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I like the tool. I would remove the example on the nebula service, that channel is a real creator. Add any oficial nebula channel as example for the blocklist

I like the tool. I would remove the example on the nebula service, that channel is a real creator. Add any oficial nebula channel as example for the blocklist instead. Don't screw one guy just for the sake of it, it's not a nice move.

Y_Y 3y ago
In their defense, I use Nebula a lot and I have specifically wondered "how can I block Rene Ritchie?". I'm sure he's a good person and has his own fans, but he covers Apple stuff I don't care about and had particularly egregious "YouTube face" thumbnails that really grind my gears.
- amanzi 3y ago
  Aargh... the "YouTube face"! On YouTube I use the "Don't recommend channel" feature for anyone who shows up in my feed with those faces. Still amazes me how widespread this is - I recently looked up some lawn care videos on Youtube and then I started to see these "YouTube face" thumbnails from gardeners show up in my feed. It's like all aspiring YouTubers are reading the same advice for getting views, regardless of age, demographic, or subject?
  - andirk 3y ago
    This is a good example of just doing what's popular instead of A/B testing. Or a good example of the analytics showing the ridiculous wins out over the reasonable. I too avoid clicking links with Youtube Face. Why would someone be pointing at their own thumbnail? With a shocked expression.
  - dspillett 3y ago
    > Still amazes me how widespread this is It works⁰ surprisingly well for a range of target audiences – I've seen a few proper tests of the effect. > It's like all aspiring YouTubers are reading the same advice for getting views, regardless of age, demographic, or subject? While it won't work that well for all channels, it is unlikely to put off enough people¹ that it is worth a try just in case. Also, some do it just because it is current fashion, or because that is currently the default and they lack an original thought in thumbnail making², rather than thinking there is any other benefit. ---- [0] gets more clicks than thumbnails without [1] those, like you and I, who dislike it enough for it to make us simply click away, are apparently rare enough that losing us is not a big problem [2] because that sort of marketing isn't their game, and they don't want it to be more than it has to be
  - Uehreka 3y ago
    Allegedly this advice (making the Youtube face) actually works, prevails in A/B tests, and at this point is basically required in order to get enough viewers to sustain a channel. Veritasium did a video on it a while back, and the guys on Linus Tech Tips’ podcast have talked about it a bunch of times. It seems that the number of people who dislike Youtube Face enough to actually block a channel are low enough so as to not matter. So as a viewer, you have a choice: You can continue to block channels that do the Youtube Face, knowing that you’ll be missing out on good content (because yes even good channels do it), out of a desire to send a message that no one will heed. Or you can put up with it and watch the videos anyway.
    - alganet 3y ago
      I used youtube with all thumbnails blocked for a while. Also, no recommendations or comments, or ratings (FF Unhook extension + uBlock rules). Only subscriptions, text feed with titles. It was a good middle ground, but eventually the thumbnail URL format changed and it started appearing again. Also re-enabled recommendations and comments, but my front page remains subs only (more or less 5 videos a day of select channels).
  - otikik 3y ago
    The “dearrow” extension changes all youtube thumbnails to random stills from each video. Goodbye faces. And obnoxious red arrows
- alganet 3y ago
  How would you feel if I made popular a tool that has a side effect of making you invisible before people even have a chance to judge whether the thumbnail face is good enough for a click or not? Dude, cmon
  - pixxel 3y ago
    If grown men want to pull emoji faces that fine but I won’t click, and that’s fine too.
  - Y_Y 3y ago
    I get you, if I had a channel like that and I was the example to block I think I'd be miffed. In this case I've already decided I don't want to watch that channel and seeing the thumbnails irks me. Lots of channels I like play the creator-meta game and put red arrows and clickbaity stuff up front but still produce quality content and I respect that decision. I don't think anyone intends to block that channel by default, but it's nice to be able to do so deliberately. I'd be willing to bet that Ritchie is doing well enough that his channel wouldn't be seriously harmed by an example like this, but even so you could say it's careless by the documentation author.
- officeplant 3y ago
  To be honest, I get the feeling he would be amused to end up on the list. I wonder if anyone's made him aware of it.
xvello 3y ago
Project maintainer here, thanks for the feedback. For context, this template was created two years ago when that creator's videos filled almost 20% of the Nebula timeline and "How do I hide his videos?" questions were a monthly occurrence on forums. I agree in retrospect that it was a petty move, and I deleted the default values today, as the project now works fine without default values.

Y_Y 3y ago

In their defense, I use Nebula a lot and I have specifically wondered "how can I block Rene Ritchie?". I'm sure he's a good person and has his own fans, but he covers Apple stuff I don't care about and had particularly egregious "YouTube face" thumbnails that really grind my gears.

amanzi 3y ago
Aargh... the "YouTube face"! On YouTube I use the "Don't recommend channel" feature for anyone who shows up in my feed with those faces. Still amazes me how widespread this is - I recently looked up some lawn care videos on Youtube and then I started to see these "YouTube face" thumbnails from gardeners show up in my feed. It's like all aspiring YouTubers are reading the same advice for getting views, regardless of age, demographic, or subject?
- andirk 3y ago
  This is a good example of just doing what's popular instead of A/B testing. Or a good example of the analytics showing the ridiculous wins out over the reasonable. I too avoid clicking links with Youtube Face. Why would someone be pointing at their own thumbnail? With a shocked expression.
- dspillett 3y ago
  > Still amazes me how widespread this is It works⁰ surprisingly well for a range of target audiences – I've seen a few proper tests of the effect. > It's like all aspiring YouTubers are reading the same advice for getting views, regardless of age, demographic, or subject? While it won't work that well for all channels, it is unlikely to put off enough people¹ that it is worth a try just in case. Also, some do it just because it is current fashion, or because that is currently the default and they lack an original thought in thumbnail making², rather than thinking there is any other benefit. ---- [0] gets more clicks than thumbnails without [1] those, like you and I, who dislike it enough for it to make us simply click away, are apparently rare enough that losing us is not a big problem [2] because that sort of marketing isn't their game, and they don't want it to be more than it has to be
- Uehreka 3y ago
  Allegedly this advice (making the Youtube face) actually works, prevails in A/B tests, and at this point is basically required in order to get enough viewers to sustain a channel. Veritasium did a video on it a while back, and the guys on Linus Tech Tips’ podcast have talked about it a bunch of times. It seems that the number of people who dislike Youtube Face enough to actually block a channel are low enough so as to not matter. So as a viewer, you have a choice: You can continue to block channels that do the Youtube Face, knowing that you’ll be missing out on good content (because yes even good channels do it), out of a desire to send a message that no one will heed. Or you can put up with it and watch the videos anyway.
  - alganet 3y ago
    I used youtube with all thumbnails blocked for a while. Also, no recommendations or comments, or ratings (FF Unhook extension + uBlock rules). Only subscriptions, text feed with titles. It was a good middle ground, but eventually the thumbnail URL format changed and it started appearing again. Also re-enabled recommendations and comments, but my front page remains subs only (more or less 5 videos a day of select channels).
- otikik 3y ago
  The “dearrow” extension changes all youtube thumbnails to random stills from each video. Goodbye faces. And obnoxious red arrows
alganet 3y ago
How would you feel if I made popular a tool that has a side effect of making you invisible before people even have a chance to judge whether the thumbnail face is good enough for a click or not? Dude, cmon
- pixxel 3y ago
  If grown men want to pull emoji faces that fine but I won’t click, and that’s fine too.
- Y_Y 3y ago
  I get you, if I had a channel like that and I was the example to block I think I'd be miffed. In this case I've already decided I don't want to watch that channel and seeing the thumbnails irks me. Lots of channels I like play the creator-meta game and put red arrows and clickbaity stuff up front but still produce quality content and I respect that decision. I don't think anyone intends to block that channel by default, but it's nice to be able to do so deliberately. I'd be willing to bet that Ritchie is doing well enough that his channel wouldn't be seriously harmed by an example like this, but even so you could say it's careless by the documentation author.
officeplant 3y ago
To be honest, I get the feeling he would be amused to end up on the list. I wonder if anyone's made him aware of it.

xvello 3y ago

Project maintainer here, thanks for the feedback. For context, this template was created two years ago when that creator's videos filled almost 20% of the Nebula timeline and "How do I hide his videos?" questions were a monthly occurrence on forums. I agree in retrospect that it was a petty move, and I deleted the default values today, as the project now works fine without default values.