3 ms·
I wish more of these extensions shipped as userscripts, where you don't need to trust the extensions themselves too much. I removed SponsorBlock recently after
by _cenw 4y ago
I wish more of these extensions shipped as userscripts, where you don't need to trust the extensions themselves too much.
I removed SponsorBlock recently after learning how petty the people controlling it can be. There's a video about USB4 by LTT that involves a sponsored laptop, and SponsorBlock contributors meticulously added segments for every time the name or specs of the laptop are mentioned, sometimes less than a second long. I thought my BT headphones had a problem several times.
I want a sponsor blocking tool that gets rid of segments that waste my time, not segments where the extension author wanted to deny a sponsor the satisfaction of knowing they were involved with a video by meticulously expunging every trace of them, with the end goal seemingly being to make a sponsored video look like normal editorial content.
Next they'll add black bars on the laptop logos and subtitle censorship (the author of Sponsorblock actually said the later was a real planned feature)
- suddenclarity 4y agoSponsorBlock is community based so you can vote on any blocked segment you find bad. I agree that cutting 1-2 seconds makes little sense. LTT spending seven minutes talking about a bag or eight minutes talking about his screwdriver in the latest video shows the benefits though. Even though I'll never agree 100% with other people on what to cut.
- _cenw 4y agoI've talked to the author and sole maintainer about this video specifically, and he confirmed it is absolutely intentional and subtitle censoring is coming. He also confirmed that cutting out entire thirds out of videos is intentional, if the affected segment is also used to pitch a Nebula companion video (but otherwise just a continuation of the video). This happens on channels like Mustard and RealLifeLore. SponsorBlock isn't trying to eliminate annoyances, they're trying to turn existing videos into something something they're not - untainted by commercial interests. And they don't care if it takes away from the actual content of the video or removes tons of context. The last straw for me was a Climate Town video about astroturfing that ends by introducing a petition to the EPA as "sponsored" by the grassroots organization that set it up. Someone cut 3 entire minutes out of that video to spite the supposed "sponsor" and took at least 2.5 minutes of content pertinent to the topic of the video with them. Sppnsorblock author also said that was intentional.
- ajayyy 4y agoThere is a setting to avoid skipping segments below X seconds if that's something you prefer. There is also an option to not skip anything if there is a full video sponsorship label, which probably will help in the scenario you are describing. The Climate Town video is a sponsorship, and he clearly declares it as a sponsorship in the video, as I told you already on Twitter. Just because he says the word "grassroots" inside it doesn't make it not paid promotion.