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

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I hate how this trend of "I'll make my service shit so you'll pay more for the not as shit version" seems to work out for these companies

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

"Here is how platforms die: First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"I'll put in enough ads to actually support your usage habits and you can pay if you want to not deal with them"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm not specifically talking about ads. Things like stopping your playlist every 15 minutes and telling you that maybe you should pay for YouTube music or "free" software that is practically impossible to use until you pay for a subscription are examples of what I'm talking about