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submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by DanTDM@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

I have an extension that can individually disable all the most useless/addicting components of the Youtube site, such as shorts and whatnot. On the search page, I have turned on:

hide Shorts

hide For You

hide Trending

hide 'People Also Searched For'

hide Search Categories

hide Promoted Videos

hide Promoted Websites

hide Suggested Products

Do you know what Youtube has started doing? They are now inserting engagement slop DIRECTLY into the search results, as seen in the image above. It's literally a short, yet it's inserted like a video so you're forced to see it. The only possible way to remove it is by using a privacy frontend, as even on incognito mode, Youtube will look at the three videos you've watched and start inserting shit based off that.

Louis Rossman is right, they all have rapist mentalities... "just let me stick it in"

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[-] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 252 points 6 months ago

I’ve noticed that the search results are getting less and less relevant to what I’m actually looking for. I guess one day the search bar will disappear like the headphone jack of the iPhone.

[-] Lev_Astov@lemmy.world 28 points 6 months ago

They're so brave.

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[-] BaumGeist@lemmy.ml 118 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Louis Rossman is my Alex Jones. He's angry, compelling, and talking about something that makes him seen like a conspiracy theorist to normies. Unlike Jones, though, he's usually right (if not always, I haven't fact checked everything he's ever said). It's extremely cathartic to see someone use such extreme rhetoric to talk about privacy and software ownership and right to repair; e.g. it's not "advertiser's entitlement," it's "rapist mentality."

Ironically, youtube's inability to completely differentiate between people at the same IP has accidentally gotten my non-techie roommate into him too. I never shared his videos with her, never said anything about him, and one day I hear his voice as she browses the web. I'm so proud of her.


My least favorite thing about the "engagement friendly" slop in youtube's search results is that it takes up HALF of the results. Because clearly what I expect from SEARCHING for something is to dredge up a bunch of shit that ranges from tangentially related to completely unrelated.

For example, I too just searched a song. Let's see how that went:

7 results
4 "people also watched" videos
5 results
2 "More from [band name]" videos
2 results
3 "people also searched for" suggestions
2 results
3 "For you" vids (IS IT THE FUVKING SEARCH RESULTS I ASKED FOR???? BECAUSE IF NOT, IT'S NOT REALLY "FOR ME," IS IT?)
2 Results
3 "From related searches"
2 results

That's 20 results to 15 irrelevant pieces of ADHD triggering visual clutter. Luckily the results were actually relevant, unlike whatever you're getting.

To all the commenters saying "I have X, I don't have this problem": I have adblock, I don't have this problem, YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT:

YOUTUBE SEARCH IS BROKEN BY DEFAULT. The largest video sharing site on the internet is BROKEN BY DEFAULT. It shouldn't require extra software to function properly when functioning properly requires less work on the server's side

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 31 points 6 months ago

I agree with him on right to repair and other rights issues but I can’t stand the guy. He’s incredibly abrasive and annoying. I’m interested in people who have interesting things to say. Long, angry rants about stuff I already agree with are just a waste of my time.

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[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 17 points 6 months ago

I loved Rossmann, but he made a sharp turn to reactionary politics and selfish ideology about the time he really took off. His views on just about anything outside of right to repair are usually so far from right as to be entirely wrong. He also has this idea that because he’s good at repairing things, he must have great takes on everything, and started making so many ridiculously terrible politics videos it became almost impossible to find actually useful content. He’s a smart dude, but like many smart dudes, he’s an idiot in most ways outside his specialty.

[-] unreasonabro@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It's not that it's broken by default, it's that it's broken deliberately. They don't want you to just be able to find what you need and then leave, because that's the civilized way of doing things, and they are GREEDY FUCKING BARBARIANS.

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[-] Rez@sh.itjust.works 107 points 6 months ago

Youtube search results have been garbage for a while now :(

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 73 points 6 months ago

~~Youtube~~ Google search results have been garbage for a while now :(

[-] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 months ago

~~Youtube Google~~ search results have been garbage for a while now :(

[-] Corigan@lemm.ee 56 points 6 months ago

I get nothing. Google is all pissy I turned off history and refuse to use their app. So they refuse to suggest anything.

The upside is no bloat and no ads, just have to know a topic.

[-] potentiallynotfelix@lemmy.ml 9 points 6 months ago

positive for me cause I dont want to see their shitty recommendations anyways. I just like/dislike a video to indicate I watched it.

[-] ouigol@lemmy.world 56 points 6 months ago

What I have noticed is that if you add “before:2025” (or any other future date) it doesn’t show the unrelated stuff.

[-] retrolasered@lemmy.zip 52 points 6 months ago

Try piped. Your feed is only what you subscribe to and theres a toggle to hide shorts

[-] toni_bmw@lemmy.world 31 points 6 months ago
[-] Murdoc@sh.itjust.works 17 points 6 months ago
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[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 48 points 6 months ago
[-] letsgo@lemm.ee 23 points 6 months ago

Yal'l n'eed t'o lear'n a'bou't apo'str'phe pl'ac'em'en't'.

[-] ma1w4re@lemm.ee 31 points 6 months ago
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[-] rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml 17 points 6 months ago

It's "y'all" - as in a contraction of "you all."

[-] siriusmart@lemmy.ml 44 points 6 months ago
  • Here's an extension which turns YouTube into an Invidious-like site, removing all addicting elements.
  • If you're using Linux, I wrote the youtube-tui a few years back, very similar to the extension where you get nothing but the search bar and subscriptions.
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[-] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 36 points 6 months ago

1 minute videos aren't put into the shorts interface, so it's not YouTube noticing that you disabled shorts but rather some YouTuber trying to follow the algorithm using a channel they made for shorts and mistakenly (I assume) uploading a video longer than minute on it. All such videos appear as normal videos instead of as shorts.

Google is terrible though, so I understand why you would think that.

[-] Matriks404@lemmy.world 29 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

My three biggest problems with YouTube are:

  • It sucks on desktops/laptops with bigger UI scaling enabled, some stuff just doesn't fit.

  • The search function on YouTube is useless and completely broken. Instead of searching normally it:

    1. Repeats same results multiple times;

    2. Display unrelated Shorts nobody asked for;

    3. Instead of displaying relevant results it shows stuff you have already watched or picked by YouTube algorithm.

  • You can't skip sponsored segments with YouTube Premium. You need SponsorBlock browser extension for that.

[-] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 15 points 6 months ago

I wouldn't dream of paying for premium unless they added an official version of sponsorblock across desktop and mobile. The fact that you can get more out of YouTube with a free client is laughable.

You're pretty much just throwing away money if you pay for premium.

[-] Zier@fedia.io 22 points 6 months ago

Firefox, uBlock Origin, on a Linux Desktop. I have none of these problems and have filters to hide shorts, endcards, autoplay, ambient mode. And I block all cookies from Youtube/Google. Works perfectly.

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[-] penquin@lemm.ee 22 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I simply just stopped searching or clicking on anything I'm not subbed to while logged in. It's like you commit a crime when you click something. Next ~~then~~ thing you know, that same fucking channel is following everywhere you go, in the home page and under every video you watch. Fuck google and fuck all this enshitification campaign the internet is undergoing

[-] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago

Unusable for me with ads as well. Grey loading screen and choppy audio instead of actually loading ads, never gets to the video. If I reopen the video a few times to skip the ad the video loads fine. No problems with online gaming, streaming services, etc so I know it's their shit Roku app and ad network and not me. Ad blockers make it actually usable.

[-] x3x3@lemm.ee 15 points 6 months ago

Their incompetence opens room for other platforms

[-] miss_brainfarts@lemmy.blahaj.zone 44 points 6 months ago

Oh, we've been through this though. Which other platform will ever have the cash to be a real contender here?

[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 10 points 6 months ago

DouYin, you know, the Chinese YouTube

That's sarcasm though, as I expect them to be as malicious as YouTube

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[-] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 17 points 6 months ago

Video hosting is a money sink, I wouldn't hold my breath that somebody else comes along.

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[-] chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 6 months ago

soon google will block ALL forms of front ends

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[-] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 13 points 6 months ago

I get usable results for "Boards of Canada". You've got some personal problems happening.

[-] utopiah@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 months ago

Has been for years already sadly. I recommend https://github.com/user234683/youtube-local to watch directly and https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl to download. They both remove the dark patterns trying to abuse the attention of viewers.

[-] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 6 months ago

May I ask the name(s) of these extension(s)? Currently having this issue and that’s why I mainly use MPV to load my music playlist on.

[-] DanTDM@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Untrap for Youtube

The same dev also makes an extension that lets you block individual elements for facebook, instagram, leddit, etc. Useful to break a habit

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 6 months ago

also be sure to disable cookies on youtube, it gets rid of weird suggestions and usually only suggests videos related to the current one

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this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
823 points (94.9% liked)

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