Who thinks Youtube is getting worse?

[Jon the VGNerd 885]

The fact that YouTube hasn't been hit with a class-action lawsuit amazes me. And LeafyIsHere was permanently banned for the wrong reasons and YouTube themselves refuse to explain why. Nowadays, YouTube will only cater to bigger YouTube creators, but even they aren't immune to having their channels just suddenly banned out of the blue. They demonetize videos wherever they see as fit, and their comment sections are no better either. It's filled with far too many things wrong with it and YouTube themselves will not do a damn thing about it. Good luck reporting them and providing them with proof, because YouTube will absolutely never ban these kinds of people unless they feel like it. And even then they can create as many channels as they want with no punishment so for them, it's basically a slap on the wrist. And the fact that YouTube hasn't been shut down yet because of it's obviously-poor practices show that it's gonna continue on until the hammer comes down on them. Even Optimus, a YouTuber, knows what's been going on with YouTube, especially because YouTube itself is unwilling to listen to the community in every way and doesn't explain about their terrible move either. And because YouTube is associated with Google, Google can very easily bribe off of YouTube so that it doesn't get hit with a massive lawsuit. It's basically a lose-lose situation for newer YouTubers who are just looking to make a living. And their forced ads included in every video doesn't make it any better.

The other, alternative version of YouTube is known as StoryFire, which doesn't have intrusive ads and looks to be a much more friendlier version than YouTube. Of course, being a niche streaming site, it still has a long way to go. And with YouTube's totalitarian state means it doesn't matter if your videos don't contain copyright material. Even when its not, they'll just completely erase them because they can and they will, and whatever objections you post will often be met with silence; they'll just outright suspend your channel and ruining your career altogether. Just gotta wait until YouTube gets hit with a gargantuan lawsuit that will mean the end of YouTube, and for Google to be forced to relinquish their billions of dollars to settle an unwinnable lawsuit, if that ever happens.

[Splashee 28,564]

Even Youtubers think YouTube is getting bad.

[Theautisticrebel 304]

Four words: COPPA and removed dislikes.

[ZiggWheelsManning 10,354]

On 2023-10-08 at 5:00 PM, Theautisticrebel said:

Four words: COPPA and removed dislikes.

YouTube removed those dislikes?  

[Megas 27,651]

On 2023-10-09 at 5:25 PM, ZiggWheelsManning said:

YouTube removed those dislikes?  

You can still dislike videos, but you can't see Dislikes anymore, at least not without extensions. They say this was done to "create a more positive experience" but we all know who this actually is meant for(companies)

[EpicEnergy 23,218]

I mean it's worse than it used to be but I still use it cause there's some really good content creators on it.

[Cash In 22,326]

Gotta love the fact that this sentiment is still relevant almost 12 years later. :/

Anyways, Youtube is somehow finding more ways to become worse to the point where I think they should be congratulated. Removing dislikes, favouritism and so many other things that everyone else has mentioned. Also, I keep getting 30 second unskippable ads for clips that are 3-5 seconds long. Insane.

[Sonic Shimmer 4,132]

I don’t know if the content is getting worse but the number of advertisements is ridiculous these days.

[Tacodidra 61,182]

I don't use YouTube much these days, pretty much only for a few cartoons and music I can't find elsewhere. The ads don't bother me, as I've blocked them. But pretty much every change they've made has made the platform worse. Most of the recent changes feel completely pointless, like the rounded corners on the videos – just why? And the shorts player is absolutely awful. They already had a video player, why make another completely useless one for some videos?

[ZiggWheelsManning 10,354]

Watched an hour-long video of Napoleon's Failed Invasion of Russia and the ads were an annoying nuisance  

[Spark Thunderbass 1,439]

It gets worse when the commercialisation and money rolls in as time goes on, YouTube from what I can remember used to be a lot freer in the old days, less chance of copyright strikes and demonetisations too, provided of course you’re not uploading full movies or certain music that might still land you in trouble.

[Clawdeen 14,204]

I tried to watch a playthrough the other day and the amount of ads in one video made it unplayable. It was the most I’ve ever seen. I ended up not even bothering to finish watching it. 

[Fluttershutter 2,476]

Well, they've declassified ad blocker as "malware", so that's one good thing.

[SasQ 1,376]

Forget YouTube and its annoying ads, use it through Invidious instead. It is a YouTube proxy that allows you to watch videos from YouTube and read YouTube comments (as well as comments from other platforms for those videos) without any ads or other annoying distractions through one of multiple independent Invidious instances that you can choose from. And you can even run your own instance locally, since they're all free and open-source. It's like YouTube, only suckless

Edited December 31, 2023 by SasQ
Added more links

[FirePuppy 735]

I bailed out of YouTube four months ago because of the guidelines getting stricter and stricter these days, and my channel primarily comprised of AI videos, which is what the platform is now cracking down on.

Besides, there's lots of other streaming services I can choose from besides YouTube, such as Disney+, Netflix, Tubi, Pluto TV, Roku, and among others.

[Fluttershutter 2,476]

This is their latest bullshit:

The adblocker still works but you have to hit the X to watch the video. 

[Iforgotmybrain 5,697]

I really felt the YouTube stink tonight. Starting to feel like trying to watch videos outside of your subscriptions is becoming pointless because 80% of the videos that are recommended are clickbait garbage, boring 10 minute long videos that are padded out more than a college essay, or videos I’ve already watched. 

Edited January 14, 2024 by Iforgotmybrain

[zerox 1,123]

I don't watch YouTube much so ads don't really bother me. If I ever watch more of YouTube I will consider getting YouTube Premium.

Edited January 16, 2024 by zerox

[Megas 27,651]

Recently got out that Youtube makes your computer run worse if you're using adblocker. Suddenly that's been why my computer runs like shit every time I use it

[Fluttershutter 2,476]

8 hours ago, zerox said:

I don't watch YouTube much so ads don't really bother me. If I ever watch more of YouTube I will consider getting YouTube Premium.

Don't waste your money. Block the ads.

[FirePuppy 735]

On 2024-01-16 at 10:30 PM, Fluttershutter said:

Don't waste your money. Block the ads.

You can't! Well, anymore, at least.

In my opinion, YouTube started getting worse in 2020, when many videos were set to "made for kids", redirecting millions of users to a video titled "Features impacted by COPPA: Made for Kids content". The YouTube staff was offended so much by the massive amount of dislikes the video received that they took more action by disabling the YouTube Dislike feature. And finally, the service is forcing creators to disclose use of AI on their channels, which could be serious trouble for all the My Little Pony official channels worldwide.

[Fluttershutter 2,476]

12 hours ago, FirePuppy said:

You can't! Well, anymore, at least.

In my opinion, YouTube started getting worse in 2020, when many videos were set to "made for kids", redirecting millions of users to a video titled "Features impacted by COPPA: Made for Kids content". The YouTube staff was offended so much by the massive amount of dislikes the video received that they took more action by disabling the YouTube Dislike feature. And finally, the service is forcing creators to disclose use of AI on their channels, which could be serious trouble for all the My Little Pony official channels worldwide.

I use chrome adblocker. For a while they classified it as "malware" but now it works again. I think they're starting to realize they can't push it too much or people will start watching less. The ads are still there whether we block them or not just like we used to go to the bathroom during commercials back in the old days of tv.

[ZiggWheelsManning 10,354]

The usual ads interrupting best parts of videos  

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,985]

This thread was made in 2012, and already there was sentiment that Youtube was getting worse.

Memory is flawed, but I think I generally thought of Youtube improving up until 2017:

• Videos longer than 10 or 11 minutes.
• Increasing video resolution (I think the earliest was "HQ" ("High Quality"), and HD possibly being introduced in 2009) and 60FPS (2013?).
• Increasing prevalence of monetization for Youtubers, allowing them to focus on it full time.

Before 2017 (am specifically focusing on Youtube as a platform -- not on various controversies of Youtube users), I think the biggest complaint about Youtube has been on its bollocks Copyright system. I remember in 2007 or so, people were complaining about how they could not use copyrighted music in their videos. By 2009-2010, Youtube would take down videos with copyrighted music with substitute songs, which would usually be those by 009 Sound System, resulting in many hating them at the time (but now loved in hindsight due to nostalgia). People complained about the yellow subscribe button being changed. I do not remember if people complained about the five star rating system being replaced by the like and dislike system. Removal of video reply feature was complained about as well. The monetization system being changed from views-based to watch-time-based particularly affected animators, and was a boon for Let's Players.

But, I think the disdain towards Youtube became acute with the Adpocalypse of 2017 as a result of the WSJ article targeting PewdiePie; besides the problem of copyright, demonetization became had an even more ambiguous basis.

That is at least how I perceive it: generally positive pre-2017, more negative post-2017. But, it is quite possible that there are other things I am forgetting, or if I have forgotten the extent to which the problem I mentioned affected people's experience of using Youtube.

[Retro*Derpy 3,185]

Youtube revanced is the only reason I still watch youtube. No ads, sponsor skip, highlight reel, all qol things that make youtube good again.