Hacker News Reader

If you append the magic URL argument "&disable_polymer=1" then things should load instantly in Firefox and Edge.

Is there a Youtube setting to keep this enabled?

Doubtful, that would be account wide, not scoped to your browser. An add-on (or just a bookmark) is your best bet.

Oh! You could change user agents.

I'm using an ancient browser and youtube seems to always append this automatically for me.