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When is it time to switch away from youtube?
(lemmy.ml)
I still watch YouTube but I block all their ads.
I am trying to - there's no direct replacement, but I've removed the YouTube app from my phone at least. Also signed up for both Nebula and Dropout, which both do some sort of direct profit sharing with creators.
Nebula is pretty great.
So. Some unfortunate news here. There was never a time to be on YouTube in the first place.
Every day is the right time to switch away...
What does a different front end do for you? Serious question.
I'm not sure whether you're asking why to use a frontend vs YouTube rawdog or conflating Odysee/Peertube with a YouTube frontend. I thought they were frontends as well for a long time.
If you're asking why to use a frontend proxy for YouTube, there could be a few reasons. The obvious being privacy concerns, but other people prefer the less cluttered interface, no ads, no YouTube premium or sign in with google popups, no manipulative algorithm.
So my familiarity with front ends is extremely limited. I'm familiar with for instance someone writes a program that links to a database, but the database is still the database. So I figured the algorithm was still the algorithm since the videos reside on YouTube's servers. I thought all you would be changing was the appearance, but it sounds like a lot of the annoyances go away. Especially ads. I don't really watch the ads because for a long time I used ad blockers and when they failed, I succumbed to the extortion and paid for premium. Yes I know uBlock seems to have come out on top and when the subscription ends I'll probably go back to that. I don't really have a problem with the interface, but I don't really care for a lot of the other stuff so thanks for the intel.
Now if only I could get some of my favorite YouTubers to stop making their own commercials during the content.
I was thinking about trying Nebula, but it kind of looks like there's not that much content there. Thoughts?
YouTube with a custom app seems to be the best way to actually watch your own chosen subscriptions, rather than bent force fed by the Google algorithm.
I've heard folks talk about how to get this from regular YouTube, but it's wild to me that that put up with having to go to all the trouble with the official app.
BET live streaming still has 3+ minute commercial breaks, so i'm waiting for youtube to do the equivalent.
Peertube. Then, you can use a peertube search engine like Sepia search to search across many peertube instances, replicating the youtube user interface. Sepia search has a long way to go but if peertube grows it will get there. Searching technology is already a solved problem.
getting apps into appstores would make a big difference but if someone follows a particular person or if its free on youtube they are going to go there. I watch colbert on youtube.
So you can get actual YouTube content without the ads? Does it include an ad blocker or is it inherently resistant to ads?
I get 0 ads with uBlock Origin on Firefox. But that's mostly for desktop/laptop style computing, not on mobile. For that I use New pipe, though rarely.
This is precisely what I do. Works flawless (on PC and mobile)
I have my own instance of this, and it's become my only front end for YouTube content. The last political shooting (and subsequent firings of commenters of said shooting) made sure of that. I imported my subscriptions, scrubbed all my data, and haven't looked back since.
That's a trap. It keeps the powerusers on Youtube instead of motivating them to seed a new platform.
VLM?
Probably over a decade ago.
Peertube is the future. It only needs more people, just like everything else federated.
Anyone trying to say a federated option is not the solution is a useful idiot and should be written off accordingly.
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this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2025
181 points (95.9% liked)
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