate advertising; I think it results in perverse incentives which promotes short-form generic low-effort entertainment. I therefore want to actively steal compute resources from companies whose business model is based on online advertising without giving them ad impressions and pay content creators that I like via other means such as Patreon.

I also just think 99% of advertising is bad taste which makes me mentally exhausted and puts me in a bad mood, so I just want it out of my sight.

Yes, I could pay for YouTube Premium, but that would go against my own interests since I would be financially supporting a platform with perverse incentives for content creators.

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

#332

Post by jillesvangurp »

alphazard wrote: post #24
dvngnt_ wrote: post #3

I've never had an issue with Firefox

Also a Firefox user. The internet is unbearable with ads. If a browser doesn't filter ads well it's unsuitable for use in 2023. If Chrome can't block YouTube ads anymore, then it's just not even a contender. The normies tend to lag a little with these things, but it won't be long before "Firefox is the one that works on YouTube" is common tech trivia.

Exactly, this is what killed internet explorer as well. Back in the day when popups and pop unders were still a thing, internet explorer provided an utterly miserable browsing experience that was the default. And then people started installing Firefox and Chrome to get a better experience. And then internet explorer market share started on a long, unstoppable slide down to becoming utterly irrelevant. MS tried to fix it later but it amounted to too little and too late.

Now Google is repeating Microsoft's mistakes here. The more miserable the ad experience, the stronger the incentive to do something about that. And when the solution is "Install Firefox, add uBlock Origin, Tada!", there are just going to be a lot of people that will figure out how to never see ads again. Firefox works on mobile as well and runs Youtube without ads just fine there. Think about that next time you are forced to watch an ad in the Youtube app on your phone.

The irony with Youtube is that ads are just a part of the revenue stream. They also get a revenue share on sponsoring deals and a few other things. Which for most youtubers is actually their main income stream. Ads are just the cherry on the cake. Which is why Google can't just kill off browser support or move everything to premium/paid accounts. They'd lose a lot of their viewers and revenue. And as a consequence, potentially some of their content creators even. Google is completely dependent on external content providers and viewers keeping the revenue going. No content, no views, no revenue. That's why they have to keep the platform such that it maximizes exposure for good videos.

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

#333

Post by throwuwu »

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…

Sure and platforms _say_ they will give you an ad free experience if you pay them a monthly fee but they always wind up adding ads once they’ve captured their audience.

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

#334

Post by gosub100 »

wruza wrote: post #309
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…

First they destroyed the old internet by “forgetting” sites from search and created “platforms”. Then they abused adnetworks to take the biggest share and control over what users can do or will likely do with their user agents. Then they degraded every site and product searchability into ads-favored keyword matching. Then, when people started using their well-setup cardboard box traps to their taste, they demanded to…

> you all just have to figure out new life with it.

then they'll put the whole site behind a paywall, which could have mixed results. Everyone is focusing on paying the creators, but advertisers are also paying for moderation. voat showed us what an unmoderated reddit is like, and bitchute shows us what unmoderated youtube is like: trying to find DIY birdfeeder videos against the tide of holocaust denial and Podcast #598 of "How the Lizard Illuminati are vaxxing us with every toxic metal on the periodic table but Big Pharma Deep State maintains the elaborate coverup"

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

#335

Post by throw10920 »

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 block ads both because $14/mo is too much for me (I simply don't use YouTube enough to get that much value out of it), I object to ad-funded models (I don't want to watch a few ads instead of pay for Premium), and I strongly object to giving Google money because of their extremely broad portfolio of evil behavior (e.g. the terrible DMCA process - it's actually bad for creators to stay, and I want them to leave!)

I would pay to watch videos using microtransactions on a platform that is not owned by a depraved company. I have no objections to compensating creators for their work in general (unlike a lot of people here, who feel entitled to get everything for free).

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

#336

Post by mcpackieh »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #319
wruza wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First they destroyed the old internet by “forgetting” sites from search and created “platforms”. Then they abused adnetworks to take the biggest share and control over what users can do or will likely do with their user agents. Then they degraded every site and product searchability into ads-favored keyword matching. Then, when people started using their well-setup cardboard box traps to their taste, they demanded to…

I pay for YouTube to support the platform and creators. If you don't pay for a service, you aren't the customer you are the product. Google may need to shut down the free viewership of most YouTube videos unless the creator pays for them to be hosted or the viewers sign up for a subscription. The ad model is clearly failing.

You give money and your personal information to an advertising company. The advertising company then does god knows what with your personal information and gives some of that money to some of the 'creators' that you watch, in a way that isn't transparent to you. Who is getting how much money? Do the 'creators' you value get most of that money, or does it go to some clickbait crap you click on in a moment of weakness? You don't know.

What you should do: starve the advertising company (you shouldn't be donating money to support "the platform" which is a trillion dollar for-profit corporation!) and donate directly to the people who ask for it and deserve it.

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

#337

Post by account42 »

autoexec wrote: post #98
carlosjobim wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should that be their right? If somebody is watching a ton of Vincent's videos, but chooses to send donations to Clara that he watches much less, is that fair?

Vincent and Clara's videos are offered for free and there is zero obligation for anyone to pay either of them anything whether it be money, time, attention, or engagement. If someone who spends less of their time watching Clara's videos chooses to support Clara because they value her content more than Vincent's, or because they feel like Clara needs the money more than Vincent does, or for any other reason that's ent…

Right, equating views or view time with the value something brings is another thing wrong with ad-based funding. There's a lot of media that I am happy to watch as long as it is free but would also be happy to replace with other activities if it was not. Meanwhile there are other creators that I am freely choosing to pay just to see them keep creating.

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

#338

Post by dncornholio »

jonathanstrange wrote: post #299
idiotsecant wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people that create the content you consume only have so many hours in the day, just like you. They need to pay the rent, buy groceries, get their kids braces, just like the test of us. It seems immoral and unrealistic to expect that for free. Consume it and support them or don't consume it and don't support them but the attitude that you're entitled to it is a little slimy.

Huh? Why would it be immoral? I'm producing free content myself, e.g. my open source repositories have permissive licenses like MIT, I run a blog, have put some of my music online, etc. Seriously, chances are almost 100% percent that you are massively benefiting right now from completely free of charge software that some guys developed for free in their spare time (perhaps even decades ago) - how immoral of you!

What are these mental gymnastics? You're practically saying nobody is allowed to make money for their content because you don't. Where is the logic in this?

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

#339

Post by Saris »

guerrilla wrote: post #296
miki123211 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video hosting is expensive and needs to be paid for somehow. Any competitor will have the same problems as Youtube does. You can go the Nebula route and require users to pay (which means far fewer users) or require creators to pay (which means far fewer creators). You could also require creators to host the videos themselves, but that also requires money, expertise and causes downtime when a video goes viral. There's…

> Video hosting is expensive and needs to be paid for somehow. Any competitor will have the same problems as Youtube does. Nope. PeerTube and the like is an alternative.

Peertube is just self hosted video hosting. You either need to pay someone a lot of money to host it for you, or do it yourself with the constant maintenance that comes with it.

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

#340

Post by Saris »

fsflover wrote: post #315
krapp wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the cost is borne by users' power bills, data rates and available bandwidth. If PeerTube usage were scaled to the level of Youtube (making it a competitor) that would absolutely turn into a problem.

Depends on the number of servers. Each of them can be very small.

What about someone who gets several million views per video they upload? You would need one hell of a peertube instance with a great CDN to manage that so people all over the world can watch it without constant buffering.

Peertube technically has P2P, but these days with strict NAT or CGNAT being common good luck getting any kind of P2P connection going for the majority of people. Plus a lot of people on both home and mobile connections have very restrictive data caps.

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