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I totally forgot how terrible a non-ad-free YouTube experience is (beehaw.org)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by bermuda@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

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So I've been using youtube ad blockers since pretty much when ad blocker extensions were first available. Lately though I've been getting hit more and more with these messages that YT was sending out every 5 or so videos telling me that adblockers aren't allowed. No problem, just gotta wait 5 seconds to x it out and then close my video. The straw that broke the camel's back though was when instead of a close-able pop-up, they just posted it in front of a video and wouldn't let me watch anything until I disabled my adblocker.

So I disabled it and... wow. It's just so, so, trash. 2 ads before a video plus midrolls and every video ever. I tried listening to a playlist of songs and was getting a midroll ad every single time. Imagine trying to just listen to music for 3 minutes and getting interrupted by a commercial for a chevy silverado! Half the ads were for youtube premium and they specifically mentioned that it would get rid of all the ads. It just felt so damn predatory. I couldn't enjoy anything that wasn't already demonetized.

And you know I'm fine with ads I guess. I could live with an ad before every video, but the fact that I was getting upwards of 5 ads in a 10 minute video was just plain absurd. I also hate that youtube got rid of the yellow markers to show you when an ad was coming up, so now it's just out of nowhere and always interrupts a key part of the video.

E: I've been on Firefox for over a year.

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[–] artaxadepressedhorse@lemmyngs.social 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

YouTube has turned against its users, and user-inertia is the only thing keeping it relevant. Detach yourself from it, read books, go outside, use Firefox (Not chomium or brave), get yourself a nice pirate hat. Maybe consider hosting a peertube or creating content for it. Try to take this negative and make it a positive I'd suggest.

[–] tburkhol@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

In the 4(?) days since I got my first anti-adblock popover, I've completely stopped watching random videos. My few favorite channels I've watched in incognito without harrassment, and the only thing I've noticed is having more time for other things.

If those content providers were on some other platform, I'd go there, but that's honestly asking a lot of them for a small slice of their subscribers.

[–] jlow@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Have you tried Freetube (desktop) or Newpipe / Libretube (Android)? Working fine for me.

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[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago

YouTube- is a terrible experience.

[–] victron@programming.dev 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Serious question. Can a pihole stop this? I've been thinking about building one for my house.

[–] limerod@reddthat.com 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Pinhole works at the network level. You need browser extensions like ublock-origin to filter this on the client side.

Edit: You also have apps like adguard, which work like Pihole, and do cosmetic filtering like ublock-origin.

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[–] UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago

There's probably a good workaround to program. I noticed that, when in "windowed" mode on a computer, you can just drag the cursor to the end of ads and it skips them.

[–] Nipplecreek@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

If it says they aren't allowed should I turn off my ad block or should I just hit okay and leave it enabled?

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