Hello fellow, lemmings, lemmur !

If you are like me, you probably spend a lot of time on YouTube, more than you want to admit.

I remember the days when videos had stars instead of thumbs up or down, and when YouTube had, let’s say, more mature content on it.

Now the site has a lot of functionalitys that are great for Google, but that I don’t need nor want.

So, to improve the enjoyment of the platform, I present to you the ultimate extension survival kit for YouTube:

  1. uBlock Origin: (or your favorite ad-blocker) This is an absolute must-have. It’s a good ad-blocker that not only blocks YouTube ads but also works across all websites. It’s lightweight, efficient, and open-source. Say goodbye to ads.
  2. SponsorBlock: Skip over the sponsored segments of videos. It’s a community-driven project, with users submitting the timestamps of sponsored content. You can even customize it to skip over different types of segments like intros, outros, and more.
  3. Return YouTube Dislike: Since YouTube removed the dislike count, it’s been harder to gauge the quality of videos. This extension brings back the dislike count.
  4. DeArrow: Extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails. It removes click-bait titles and thumbnails providing a cleaner Youtube.
  5. YouTube Shorts Block: If you’re not a fan of shorts, this extension is for you. It plays the Youtube shorts video as if it were a normal video and hides the “shorts” tab from the left menu. Firefox Link Chrome Link
  6. Enhancer for YouTube: Allows you to add theming options, auto-HD, keyboard shortcuts and more.

These are the extensions I use. Don’t hesitate to suggest more. I will edit the post accordingly.

It’s not lost on me that these extensions remove many things that were not initially a problem on YouTube but that either arose because of the monetary incentive of Google handling the website, Youtubers trying to make money, or as countermeasures to problems that were taken care of by a previous extension. This kind of feels like an arms race…

Edit 1: Changed the YouTube Shorts Block description and added Enhancer for YouTube

    • EnderWi99in@kbin.social
      18·
      1 year ago

      Nah, it’s worth it. Services like that cost money for a reason. I’m fine paying for a platform like YouTube. I’m just bothered by how they’ve changed monetization that negativity impacts the people making the content.

    • cxx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      1 year ago

      I’m impressed! Suggesting paying for YouTube premium on Reddit is a one-way ticket to downvotesville.

      I pay for it too, and it’s completely worth it considering how much time I spend there every day (including music)…

      Not to mention the other day I had to use normal YouTube on someone else’s computer and the ads are unbearable.

      • Black_Gulaman@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        I’m a revanced user. I’m just curious and had to ask an actual premium user. The youtube app ads are gone and premium features are available.

        But how is the experience when dealing with vloggers who keep plugging their sponsors in their video? and the constant like and subscribe adlib reminders of other vloggers?

        cause for me, that’s one thing that revanced has solved over the premium option of youtube.

        Edit: to say it before someone asks. I do pay for other premium streaming platforms, but I am selective, because, you know, my resources aren’t infinite.

        • cxx@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          1 year ago

          YouTube premium doesn’t change anything about the videos themselves, so you still get the sponsor and like/subscribe plugs.

          I understand there are extensions that remove that stuff but I’ve never tried them as I watch YouTube on many different devices and can’t be bothered to tweak each and every one. Also those don’t bother me that much and are easy enough to skip.

        • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          As another Premium subscriber, at this point I feel a sense of incompleteness if I don’t hear about the video’s sponsor or like-comment-subscribe.

          I’m also selective of what I pay for. YouTube Premium won out against some others. Having YT Music along with it is also nice.

        • Thulcander@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          I pay, i get the family pass and have 4 other people added. It also works for watching youtube on smart devices that don’t always have blocking options - pihole setups sometimes block legit google services that keep smarthome operations from happening.

    • DerKriegs@lemmy.mlEnglish
      11·
      1 year ago

      Honest truth, you go around actually paying a network for their services and everyone loses their minds. There’s a Nolan Batman GIF somewhere here…

    • Hankaaron@yall.theatl.socialEnglish
      11·
      1 year ago

      That’s what I do.

      Everyone wants stuff for free and I get that. And I also get the “fuck big corporations” stance kinda…

      But these services cost money. So we either pay for it directly (and yes they need to make a profit also - this is capitalism) or we have to watch ads. It’s not really a complicated concept. I hate watching ads and have $11 per month to spare so I pay.

      • Ath47@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        I also pay for premium, so I don’t have to worry about ads. But that only covers the first extension on this list. The others are all useful and still not available with premium.

        • imperator3733@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, I also pay for YouTube Premium (have since it was YouTube Red), and get a ton of value out of it, but I’m still bombarded by all those absurd “Shorts” clogging up my subscriptions feed. I’ll have to try the linked extension - I’ve been meaning to see what’s available…

    • mrmanager@lemmy.todayEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      I would if it was another company than Google but I’m not going to support big tech companies with my money.

      Google is tracking people all over the internet, and is one of the richest companies in the world. Now they want to get even more money? Right.

      I’m paying for email and search but they are not from big tech.

    • WaterBottleOnAShelf@lemmy.nzEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      I paid for youtube premium which not only gets rid of ads, but gives you access to the youtube music app. I got rid of Spotify because of that and end up paying less money for more functionality.

    • ClamDrinker@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      I had YT premium for a while, and then I just wanted to download some videos (you know, like they advertise you can) and they just didnt allow it. Had to either watch it in the YT app or on youtube.com on my PC. That’s not downloading - thats just streaming with less computation for youtube, which helps youtube but not me. What a great ‘premium benefit’!

      Cancelled my premium right then and there, if they cant provide a feature as simple as just being able to download videos to mp4 or something, thats just misleading. Literally takes seconds to find a third party site or app (NewPipe) that does it.

    • nl4real@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Not paying 12/month just to block ads. I don’t care about the other stuff it has.

        • Jarix@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          This is the problem. You have a monthly bill to google.

          This is why we cant have good things. Because too many people are cant just say no i wont pay for something that didnt used to be and doesnt need to.