OT rant: Youtube appears to be ad-free again. Was: Why is youtube-dl blocked

[Owen Thomas]

On Wed, 8 Nov 2023 at 02:26, Bill <bstanle at wowway.com> wrote:

> On 11/7/23 04:12, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> > Louis Rossman just posted a video about the situation: YouTube's
> > adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible,
> > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI>.
> >
> > Jeff
> >
> WS=> Isn't it ironic that the link it to a YouTube site!
>

So, why did Youtube start out as a site where videos are available ad-free
and without charge, and then, once it achieves ubiquity, does it ransom
their viewership with the choice of paying for continued viewing or
pummelling them with ads and other "sponsorship messages"? Presumably, like
Wikipedia, or Ubuntu, they don't really need advertising revenue to remain
viable - the executive board that runs Youtube just wants a revenue funnel
to pay for their largess.

I have recently disabled my ad-blocker, and I have found no great
difference in experience thus far. I will still exercise the same
narrow-eyed caution that drew me to an ad-blocker in the first place
because I observe Youtube apparently has become just another contradiction
in human nature - disappointing, confusing, frustrating - that I may yet
turn my back to.
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