The Enshittification of the Internet

[monadnocky]

I have no sympathy for advertising companies (and youtube is merely advertising presented in another manner), but one can get rid of all the ads by paying youtube.

At its core, the capitalist system is almost always quid pro quo. Youtube delivers content that is not free to host and transmit, and ads are just one of the ways to pay for it (another one being a subscription fee paid). To expect not to pay anything while still getting something in return is not a particularly solid moral ground on which to stand.

I'll gladly pay a fee if I knew that most of it was going to the content providers whom I watch (in fact, I've donated directly to several of those providers). I understand that there's a cost associated with hosting content on Google's end, but I have a sneaky suspicion that whatever subscription is paid, a disproportionate amount of that subscription goes to them and not the content provider in a fair and reasonably equitable manner (I really have no idea, I've never created anything to upload and only have a vague idea how it works). As I mentioned, I don't mind in-line advertising content that is usually (at least tangentially related) to the topic I'm watching - at best I'll have a look; at worst I'll just fast forward.

I'm not really into making one of the richest companies in the world any richer. So perhaps not solid moral ground, but I'm not terribly concerned about their bottom line, and the morality of blocking endless T-Mobile ads doesn't keep me up at night. And, at the end of the day, they're profiting immensely off of my data anyway, in a morally dubious manner that clicking "agree" by the user hardly mitigates.

[72gmc]

^^^ I believe your suspicion is borne out by the fact that so many YT content providers with high subscriber numbers also run a Patreon with incentives (usually early access to new videos)

[monadnocky]

^^^ I believe your suspicion is borne out by the fact that so many YT content providers with high subscriber numbers also run a Patreon with incentives (usually early access to new videos)

I reckon you're right. Although I'm so old and unsaavy I only have a vague notion of what Patreon even IS - I'm talking donating to organizations/ people I like using a credit card!

[echappist]

I'll gladly pay a fee if I knew that most of it was going to the content providers whom I watch (in fact, I've donated directly to several of those providers). I understand that there's a cost associated with hosting content on Google's end, but I have a sneaky suspicion that whatever subscription is paid, a disproportionate amount of that subscription goes to them and not the content provider in a fair and reasonably equitable manner (I really have no idea, I've never created anything to upload and only have a vague idea how it works). As I mentioned, I don't mind in-line advertising content that is usually (at least tangentially related) to the topic I'm watching - at best I'll have a look; at worst I'll just fast forward.

I'm not really into making one of the richest companies in the world any richer. So perhaps not solid moral ground, but I'm not terribly concerned about their bottom line, and the morality of blocking endless T-Mobile ads doesn't keep me up at night. And, at the end of the day, they're profiting immensely off of my data anyway, in a morally dubious manner that clicking "agree" by the user hardly mitigates.

Bumping this.
And now, YouTube, in its ceaseless striving to transform itself into something utterly crap from something that was fairly cool, will no longer play videos with ad blockers enabled.
Goodbye, YouTube. Oh - and eat sh*t.

There are several parties here: the viewers, the medium (Youtube), and the content creator.

I do not know enough about the content creators to be able to opine, but your post #7 above was used to bump this thread solely b/c youtube has disabled ad-blockers.

Which is why I mentioned paying so that one doesn't have to view the ads. It's highly likely that the monthly payment to AlphaBet is likely higher than what various entities pay AlphaBet to have their ads shown, but at the end of the day, if the question is whether one could be free from such bothersome and intrusive eyesores, the answer is yes.

And it should probably be noted here that intrusive advertising isn't just an internet thing: it's an American thing. I didn't quite understand how intrusive they were until I wanted to watch some BBC programming on BBC America, with 60-minute worth of footage gets chopped up and extended to 80 minutes to accommodate ads.

I guess I'm "fortunate" in the sense that I'm at a point in life where I don't mind shelling out extra to be free of nuisance, but I think it's quite worth it.

Which is not to say that I always pay for the ad-free tier service for my subscriptions, but rather, the stuff I watch (soccer) really isn't all that amenable to intrusive ads, and as such I never need to watch any ads.

[vertical_doug]

Aren’t we suppose to use tik tok now? Its content is shorter and even more dumb. Isn’t social media content a race to the bottom.

[claritycycler]

I "liked" one of the above posts agreeing that too much time is spent on tube, this was my feeling regarding the time I spend on tube. Having vids available as diy lessons is great, especially for visual learners, one just has to sift through the bs and find a knowledgable presenter. I have a young nephew I am mentoring on construction and mechanics, mostly just basic stuff, and I often direct him to ut vids I feel are very informative/well done. My personal issue is I get sucked down the rabbit hole after finishing my initial/on task viewing(oh that looks interesting, click), that's where my time could be spent more productively. It is entertainment of sorts but still....that time could put to better use.

[j44ke]

I "liked" one of the above posts agreeing that too much time is spent on tube, this was my feeling regarding the time I spend on tube. Having vids available as diy lessons is great, especially for visual learners, one just has to sift through the bs and find a knowledgable presenter. I have a young nephew I am mentoring on construction and mechanics, mostly just basic stuff, and I often direct him to ut vids I feel are very informative/well done. My personal issue is I get sucked down the rabbit hole after finishing my initial/on task viewing(oh that looks interesting, click), that's where my time could be spent more productively. It is entertainment of sorts but still....that time could put to better use.

There is a channel called Escape to Rural France. The guy is restoring a turn of the century chateau/villa after neglect and a fire that destroyed the roof and weakened multi-story masonry walls. Where are the building inspectors? Kind of terrifying.

[bironi]

This is the type of public material that has been lost by the En-thang.



And it aint just the music front, it's on every front.
If you don't make money, it's got no place on these waves.
That's been the story for how many years?
Content just disappears, but there's something shiny over there to check out.
Check it out.