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> Right, but nothing prevents YouTube to get rid of public video IDs and simply share an opaque version of (user, video) whenever possible.

Instagram and TikTok have already been doing this for years.

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Reddit has started to as well. Their app generates /s/ links which annoyingly require you to be logged in to resolve.

Another pattern that I hate is that Reddit will create an account for you if you are using a browser profile that does not have an associated Reddit account. It will then prompt you to 'personalise' the username and password.

I wonder if that factors into the # of accounts for their planned IPO. Does this also include new prive browsing sessions?

It's not just a tracking tag on Reddit; the shared links largely obfuscate the thread or comment, requiring one to go through the tracking link to find out what is behind it. An example for anyone curious:

Tracking /s/ link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/s/xxQGmFcPSS

Leads to the following:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/17atlg7/my_6_week_ol...

If it's any consolation, Spotify has kept the old system.

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