Ever since around 2017, I have not visited (or even seen) the contemporary Youtube site.

I had been using a combination of Invidious and yt-dlp (youtube-dl).

Just within the last year or two, Google has been making efforts to obstruct these tools. This can most clearly be seen with Invidious, currently suffering from a generic “This helps protect our community” error message.

It has got me thinking that Google might eventually succeed in extinguishing these islands of safety that I’ve so enjoyed.

People who still use raw, unmitigated Youtube today; how much of a hellscape has it become?

  • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    Depends on how patient you are.

    If you’re a patient person, its annoying but fine for the most part. If you have no patience, you’ll think its completely unusable.

  • dan1101@lemm.ee
    1·
    3 months ago

    Pretty bad on my Roku. It really discourages you from watching more than a few videos. If I start a 10 min video and it wants to play 1 min of ads first I just go Back and hot play again, usually the ad length will get shorter. Usually have to do that 2 or 3 times to get to an ad I can skip after 5 or 10 seconds.

    It’s too bad because Roku is good for everything else, fast UI and nice clean remote.

  • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
    1·
    3 months ago

    So far, YouTube itself with uBlock Origin (Firefox) and SponsorBlock is working swimmingly.

    Until they ban Firefox and/or proper adblockers I’m still using it, and everything works as intended.

  • unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I endure it at work because I can’t just modify everything to my liking. Lots of political ads lately. Use the hardware mute button when you start the video. Alt-tab to whatever tedious spreadsheet or page of code. Come back and restart the video in two minutes.

    • abbadon420@lemm.ee
      1·
      3 months ago

      Same. Back when there was just a single ad at the beginning of a video and you could skip it after only 10 seconds, I would just mute and look away from my phone for 10 seconds (counting out loud). Those days are gone. The petty “look away” is almost becoming a petty “go get some groceries”.

  • Saltarello@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I only witness it whenever any of my work colleagues anyone with a phone wants to show me a video. Always have to sit through ads before & during the video. Absolutely horrific. Mind you they also have to close multiple pop up ads in every app they ever use on their phone. I couldn’t live with it & not learn how to deal with it

    • LunchMoneyThief@links.hackliberty.orgOPEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Even without ads, the act of showing videos mid-conversation has never been a smooth interaction IME. Best not to fumble with devices while trying to talk with somebody.

  • Eiri@lemmy.ca
    0·
    3 months ago

    On mobile, it’s very bearable. You can skip them quickly.

    On TV, oh boy. It’s super long and now you have to skip several times in an ad block to reduce your ad duration to the minimum.

    As for desktop… Idk I only sit at my desk for work.