[HN Gopher] SponsorBlock - skip sponsor segments on YouTube
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       SponsorBlock - skip sponsor segments on YouTube
        
       Author : anotherhue
       Score  : 47 points
       Date   : 2024-08-12 09:10 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (sponsor.ajay.app)
 (TXT) w3m dump (sponsor.ajay.app)
        
       | dangus wrote:
       | Also extra useful: iSponsorBlockTV. You run it in on a server and
       | you can set it up with the YouTube app on all your commercial
       | streaming boxes that don't support browser extensions.
       | 
       | https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV
        
         | add-sub-mul-div wrote:
         | How does this work, how does it get between the client and
         | youtube.com?
        
           | synchrone wrote:
           | It uses the tv youtube app remote control over local network
           | to see if it plays a video, and skips at the right time.
        
             | ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
             | Ha. What a fantastic piece of hack. Absolutely brilliant.
             | Love it.
        
       | nerdjon wrote:
       | I kinda feel like this is taking things too far. I mean I guess
       | ultimately as long as this is not used by many people there won't
       | really be any impact.
       | 
       | But if we are going to complain about how ads are tracking us and
       | other potential issues, why go so far as to block something that
       | isn't? Unless blocking ads has nothing to do with privacy and is
       | just an annoyance with ads...
       | 
       | I am all for blocking privacy invading ads since they lost any
       | trust, but I question why you would really do this if you want a
       | free web to continue to exist.
        
         | dialup_sounds wrote:
         | With sponsorships I think people are just annoyed by them being
         | repetitive. There are maybe ten companies that seem to sponsor
         | every YouTube channel and podcast, and there's only so many
         | times you can get pitched the same wallet or VPN before you
         | develop the instinct to skip ahead.
         | 
         | But before we skip ahead, let me tell you about this comment's
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         | marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace is the all-in-one
         | platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your
         | business. Use code "eyeroll" to get 10% off your first order.
        
         | Nextgrid wrote:
         | If I'm going to skip it manually anyway, may as well let the
         | machine do it. The whole point of computers is to automate
         | busywork.
         | 
         | No sales will be lost either way as I'm already a customer of
         | the website builder and am absolutely not in the market for a
         | VPN and never will be.
        
         | vikramkr wrote:
         | It's because it's an annoyance with ads and even if people want
         | a free web to exist something something prisoners dilemma.
         | 
         | Also these ads are in videos even if you're e.g. paying for
         | YouTube premium so it's not just the free web.
        
         | ulyssys wrote:
         | It's not necessarily an either-or situation. It can be privacy,
         | annoyance, and a general lack of effectiveness.
         | 
         | Advertising isn't just the art of selling a product, it's the
         | art of getting past our normal social defense that someone is
         | trying to take our money, our attention, and our time.
         | Advertising is necessarily adversarial, and everyone's
         | tolerance for it is going to be unique depending on how heavily
         | they rely on free resources, but it is a necessary unpleasantry
         | at its best.
         | 
         | If I could even recall the exact number of times an
         | advertisement of any type appealed to me in the last 20 or more
         | years, it would amount to less than the fingers on my hand. I
         | used to welcome all of Google's advertising tracking and
         | relevance-seeking as the best version of advertising out there,
         | but even that resulted in unimpressive and less than meaningful
         | ads. If Google can't advertise something useful to me, then I
         | have zero qualms about walking by, palm facing them in refusal.
         | 
         | Because of these product failures, and because it is unwise to
         | trust a big company with all of your personal data, I rarely
         | desired to be advertised to at all.
         | 
         | Individual content creators have the opportunity to give me a
         | chance with something unique that they know that their viewers
         | would be interested in because they (hopefully) relate to their
         | audience much more than a faceless corporation, and can present
         | a product in its best, most relevant light.
         | 
         | But if that content creator is trying to sell me a Scandinavian
         | VPN service or a game of legendary shadows, you can bet I have
         | zero interest.
         | 
         | All this may change as GenAI-driven methods may key in on
         | relevant interests based on what I wish to share about myself.
         | I'm hoping that Apple's Intelligence systems will end up
         | preserving privacy as well as driving a more effective ad
         | model.
        
         | elashri wrote:
         | You still get these ads even when you go and buy YouTube
         | premium that should be actually your way to an experience free
         | of ads.
        
         | chatmasta wrote:
         | I wasn't gonna buy the thing being advertised to me, so why not
         | save us all some bandwidth and time? Or if you think that I was
         | gonna buy it but I didn't know it, then you're admitting you
         | want to manipulate me, which only strengthens my argument for
         | my right to block it.
         | 
         | Advertising is creating consensus without consent. It's
         | information warefare, propaganda, psychological manipulation...
         | whatever you want to call it, in any other context the
         | immorality is clear. If a guy buys a woman a vodka soda at a
         | hotel bar, can she accept it and return to her table, or does
         | she need to listen to his offer to come up to his room before
         | she can drink it?
        
       | jocaal wrote:
       | The creator of this extension also makes DeArrow [1]. It replaces
       | the clickbait thumbnails and titles with less annoying ones. I
       | highly recommend it.
       | 
       | [1] https://dearrow.ajay.app/
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-12 23:01 UTC)