this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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The creators of SponsorBlock did it again, now we can crowdsource better titles and thumbnails as well. I just tried it with LinusTechTips who is a worst offender when it comes to clickbait and its really great.

Compare without DeArrow

and with the extension

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

Clickbait has this singular capacity to make one feel treated as a simple primate. Such a relieving comparison.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The removal of the custom thumbnail is refreshing. No more wired reactions with an arrow pointing at something.

I'm going to give this a try. The sponsorblock people have great ideas!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Holy shit! This is amazing! But how will I ever know what's REALLY IMPORTANT without ALL CAPS and a shitton of BANGS?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't forget the USELESS FUCKING ARROWS.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Unless it's pointing to a red circle.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've already noticed a couple videos where the corrected title made me more interested in the video than the clickbait title. Hope this extension takes off!

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If I still used YT's main front-end, this would've been great.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

SponsorBlock has been added to alternative frontends as well, so there is a good chance DeArrow will be ported.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What are you using? Freetube or something else?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I'm using an Invidious instance.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This made me realize how much I hate the YouTube metagame.

It would be awesome if this could be ported to ReVanced

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I tried it. It works well. But, I don't think I will use it, because I usually know YouTubers to avoid when it comes to clickbaiting. Looking at you, Scotty Kilmer. :)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It seems no matter how many channels I block there's always more annoying eyesore thumbnails, so this is fantastic.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Feels like we're back on youtube in its early form, more organic. great idea i'm downloading it

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Given that SponsorBlock is in Youtube ReVanced, do you think this will be included in ReVanced in the Future?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Your best bet is to ask developers yourself.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

After Mastodon and Lemmy I think need a federated youtube alternative now too. Yes, I know PeerTube exists, I just need it to get a nice boost in attention just like the other got.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Video hosting is way more resource intensive (and therefore expensive) than text and even the most image filled of Lemmy communities

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (9 children)

This extension is free, forever, for anyone who installs it during the beta. Yes, that means there will be a paywall for new users only in the future, but I promise that there will still be a way to for people to get free access. Of course the extension will always remain fully open source, with a publicly downloadable database, just like SponsorBlock.

I'm a bit confused what this means / will mean. A paywall but also still alternative free access?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Awesome, it's like Clickbate Remover +.

If it works half as well as SponsorBlock I'll be a happy man.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I was genuinely surprised how well SponsorBlock works. I was assuming it to skip the sponsored sections only on accounts with millions of subscribers but in reality it almost never fails.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly I'd probably be the type to be like "yeah I hate click bait!" Download this, and then stop watching videos entirely because they all look really boring

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

When it removes the entirety of LTT from YouTube it will worth a try. There isn't much in this world that makes me seethe but that plonker is one.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I kinda like LTT materials, especially with Anthony but this extension is a godsend as I always hated their crappy thumbnails and titles.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't aware of that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

LTT makes good videos that are hidden behind obnoxious thumbnails. I hate how it's sometimes impossible to tell what a video is about because the title is so vague, but I understand why they do it. He has a company to run, he has employees to pay. He has said multiple times that he doesn't like it, but it would be a stupid to not do it because a bright colored thumbnail with a face going :O gets way more views than anything else. Clickbait haters are such a small minority that it's worth doing because 95% of people don't care

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

He has said multiple times that he doesn't like it, but it would be a stupid to not do it

Most youtubers don't like it, but the numbers don't lie: it works.

If your business model requires clicks and views, you are pretty much forced to do what is proven to work.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A few weeks ago they did a video about mech keyboards, without the face or clickbait title, and it was performing much worse after 3 days than even the daily video. The difference was in the hundreds of thousands of views.

Even now, it is one of the worst in terms of views from the past month (excluding the last 3 days, which will probably increase in views still) with 1.1M views, against the 2nd lowest which has 1.2M views, but it is a video about Mac gaming, and that isn't a particularly performing topic.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I get that people can find him annoying, but that plonker's video on dashcams actually helped me make a properly informed choice that literally saved me hundreds of dollars AND ensured I got something that actually had higher fidelity recording than many devices multiple times its price.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

This one will additionally use user submitted titles and thumbnails when available instead of just random ones.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't see where I can submit titles on a video page?

For SponsorBlock there's a button in the video player toolbar.

The demo video shows a button on the video description title. But I don't see one (on a video that has no DeArrow data yet).

Are submissions not open yet?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I really like this, and I will probably use it, but I hate clickbate thumbnails with a passion and avoid them as much as I can.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just out of curiosity, how do you determine what is and isn't clickbait?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'd like to know this as well. The extension looks super interesting, but how does it determine what to replace the thumbnail and title with?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

It uses user submitted titles and thumbnails if they are available. If not, it uses a random frame from the video as a thumbnail and applies some rules to the title (like no caps etc.).

For example a LTT video from yesterday:

Original title: 'Only YOU can fix GPU pricing... Here's how!'

Replaced title: 'How to find a good deal on a used GPU'

And about the thumbnails, just take a look on YouTube. In general I mean 😄

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Like the existing "Clickbait Remover" addon, I believe it just removes formatting (caps lock, exclamation marks, other symbols and emojis) of the video title and swaps the custom thumbnail with either a thumbnail of the beginning, middle or end of the video (youtube provides thumbnails for various points in videos).

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Now THIS will be useful.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Oh nice, thank you for making this and Sponsorblock Ajay, what a great person.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

If this ever gets ported for NewPipe and/or LibreTube it'll be sensational

The fact that it exists makes me happy :]

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