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Comment by floatrock | Hacker News Reader

I want something like this for youtube or other streaming services

Along with uBlock, there's nice extension called SponsorBlock that uses crowdsourcing to block in-content ad placements. edit: Did not notice this was already mentioned. Sorry!

I have always wrestled with the ethics of adblocking YouTube. If am subscribed to a channel, that means the content in that channel has value for me. And it is only fair that I provide some value to the content creators in return. Otherwise it is theft.

Anyways this is my reasoning. Hence as much as I find ads to be annoying, I put up with them. I am considering cancelling my Spotify subscription and using the saving to subscribe to YouTube. I haven't done it yet.

At what point is it considered theft though? If I refuse to look at an ad when it plays is it theft? If I get distracted and not watch it for half the time it runs, is it half theft? If I watch the whole thing and don't actually click through, is that theft?

There's no contract that I've signed that demands my full attention is on the ad. So, half my attention is ok? A quarter? How about none?

Is it enough that I know so and so company is behind the specific ad without me knowing what the ad is about but just realizing it's to sell me their product? Is that enough?

What IS the fair transaction in the case?

At whatever point the content creator fails to get paid for the ad being "viewed" I would assume.

But that's not my problem. That's the content creator's problem for choosing to get paid by advertisers and releasing the content for free mass consumption.

They picked the model - they must deal with the consequences of it.

One of the most obvious consequences is that they have zero right to any of the audience's time, attention, or money. They have entered no contract with the viewer at all.

Frankly - I'd very much rather see a return to viewer funded media. Stop wrapping me up like a product to be auctioned off. Make content I want to watch and ask for fair compensation from me.

If you can't find enough people willing to pay... your content probably doesn't need to exist.

Act like NPR and man up - ask me for my money. Put on content that's worth me opening my wallet.

You can pay for it. With youtube red. No ads, whoever you watch gets compensated fairly.

Cool. So for now, we can have third party tools that silence these ads and these content creators still get paid. At the point where the advertisers don't like this, then things can change. If they change enough, I'll choose a different platform.

I agree with what you've said yes. So long as the content creator gets paid silencing ads seems fine to me.

> I have always wrestled with the ethics of adblocking YouTube

have you considered the ethics of the ads themselves? Ads are all too often nonconsensual, manipulative, and harmful. They're designed to exploit us. You should respect yourself enough to avoid them when you can.

While I haven't verified the attribution, I can't really argue with this sentiment: https://i.redd.it/43f9y0p4ni281.png

Ad-blocking really isn't a problem and there's zero reason you should feel at all guilty about it. It certainty isn't theft.

If there is an artist, entertainer, or content producer you want to support there are almost always ways to do that directly without involving ads.

Not to mention a common malware vector

Adblocking seems very distinct from theft to me, but thankfully even that is irrelevant with SponsorBlock. Those sponsorships don't pay via impression and only the channel themselves could really try to track impressions anyway.

You're free to use SponsorBlock and save so much time, brain space, and frustration, without worrying about altering the creator's pay at all. I don't see why you wouldn't do it.

At this point I've got actual emotional/stress responses to segues in videos. It's ridiculous. At least SponsorBlock saves me a good number of ads and gives me a way to do something when an ad spot isn't skipped.

It may not alter their pay immediately but if enough people start using SponsorBlock, it seems like a logical conclusion that the sponsors will see their ROIs drop and will start paying less for sponsored content.

Only if you were actually going to be influenced to buy the thing in the first place. And it's not like the various bits of advertising from a sponsorship go entirely unnoticed in many circumstances, with various requirements to add text ads to video descriptions and pinned comments.

If you're looking to be actually informed - rather than manipulated - you're not missing out on much with SponsorBlock.

Not to mention I've never actually seen anything both potentially useful and novel-to-me show up in a YouTube sponsorship anyway. It mostly seems to be full of companies with established models looking for ways to boost their adspend even higher after they've tapped out other avenues.

I subscribe to YouTube premium and one of the great features is that creators get significantly more money from my views than from an adsupported user. So every monetized video that I view helps them out a bit more. That along with ad free viewing and YouTube music make it the best value of anything I subscribe too and would be my last service to cancel.

Matthias Wandel said it pretty plainly in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEMb4yc3t3M

> And ads on YouTube seem to be getting a bit too much lately. Just use an ad blocker, don't feel guilty about it. Enough is enough!

(this taken from the description of the video)

It is not theft

You can subscribe to Youtube Premium to remove ads, but not in-video sponsorships of course. A lot of prominent creators have banded together in the Nebula subscription service [1], where they put their video without ads and sponsorships.

[1] https://nebula.tv/

And you can get a great deal on nebula+curiosity stream too. I think I pay like under $20 for the year for both solely to watch Patrick H Willems and Thomas Flight videos and support a YouTube alternative.

It makes sense to cancel Spotify in favor of YouTube Premium since YouTube Premium includes both YouTube Music (music streaming service, like Spotify) and ad-free YouTube videos. It looks like YouTube Premium is a little more expensive than Spotify ($12 vs $10).

If the first hundred audible ads haven't sold me, the next hundred won't either

Ah, but ad #201 might just be the one. I can feel it.

Was it theft when Facebook or Google copies whatever is in my clipboard every time I open the app?

I pay them on Patreon and use SponsorBlock to skip the integrated advertisements.

That seems like a good balance for me.

Firefox with ublock origin blocks youtube ads seamlessly. I've barely seen an ad in years

It blocks in video creator ads not Youtube ads

Maybe you have it the other way around? I've been using uBlock Origin on YouTube for years and never see a single dynamic ad.

I think they were talking about SponsorBlock, which was mentioned on another same-level comment. Probably just didn't realize this was a separate sub-chain (or whatever you call it) without that context.

Sponsorblock

https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock

FreeTube has SponsorBlock built in if a desktop app works better for you.

https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube

Brave browser blocks YouTube ads out-the-box with no additional extensions or configuring. I use Brave explicitly for YouTube.

It exists

Revanced on Android

Stube on AndroidTV

So there is an equivalent for Android TV! Stube = SmartTubeNext?

I realize this is the current branding. Yes you're correct. SmartTubeNext. It appears on the TV as an app called STube

Is there something like this for iOS?

I've been using uYou+[0] & AltStore for about 6 months (since I switched to iOS from Android & Vanced) and I haven't had any problems with it. It has both SponsorBlock & normal ad block.

[0]: https://github.com/qnblackcat/uYouPlus

Only sideloaded.

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