Chrome Banned “YouTube Rabbit Hole” Extension | Hacker News Reader

Chrome Banned “YouTube Rabbit Hole” Extension

chrome.google.com

48 pointssivunq28 comments

To save others from searching what the extension is, from the extension github page:

Chrome extension to remove YouTube recommendations, comments, and more so you don't go down the rabbit hole again!

https://github.com/anthonyftwang/youtube-rabbit-hole

The problem is the mobile app... that's where doomscrolling and rabbit holes go deep...

If you're on Android, then NewPipe completely fixes that problem, blocks adverts and supports background and popup window playing.

On the downside you're not signed in, so might not be appropriate if you rely on a global history.

Ah nice, I'll check it out!

If you like to sign in and like, comment on stuff and enjoy normal YouTube experience then YouTube Vanced can be used. Afaik it lets users sign in and do what the original app from Google does. As the other user pointed out, if you do not want to sign in, you can use newpipe from f-droid. Also, on web-browser, you can use https://invidio.us instance.

The above link is a 404, the issue linked by 8organicbits below/(above?) doesn't mention _why_ it was removed.

But the commits made yesterday look like it was because its icon looked a tad too much like YouTube's with the red background.

https://github.com/anthonyftwang/youtube-rabbit-hole/commit/...

So Google (the browser) stepped in to protect Google (the owner of YouTube). And without notice or reason.

These sorts of cross-org actions are going to be fodder for an antitrust case.

I don't know if I would call it that. I had a Skype extension that used the Skype logo in its icon and it got removed for the same reason.

A better link may be the GitHub issue:

https://github.com/anthonyftwang/youtube-rabbit-hole/issues/...

That's why I use Firefox. Though I rarely use YouTube anyway. I just don't like this conflict of interest. It's bad enough that Mozilla is dependent on Google for income.

Firefox may be the best broadly available choice. However, Mozilla is just as guilty of implementing censorship in their extension store based on the whims of their leaders and employees. They are also a proponent of censorship more broadly than what they control. See https://reclaimthenet.org/firefox-maker-mozilla-calls-for-mo... or https://reclaimthenet.org/firefox-introduces-extension-that-... or https://reclaimthenet.org/firefox-rejects-free-speech-bans-f...

Simpler to use ublock and delete the parts of the page you don't want to see.

Example to clean up the homepage:

! 2021-11-26 https://www.youtube.com www.youtube.com##.ytd-button-renderer.style-scope.yt-simple-endpoint > .size-small.style-suggestive.ytd-button-renderer.style-scope

These are my uBlock settings for YouTube. They actually make using YouTube pleasant.

www.youtube.com###secondary

www.youtube.com##ytd-browse[page-subtype="home"] #primary

www.youtube.com##.ytp-show-tiles.ytp-endscreen-paginate.videowall-endscreen.ytp-player-content.html5-endscreen

while on the topic of YouTube results, is there any way to limit search to actually output... search results? At this point it's like 8 search results followed by twenty videos of "You may also like.." and "You have already watched...".

I use Google Search to find videos on YouTube, it has additional features like limiting to a date range.

Weird. I’ve found YouTube’s recommendation system to be showing me literally the same videos over and over.

Because you use an adblocker. Without it it’s better but not by much. I believe the real recommendations are only for paid accounts?

I'm using YouTube Premium and I also have the same repetitive recommendations. It also won't stop recommending me something on my homepage unless I click "do not show" or finally relent and click the video recommendation.

I use an Apple TV signed into YouTube

I believe it matters if the same account is used on other devices that have adblock. But this is just a guess.

I don’t use Adblock

Do you make regular use of the "Not Interested" button when new recommendations are shown? That might be why.

I do this, and if the recommended video has even a hint of "Youtube optimization", e.g. yelling face or all-caps clickbaity title, I click "Do not Recommend Channel".

The problem is that YT then starts recommending an endless number of clips from stuff I haven't explicitly blocked (say Simpsons or 30 Rock clips). And eventually that starts getting annoying too, so I end up hitting "not interested".

The cycle starts all over again when I manually search for a clip from one of those shows.

At a first glance, its functionality looks like something that could be implemented through {Grease,Tamper}Monkey script. It provides so much more transparency over the extension model and I wish more folks make use of it.

Why do need this instead of just adding some custom blocks to ublock origin?

Because "click once to install" has fewer prerequisites, and requires less effort and sophistication, which is important for sharing software with those less savvy (or just plain tired).

Cant you just not log in ? I do that now and only get irrelevant stuff

Google is pretty good at looking out for themselves!

Not only that they've removed the page OP linked.

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