I like the tool.
I would remove the example on the nebula service, that channel is a real creator. Add any oficial nebula channel as example for the blocklist instead. Don't screw one guy just for the sake of it, it's not a nice move.
I would remove the example on the nebula service, that channel is a real creator. Add any oficial nebula channel as example for the blocklist instead. Don't screw one guy just for the sake of it, it's not a nice move.
Still amazes me how widespread this is - I recently looked up some lawn care videos on Youtube and then I started to see these "YouTube face" thumbnails from gardeners show up in my feed. It's like all aspiring YouTubers are reading the same advice for getting views, regardless of age, demographic, or subject?
It works⁰ surprisingly well for a range of target audiences – I've seen a few proper tests of the effect.
> It's like all aspiring YouTubers are reading the same advice for getting views, regardless of age, demographic, or subject?
While it won't work that well for all channels, it is unlikely to put off enough people¹ that it is worth a try just in case. Also, some do it just because it is current fashion, or because that is currently the default and they lack an original thought in thumbnail making², rather than thinking there is any other benefit.
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[0] gets more clicks than thumbnails without
[1] those, like you and I, who dislike it enough for it to make us simply click away, are apparently rare enough that losing us is not a big problem
[2] because that sort of marketing isn't their game, and they don't want it to be more than it has to be
So as a viewer, you have a choice: You can continue to block channels that do the Youtube Face, knowing that you’ll be missing out on good content (because yes even good channels do it), out of a desire to send a message that no one will heed. Or you can put up with it and watch the videos anyway.
It was a good middle ground, but eventually the thumbnail URL format changed and it started appearing again. Also re-enabled recommendations and comments, but my front page remains subs only (more or less 5 videos a day of select channels).
In this case I've already decided I don't want to watch that channel and seeing the thumbnails irks me. Lots of channels I like play the creator-meta game and put red arrows and clickbaity stuff up front but still produce quality content and I respect that decision. I don't think anyone intends to block that channel by default, but it's nice to be able to do so deliberately.
I'd be willing to bet that Ritchie is doing well enough that his channel wouldn't be seriously harmed by an example like this, but even so you could say it's careless by the documentation author.
I agree in retrospect that it was a petty move, and I deleted the default values today, as the project now works fine without default values.