Technology

59622 readers

2950 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

1652

YouTube Says New 5-Second Video Load Delay Is Supposed to Punish Ad Blockers, Not Firefox Users (www.404media.co)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

406 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Firefox users are reporting an 'artificial' load time on YouTube videos. YouTube says it's part of a plan to make people who use adblockers "experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

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

Honestly, as long as the video itself doesn't have interruptions, I'm okay with the ad-free experience having a small delay or even lower video resolution. I don't have to have 4k 120 FPS video on everything.

What I don't want is constant interruptions, wild changes in emotional tone or volume, obnoxious and manipulative ads, politically sponsored bullshit, or constant pestering to disable my ad blocker and tracking protection. In short, once the video starts, leave me alone.

I can appreciate that Google has spent its entire existence trying to find another revenue stream beyond advertising, and largely failed, but I don't care. If my choices are to continue being manipulated and lied to by companies and politicians paying for the privilege, and not using YouTube, I'll just stop using YouTube. I've done it before with other services I used much more frequently.

Either they shut up about using ad blockers, or they give me an alternative.

And yes, I realize this is a very selfish and entitled response. If I get value out of something that costs other people time and money to provide me, it is fair that I give back in some way. Traditionally, that was done via companies serving ads and spying on its users.

But enough is enough. Modern advertising and tracking keep getting worse, and trying to enforce them is not the way to move forward.