Youtube let the other shoe drop in their end-stage enshittification this week. Last month, they required you to turn on Youtube History to view the feed of youtube videos recommendations. That seems reasonable, so I did it. But I delete my history every 1 week instead of every 3 months. So they don’t get much from my choices. It still did a pretty good job of showing me stuff I was interested in watching.

Then on Oct 1, they threw up a “You’re using an Ad Blocker” overlay on videos. I’d use my trusty Overlay Remover plugin to remove the annoying javascript graphic and watch what I wanted. I didn’t have to click the X to dismiss the obnoxious page.

Last week, they started placing a timer with the X so you had to wait 5 seconds for the X to appear so you could dismiss blocking graphic.

Today, there was a new graphic. It allowed you to view three videos before you had to turn off your Ad Blocker. I viewed a video 3 times just to see what happens.

Now all I see is this.

Google has out and out made it a violation of their ToS to have an ad blocker to view Youtube. Or you can pay them $$$.

I ban such sites from my systems by replacing their DNS name in my hosts file routed to 127.0.0.1 which means I can’t view the site. I have quite a few banned sites now.

  • maaj@lemmy.caEnglish
    4216·
    9 months ago

    Well, would ya look at Mr/Ms moneybags over here.

    If you’re broke like me, get libretube on PC and newpipe on Android.

    If you’re on iOS, may Satan have mercy on your souls.

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.worldEnglish
      164·
      9 months ago

      I’ll admit I make good money. I work in software.

      But I’ve been paying that since before I was making good money. Again, this is my music streaming platform. I would be paying $10/month to Spotify if I weren’t paying $14/month to YouTube.

      (Actually I looked into my subscription while typing this, and I’m still paying the grandfathered price of $9.99/month for YouTube Premium. Pretty sweet, that.)

        • TheRealKuni@lemmy.worldEnglish
          81·
          9 months ago

          That’s a shame, but the benefits still outweigh the cost in my mind. I hate ads, so what I get out of a YouTube Premium subscription is far more than what I get from Netflix or Max.

          (And I realize I can get all of this for free by going around the TOS, but if I have the money I might as well support the service.)

    • N-E-N@lemmy.caEnglish
      145·
      9 months ago

      Not really being reasonable. I don’t make much above min wage but buy YT Premium

    • oKtosiTe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      9 months ago

      Using AdGuard and Vinegar to use YouTube in Safari, I can’t remember when I last saw an ad. It’s not ideal, but it works well enough.

    • coffinwood@feddit.deEnglish
      57·
      9 months ago

      But your “solution” sounds like you don’t contribute at all. Especially none of the content creators gets a dime out of your consumption.

      • maaj@lemmy.caEnglish
        63·
        9 months ago

        Lol, fuck em. Actually, fuck them and Google. I’m broke, they aren’t, so fuck em. The world is on the brink of another major war and you want me to pay for some shit that Google has plenty of funds to cover. Fuck em.

        Edit: I paid for a Google pixel, so they’re getting ad revenue from me in other ways. They can use said ad revenue (as miniscule as I attempt to make it) to pay the content creators.

    • Rengoku@lemm.eeEnglish
      14·
      9 months ago

      If you are broke you are better off using your time outside fediverse or social media to make extra money.

      • maaj@lemmy.caEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        Or maybe you can mind your fucking business. I’m studying 6-7 hours daily.