this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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I have been using Brave as my browser for years, I have never once seen an ad on YouTube. Nor have I ever had any of the issues that have been reported with people using ad blockers.
Don’t use brave, they’re shady. LibreWolf with uBlock Origin is plenty.
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asdfasfasfasfasI do turn off all the rewards and other BS in the browser, but I will look into Firefox and uBlock. Thank you.
WIth user agent switcher, you can use firefox for the sites that make you use chrome. Hasn't failed me yet with the three sites I need to use that would not work on firefox without it.
Any reason for picking it over all the other chromium browsers?
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asdfasfasfasfasFirefox with user agent switcher addon.
Waterfox...
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asdfasfasfasfasGood. Every chromium-based browser is evil because it's Chromium based and therefore helps enable Google's disastrous web hegemony.
If you think Firefox's lack of 100% compatibility with Google's self-serving bullshit is a bug instead of a feature, you're part of the problem.
Oh yeah. My bad.
The "crypto BS" also encompasses running a protection racket whereby Brave man-in-the-middles website ads to replace them with its own, then shakes down the website owners to buy into said crypto BS if they want their lost revenue back.
That counts as shady in my book: an end-user has every right to control what their computer (their property) does, but the third-party interference for the third-party's benefit crosses the line.
I mean they did also inject affiliate links without the users noticing which is really shady behaviour from a browser because it has one job, open the link I click and nothing else. But that's just IMHO if that is acceptable for you personally then there is no issue with that.
You forgot the VPN service they install without consent.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/20/23925192/brave-browser-vpn-windows-11
I'm using firefox + ublock origin and have never had the reported issues either.
I'm leeching premium from a friend so no ads on pc, but because I'm getting sick and tired of all the shorts shit being pushed onto me (even play automatically when I would open the YouTube app) I'm using Grayjay on my phone instead of the official YouTube app. Never ads and it even has sponsor block. Plus you can follow creators instead of channels, across platforms. And downloading a video means you can actually watch it without a connection too. It has more perks then someone paying for premium has. Piracy pais off.
On android I use Revanced. It patches the official Youtube app (patches are open source) to greatly expand the base functionality and offer a lot more customization of the UI.
For me the best features are ad block, sponsorblock (skips in video sponsored segments), and complete excision of shorts from all aspects of the app.
It also works on Youtube Music, effectively allowing free premium (just don't get the local downloads of your most listened tracks to help save data, but I have unlimited anyway).
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asdfasfasfasfasThey get paid whether sponsored sections of the video are skipped or not though, which is the beauty of sponsorblock. Sometimes the sponsor sections are high effort though and worth watching.
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asdfasfasfasfasThere aren't many products being sponsored through YouTube creators which are actually worth it imo. I mean, the best VPN providers don't pay loads of money for ads. Same with many other products. Companies focused on mass ad campaigns often have expensive products which are not that great. I did see some which are actually pretty good, but most of it is just average at best.
But I also have a personal hate towards ads in general. We are being overloaded with ads wherever you look. I try to live as ad free as possible. I think sponsorblock is awesome, because the creator still gets payed as no one can see you skipped the promotion part. I also don't like self promotion parts either. I don't like begging for likes and subscriptions. If the video is good, it gets a like. If the creator is good, I'll follow. If it's really good, I'll consider patreon. Many of the best creators do not beg for likes and only slightly mention patreon at the outro.
I understand creators need to do it, don't get me wrong. I just don't like it so sponsorblock is perfect as creators can continue doing it while I can auto skip. Before I had sponsorblock I never clicked any of the links because of what I mentioned before, so me skipping the parts doesn't change anything for the creator.
That's fair, I hadn't considered that people may actually want to click through on sponsored content to help the creator. I really enjoy not having to see another ad for the usual sponsored brands ever again though (raid, vpns etc) .