this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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Firefox users are reporting an 'artificial' load time on YouTube videos. YouTube says it's part of a plan to make people who use adblockers "experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using."

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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The content you are freely consuming is actively costing YouTube money.

Are you a stand-up comedian?

[โ€“] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago

You know the internet isn't actually magic, right? You know that storing and distributing data costs real money, and doesn't just magically appear on your computer screen. Video hosting is quite literally, insanely fucking expensive. That's the reality of it. The absolute absurd amount of storage it takes to host YouTube is truly mind boggling. Then they have to have who knows how much money in data transfer to both upload the videos, and then stream them out to however many users. That's not even including the fact that they do actually give money to their creators. Some of them make quite a substantial amount of it, no less. I haven't even mentioned the team with YouTube developing, maintaining, servicing, their technical equipment. All the customer support, the relations managers, the YouTube partner managers, and all the other hundreds of behind the scenes staff.

YouTube costs money. I think you don't disagree with that. Perhaps the part you have a problem with is thinking you, a single person, aren't costing them money. And sure, if you were literally the only person doing it, it really wouldn't be noticeable. But given all the uproar, it's very clear it's not just you. By how many people are upset, it's clear it's actually quite a substantial amount of people. So if you think all of those people aren't costing YouTube money, then I really cannot help teach you basic money any further.

If you're argument is instead that all these people mad about AdBlocker blocking are costing YouTube money, but not enough for them to lose money or even substantial profits, then I really don't know what to tell you. If that is your argument, then you are trying to argue that YouTube should eat the profits so users can steal more. Which really just doesn't make any fucking sense. Again, that's very similar to getting pissed that Walmart is making it harder to shoplift because Walmart make so much money. And yet nobody is suggesting Walmart make it easier to shoplift, because people as a whole see shoplifting as stealing, but don't see AdBlock as stealing. Quite frankly, that's just a result of an ignorance as to how technology works and what things actually cost.

And if you're suggesting something else, then I don't know what it is and you'll need to further clarify if you want me to better understand.