1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy
2. Don't request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote
3. Don't request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs
4. Don't submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others
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uBO team (2 people) should not be responding to questions on reddit or elsewhere. They should just update the filters and post a "extension updated, should work again now".
In the end, Youtube will win if they want to win. Google can throw unconscionable amounts of money at their techs to fight the adblockers while the volunteers spend their attention and patience.
Realistically there is an equation money lost by ad blockers vs money gained by making ad blocking harder (money in - dev cost) unless its about sending a message.
Only so far, false positives scare potential customers away.
Some solutions:
This is the answer. I use Newpipe on mobile and Invidious on desktop. I dont even know what youtube ads look like. I run it all behind a pihole just to be sure. Works like a dream.
Personally, I prefer LibreTube on my phone and Piped on desktop. I also use NextDNS when I'm on the go and Pi-Hole when I'm at home. I haven't used an official YouTube app or website for the last 2 years.
Also want to submit for Android: just using YouTube in Firefox with uBO extension
I want to avoid solutions that involve using the YouTube app/website (including modded YouTube apps like Revanced or browser addons to use on the website)
if theres one thing im determined to do, its to never voluntarily see a youtube ad ever. praise ublock and revanced.
Indeed. The uBO team are saints. Is a shame some are only recognised after leaving
Then there are non-tech-savvy users looking at the post and saying, “This is too complex. I give up.”
This is YouTube's ultimate goal. They don't need to make it impossible to block ads, just more trouble than it's worth for most people.
Fine with me, as long as I personally don't have to look at ads.
But the hurtful comments leave a bigger mark than the good ones
As a volunteer for a charity, I feel this so much. I work incredibly hard to help people, I get paid nothing for my time. The entitlement and rude demands burns me out way faster. Especially when people seem to put far more effort into complaining and being rude than they do thanking me or showing appreciation for what we do.
Thank you for the charity work you do. I appreciate it.
I don't know what you do exactly, but I appreciate every single volunteer and the work they put in to make everyone's life better
Here is my experience with it.
Up until last week I've had friends (who also use uBlock Origin, same country) kind of sequentially complaining for about a month about having the videos blocked. For me personally it has been working fine until then, but Friday I got the popup. Today the popup is gone however I get ads but they don't play video, only sound.
YouTube isn’t rolling out the anti-adblock to everyone. It seems to depend on things like your account, browser, and IP address. And if you’re not logged in or you’re in a private window, you’re safe. As a result, there are a bunch of people saying, “I use XYZ and I haven’t seen an anti-adblock popup yet,” unknowingly spreading misinformation.
What I see with this is that Google might eventually lose more with this new policies than just leaving things as they were. Lets be real, if this shit show continues and they don't drop it as it becomes increasingly difficult to watch without ads people will start looking for alternative frontends such as Piped or Invidious and that will hinder their ability to harvest data and force ads. What's the next step Google? DRM protected media?
Only about 20% or so of users on YouTube use AdBlock. A frighteningly large percentage of the population is absolutely fine with being bombarded with ads - after all, 80% of the stuff we consume daily is ad financed and that money has to come from somewhere.
I have a friend that just refuses to use anything but chrome, refuses to use any kind of adblock and will only use an iPhone.
I don't get it. I've asked him to explain but he just keeps saying "it's personal preference" which is such a massive copout.
Maybe I'm looking into this too far, but I think if someone's happy to have things the way they like them (ads, Chrome, etc.) and clearly doesn't want to elaborate on it, they have every right to not elaborate further.
Let them find it their own way. Or maybe they won't, but it's their choice to make.
Just in case you weren’t aware, updating your block lists in uBlock Origin should fix this problem. It’s worked for me, at any rate.
they could just block the alternative frontends. Then we'd need an alternative platform.
People will not leave Youtube. They got too many videos. I believe they will just find some proxy solutions or similar. Using anything else will for the author just result in they get paid less.
that's exactly what he just said.
This was really interesting. I’ve been looking for a slightly more technical explanation for how this arms race works under the hood.
Nothing like watching everyone freak out while I'm just using invidious
I wasn't able to get it consistently working so I started using FreeTube instead of a browser, which seems to work without hassle
I tried it, I agree it works fine. I only stopped using it because it doesn't let me go back in live streams.
So today, YouTube's pop-ups rolled down to Views will be limited to one unless you remove your adblocker at which point the pop-ups ceased. (I was intentionally rolling them down). Have: Firefox, DDG Privacy Essentials, NoScript, uBlock Origin
Techs working to give me access: I love you guys! I really appreciate what you're doing.
Fuck the hurtful comments, and do it to fight capitalism and enshittification.
That said, when I can no longer YouTube without ads, I will no longer YouTube, which also means no engagement on video forums. Useful, interesting rants is what I have to offer.
Mine are super inconsistent now. Obviously I have uBO, but I can typically watch like 10-ish videos a day before the popups start, at which point I just turn on libredirect.
does this affect the ip range blockers. I thought about getting one of those, but youtube will probably find a way to cook ads into regular content, but we have AI now.....
YouTube for many years serves ads through the same domain and IP as the actual content.
Like pihole? I recently set it up and it is not blocking YouTube ads (as other commenters have also pointed out).