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ikidd , to technology in DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.
@ikidd@lemmy.world avatar

Default part of the Piped interface, BTW, along with Sponsorblock.

Blackmist , to technology in DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.

When you browse Netflix, they use different thumbnails for the movies depending on the profile they’ve made for you. Even if it’s as blatant as “white person from the movie”/“black person from the movie”. If you ignore a movie for long enough, sometimes they even swap it out for a different image to trick you into watching it.

I’m amazed that YouTube doesn’t try and do this somehow. Instead, every video somehow has the same stupid thumbnails of arrows, meaningless text and gormless faces, and I hate it.

But then I block all ads anyway, so it may be that they’re actively trying to make me go away.

DarkThoughts ,

I'm amazed that YouTube doesn't try and do this somehow.

They do. They even give the creator statistics on which thumbnail generated more clicks (completely ignoring other factors so it's a misleading metric anyway).

MrScottyTay ,

There’s no active a/b testing though. The creators have to specifically change the thumbnail for everyone at once. From what I understand.

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

They do exactly this. You’ve never seen the same video appear twice, and the second time it has a different title and thumbnail? That’s how they figured out how effective clickbait is.

SilentStorms ,

YouTube let’s creators A/B test different thumbnails, but they can’t upload a bunch of them to feed to different demographics or automatically cycle them like Netflix does. I’m sure that’s coming though.

Omniraptor , (edited )

To be fair it’s not a mysterious “they”, it’s just an option available for channel owners to set alternative thumbnails and then check which does better. I don’t think YouTube does this by itself if the uploader doesn’t enable it

DarkThoughts , to technology in DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.

It's no one's fault. It's a system that creates a race to the bottom.

Hard disagree. It's everyone's fault who actually supports the practice in some form or another.

DeArrow hopes to stop this cycle. It's time to return to a more peaceful experience.

It would just "hide" the clickbait, which would cause people who block clickbait, to suddenly click on clickbait, further supporting the clickbait norm through additional clicks that weren't there before.

GhostlyPixel , to technology in DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.
@GhostlyPixel@lemmy.world avatar

I loved the idea of this extension and used it for a few months, but ended up disabling it because it made YouTube take significantly longer to load a page on my daily laptop, which admittedly is pretty old.

yamanii , to technology in DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.
@yamanii@lemmy.world avatar

That example, losing the artwork of the Kurzgesagt videos is pretty bad though.

ChairmanMeow ,
@ChairmanMeow@programming.dev avatar

Is it? The original artwork was fairly clickbaity imo.

ajay , (edited )

It replaces it with the much more pleasing artwork from the actual video. Someone has gone through and picked nice frames for many of those videos.

Sir_Premiumhengst , to technology in DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.

This is genuinely amazing. Thanks!!

kratoz29 , to technology in DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.
@kratoz29@lemm.ee avatar

Hmm I wasn’t aware it “fixes” titles as well… I am using it on Smart Tube to have better thumbnails, do I have to activate this myself to correct titles as well?

Anyway 99% of my ST usage (aside watching videos, as in, adding stuff to watch later) comes from my Shield TV home screen, I add stuff there to “My List” Shield row based on my recommendations row… And I am pretty sure DeArrow does not work there, only within the app :/

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