YouTube expands age verification to more users. Several users are reporting on Reddit seeing new restrictions being applied to their accounts.
sigh
the internet fucking sucks so bad now oh my GOD
One more reason to use an alt front-end, and clear/disable your watch/view history and not log into YT directly anymore, at least while you still can.
I don’t think you bypass the age checks with the alternative front-ends? I’ve been using FreeTube for some time, and whenever there has been an 18+ video, I would not be able to view it as I would not pass the age check. If this is a more general check that is being rolled out, I guess there will be less and less videos that will work through these.
I think I need to start hoarding video tutorial series and self-host them. Would something like TubeArchivist be my best bet for that?
I just duckduckgo some youtube downlaoder sites, paste the link, wait for download, then watch using VLC. Not seamless, but whatever, I can read a wiki article while I wait.
I think we need to hit these companies where it hurts and stop using them until they refuse to comply with governmental age verification
Sounds good in theory but there just isn’t anything that can hold up to the same traffic. Don’t get me wrong, I’d migrate away from YouTube in a heartbeat, but there really isn’t much that compares when it comes to the creators, and the music. All of which are “free” and easy to access with an ad blocker.
And I’m including piracy.
Have you seen most YouTube videos? Nothing can hold up to the garbage content being pumped in by scammers and low effort “influencers” and shit like Mr beast or the Pauls or whatever is popular these days. We don’t need YouTube level capacity for good content.
What alt front ends are there? How would you bypass the age check? Back in the day I didn’t have an account and you could get around it using third party sites but those don’t work anymore as far as I know.
Invidious mainly, and that doesn’t use any YT accounts, it’s the equivalent of watching YT logged out.
Also, Grayjay lets you log in through it but that probably doesn’t bypass the age check if you’re KYC’d.
If you’re an active creator yourself though or even if you only have a few vids you made years ago that are still up, I’d set up PeerTube, Odysee, or both, and post those there while you still can, though.
Presumably once YouTube finishes rolling out age verification, all these age restricted videos will require logging in to view them and anonymous front end apps will be locked out.
Age-gated vids have been login-walled for a while now, non-age-gated stuff is still viewable while logged out and through alt front-ends, for now.
I won’t put it past Google to fully login-wall YT at some point in the future though, or even worse, put DRM on it so that it’s only watchable through Chrome on Android, or Chrome or Edge on Windows, and non-Android and non-Windows OSes, and non-Chrome/Edge browsers are blocked, as well as alt front-ends and downloaders, and even mirroring to competing platforms.
they could but it would harm a lot of organic growth since they rely on content being easily shared.
i don’t think they will do chrome only as that would be anticompetitive
Getting GrayJay was the best decision I made. However much the one time license was, I have 0 regrets.
Yeah they still rarely work but I’d rather deal with intermittent inoperability than log into a YT account and use their absolute atrocity of a UI.
Also worth noting that paying for premium does not give you any more control over this waterfall of forcefed garbage.
I swear to god Google I will delete my account and use a front end for every single time I see a video on your platform, so help me God.
peertube
I don’t understand why people are so afraid to ditch YouTube
If you want to transfer every video to a different service, be my guest.
I mean, it gives you tools to export your videos out.
Cool. You should probably get started. There’s a lot of videos.
I don’t have any youtube videos to export. Do you want me to export yours?
And everyone else’s. People don’t go elsewhere because the creators they like are on YouTube. Speaking as someone with Peertube and Nebula.
no. just start at the frontpage and continue from there. let me know when you’re done, I got some videos on my todo list
If you would, thank you. Here’s the list:
www.youtube.com
A lot of creators I watch are YouTube exclusive with their content.
If they were on Peertube, I’d delete YouTube in a heartbeat.
But I also understand that a lot of them make their living off ad revenue, so I don’t blame them for staying.
You can also check out nebula. A good chunk of them are there.
Why commit to them instead of finding alternative creators on a different platform?
Fine. Name alternatives for what YouTube is mostly used for and I’ll be the first to take your advise.
We are talking vlogs on huge amounts of topics, product reviews and unboxings, reaction videos, how-to tutorials, gaming videos (walkthroughs, live streams, etc.), ASMR and relaxation content, educational and explainer videos for science, history and finance… and so on.
There’s simply no true alternative.
What are you into?
The above.
My circle of family, friends and others will extend the list to music videos, health care (mental health and wellness, for example), the shorts, movie trailers, even Hallmark movies.
There is no platform other than YouTube that combines all this crazy amount of content.
There’s PeerTube with notoriously difficult onboarding for the average user and limited content, there’s Loops with extremely limited content… I really wish it were different.
Maybe one day existing platforms will rise. Looking at you, VIMEO, Kick, DailyMotion, DTube…
There is no substitute for Hank Green.
Name one
What are you into?
Photography, Star trek, fountain pens
I do cosplay, dollhouses, and dioramas, and peertube is pretty dead on that front.
Doesn’t matter. Name a single FREE alternative to YouTube with content worth watching.
Depends on the content you’re wanting to watch.
See, you can’t even just name something. Because it doesn’t exist.
How about mtg gameplay, video game speedruns, beat battles, and vtubers? That’s pretty much all I use YouTube for these days, but I’d love to drop it completely.
Not “afraid” to “ditch” a monopoly. It’s a monopoly.
