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PSA To people watching YouTube with AdBlockers

You might have noticed that even on Firefox (depending on your lists) YouTube may detect uBlock Origin on Firefox now

There’s already a workaround (found, again, here), but I figured I would use this opportunity to tell people that projects like Piped and Invidious exist, which both allow you to watch YouTube without loading their ads, with improved Privacy and (in the case of Piped) even Geoblocking-Circumvention and SponsorBlock out of the box.

They’re both great tools, and using something like LibRedirect you can even automatically go to Piped or Invidious when clicking/opening a YouTube link (and more).

Both don’t load ads, but unless changed in the settings Individous may still make connections to Google/YouTube to load the video(s) themselves.

Bit of a shameless plug for these projects, but I figured this is a really good time to show these projects as I often see people asking what they are in threads on here

yuunikki ,

deleted_by_author

    •
    grumpyrico ,

    Watching Videos without adds and keeping your data private is the point.

    Glad i can help

    yuunikki ,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    grumpyrico ,

    Just get premium then … Sorry to tell ya

    yuunikki ,

    As if I’d pay for YouTube

    grumpyrico ,

    You’re funny

    rush OP ,

    me when I loose my downloads — locally saved downloads from YouTube — after 3 days of inactivity

    rush OP ,

    No, but subscriptions can be imported manually.

    The point is to not load tracking tech YouTube ships with as well as staying relatively anonymous.

    Iam ,

    Libredirect is really nice. Question: Can it bypass the front page without being turned off, then back on for links opened in tabs etc? Can’t work out if it can.

    rush OP ,

    The extension menu has “redirect” and “back to original” buttons (or something similar, can’t check cuz I’m on mobile rn)

    You could use this to visit the homepage and then let new tabs/videos redirect

    jack ,

    Piped.video and LibreTube never work for me, very unreliable.

    smollittlefrog ,

    In LibreTube, you can go to

    
<span style="color:#323232;">Settings > Instance > Disable Piped proxy
</span>

    I only ever had issues with the piped proxy, not with the app itself.

    aradgus ,

    for piped i just use an other host from that list and it works totaly fine github.com/TeamPiped/Piped/wiki/Instances

    rush OP ,

    Piped.video is the official instance, but there’s more

    piped.adminforge.de and piped.smnz.de have relatively high uptime and quick fixes in my experience.

    jack ,

    Thanks for the hint, much better

    Lemmling ,

    Thank you! I am making a comment so I can find this thread later.

    glibg10b ,

    Why not just save the post?

    Lemmling ,

    I see the option now, Thanks 😄

    chase ,
    @chase@midwest.social avatar

    I have really enjoyed Invidious in the past, but anytime I had to switch to a new server, I had to re-import all of my subscriptions, re-select my favorite channels, re-create my playlists, and re-update my preferred settings. While that doesn’t sound too bad, it got annoying as it happened numerous times and I eventually gave up. If there’s any way to make all of that easier/more streamlined, I may give it a try again. For now, I’m using a tweaked version of the iOS YouTube app and Freetube on desktop.

    spark947 ,

    Are their any downsides to self hosting this stuff?

    ebenixo ,

    yea just stop opening youtube urls period. i didn’t know bout libredirect thanks, there is addons.mozilla.org/en-US/…/invidioucious/ too

    flop_leash_973 ,

    In my opinion anything that is just a frontend for Youtube is just a bandaid, and if they get to much attention Google will make using them increasingly untenable.

    The real answer is moving to competing platforms outside of Googles control.

    newIdentity ,

    That’s not possible though. There simply is no content on other platforms and they generally aren’t as good as YouTube and probably never will be.

    The only platform I could see to rival YouTube in the future is Twitch

    AProfessional ,

    YouTube is insanely large in size and scope but…

    The key is just a platform that actually pays creators.

    Nebula is one I expect to succeed for its niche.

    Something like Floatplane with direct subscriptions is an option too.

    newIdentity ,

    Yeah haven’t thought of that, but they aren’t really YouTube alternatives. You don’t use them instead of YouTube, but as an addition.

    AProfessional ,

    Absolutely but I think it’s a good start. Alternatives have to start growing somehow.

    euphoric_cat ,
    @euphoric_cat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    newIdentity ,

    They aren’t as good as YouTube though and that’s the problem. YouTube isn’t great. It’s just the best platform like this that we have.

    euphoric_cat ,
    @euphoric_cat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    newIdentity ,

    You’ve never uploaded a video to YouTube have you? Their creator tools are actually incredible and their stats are a good way to tune their videos. Of course you shouldn’t completely rely on them.

    Also it isn’t just the content. I rather use YouTube over Odysse, even if it’s the same content. It’s such a better experience, especially on mobile. Odysee is on the level YouTube was 10 years ago.

    Also making a free video streaming site isn’t really profitable. I don’t know if YouTube still isn’t profitable, but I’ve read reports from 2015 that it still wasn’t profitable.

    It makes sense that they now try to push things that make them money. They wouldn’t push ads so hard if they weren’t desperate.

    euphoric_cat ,
    @euphoric_cat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    newIdentity ,

    But most people aren’t you.

    euphoric_cat ,
    @euphoric_cat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    newIdentity ,

    Most people want a great discovering and viewing experience and a good looking and smooth UI.

    Odysee is buggy as hell.

    spader312 ,

    Nebula at least for educational content

    clb92 ,

    Nebula has about 10.000 videos, from only select creators. Youtube has around 1 billion videos, and everyone can upload. Nebula is not actually a Youtube alternative unless you’re in one of two specific target audiences:

    1. Already established educational content creator looking for alternative platform
    2. Person watching educational video content and not much else

    I don’t see Nebula opening up their site to everyone and letting anyone upload content any time soon, and for that reason I don’t see them as a Youtube competitor at all. They’ve found their niche with curated quality over quantity.

    Fun fact: The difference between 10.000 and 1 billion is… around 1 billion.

    Double_A ,
    @Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

    I wouldn’t really mind a smaller pool of videos, if it’s guaranteed to have a standard of quality.

    I’d even pay for YouTube if they offered such a service, where they curate their creators. E.g. I sometimes like to watch repair channels where someone tinkers with something. I have a handful of channels that I like for that… but what if there are many more that I just can’t find?

    HerrLewakaas ,

    Lemmy users are just delusional in that regard. You can’t just switch away from Google, its not the tech that makes in great, its the content. It’s the same with messengers, if your friends arent there how useful is that foss messenger really?

    Thankfully the only creator I regularly watch that does non-educational videos uploads them on their own website. For everything else nebula actually is an alternative, although I’m not subscribed to it at the moment

    Kevnyon ,
    @Kevnyon@lemmy.world avatar

    It’s the same with messengers, if your friends arent there how useful is that foss messenger really?

    This is so difficult. How many people would be willing to switch to Signal or Wickr for one friend? And then what if none of their friends don’t want to switch? And then the friends of those people, etc. Trying to switch workgroups, family, friends and all of their friends as well is a lost cause, it would never happen.

    octochamp ,

    that’s why what we really need is guaranteed service interoperability!

    pca.st/…/d79ca535-186c-4ee0-b658-165a148dcca5

    Kase ,

    Maybe it’s unlikely for this to happen, but I wonder if it’d be possible for yt to go down like reddit did. Yt makes a series of bad decisions, so a lot of people move from there to similar platforms. The other services don’t have much content right now, but from what I here, neither did Lemmy before the “exodus.”

    I get that reddit and youtube are very different types of platforms and that the whole reddit thing happened because of pretty specific circumstances, but idk, maybe something vaguely similar could happen.

    SoBoredAtWork ,

    “go down like Reddit did” … But did Reddit “go down”? It definitely lost users and content quality dropped, but still, everyone I talk to (that isn’t a total nerd like us lemmings) still uses Reddit and has no idea what Lemmy is.

    UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT ,

    I was going to try and contradict you, but I guess most of the people I know well IRL are also total nerds

    SoBoredAtWork ,

    Yeah. I introduced my wife to Reddit (she knew of it but didn’t use it until I kinda showed her how great it is (was)). Now her family and friends use it too. They all heard about the drama but didn’t seem to care or understand and they all still use Reddit.

    fosstulate ,
    @fosstulate@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

    You should refer her to Cory Doctorow’s writing, namely his concept of enshittification. He’s one of the most effective political communicators alive today. If anyone can get her to understand the import of the issues surrounding Reddit’s Simple Jack routine, it’s him.

    SoBoredAtWork ,

    I’m going to check it out. Thanks!

    Kase ,

    Y’know, good point. I haven’t actually been on reddit since the blackout, so I probably shouldn’t be confidently basing any theories on just what I’ve heard about now-reddit from other people, lol. Thanks for the correction.

    I guess my idea of how much reddit “fell” and how much Lemmy/Mastodon grew is a bit inflated, probably because I spend all my internet time here now.

    SoBoredAtWork ,

    (copy/pasted my response to another comment)

    Yeah. I introduced my wife to Reddit (she knew of it but didn’t use it until I kinda showed her how great it is (was)). Now her family and friends use it too. They all heard about the drama but didn’t seem to care or understand and they all still use Reddit.

    reinar ,
    @reinar@distress.digital avatar

    Yt makes a series of bad decisions

    It’s not like it’s making any bad decisions right now. Pretty calculated, I’d say - they feel safe market-wise, so they can increase amount of ads/fight ad-blockers/push people to buy subscription.

    Kase ,

    Oh yeah I don’t disagree. The wording was unclear, but I meant that more in the future/hypothetical tense. It just seems like that’s what all the big social media sites have been doing lately, so I was assuming that yt’s quality will take a nosedive sooner or later, but I guess it’s unfair (and hopefully wrong) to assume that. Thx for the correction

    reinar ,
    @reinar@distress.digital avatar

    I get where you are coming from, however it’s important to remember that big players are not equal - they have really, really different people in the leadership. Elmo is just a too-big-to-fall clown with insane ego, spez is a manchild who took VC money like there’s no tomorrow and in the end had no idea how to provide ROI, but youtube is ran by very competent people with solid track record and deep pockets.

    Maybe they are not too innovative business-wise recently… but they are good at catching up (except live streaming - screen layout is dogshit and nobody wants to get hyped in their tiny chatbox from a fucking google account with family photo as an avatar) and at leveraging what they already have, which is quite a lot, tbh.

    Double_A ,
    @Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

    First reddit didn’t go down, despite having an user base which had some kind of a brain.

    While YouTube has everyone as users. Even like the most normie, boomer, zoomer users that think YouTube is the internet. No way they are going to switch for ideological reasons, unless the app just stops working.

    sphere_au ,

    The alternative exists, but it costs money. Most big YouTuber accounts (at least the ones I’m subscribed to) post on either Nebula, Patreon or some platform like that. It would cost quite a lot to subscribe to them all, but still less than YouTube premium in my country. So in the worst case scenario where YouTube really blocks all ad free interfaces except paid use, that’s my answer. I don’t like it as I think a lot of the content is overpriced for what it is, but it’s better than having $$$ swallowed up by some mega corporation that is just interested in screwing authors and viewers over as much as possible.

    rush OP ,

    Currently that is quite hard, because despite YouTube being an utterly insane business model it has prevailed so far.

    I would love for an alternative, I personally really like PeerTube and the Fediverse in general, but mass adoption ain’t there yet :(

    TheWozardOfIz ,

    Do these work for live shows?

    pineapplelover ,

    Yes. I use piped through libretube and it works for live videos.

    yoz ,

    Thanks mate

    guyrocket ,
    @guyrocket@kbin.social avatar

    Piped <> New pipe legacy?

    jlow ,

    Is Libredirect working good for you? Every few month I turn it on for a couple of services (YT, Wikipedia, Reddit, Github, Twitchan) and turn it off after a few days because I can’t be bothered trying to find instances that work, it’s just a constant pain for me.

    rush OP ,

    It works well, services not working is more about websites trying to block these tools, and I try to be understanding of the issues.

    jlow ,

    Yeah, fair enough.

    zeroshift11 ,

    Ad Block Plus Chrome extension still works perfectly for me.

    MomoTimeToDie ,

    Am I just insanely lucky or something? I just use chrome and it hasn’t complained about my adblock once, and I watch a lot of YouTube.

    Lumun ,
    @Lumun@lemmy.zip avatar

    You are probably lucky, for now. I’m pretty sure they are rolling it out in waves. Boiling the frog and all that.

    Thorny_Insight ,

    They’re probably A/B testing it on only part of the users. I didn’t get it for a long time either, but when it appeared the first time it just kept showing up again and again after that.

    worsedoughnut ,
    @worsedoughnut@lemdro.id avatar

    I’m all for this post, but I feel like someone needs to ask: What features from Youtube am I losing out on by using these alternate front-ends? (instead of just continuing the cat-and-mouse game between uBlock Origin and Google while at leat preserving the same features and UI that we’re already very mu ch comfortable with)

    rush OP , (edited )

    You lose:

    • Your existing YouTube account, which can only be manually imported (subscriptions)
    • Account-Based/Algorithmic Homescreen recommendations
    • Some higher resolutions (e.g 4K) (very dependant on instance, I don’t have a list of instances with their max resolutions)
    • The UI will be somewhat different, but not necessarily hard to navigate
    • probably more random stuff idk
    Crass_Spektakel ,
    @Crass_Spektakel@lemmy.world avatar

    I just want to point out there are some plugins and scripts to use Youtube from VLC. The “Library” then works as a search frontend. It is supercool though I can’t find the link at the moment. I remember I had to download some scripts manually and place them into my VLC-Installation. Another bone: Massively reduced CPU power. Playing a Youtube-Video in Firefox needs like four times more power. Really nice if you work on battery.

    Retrograde ,
    @Retrograde@lemmy.world avatar

    Aw man this sounds excellent, pls do tell if you end up finding the info :)

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