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YouTube is Getting Worse

OmegaSupreme said:
I want to know why all my videos are defaulted at 720p on everything. Every video. Every platform I watch it on. I've checked every setting. I have to manually switch every video to 1080p or 4k. This isn't 2008. 720p looks like dog shit now.
Click to expand...

There's a Firefox extension that automatically plays all YouTube videos in the highest resolution possible: YouTube High Definition.
 
Some interesting comments on that video.

People saying that their recommended feed is showing the same videos over and over. Ones they don't want to watch and historically would have just disappeared after a few cycles. I've certainly noticed this. The recommended tab seems to go through trends. Sometimes it throws bangers at you that you instantly click on the top view and watch. Other times it feels like you spend ages scrolling for ages until something catches your eye, and this is where we're at now.

Another statement I saw was about being recommended weird videos. Foreign language like Chinese or Filipino videos that are super low quality stuff with 1-50 views, often family vlogs.

I've noticed that I can scroll through recommended and it's just full of uninteresting junk, old shit, really low view count slop, and stuff I've already watched, then after an age of scrolling you see something that's super interesting from a creator you've watched a lot, wondering why this wasn't at the top of the pile.
 
Adblock is God's gift to Earth. It makes the internet less rotting to the brain (there is only so much that one god-like being can do alone, however…).
 
falconhoof said:


Haven't watched this one yet.
Click to expand...

It has some points, but still not everything is said

The whole shebang of content is broken from the start, and the companies are trying to fix by having more problems

Journalism sites since ever have ads, and because people uses adblocks, they didn't get that much revenue. How to fix? Even more ads to compensate the hole. This started a trend, since some people saw the ads, but others not, the ones that see needs to pay those that don't

Twitch did an "botblock" and views dropped a lot for everyone - even some streamers that didn't used, users used without their knowledge. For the users that don't pay, ads are all over the place, and without any default

Youtube started having ads that are simple and not much harm. Just some pop-in during the video, kinda transparent, in the bottom, and having an X to close... Then the ad was at the end of the video, which was fine, since one could just exit if wasn't a playlist or whatever. Then became also at the start, then in the middle, and now it's by the user or Google of a mix of both. For the creators, rules are changing all the time, and it's not like a change per year or so, in the same month changes can be see more than one time. Also, the company itself is a nightmare, and profit is kind of a recent thing for them, so it's weird

I guess the biggest problem is that everyone is too comfortable with what we have. No one even looks for another video content website instead of YouTube. Live streaming is Twitch. Social media is Instagram or X (I even wrote "Twitter"... this new name is stupid as fuck). We need better competitors in those areas
 
Apps like YouTube are silly to me. How many changes to ToS, ad placement, and UI upgrades before you end up with something similar to what you were trying to move away from in the first place?

All I ever hear about is Google's 563456th idea about kneecapping their user numbers, yet the only change I ever see is the Like icon becoming more or less rigid and the font getting a size larger or smaller.

I miss the good old days when you could stream an entire album off of YouTube with zero ads. Same way I miss googling something and getting actual websites back in the results, as opposed to linking me to the nearest content aggregator like X.

We're well into the diminishing returns cycle of technological development. Twenty years ago, shit was just advanced enough to make it feel like you were right on the cusp of Jetson era tech, while still being enough of a novelty that every single solitary aspect could avoid gross over regulation. Feels like the goldilocks zone for media.
 
YouTube once again making their already terrible UI... even worse.

My UI is literally:

Row 1: 2 Videos
Row 2: 5 Shorts
Row 3: 2 Videos
Row 4: YouTube Games
Row 5: 3 Videos
Row 6: 5 Shorts
Row 7: Did you like watching this video?
Row 8: Top News
Then from here, it shows me recommended videos constantly.

It makes it worse when you realize that it shows 1 and a half rows at a time because all the previews are stupidly huge.
 



I had no idea where to post this, so I decided to put in this YouTube thread.

I made a music video for my latest art/photo ebook, Trumpocalypse. If you've ever seen videos of people reading through art books or magazines, it's the very same thing. This video goes through the digital ebook edition of my book, with music from the 1994 CD Minnesota Modern Rock: Volume 1. It's a compilation of the indie rock scene in Minneapolis at the time, always has been a personal favorite. I synced up the songs to each of the "chapters" in the book, and by the grace of Providence, it ends perfectly in time to Zuzu's Petal's "Do Not."

I have 36 books available on Amazon Kindle, and I intend to create YouTube videos for all my artbooks. I don't know what to do about music, because I wish to avoid the wrath of our evil corporate overlords, but so much of the "royalty free" music out there is just dreadful. Ugh, painfully bad.

Please check this out and give it a thumbs-up and leave some kind words in the comments. I would greatly appreciate that. Thank you very much!

PS: If you are an artist, photographer, zine publisher or comics creator, you should be making videos like this one. It's a great way to promote your work and build your audience. Oh, and if you don't know what a "music video" is, ask your parents.
 
So Youtube is continuing on its path of make everything bigger and as a result I noticed that the buttons from Enhancer for Youtube addon for Firefox are now busted.

fsZGGI8UfbAWpgPB.png


When I checked to see if an update had been posted I got a dead page. Turns out the Firefox version has stopped development due to Mozilla's shitty review process.

www.ghacks.net

[Updated with statement from developer] Enhancer for YouTube add-on for Firefox possibly discontinued due to problems with Mozilla's review process - gHacks Tech News

UPDATE: I reached out to the developer of Enhancer for YouTube, Max, who responded to my request. Max explained that Mozilla has hosted the add-on for 12 years, and has access to […]
www.ghacks.net www.ghacks.net

Anyone tried any other of the addons that do a similar overhaul?
 
falconhoof said:
So Youtube is continuing on its path of make everything bigger and as a result I noticed that the buttons from Enhancer for Youtube addon for Firefox are now busted.

fsZGGI8UfbAWpgPB.png


When I checked to see if an update had been posted I got a dead page. Turns out the Firefox version has stopped development due to Mozilla's shitty review process.

www.ghacks.net

[Updated with statement from developer] Enhancer for YouTube add-on for Firefox possibly discontinued due to problems with Mozilla's review process - gHacks Tech News

UPDATE: I reached out to the developer of Enhancer for YouTube, Max, who responded to my request. Max explained that Mozilla has hosted the add-on for 12 years, and has access to […]
www.ghacks.net www.ghacks.net

Anyone tried any other of the addons that do a similar overhaul?
Click to expand...
The two i use are
Iridium for Youtube https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi...um=firefox-browser&utm_source=firefox-browser
and Youtube Enhancer https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi...la.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=search

I also use Unhook (although it hasn't been updated in years) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi...um=firefox-browser&utm_source=firefox-browser
 
Youtube has been shit for a very long time now. Censorship/immediate comment nuking, pussification of what can be said in videos/comments, the shitty ads, obnoxious AI garbage, removal of dislikes, etc.
 
I don't know what part of youtube is the worst. The low effort AI slop? The shorts that keep getting shoveled into my face that I rarely ever want to see.... or the confusing efforts of the youtube algorithms to railroad my interests and shovel things that I don't really want to watch in my face? I miss the 'good ol' days' of when 'fail videos' used to be pure and uhh... innocent entertainment.
 
MrCunningham said:
I don't know what part of youtube is the worst. The low effort AI slop? The shorts that keep getting shoveled into my face that I rarely ever want to see.... or the confusing efforts of the youtube algorithms to railroad my interests and shovel things that I don't really want to watch in my face? I miss the 'good ol' days' of when 'fail videos' used to be pure and uhh... innocent entertainment.
Click to expand...
Here's a trick to make your Youtube experience better:

DISABLE THE HISTORY. This will make the main "home" section of the site completely empty and free of the algorithm spamming videos for you.

Then instead of the home section make a bookmark of the "subscriptions" section. Make this the default part of Youtube you always visit. This way you will only see the videos that are posted from the channels you have subscribed to. That's the best way to control what you see. And when you watch a video from your subs, the algorithm will still try to recommend other videos on the right side but these will be closer to what you are watching at that moment.

I am doing this for 10 years now and my brain has avoided the pollution and spam of Youtube's shitty algorithm and cringe "trending" videos.
 
MrCunningham said:
I don't know what part of youtube is the worst. The low effort AI slop? The shorts that keep getting shoveled into my face that I rarely ever want to see.... or the confusing efforts of the youtube algorithms to railroad my interests and shovel things that I don't really want to watch in my face? I miss the 'good ol' days' of when 'fail videos' used to be pure and uhh... innocent entertainment.
Click to expand...

This allows you to disable shorts and do much, much more:

addons.mozilla.org

'Improve YouTube!' 🎧 (For YouTube & Video) – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download 'Improve YouTube!' 🎧 (For YouTube & Video) for Firefox. Youtube Extension. Powerful but lightweight. Enrich your Youtube and content selection. Make YouTube tidy and smart! (Layout, Filters, Shortcuts, Playlist)
addons.mozilla.org addons.mozilla.org
 
nkarafo said:
Here's a trick to make your Youtube experience better:

DISABLE THE HISTORY. This will make the main "home" section of the site completely empty and free of the algorithm spamming videos for you.

Then instead of the home section make a bookmark of the "subscriptions" section. Make this the default part of Youtube you always visit. This way you will only see the videos that are posted from the channels you have subscribed to. That's the best way to control what you see. And when you watch a video from your subs, the algorithm will still try to recommend other videos on the right side but these will be closer to what you are watching at that moment.
Click to expand...


I could probably do these things. Even though I sadly do rely on my history a lot for video call-back. But I could use my browser history. I have a pretty extensive selection of subscribed channels... a lot of them are really inactive, though.

I have two main accounts. One is from 2006, which has almost been frozen in time, due to me losing my password for almost a decade... and trust me, when you lose your password on youtube... there is no actual customer service to help you. Even worse; the recovery email was tied to an old ISP that I could no longer gain access too.

I recovered it a few years back through the password save feature of an iPod Touch (gen 2!) that I didn't know I still had. Creepy going back to my search history on that account, and seeing how different my watch habits were in 2014 vs 2023...

I have my current secondary account that I use daily. I mostly just watch music videos... old cartoons,a few tech-news channels, and some random gaming channels... these days, I try to stay away from the trivia filled 'did you know?' fluff videos people put out. Unless it is actually something useful that is worth learning.
 
MidGenRefresh said:
This allows you to disable shorts and do much, much more:

addons.mozilla.org

'Improve YouTube!' 🎧 (For YouTube & Video) – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download 'Improve YouTube!' 🎧 (For YouTube & Video) for Firefox. Youtube Extension. Powerful but lightweight. Enrich your Youtube and content selection. Make YouTube tidy and smart! (Layout, Filters, Shortcuts, Playlist)
addons.mozilla.org addons.mozilla.org
Click to expand...
I don't use Firefox anymore... but I have heard about this plug-in, and good news, there is a chrome version of it too. I suppose I will install it.

chromewebstore.google.com

'Improve YouTube!' 🎧 (for YouTube & Videos) - Chrome Web Store

YouTube, tidy & smart? Supercharge YouTube! Give it strong features, filter only the videos you want & exactly the look you like
chromewebstore.google.com chromewebstore.google.com
 
MidGenRefresh said:
This allows you to disable shorts and do much, much more:

addons.mozilla.org

'Improve YouTube!' 🎧 (For YouTube & Video) – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download 'Improve YouTube!' 🎧 (For YouTube & Video) for Firefox. Youtube Extension. Powerful but lightweight. Enrich your Youtube and content selection. Make YouTube tidy and smart! (Layout, Filters, Shortcuts, Playlist)
addons.mozilla.org addons.mozilla.org
Click to expand...
I use this personally

addons.mozilla.org

Enhancer for YouTube™ – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Enhancer for YouTube™ for Firefox. Take control of YouTube and boost your user experience!
addons.mozilla.org addons.mozilla.org
 
Last edited:
Good tips all.

The history thing I can highly recommend. Delete and disable it. And with these enhancers you can remove shorts entirely, and further block bullshit and AI.

uBlock+firefox was a golden combo for quite long, but eventually YT catched up to them.
 
Side hustlebros using AI to generate millions of AI slop voiceover videos is at exponential levels

I think Youtube will dramatically increase the barrier to entry on monetized channels, and reduce the money you make on them by a lot. Else they are just going to end up with millions upon millions of AI slop videos and paying out the nose for their creators just sitting with prompts and nothing but money on their mind.

The internet is going to become a vast wasteland of slop content and weird memes, even more so than it already is.
 
Nocty said:
Side hustlebros using AI to generate millions of AI slop voiceover videos is at exponential levels.
Click to expand...
I have no idea how to interpret what that means.....

It is depressing to see how ubiquitous AI short form media has become in such a short span of time though, definitely agree.
 
I wouldn't just isolate YouTube in this as all this weird stuff is in on every platform. YouTube is still a must for me but it's not like I like everything myself and don't observe some of the things everybody else observed. But to be naive and assume it's just YouTube I would toss the whole damn social media in there. It's the era we're in and it's up to you to curate and absorb certain information. I'm not a fan of seeing some random Michael Jordan or celebrity video come up and say things that I have never seen them say before. That part, I'm a little annoyed.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen some actor or sports person narrate something like they said it in the past and you can just tell their cadence isn't even the way they really speak. The voice sounds good but in the example of Michael jordan, he has a specific cadence and you can tell. That is already old.
 
Nocty said:
Side hustlebros using AI to generate millions of AI slop voiceover videos is at exponential levels

I think Youtube will dramatically increase the barrier to entry on monetized channels, and reduce the money you make on them by a lot. Else they are just going to end up with millions upon millions of AI slop videos and paying out the nose for their creators just sitting with prompts and nothing but money on their mind.

The internet is going to become a vast wasteland of slop content and weird memes, even more so than it already is.
Click to expand...





Called it
 
I've been noticing channels that have turned to using AI voiceovers and other stuff like that getting a LOT less views.

I think viewers are starting to tune it out, too
 
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