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There are two apps called "DeArrow" and SponsorBlock that basically everyone should be using. DeArrow replaces thumbnails and titles with crowd sourced version

by chrneu 11mo ago

There are two apps called "DeArrow" and SponsorBlock that basically everyone should be using. DeArrow replaces thumbnails and titles with crowd sourced versions. I can't use youtube without it anymore. Usually the titles get replaced with stuff like "How to build a table" instead of "Watch the world explode as I try to make a table!!!!!!!!!!!!". Same with thumbnails. No longer are they over-saturated close up AI generated garbage images, but usually just a screenshot from the video that shows what's really going on.

jason_oster 11mo ago
Neither of these are available on Apple TV. Otherwise, you make a good suggestion; install them where available.
- ZekeSulastin 11mo ago
  At least for SponsorBlock you can run iSponsorBlockTV[1] on another computer on the same network - in addition to skipping sponsored segments, it also mutes YouTube’s own ads and auto-skips them as soon as it can. [1] https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV
  - ngai_aku 11mo ago
    I've been using this for a while. It's certainly better than nothing, but there are limitations. Most notably for me, automatic muting doesn't work when HomePods are the default output[1] [1] https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV/issues/60#issuecomment-1762994606 https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV/issues/60#issue...
  - dontlaugh 11mo ago
    It’s pretty good, I run this on my little server.
  - jason_oster 11mo ago
    Thanks, it looks like a helpful workaround for now. Hoping someday SponsorBlock can be ported to tvOS.
herewulf 11mo ago
Except that those two things are fantastic indicators for videos / channels you should be avoiding. Hiding their foolishness and then watching them anyway rewards their behavior.
- theshrike79 11mo ago
  LTT specifically AB tested the stupid thumbnail vs relevant + titles. The idiotic clickbait images and titles WORK. People don't use them because they want to, they use them because they have to. Thus -> DeArrow. (Or follow the channels via an RSS feed and filter there)
  - Tanoc 11mo ago
    There are great channels that have had acceptable audience growth without resorting to bucket scraping like that. In fact the channels I see that have the most engagement and the most stable view numbers video to video are the ones specifically avoiding the "gaping maw pointing at a red circle" sort of thumbnails and the "YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT" or "X PHENOMENON - THE RESULTS WILL SHOCK YOU" titles. Knowing how Youtube works it's more of a detriment to have those unstable views because that screws with how well Youtube promotes you in the Recommended and Trending pages, and makes it harder to have high paying deals with sponsors since they don't know if your video's going to do five million views or seven hundred and fifty thousand. The only way you can make that work consistently is if you have a captive audience, but people do get tired of it quickly and will start to reflexively avoid your videos. They'll especially avoid them if someone else tried that clickbait format and annoyed or even offended them.
  - EliteGadget 11mo ago
    I've heard this argument before as someone with a small number of subscribers, In use relevant titles and thumbnails (I do partially use AI but that is "make me a Tux image with a builders hat on"). When I post a video I get a decent number of viewers for my channel size. So I don't believe someone like LTT needs to resort to clickbait. LTT has 16 millions subscribers and half a million views per video. They make plenty of ad-revenue from those videos. If he stopped making videos today, he would still be getting a sizeable income by doing nothing for at least a decade. Even some washed up YouTubers from the past get a low five figure income from their Channels.
blkhawk 11mo ago
"Watch the world explode as I try to make a table!!!!!!!!!!!!" is unlikely its more like "Watch the world explode as I try to make this thing!!!!!!!!!!!!".
EliteGadget 11mo ago
Hey, Only 50% of one of my thumbnails are AI generated Garbage! I do agree it is annoying. Some people do it quite a lot with car work videos to make the car look in far worse than it is.
ssl-3 11mo ago
I used to use a browser extension that devolved thumbnails and titles. That seemed nice, but I stopped using it a few years ago because I don't want that kind of content in my life and changing the window dressing didn't fix it. I do this instead: When a thumbnail and/or title is displayed on my screen feels like some variation of spammy clicky ragebait, I use the 3-dot menu and pick "Not interested" or "Don't recommend channel". Nowadays, that kind of stuff is pretty much just gone. This has certainly nuked whole channels (and also entire categories) from my youtube feed, and that suits me just fine. I need my life to be encumbered neither by clickbait, nor by the subset of creators that are compelled to generate it in the first place. There's more good, interesting, non-bait content created every day than any person has time to consume. The herd is plenty big enough to be culled. I think I'll be OK without watching videos -- at all -- from people who are working to jam the cock of influence as hard as possible into whatever they can.
- Dylan16807 11mo ago
  A bad thumbnail doesn't mean bad content. If I rejected them upfront I'm sure I could find something to replace those channels that meets the bar of "interesting", but I'd rather judge videos on the actual video and focus on how much I enjoy watching.
  - ssl-3 11mo ago
    We may have a difference of opinion. It is my own opinion that a creator who deliberately creates a bad thumbnail and a baited title is a bad creator, and that (by extension) I do not wish to consume their content. There's plenty of other fish in the sea that aren't introducing themselves to me with one or more damned lies. I'm pleased to go watch what they're doing, instead.
    - Dylan16807 11mo ago
      If that's enough of a sin to be a bad creator, I think it does become difficult to find replacements after a while. Also a bad thumbnail isn't a damned lie. Clickbait usually just means vague and flashy.

by chrneu 11mo ago

jason_oster 11mo ago

Neither of these are available on Apple TV. Otherwise, you make a good suggestion; install them where available.

ZekeSulastin 11mo ago
At least for SponsorBlock you can run iSponsorBlockTV[1] on another computer on the same network - in addition to skipping sponsored segments, it also mutes YouTube’s own ads and auto-skips them as soon as it can. [1] https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV
- ngai_aku 11mo ago
  I've been using this for a while. It's certainly better than nothing, but there are limitations. Most notably for me, automatic muting doesn't work when HomePods are the default output[1] [1] https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV/issues/60#issuecomment-1762994606 https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV/issues/60#issue...
- dontlaugh 11mo ago
  It’s pretty good, I run this on my little server.
- jason_oster 11mo ago
  Thanks, it looks like a helpful workaround for now. Hoping someday SponsorBlock can be ported to tvOS.

herewulf 11mo ago

Except that those two things are fantastic indicators for videos / channels you should be avoiding. Hiding their foolishness and then watching them anyway rewards their behavior.

theshrike79 11mo ago
LTT specifically AB tested the stupid thumbnail vs relevant + titles. The idiotic clickbait images and titles WORK. People don't use them because they want to, they use them because they have to. Thus -> DeArrow. (Or follow the channels via an RSS feed and filter there)
- Tanoc 11mo ago
  There are great channels that have had acceptable audience growth without resorting to bucket scraping like that. In fact the channels I see that have the most engagement and the most stable view numbers video to video are the ones specifically avoiding the "gaping maw pointing at a red circle" sort of thumbnails and the "YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT" or "X PHENOMENON - THE RESULTS WILL SHOCK YOU" titles. Knowing how Youtube works it's more of a detriment to have those unstable views because that screws with how well Youtube promotes you in the Recommended and Trending pages, and makes it harder to have high paying deals with sponsors since they don't know if your video's going to do five million views or seven hundred and fifty thousand. The only way you can make that work consistently is if you have a captive audience, but people do get tired of it quickly and will start to reflexively avoid your videos. They'll especially avoid them if someone else tried that clickbait format and annoyed or even offended them.
- EliteGadget 11mo ago
  I've heard this argument before as someone with a small number of subscribers, In use relevant titles and thumbnails (I do partially use AI but that is "make me a Tux image with a builders hat on"). When I post a video I get a decent number of viewers for my channel size. So I don't believe someone like LTT needs to resort to clickbait. LTT has 16 millions subscribers and half a million views per video. They make plenty of ad-revenue from those videos. If he stopped making videos today, he would still be getting a sizeable income by doing nothing for at least a decade. Even some washed up YouTubers from the past get a low five figure income from their Channels.

blkhawk 11mo ago

"Watch the world explode as I try to make a table!!!!!!!!!!!!" is unlikely its more like "Watch the world explode as I try to make this thing!!!!!!!!!!!!".

EliteGadget 11mo ago

Hey, Only 50% of one of my thumbnails are AI generated Garbage! I do agree it is annoying. Some people do it quite a lot with car work videos to make the car look in far worse than it is.

ssl-3 11mo ago

I used to use a browser extension that devolved thumbnails and titles. That seemed nice, but I stopped using it a few years ago because I don't want that kind of content in my life and changing the window dressing didn't fix it. I do this instead: When a thumbnail and/or title is displayed on my screen feels like some variation of spammy clicky ragebait, I use the 3-dot menu and pick "Not interested" or "Don't recommend channel". Nowadays, that kind of stuff is pretty much just gone. This has certainly nuked whole channels (and also entire categories) from my youtube feed, and that suits me just fine. I need my life to be encumbered neither by clickbait, nor by the subset of creators that are compelled to generate it in the first place. There's more good, interesting, non-bait content created every day than any person has time to consume. The herd is plenty big enough to be culled. I think I'll be OK without watching videos -- at all -- from people who are working to jam the cock of influence as hard as possible into whatever they can.

Dylan16807 11mo ago
A bad thumbnail doesn't mean bad content. If I rejected them upfront I'm sure I could find something to replace those channels that meets the bar of "interesting", but I'd rather judge videos on the actual video and focus on how much I enjoy watching.
- ssl-3 11mo ago
  We may have a difference of opinion. It is my own opinion that a creator who deliberately creates a bad thumbnail and a baited title is a bad creator, and that (by extension) I do not wish to consume their content. There's plenty of other fish in the sea that aren't introducing themselves to me with one or more damned lies. I'm pleased to go watch what they're doing, instead.
  - Dylan16807 11mo ago
    If that's enough of a sin to be a bad creator, I think it does become difficult to find replacements after a while. Also a bad thumbnail isn't a damned lie. Clickbait usually just means vague and flashy.