The desktop site is not any better. The uBlock origin rules for blocking shorts are a lifesaver.
I have several Tampermonkey scripts to keep Youtube useable:
Additionally uBlock, and a plugin to alter the number of results per row (so I don’t wind up with gigantic tiles/icons on a large monitor).
It’s a complete disaster without these. :/
Yep, I also have one to automaticlly stop the annoying autoplay on channel pages.
I am saving this for later, there are also some browser extensions that do this job doesn’t it?
YouTube is that desperate to be TikTok. Why?
Because it seems to be working for TikTok. People’s attention spans are getting shorter and these short videos, each a couple of seconds long, are a money printer, as Google can put even more ads in between even less content.
And there’s not only 1, but 2 rows of them.
I absolutely despise Shorts. Partly for the inane TikTok apeing content, partly because of vertical video and primarily because I make 45-60 second videos for clients and they want them on YouTube - where they become Shorts, no matter what I do (other than add enough empty video at the end to take them past 61 seconds). It’s infuriating.
I hate Shorts because it insists on showing me bullshit 1-2 view shorts of just inane shit interspersed between ones I actually don’t mind.
I hate shorts because they’re the wrong aspect ratio.
Revanced lets you hide shorts.
Newpipe doesn’t even know shorts exist.
Yeah, but my clients aren’t likely to be using Revanced ;-)
You can always put it on there.
I really hate this as well. I have a few short videos in vertical, and it forces it to be shorts. Can’t find any option to have it be a regular video.
Ok so I am a youtube premium subscriber. And to have the best experience, I had to install 4 plugins Sponsorblock, Dislike button back, Dearrow, ublock (to remove shorts).
After thier recent changes to their search engine, it might be more efficient to cancel my subscription and use piped.
If you feel like keeping YouTube premium you could always vpn to another country and get it for stupid cheap. I believe I vpn’d to Thailand and pay $2 a month for it. You only need the vpn to set up the sub and then you’re good to go.
Pretty sure they just fixed the loophole. I tried to renew my subscription in India and they now require your payment method to be in the country you are subscribing in e.g. you need an Indian credit card.
Burner credit card FTW
What payment methods do they accept?
I ran in to the problem when my credit card expired. According to support Google Pay balance is supposed to continue to work. Didn’t bother trying and changed back to my own country.
Thank you for the tip.
I’m currently paying near $9.
how do u add extensions to an app ? unless u repack the apk file, which is the same way as revanced, right ?. i use extensions on pc thou. firefox feeling like its own os with the amount of extensions and scripts i am running on top of the thing rip
I use extensions with Firefox for PC.
Unfortunately I’ve an iPhone so I’ve to deal with all of that crap. I only use the phone for music so no complains.
However, I replaced my Apple Tv with mini pc running linux.
yea, using linux or there’s revanced that recompiles/ repckages ? the youtube apk file into an advanced youtube installation file, with sponsorblock and all. this way if u had an android u could stream Youtube with all the enhancements to ur tv using chromecast. its free territory this open source universe !
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Use the Revanced app on android and you can remove these
I do use newpipe, had to fire up the YouTube app for Chromecasting to a TV and was greeted by this.
Look into smarttubenext for Chromecast then. It takes like 30 seconds to install. It’s similar to new pipe. I believe it can even link with new pipe to download videos for offline use.
It’s the entire reason I bought a Chromecast over a Roku or fire TV.
Is there anything like this for android?
That is for android
Well now I am confused, this is what it says for disadvantages:
❌ Disadvantages: no support for phones and tablets, no comments stability, voice search and casting support might be worse than in the official apps, depending on your device; give it a try!
Here’s what it says on the compatibility section of the github readme.
SmartTube requires Android 4.3 or above. It does not work on non-Android devices (incl. LG or Samsung TVs). On unsupported TVs, you can use a TV stick or TV box. Though this app technically runs on smartphones and tablets, it is not optimized for such and offers no official support!
It has been successfully tested on TVs, TV boxes and TV sticks that are based on Android, including:
Android TVs & Google TVs (e.g. Philips, Sony) Chromecast with Google TV & TVs with Chromecast built-in Amazon FireTV stick (all generations) NVIDIA Shield TV boxes running Android (many cheap chinese no-name boxes) Xiaomi Mi Box
Looks like it isn’t officially supported on android phones. However, the way it’s built makes it automatically work on many android smartphones without the devs specifically trying to support it on phones.
Revamped supports Chromecast as well. Does Newpipe not?
Newpipe is a website scrapper. It is fully open source as well. It does not have Chromecast support.
Revanced is a patcher for the official YouTube app, which is why it has chromecast support
Then why does anyone use Newpipe?
Because some people like using FOSS apps. And don’t want all the trackers from the YouTube app.
Plus there’s more shorts that are camouflaged as normal videos:
Direct image linkThis is the worst thing ever.
Like Bo Burnham once said in an interview. Social media companies want to occupy and completely take over your attention.
We are fucked as a species until governments- backed by scientists, put their foot down and stop unnecessary technology that doesn’t improve or enrich peoples lifes and in fact only degrade peoples brain and attention span.
I recommend the podcast Your Undivided Attention. They deal with the ethical issues of social media and AI, among other topics.
Sorry my attention span is only 2 sec
What, you didn’t go to YouTube because you want tiktok videos? I only go to YouTube when I’m looking for short punchy videos that could be gifs. I mean what else is the point of a video search engine? I crave pointless short videos with little to no detail on anything.
Google should split shorts into a separate app and then let it die like everything else.
revanced.
I’ve successfully moved to LibreTube and its fucking bliss.
Youtube search on desktop isn’t great, but usable. Youtube search on a phone is fucked. It’s taken up with things like recommendations based on things you already watched which is not likely to have much to do with what you were searching for.
I’m sorry guys, I actually watch the YouTube Shorts so Google pushing them into more people is my fault. I just don’t care to download Tik Tok and have yet another app. 😭
I don’t think the shorts themselves are a problem, but I’ve never searched for a short
Oh yeah I was only posting dumb comments for content for lemmy. The issue is definitely because YouTube is pushing them front and center on the home screen of the app.
I’ve never actually searched for shorts either; I only ever watch my shorts via clicking on the “Shorts” link at the bottom of the app.
I think they’re not, but I question the people who watch them, honestly.
I just… isn’t just letting a single long video play the same thing? Because the way I see it when people doomscroll shorts, they’re not actively watching the content either. And whether you ignore video X or shorts A, B, C and D doesn’t make a difference, no? It’s like leaving the TV on, it’s just background noise to turn the brain off to.
I just don’t get the point. Why not watch full length videos where you can have context and actually learn something? Shorts can’t really provide context so are just funny moments or something that aren’t really that interesting, just a waste of time.
Listen, I’m a busy guy with a life. I don’t have 20 minutes to dedicate to a video. I’d rather watch a few shorts… a quick
5103045 minute session is all I’m after…I honestly only watch them when I’m super bored or high in bed when I want quick laughs. But honestly, the same question can be asked of people who scroll on Facebook, lemmy, or Reddit hours on end
I would agree with Facebook (and I’ll admit I’m biased), but Lemmy/Reddit are about conversations, and context/information are important. Shorts/tiktok are about quick things that catch your eye and you forget about seconds later, and they can’t inform you on much, if anything.
A lot of “full length” videos are padded for monetisation purposes. I hate watching some tubers going on and on before actually getting into the main topic.
Good shorts give you everything you need to see in a short period of time. I’ve seen plenty of them which is why I give it a chance.
It’s the not good Shorts that Youtube keeps showing me that I absolutely hate. The 20 view “alpha male” bullshit Shorts that I’ve never shown interest in yet Youtube insists I must love.
With the sketchiness about TikTok, I much prefer YouTube for shorts.
Sure they’re both evil under the hood. But TikTok scares me more. So I actually appreciate Google digging their claws into this one a little bit.
There is sorta a way to minimize this. You can set a duration preference. Just set it to 4-20 minutes or longer and no shorts will pop up.
I wonder what will YouTube remove next
They need filters for sure, I don’t mind shorts but they are treated exactly the same as any other video on the platform.
third party apps enter the chat
If you say “Not interested” on all the videos in the group, they will go away (for a while). God help you if you miss the triple-dots and tap the thumbnail though.