4 ms·

500000000th person discovers google is not creating youtube for you, but for them to make cash. Crazy story. Really shocking and definitely not one of the most

by kulahan 6mo ago

500000000th person discovers google is not creating youtube for you, but for them to make cash. Crazy story. Really shocking and definitely not one of the most standard complaints in existence. Anyways, there's absolutely no such thing as "I can't stop paying for this". Just do a chargeback on your card. It's not a real problem.

dwedge 6mo ago
The article was complaining abut AI, yet written by AI
- SpaceNugget 6mo ago
  I use a kitchen knife to prepare dinner, and yet I am still appalled when someone uses a knife to stab someone. This is not hypocritical. The article is partly about a _misuse_ of AI, and partly about just how bad the system around accounts and appeals is in general.
  - garciansmith 6mo ago
    [dead]
devn0ll 6mo ago
You probably do agree that this should not be normal. And not the expected way to get your money back? There is no blocklist option at my bank, so I'd have to do that every month in perpetuity? Simply because I cannot login and cancel my account? side note, these are things I feel should be: 1. Illegal: "noreply@" addresses. My inbox is not a dumping ground and email is two way, not one way. 2. Required: phone numbers on you website, easily found, that are picked up by humans.
- kulahan 6mo ago
  What do you mean there is no blocklist? Your bank has no way to stop someone from taking your money, no matter what, if it’s ever authorized even one time? That makes no sense. Your country desperately needs some way to fix your system. In America, the authorization to charge a card lies with the card itself. You call the bank and revoke the authorization. Done. This solves the problem of requiring every single company needing to hire some untold number of people to sit around at phones and hopefully agree to stop taking your money?? Or whatever weird setup your country has. It also doesn’t matter if it’s normal or okay or whatever. You’re dealing with a business - it’s effectively an inanimate object. You don’t live in a vacuum, so you can complain that it isn’t a friendlier company, or you can find a solution. I’ve found one for you, at least that works in the US.
JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
> discovers google is not creating youtube for you, but for them to make cash This isn't the cop-out you think it is. Plenty of profit-making businesses have great customer service. Google's crap service is entirely on itself.
- redsocksfan45 6mo ago
  [dead]
archerx 6mo ago
So how is this supposed to convince me to give YouTube money directly or indirectly by buying a subscription and disabling my ad blocker? Stories like this reinforce my decision to never give YouTube a single cent.
Gareth321 6mo ago
It was after the hundredth post like this that I de-Googled my life. It was only a matter of time until something happened to my account, and I had so much of my life tied up in their services. The biggest and best change was buying my own domain and changing my email address. Now no one can ever remove access to my emails.
- surgical_fire 6mo ago
  I've been on this path for years, with varying degrees if faulure. How did you manage it? Some bits are harder than others. Most of my important email was migrated to a Protonmail account. With the exception with a couple of things tied to government services that don't have a path of changing your email, which sucks. Android: Next time I switch devices I am going for GrapheneOS. Technically still an Android, sandboxed Google services and all, but a step in a better direction. Android Auto/Waze: There's no competition here, sadly. YouTube: Another thing that is very difficult to replace beyond just reducing my YouTube usage. I can use stuff as Newpipe or self host Invidious, but technically it is still YouTube.
  - Gareth321 6mo ago
    Also mixed success, but it depends what you want to achieve. My goal was to minimise risk of life disruption, and I think I succeeded. Some people are on a quest to keep their lives private, and that is harder. Email: The most important component here is owning your domain. Then you can switch between providers. I'm using iCloud now because I can have email addresses for the whole family for very cheap and it integrates well with my Apple devices. Search: Kagi. Maps: I still use Google maps. The alternatives are just not as good here in Denmark. Phone: iOS. I really want to try GrapheneOS but our government uses a national ID app which only works on official Android and iOS builds. It's very annoying to function without that app. YouTube: Still use it as well, but with ad and sponsor blocks on computer and mobile. I have an Apple developer account and sign my own sideloaded YouTube apps. Cloud storage: I switched to iCloud, but I keep a full local copy of everything in case I lose access to my account. I also built a home NAS and keep the movies on that. Basically anything which I don't mind losing so much. Docs: I use Office applications primarily now instead of Google Docs.

by kulahan 6mo ago

dwedge 6mo ago

The article was complaining abut AI, yet written by AI

SpaceNugget 6mo ago
I use a kitchen knife to prepare dinner, and yet I am still appalled when someone uses a knife to stab someone. This is not hypocritical. The article is partly about a _misuse_ of AI, and partly about just how bad the system around accounts and appeals is in general.
- garciansmith 6mo ago
  [dead]

devn0ll 6mo ago

You probably do agree that this should not be normal. And not the expected way to get your money back? There is no blocklist option at my bank, so I'd have to do that every month in perpetuity? Simply because I cannot login and cancel my account? side note, these are things I feel should be: 1. Illegal: "noreply@" addresses. My inbox is not a dumping ground and email is two way, not one way. 2. Required: phone numbers on you website, easily found, that are picked up by humans.

kulahan 6mo ago
What do you mean there is no blocklist? Your bank has no way to stop someone from taking your money, no matter what, if it’s ever authorized even one time? That makes no sense. Your country desperately needs some way to fix your system. In America, the authorization to charge a card lies with the card itself. You call the bank and revoke the authorization. Done. This solves the problem of requiring every single company needing to hire some untold number of people to sit around at phones and hopefully agree to stop taking your money?? Or whatever weird setup your country has. It also doesn’t matter if it’s normal or okay or whatever. You’re dealing with a business - it’s effectively an inanimate object. You don’t live in a vacuum, so you can complain that it isn’t a friendlier company, or you can find a solution. I’ve found one for you, at least that works in the US.

JumpCrisscross 6mo ago

> discovers google is not creating youtube for you, but for them to make cash This isn't the cop-out you think it is. Plenty of profit-making businesses have great customer service. Google's crap service is entirely on itself.

redsocksfan45 6mo ago
[dead]

archerx 6mo ago

So how is this supposed to convince me to give YouTube money directly or indirectly by buying a subscription and disabling my ad blocker? Stories like this reinforce my decision to never give YouTube a single cent.

Gareth321 6mo ago

It was after the hundredth post like this that I de-Googled my life. It was only a matter of time until something happened to my account, and I had so much of my life tied up in their services. The biggest and best change was buying my own domain and changing my email address. Now no one can ever remove access to my emails.

surgical_fire 6mo ago
I've been on this path for years, with varying degrees if faulure. How did you manage it? Some bits are harder than others. Most of my important email was migrated to a Protonmail account. With the exception with a couple of things tied to government services that don't have a path of changing your email, which sucks. Android: Next time I switch devices I am going for GrapheneOS. Technically still an Android, sandboxed Google services and all, but a step in a better direction. Android Auto/Waze: There's no competition here, sadly. YouTube: Another thing that is very difficult to replace beyond just reducing my YouTube usage. I can use stuff as Newpipe or self host Invidious, but technically it is still YouTube.
- Gareth321 6mo ago
  Also mixed success, but it depends what you want to achieve. My goal was to minimise risk of life disruption, and I think I succeeded. Some people are on a quest to keep their lives private, and that is harder. Email: The most important component here is owning your domain. Then you can switch between providers. I'm using iCloud now because I can have email addresses for the whole family for very cheap and it integrates well with my Apple devices. Search: Kagi. Maps: I still use Google maps. The alternatives are just not as good here in Denmark. Phone: iOS. I really want to try GrapheneOS but our government uses a national ID app which only works on official Android and iOS builds. It's very annoying to function without that app. YouTube: Still use it as well, but with ad and sponsor blocks on computer and mobile. I have an Apple developer account and sign my own sideloaded YouTube apps. Cloud storage: I switched to iCloud, but I keep a full local copy of everything in case I lose access to my account. I also built a home NAS and keep the movies on that. Basically anything which I don't mind losing so much. Docs: I use Office applications primarily now instead of Google Docs.