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Comment by drcongo | Hacker News Reader

If only it had a feature to get rid of every video with someone pulling a stupid face on the poster frame. I might even actually visit YouTube if it did.

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Try a plugin called "Clickbait Remover for youtube". Your thumbnail will be replaced by freeze frame from video. I love it. And you can turn it off/on easily.

I've been using this for about half a year now and it's great!

I think the parent's goal was to use the presence of a stupid thumbnail as proxy for low quality and completely hide those videos instead of merely replacing the thumbnail.

Now if there's also something that could detect "YouTuber voice" (https://www.vice.com/en/article/aepn94/the-rise-of-youtube-v...) or the awful trend of putting a short clip in the intro with no context which wastes your time at best or spoils the video at worst that would be great as well.

about the short clips, try the browser extension "sponsorblock" it skips many of those.

"Stupid thumbnail" as a proxy for low quality is no longer a valid metric. The good channels have been, reluctantly or otherwise, mostly been forced into following suit.

Sadly this is true. I definitely used to use "stupid face" as a proxy for low quality but I've seen people who make good content doing it recently too, so now it all must go.

I'm also painfully aware that I'm an old man shouting at clouds.

The reason for this is if your videos stop having a very high click-through rate, or impression-to-watch ratio, youtube stops recommending it as much, meaning your videos likely won't get as many views as they would have had youtube not interfered at all!

But it is still a proxy for "content that the creator deliberately chooses to make irritating in order to appease the Algorithm Gods" which qualifies such content as "things I don't need more of in my life". Nobody has a gun to their head, forced to making "YouTube Face" thumbnails. "Incentivized" is probably the better word.

They kind of do have a gun to their head, forcing them to make “YouTube Face” thumbnails.

Like, if you’re proud of your work and want it to get seen at all, this is what you have to do. It sucks, but in many cases any trace of “annoying YouTube culture” vanishes the moment after you click and the whole video itself is good.

If you want to turn down good videos so you can make a point, then go for it I guess. But you’re not likely to actually change anything.

> Like, if you’re proud of your work and want it to get seen at all, this is what you have to do.

Assuming what you're saying is true, I wonder why channels like Rare Earth, Kraig Adams, Super Eyepatch Wolf, and 3Blue1Brown have their videos seen at all then.

I think all the channels you named were popular enough before the clickbait become nearly mandatory. The question is, if they restarted today could they also succeed without it? It's hard to know, but it's also hard to conclude that the deck wouldn't be that bit more stacked against them.

> I think all the channels you named were popular enough before the clickbait become nearly mandatory.

If that's the case, their viewership and growth right now would either be stagnant or on a steady decline. Is that the case? I doubt it.

I have this rule that no matter what the video is - if I open it and I hear "hey guys" I immediately close it and remove it from my history. I may even block the channel itself.

Unrelated, I also tend to have to "block channel" a lot after watching a trailer for a movie where I get 10 recommendations for the same trailer on unofficial channels.

Installed. Wow.

Discovered this extension a few months ago from another HN thread. It's great, the annoyance levels caused by 'Youtube face' was getting to be intolerable. I was making judgements on videos before even watching them, because of the thumbnail.

Thanks, turns out from this GitHub thread that there's even a Safari version - https://github.com/pietervanheijningen/clickbait-remover-for...

edit: Bought and installed and I can confirm that this makes YouTube at least 43% more bearable. Most of the other 57% is taken care of by Vinegar - https://andadinosaur.com/launch-vinegar

I'd pay for a YouTube that bans all reaction videos. I can't stand them.

Yea, I don't get the appeal of watching someone pretend they haven't seen "The Empire Strikes Back" and are watching it for the first time and are agog at the the twist.

The original Star Wars trilogy is decades old by now. Most modern Star Wars fans haven't even seen them, much less the general public.

Sure maybe? but it's penetrated popular culture enough that I refuse to believe anybody would be surprised by 'No, I am your father'

I don't know... I'm as familiar with it as anyone of my generation, but I honestly can't remember when I actually saw it last referenced in media or popular culture. I'd definitely be skeptical of anyone close to my age being unaware of it, though.

That's really the most annoying thing. Even people who make good videos do this shit. I just can't say how much I hate(and I don't use that word often) seeing angry, sad, or surprised faces. When I'm on Linux most of the times I just use newsboat and on android it's newpipe with the previewimages turned off. But somtimes I have to use the webpage, and it always makes me angry.

Some YouTubers outright say it increases views. Given that some of them make a living out of this and that I'd rather keep seeing their content, I can live with some pandering to the algorithm/trends in thumbnails.

or when you try to use youtube not for entertainment but utilitarian (e.g. how do I take a part a door hinge again?) and they start the actual information halfway through the video

The trick is to recognise those early and switch to a different video. Or quickly figure out which channel is more serious about getting to the point, and pick their video.

Youtube tested some sort of feature where you can see what are the parts which are the most watched by people.

heaven forbid they could adjust their "algorithm" to encourage people to make better content for this category. How many googlians are considered brilliant and none of them ever stopped to think "what are the use cases of this product"

I’ve learned over time that many people who make helpful videos are not skilled at how to edit or pace a video at all. But I often need the content and can’t get it elsewhere. 2x is so great for screencast tutorials for things like Blender. I can’t imagine watching them any other way.

> I might even actually visit YouTube if it did.

It's much easier for YouTube to get someone who already views YouTube videos for some amount of time per day to view more using clickbate than it is to get you who doesnt view YouTube to start.

The bizarre part is - I've seen a lot of youtubers say that they hate it, but that it also increases views by a fair amount. Which is... wierd.

Linus Tech Tips talked about this a while back, and it is just like when Wikipedia uses Jimmy Wales face to raise money. Everyone say they hate it, but it is what yields the best results.

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