okay Google, how about this. I already pay for premium, but Im too lazy to disable my adblocker for just your site, can we just call it a draw and move on?
There are quite a few google/youtube shills here. None of them mentioning how bad google/youtube has become over the past year. Seriously, what kind of asshole posts how great it is paying for a service that used to be free and of much better quality?
Maybe just stop watching youtube? I don't even watch an hour of youtube tutorials a month. Go ahead and kick me off, I'll just stop visiting the site. Just like I'm doing with reddit (which I've even blocked at the router level to avoid it)
I was surprised at how little I actually cared about the reddit communities I was subscribed to. I switched to Lemmy on 6/12 and just never thought about reddit again. I use a couple RSS feeds to get the same news now (which is a better idea anyway), and Lemmy has enough people in the topics I’m actually interested in so I don’t feel like I’m missing any important discussion.
I suspect it will be the same story with Youtube for me. I really don’t need to be watching Youtube 95% of the time. I tune in to videos because it’s convenient. If Google is going to make it inconvenient, the value proposition changes and I’d rather do something else to fill my time. I wonder if there will be backlash from creators now that many users are inherently disincentivized from visiting Youtube…
Lol funny you mention RSS. I LOVE my RSS feeds - I've been building my subscription list for decades. I used other services before Google Reader, now I use feedly (what do you use?).
I subscribe to hundreds of RSS feeds of all sorts - from technical blogs to news feeds. I always try to explain to people that I get a "firehose" of content sorted by timestamp. I don't have an algorithm choosing which data to prioritize.
Did you know that Aaron Swartz (one of the original reddit developers) was also a leader who developed the RSS standards? God the word lost a great man - imagine what he could have done for humanity if he lived a full life.
I suspect it will be the same story with Youtube for me. I really don’t need to be watching Youtube 95% of the time. I tune in to videos because it’s convenient. If Google is going to make it inconvenient, the value proposition changes and I’d rather do something else to fill my time. I wonder if there will be backlash from creators now that many users are inherently disincentivized from visiting Youtube…
Funny thing is that I usually use Youtube for DIY repair videos. Now ChatGPT and simple google searches (to confirm info) have replaced most of my needs. I even use Chat to teach me how to use new software (which I would formally watch videos to learn).
Besides, I really don't watch television/videos in general. I have far more important things to do with my free time like running a small business and micro homestead to live an almost fully self sufficient lifestyle. I find skimming RSS feeds and reading selected articles a far more efficient use of my free time (I only used to visit reddit for the occasional social interaction with fellow enthusiasts of whatever topic, and hope that kbin/fediverse will replace that 'itch')
I used other services before Google Reader, now I use feedly (what do you use?).
I use self-hosted FreshRSS, and Readrops on my phone to synchronize with that.
RSS is amazing for sure, especially if you can limit the firehose to specific categories that you’re interested in. The modern web does not like RSS because it’s too pure and useful, and they need to inject user engagement/algorithmic-despair into you somehow.
I try not to use ChatGPT, just because I don’t want to get addicted to relying on someone else’s service. AFAIK, ChatGPT is actually quite intensive to run, so I don’t believe in a free lunch forever there. I’m betting they’re trying to get people hooked before pulling the rug. I will start trying stuff like that if it becomes open source and self-hostable etc.
As for unique and useful Youtube videos, yeah there’s still a wrinkle there. As an example, I keep up-to-date with Matrix’s “Matrix Live” video blogs on Youtube, and I don’t think they host them anywhere else. I will be consciously limiting any interaction I have on Youtube that’s not needed though.
I don’t have a Google account so I actually just use RSS feeds for every Youtube channel and get their content delivered that way!
Youtube, I know you aren’t going to read this, but could you PLEASE make it clearer in your marketing that about half the premium sub goes to the creators?
I’m not giving you £12 a month, but giving you £6 a month and giving £6 a month to creators is something I can get behind. Like, you don’t need to be so antagonistic here, you can just lean into the “support creators!” aspect much, much more.
Huh … Out of curiosity, if as an individual I made something that did it for you, how would you feel about it if I charged a cut, and what percentage would you feel good about? Let’s assume it works through Patreon or something, and I never touch the money directly?
I’m trying to build apps and things that I think would make people’s lives better, and I kind of hate money. I don’t like spending it, I usually don’t like getting it, and I really, really hate asking for it…but I’m quickly draining through my savings, and I think I’d feel better if people were happy to offer it to me because they want to support what I’m doing.
I looked into ads since that would spread a slight annoyance, and I’d keep them subtle and with no tracking, but they kind of suck…I was thinking of ads with a paid option with no ads and little extra features like turning Twitter links to nitter, and clean builds hosted on 3rd party app stores for free for people who care about privacy.
There’s also the subscription option, and I was thinking that was asking a lot, but after reading your post maybe I didn’t factor in the convenience
I’d like to hear your take on all of it
I think everyone donates sometimes, the whole system works because a chunk of the population is like you, and sees the content and immediately feels “I need to support this”
It’s always wild to me when I see fans hounding creators to hurry up and set up a Patreon
I do just that. I give $15/mo total spread out across my top watched creators on patreon and use ublock origin and sponsorblock. I dont see any ads, creators get significantly more money, I pay roughly the same as premium. Google gets nothing. Win win win.
As well as what Mango said (I watch so many random videos, and I don’t think there’s a way to universally just give each one £1 or so), they are providing Youtube for free. Say what you want about Google, but Youtube does cost them a lot of money, and all things considered it’s a pretty well put together platform.
Yes, I’d like there to be a crowdfunded alternative, and yes I wish they weren’t so megacorpy and just let me download videos (it isn’t costing you anything if I watch a local copy!). But really, they provide a service and £6 or so is what I would consider a fair price.
Because it means more people will be using Peertube. Just like how people started jumping over to Lemmy after Reddit’s API BS, and to Mastodon after Elon Musk fucked over Twitter.
I mean technically, if you get blocked, you say that’s BS! I don’t even know what an ad blocker is! And it turns out your son installed it because you shouldn’t let sites in your browser without protection, you’ve felt you were falsely accused, but the accusation wasn’t false.
It could also be read as you feel your falsely accused, and it turns out Google had a bug, you were falsely accused, and you also felt that you were.
This entire thing is being done in an extremely hostile way though… They teach you to use clear, concise, neutral, and non-accusatory language as part of UX best practices. The proper message would be “if you feel this is in error”.
Instead of cutting the video until you turn off your ad blocker (as is the standard and looks a lot better if you), they’re using threatening sounding language and putting it in press releases. Instead of neutral terms, they’re using legalese. Instead of saying you should remove unlock because ad blockers can cause problems (which is technically true, if very misleading), they’re giving people messages saying that it slows down your browser, which is entirely untrue - blocking a dozen requests is cheaper than sending one and reading the response, let alone rendering the ad. The only way it slows down your browser is if chrome sees it in your add ons and starts Bitcoin mining in the background
The whole thing is very strange, especially since historically Google has been pretty delicate with the issue. They’ve blocked the video if the ads don’t show a few times, but quickly backed off when people made a fuss.
They also have been signaling “were going to push ad blockers off chrome” for like a year now, they announced this basically when they started doing it
I guess it’s a new age, where tech companies have given up on even pretending they respect us
The second Internet is dying, long live the fediverse
The fediverse will become niche like a lot of other forums within a couple years if FB keeps poking. What really matters is that users know that free speech is what really matters and that the only way we can win is accepting that this is worth more than internet points of any kind.
Okay, new theory: Google, Reddit, and Twitter are taking part in a breakneck race to see who can become the most hated platform on all of the internet. Within just the past few days we’ve had this three-strikes test, Elon’s new 600-Tweet reading limit, and I’m pretty sure we all know what’s going down with Reddit.
Here’s my theory - Musk met with trump in 2020, and while it seemed like he started simping for the guy, it actually woke him up to the danger the world is in.
I used to praise him because not because he was a visionary - he’s not. Rather, because he read a lot of sci-fi growing up, and got the public and investors to get excited about important tech for humanity.
He also watches anime, and in Lelouch, a sci-fi anime, Lelouch dethrones the tyrannical emperor, his father. He starts as a populist hero, starting a grassroots resistance. He frees Japan, then works his way to the emperor enthroned in Britain .
He keeps going, taking the last few countries still free from Britannia though incredibly ruthless methods. He takes over the world, and starts to act like a tyrant, uniting the world in hatred against himself. He then arranges his friend, a popular war hero, to very publicly assassinate him
The world is now at peace - he demilitarized it to “secure his rule”. The people are hopeful, they’re finally free from tyranny - but they remember it well. There’s no leaders and they’ll need to organize, but not under an individual.
He became a symbol to take on everyone’s hatred, a powerful reminder of the dangers of giving away authority. And while it seemed like he was destroying everything in his way, everything he did removed threats that would make it harder to build a kinder, better world.
It’s called the zero requiem - and I’ve been joking since Musk was locked into buying Twitter that this is what he’s doing.
But damn if he hasn’t followed that script - not only is he going down along with Twitter, but he managed to convince all the big corporate networks to turn on their users too.
When he announced they would remove blocking it started to be less of a joke, that sounds dumb on every level… But this isn’t just killing the cash cow, this is doing it with explosives so no one can even use the meat. No way no one ran the numbers against metrics and told him just how crazy and stupid this is… He’s weaning the users off Twitter even as he makes it even more user hostile
Everything Google has done since the end of the, “Don’t be evil”, days has made me want less and less to do with them. I’ve been trying to scrub them from my life for a bit now, the only two things I still use being Gmail and YouTube. Though I’m pretty close to cutting those ties as well now. I just wish more the creators i liked weren’t only on there.
Unfortunately yeah, at best right now there are other places you can go for some of the same content, but most creators are exclusive to YouTube. It’s part of the reason I can’t get completely away from Google yet.
hah. no. not on a platform where the lead thinks serving you a good dozen unskippable ads to test your patience is a fun little experiment. sure is the year of big platforms trying everything to get rid of users
In cases when viewers feel they have been falsely flagged as using an ad blocker, they can share this feedback by clicking on the link in the prompt.
and you can bet that ill (ab)use that. might as well make it just a bit harder for them
I already don't see ads and don't subscribe, but I legitimately get $12/month of good from YouTube. I'd be willing to pay that for the service they make available. None of the other streaming services available are as useful to me.
However, right now it's hard for Google to data-mine me. Getting YouTube Premium means linking my identity to YouTube activity, and makes it easier for Google to build their profile of me. I don't want that. If Google were to say that this means no logging, no data-mining of YouTube Premium customers, I'd be a lot more amenable to subscribing.
I never watched Youtube much until I started using Invidious. How about they make their experience non-shit first? Ads aside, it's just so much more pleasant to use a UI that doesn't lag nor try to bombard my attention span at every chance.
When I watch YouTube on my TV, I just hit the “skip ad” button. If they take that button away, I’ll probably stop going to YouTube, unless it’s someone doing a live thing.
I think -- and I don't claim familiarity with the details of each company's situation -- that this may have something of a common cause.
As long as investment dollars are readily available and growth possible, it makes sense to stay in "growth" phase, burn investment dollars, lose money, grow userbase.
Once they are not, then it becomes more important to switch to monetizing the userbase that has been built up.
My understanding is that the post-COVID-19 environment -- with higher interest rates, tighter capital -- is less-amenable to obtaining investments for growth. And all tech companies will be affected by that, will tend to shift away from "burn easily-available now capital to try to increase revenue later" more into generating revenue.
Cory Doctorow described this phenomenon best with his "enshittification" stuff. First platforms give all their surplus value to their uses to drive adoption, then they shift it to their customers once the users are locked in, then they shift it to themselves once their customers are also locked in, so at the end you have a platform that's not serving the users or the customers, only the shareholders.
Yeah, the big spike in interest rates is causing all the big tech players to make the pivot to enshittified profitability fast enough that it’s way more visible than usual.
Either this is the year where people start to realize you can do things without a profit motive, or the fediverse is destined to be like irc - too good to die, too scary to grow
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