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Youtube is getting problematic. I write this as someone who basically has some videos running in the background all the time, mostly just DJ music in the backgr

Youtube is getting problematic. I write this as someone who basically has some videos running in the background all the time, mostly just DJ music in the background. First, searching for videos sucks. Yes, the first few results can be useful, then more and more crap shows up. This just wastes my time. But, more importantly - more and more AI videos means I am being bombarded with more time wasters. I have about zero interest in AI videos; I am not saying 100% of it is crap, but I am getting more and more tired wasting any time in this regard here. Then the addiction by Google to have us watch ads - they killed ublock origin too on chrome. Even aside from this, I am noticing a drop of quality lately; many of the channels seem much more boring. I guess this kind of fatigue kicks in over time in general, but it seems to me as if some youtube "content creators" are running out of real ideas. They seem to be desperately addicted to "get the likes" and "get subscribers". I stopped being logged in to youtube years ago already and I also, oddly enough, want to completely decouple myself from Google too (too much Evil in this company now) - youtube is unfortunately something I still need and use right now, but many things suck more and more. Also that "swipe shorts down" - that activity is IMO a mental problem. After some 30 swipe downs, I ask myself why I am doing this. Google tries to want to commit me to this swipe action. It is like psychological manipulation. Click click drag drag click click click.

cons0le 10mo ago
Set up jellyfin and tube archivist - I can't stand buffering
nyjah 10mo ago
I’m a YouTube premium subscriber. Just yesterday I found myself opening a private window to watch a video with ads, rather than letting the algorithm know I was watching the video on my account. Even if I remove the video from my watch history, YouTube can’t help itself. You make a great point on stale content and the overall enshittification is becoming intolerable.
- the_af 10mo ago
  Wow. In my case the YT recommendations system works very well, only suggesting things similar to what I've already watched and liked. I would never use YouTube in incognito mode or logged out... it's positively garish and loud with garbage.
- qingcharles 10mo ago
  Pay a little extra for YouTube Premium Family and you can silo your interests to different Google profiles. I have work and home like this basically. Coding, AI, etc on one, cars, retro games on another. No ads.
  - BLKNSLVR 10mo ago
    > Pay a little extra :disappointed face: That's always the solution when the problem is enshittification. Pay a little extra for what you remember it used to be like. For only $2 more you can get the large fries and coke, but for $5 more you get the jumbo!
    - immibis 10mo ago
      idk though, YouTube Premium is pretty good value if you're using it enough to care about recommendation hygiene. I remember the days everyone was begging to have the option to pay to skip ads. Well, YouTube did what we wanted, and now we're complaining about it for some reason. Enshittification is when a middleman platform locks in buyers and then locks in sellers. It's not when things cost money. YouTube has enshittification, but the enshittification isn't merely the fact that it costs money. In fact, any non-shit platform for anything would probably (either be run as a hobby or) cost money to use since it wouldn't fund itself by stealing from you.
MarsIronPI 10mo ago
> First, searching for videos sucks. Yes, the first few results can be useful, then more and more crap shows up. Heh, my solution to this is to use DuckDuckGo's Video search tab.

cons0le 10mo ago

Set up jellyfin and tube archivist - I can't stand buffering

nyjah 10mo ago

I’m a YouTube premium subscriber. Just yesterday I found myself opening a private window to watch a video with ads, rather than letting the algorithm know I was watching the video on my account. Even if I remove the video from my watch history, YouTube can’t help itself. You make a great point on stale content and the overall enshittification is becoming intolerable.

the_af 10mo ago
Wow. In my case the YT recommendations system works very well, only suggesting things similar to what I've already watched and liked. I would never use YouTube in incognito mode or logged out... it's positively garish and loud with garbage.
qingcharles 10mo ago
Pay a little extra for YouTube Premium Family and you can silo your interests to different Google profiles. I have work and home like this basically. Coding, AI, etc on one, cars, retro games on another. No ads.
- BLKNSLVR 10mo ago
  > Pay a little extra :disappointed face: That's always the solution when the problem is enshittification. Pay a little extra for what you remember it used to be like. For only $2 more you can get the large fries and coke, but for $5 more you get the jumbo!
  - immibis 10mo ago
    idk though, YouTube Premium is pretty good value if you're using it enough to care about recommendation hygiene. I remember the days everyone was begging to have the option to pay to skip ads. Well, YouTube did what we wanted, and now we're complaining about it for some reason. Enshittification is when a middleman platform locks in buyers and then locks in sellers. It's not when things cost money. YouTube has enshittification, but the enshittification isn't merely the fact that it costs money. In fact, any non-shit platform for anything would probably (either be run as a hobby or) cost money to use since it wouldn't fund itself by stealing from you.

MarsIronPI 10mo ago

> First, searching for videos sucks. Yes, the first few results can be useful, then more and more crap shows up. Heh, my solution to this is to use DuckDuckGo's Video search tab.