No obvious AdBlock issues for me for probably 6-8 weeks using UBlock and Firefox.
Sometimes I run into video slowdowns or hitches but have no way of knowing if that’s Youtube trying to fuck with me for ad blocking or Youtube just being shitty in general.
During this thread’s lifetime so far, I have noticed a fluctuation with YouTube. Their policies have changed, for me, every few weeks. Some weeks they block all videos (I have the keystrokes memorized to get into Incognito Mode, so big deal), then for the next few weeks, no special treatment as videos play without incident. Then back to the blocking mode.
I’ve seen at least 3 cycles like this since the New Year.
Going into Incognito mode is easy (Ctrl/C, Shift+Ctrl/N, Ctrl/V, Return). But once in that mode, it is impossible to make comments to a video or register your like/dislike. So I often switch to Firefox until YT gets tired of this game and becomes normal again. Did you miss me, YouTube?
I worry that the common viewer won’t see some of my videos, but I think most non-geek types don’t know enough to install an ad blocker anyway, so they are innocently unaffected (albeit ad-soaked). Ain’t got no complaints yet.
Fuck you, Google
I have one win7 machine that I had to watch in incognito mode, with ads. Which were skippable within 5 seconds. And the really scammy ones were somewhat entertaining. I haven’t had any issues in about a month just watching them in a normal tab.
Further observations and changes.
Chrome/Youtube seems to have shifted gears, so to speak. For me, they stopped blocking videos for a few weeks. Then today, I noticed every video was preceded by a screen that says, “You’re offline. Check your connection.”
There is nothing wrong with my connection, as evidenced by multiple functions operating simultaneously on at least 3 computers using the same internet connection and IP. Copying the link to another tab in Chrome allows me to view the video just fine without that massage screen.
So instead of the procedure to go into incognito mode, I now have to merely open another tab. Or use Firefox or Safari.
It appears that this is the latest tactic by Google/Chrome to confuse the ignorant and get more money. Greedy bastards.
The “…Check your connection…” message is still appearing, 24 hours later. Bypass-able, but is anyone else getting this annoying shit? Or some other stupid warning?
Nothing like that here. I have gotten that before the ad crap, and it means I needed to restart my browser and/or computer.
That’s what I suppose that is expected to mean (restart your computer), to scare or annoy viewers.
Just now, I have noticed a variation on this “warning”, i.e…, “video unavailable”.
But that “unavailable” video can be seen, without warnings, on Firefox, so it is not “unavailable.” Methinks there is something else going on here, probably due to Chrome/YouTube’s attempt to extract money from the innocents.
Been using Brave Shields with the Brave browser plus uBlock Origin. Hadn’t had a problem once they updated to deal with Google’s crap.
The only problem I run into is that sometimes it takes two clicks to start, or restart, a video.
OTOH there seem like nothing can be done about YouTubers who spend over a third of their videos on ads. I saw one yesterday where the idjit spent half the video explaining why they don’t do many ads and by-the-way, wouldn’t I like to buy merch from their store? Um, that’s an ad, and a loooong one at that. Buh-bye.
Suitable text with links below the video works for me. I’ve clicked on a lot of those.
Unfortunately there does seem to be a trend recently for some YouTube channels which used to be informative and unbiased (no names, no pack drill) to start accepting sponsorships and devoting a significant amount of the actual video to that.
Oh well, one can always skip through, and if things get too bad on a given channel one can just give up on it.
As far as YouTube itself goes, I’m using Firefox with ublock and I’m not seeing any ad problems recently.
Try SponserBlock. It’ll automatically skip over the sponsored parts.
After a few weeks of this, I am sure the messages are from my ad blocker (I use Ghostery). Whenever I attempt to play ANY YT video, I get the message, “You’re offline, Check your connection.”
I am never offline, and there is nothing wrong with my connection. The solution for this ridiculous message is to merely load the page again, and the video plays just fine. Takes all of 1 second (one click), but what is YT trying to accomplish here? If someone is mystified by the message and spends time diagnosing the problem (check your wifi, cables, cookies, etc.), all they will learn is that nothing is wrong! Why would they decide to pay money to YT?
I’m confused. If the messages are from your ad blocker, why are you blaming YouTube?
I’m using uBlock, and lately I’ve noticed that if I do a search (DuckDuckGo) and the results include a YouTube video, if I click on the video from the search results, it never starts, it just cranks the little circle round and round. I’ve waited up to 3 or 4 minutes, just to see what would happen. If I search for and find the same video directly on YouTube, it starts fine with no problem.
I don’t know if this is a recent phenomenon, or if it was happening before and I just noticed it. I’ve been using uBlock for three or four months.
(And I haven’t been following the thread lately, so please forgive me if this has already been discussed.)
I have seen some claim that changing their DNS settings to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (Google’s DNS servers) solved this problem. I have not had your problem so can’t say for certain if this works but it is easy to do and harmless to try (and easy to change back if you want).
Just starting to get the “Ad Blockers violate YOUTUBE’s ToS” message again on Chrome after a very long time. 1: So Youtube is again admitting spying on me, and 2: I am again back to Brave which is working fine without Googles admission.
(replying to Thudlow_Boink)
Because YouTube doesn’t like the ad blocker, but the ad blocker is not generating the messages, YouTube is! The ad blocker’s job is to block ads (which it does), not generate annoying messages!
New development in YouTube/Chrome’s zeal to make more money…now when I click on ANY video, instead of the “You’re offline…” message or a stupid icon, I get the spinning wheel for about 30 seconds, followed by a short video ad for some stuff that I certainly don’t want to see or care about. This appears to be the latest method of forcing advertising on the video stream in spite of my ad blocker (ghostery).
It’s easy to bypass this, it just takes a few more clicks, all the while I am muttering about Google/Chrome/YouTube’s insane greed.
I’ve stayed good for a while, but anytime there’s a problem, I just switch to Brave. Do that.
On my Brave mobile app (Android), all YouTube links show a “dead” page with a message “YouTube refused to load.”
I don’t use ad blockers because I think the people I am watching deserve to get paid.
But man, I’m starting to rethink that, because currently Youtube is worse than TV used to be. Now I get 30 second ads that can’t be skipped, ads inside the videos, etc. And unlike TV they are usually placed automatically and are often very intrusive, like starting in the middle of a song I am listening to.
Google’s search and other products are also degrading in quality and increasing ads. Google needs to be disrupted.