https://files.catbox.moe/a6111d.png / https://nitter.poast.org/LinusTech/status/1825956050685800834
If you go the video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsjHMzGl-VY. You will see it’s gone. So Youtube being Youtube.
Here’s a Odysee mirror of the video, https://odysee.com/@jopec:7/linus-tech-tips-degoogle-your-life-part-2-adfree-youtube:0.
I don’t see any mention of the YouTube adblock trick, so from the vid:
Copy YouTube URL. Paste it in Bing and search. Scroll passed Bing’s sponsored bullshit and click on the thumbnail for the video you searched. It will then play, still in Bing, with no ads.
So if you’re on a work or government or w/e computer that doesn’t allow installing adblock extensions, there ya go. No downloads or anything, just YouTube and Bing.
…this is the first time I’ve ever had any interest in using Bing, lol.
Scroll passed Bing’s sponsored bullshit
Ah. Still some ads then.
But you’re not forced to actually wait through them like on YT - you can just scroll past.
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I run a local instance of invidious and it is…chefs kiss
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You mean my VPNs IP
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I wonder if those are less likely to be blocked on networks.
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are the instances always flaky and laggy just for me?
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the ones i tried were already bad before the crackdown, and turned unusable for me after. includes yewtube.
There’s a chance duckduckgo does something similar, but sadly I can’t check at the moment.
Leaving a comment so I remember to try it later—unless anyone reading is willing to do so.
It does indeed.
Thank you.
Whenever using this trick, I’d suggest using DDG instead of Bing if possible.
Makes sense, it’s basically just a Bing wrapper.
Why is this lengthy process preferable to using ublock on Firefox?
It isn’t. But there are situations where that isn’t an option, like being on a work or government computer where downloading firefox or installing an extension will get you fired. When that’s the case, YouTube+Bing is a “good enough”/“better than nothing” option.
I don’t care for Linus these days but respect for that.
Yeah, I got tired of his videos half-assing the work and the failed reviews hurting small manufacturers while Linus doubled down after GN documented their failures.
But this I can get behind.
Doubled down? After being called out they slowed the upload cadence, are taking more time to make sure mistakes don’t get through, and changed their production process. They also formed a volunteer team of “beta tester” viewers who see each video pre-release to catch any mistakes they didn’t internally. I think they handled it well. Of course it would be better if they didn’t have a problem in the first place, but I’d never call it “doubling down”.
There was an initial reaction from Linus on his forums where he massively doubled down on his stance that he had not done anything wrong with the review model LTT had auctioned off without permission (I can’t remember the name of the company). He had even accused GN of not following “journalistic standards” by not giving LTT a chance to put their side forward.
This was met with another video from GN, and overall criticism over the dismissive attitude Linus was displaying. That’s when they came out with a YT video, admitting their numerous faults, and Linus himself admitted that the way he responded on the forum was not acceptable.
Pretty much doubled down initially, till they realised that they’re in actual deep waters.
I would wager money on the suspicion that deep down, Linus probably still thinks he did nothing wrong.
And that the actual change only came about because the people around him (like his wife and executives) threatened/forced him into changing positions.
Cause we got a good glimpse into the kind of person Linus was when that whole thing started, by selling the prototype that wasnt his, then going out and lying about being in contact with the company, who he lied about forgiving him and making a deal to make up for it… Which was quickly rebuked by GN asking the company if Linus had contacted them, to which they said “No”
And the kind of guy that does that kind of shit, isnt the kind of guy that suddenly goes “Okay, I screwed Up, I did it, I’m sorry” without someone behind the scenes threatening catastrophic personal consequences.
Cause we got a good glimpse into the kind of person Linus was when that whole thing started, by selling the prototype that wasnt his, then going out and lying about being in contact with the company, who he lied about forgiving him and making a deal to make up for it…
10’000%
This is what all his rabidly loyal fans miss. He showed true colours during this incident.
Fair enough. Still commendable for taking the heat himself without ever mentioning which employee made the mistake with misallocating the review item to the charity auction.
It is, but it also genuinely isn’t their fault.
He pointed to their failure at inventory management because the fact that they didn’t have a functional setup for it is a systems problem, not the individual.
He has a legit point that Steve did not give LTT a chance to comment. “He doesn’t have to!” Maybe. But he gave the other side a ton of airtime/chances to comment. It was very one sided and while GN made some good points, it felt like a hit piece. And Linux, imo rightfully, felt a little betrayed by a guy he’d worked with in the community.
His reaction wasn’t great but it was that of a guy who was defending his team and from someone he’d probably consider a ‘friend’ impugning his integrity and dragging them without giving them any opportunity to comment or even letting him know it was coming–two very common practices/norms.
A unflattering view of GN vid is that he felt threatened by LTT labs entering the space and he wanted to get out in front of that an expose"how unreliable" they are. He didn’t give LTT a heads up or allow them to comment because he knew they’d have a solid response. He blindsided him on purpose.
All that said, GN did Linus a favor. It accelerated his transition away from CEO and forced them to review their dumb production rates and the videos that are coming out now are better than ever.
Ironically, it left a sour taste in my mouth about Steve and I haven’t watched any of his videos since.
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That was AFTER the backlash increased after he doubled down.
Not initially. Linus mouthed off as he likes to do on his own podcast before eating crow after GN reinforced their claims.
Yeah, I don’t like Linus all that much but I do enjoy LTT’s content overall. He tends to drastically and publicly overreact to literally any criticism, and then the rest of the team gets involved and he walks it back. Whether they legitimately change his mind or just convince him he’s gotta look like he’s changed his mind I have no clue.
My favorite instances of Linus are when he’s an absolute idiot on the WAN show and we just get to see Luke’s reaction live. The hard-r thing was absolutely hilarious.
Yeah Luke’s look of “oh no bro, stop” is pretty much a staple of the WAN show.
but I do enjoy LTT’s content overall.
I used to as well, up until the storage server video and their Linux challenge.
I lost every shred of respect and interest after Linus showed his true colours during the Billet Labs nonsense.
They said they did all that. But actually Watching the videos? It’s the same shit as before. Sloppy edits, errors in the comments etc.
After being called out, this genius doubled down on his actions and defended his methods all the while inserting an ad right in the middle of a response video.
It was then that he lost my respect.
Doubled down?
Yes, doubled down. After being called out Linus made two separate long posts about why he wasn’t wrong.
They also formed a volunteer team of “beta tester” viewers who see each video pre-release
So using free labour instead of just doing their jobs? If they can’t “catch any mistakes internally”, then they’re just bad at their jobs (which they are).
I think they handled it well.
Yes, the PR team they used gave them a good corporate playbook to work with.
“Slowed the upload cadence” is just another way to say “wait for this to blow over”.
I used to watch LTT, mostly because it was interesting from the “let’s see what those guys have to say”. I had zero interest in their technical expertise because, well, they don’t really have any. They’ve always been clowns, but after their storage server video and their Linux “challenge” I lost all respect for any talent or knowledge they claimed to have. After the Billet Labs incident I lost any shred of respect I had for them.
They are clowns.
You live in a fantasy world if you think it’s possible to catch 100% of mistakes internally. Even safety critical equipment with many layers of checks fails and kills people every now and then (medical equipment, bridges).
You live in a fantasy world if you think it’s possible to catch 100% of mistakes internally.
Nice strawman. No one said anything about catching 100% of mistakes internally. But outsourcing that work to unpaid volunteers with zero verification of qualifications is the definition of “passing the buck”.
The correct answer is to hire and train up a QA team.
No one said they are unpaid or have zero qualifications either.
I have no longer watched their content since the scandal.
Which one?
Probably the sexual harassment one that’s when I left. The billet labs stuff was bad too though.
Feels like I remember that one getting pretty good proof Linus didn’t do anything, but could be wrong
Linus wasn’t accused of sexually harassing anyone. His company was accused of being a hostile work environment with sexual harassment by a former worker, but the accusations weren’t against Linus himself. LTT hired a 3rd party law firm to investigate - LTT said the law firm basically said there wasn’t legal liability based on the documentation they could find and LTT used that to absolve themselves and threaten to sue the accuser if she said anything else.
But this was an LTT hired lawfirm and LTT themselves reporting on what the report said - and since it’s confidential you kind of just have to take their word that they’re accurately reporting the findings. Further there were initially some corroborators of Madison’s story who retracted and apologized quickly (assumingly after being threatened with legal action - Aprime is the example). Besides that a lot of the accusations were things that happened in person that wouldn’t necessarily leave a digital trail so it’s possible even if the 3rd party investigation was completely unbiased that everything Madison said was still true.
In the end believe what you want but it seems slimy enough that I stopped watching.
One of the major accusations was that they asked too much of Madison for a single person to accomplish, and fired her over not meeting their expectations. While this is not great, it’s not legally problematic.
Yeah you’re correct on the accusations, I should have clarified.
But with that approach it doesn’t sound like there is anything an organization could do against false accusations that would absolve them of wrongdoing. I’m all for bashing corrupt/horrible companies, but it feels like there should be at least some presumption of innocence unless there is any kind of proof. Painting all accused with the same brush just leads to devaluing the brush IMO. But like you said, people may (and will) believe what they want, and people are under no obligation to watch or support any creator unless they want to. In my case I just haven’t seen any proof of wrongdoing (in this case, gamersnexus controversy was worse IMO).
What do you think a company should do in that situation, assuming it is being falsely accused? What would a “perfect” response be? I cant think of a much better one than what LTT did, given their circumstances, but would love to hear what a better response would look like.
The only thing they could have done better was have the third party release the report. I don’t think they released it yet, but they had intended to at one point. Maybe the lawyers told them they shouldn’t?
Hm, not sure that would be legal even? Considering it likely contained information on different employees etc. But yeah, if possible it would have been nice to see.
Toxic work environment; misleading benchmark & product reviews.
People can say nothing was done but the only info you’re going to get is going to be from the accusers. The company isn’t going to speak publicly about it and so we won’t ever know what their views are or what proof they have.
They hired an external firm to investigate themselves and they found nothing, while the accuser had zero proof. There is plenty of things to accuse them for, the gamers nexus thing for one, but I’m a bit annoyed about false accusations sticking so hard when there is little reason to believe it. If anything it makes people less likely to believe actual victims.
This was my impression. All of their scandals they’ve taken extremely seriously(it appears), done the work to fix and improve, and a lot of their issues seem to be results of fast scaling and organizational level problems that can be fixed.They haven’t just swept things under the rug where they’re able to be transparent. I just think the problem is what Luke has always said: When you open a company up to transparency, you gain criticism, and then the company has large incentives to shut down that transparency because all you use it for is to cause them problems.
Aside from that, the LTT community and outsiders seem very toxic toward them.
Okay Amber, what’s the verdict on that?
I stopped because they are bro douchebags.
Even Luke, who I always agreed with the most and seemed the most level-headed has talked about their hiring process and said that, if you don’t have personal projects, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be considered for a position in LTT.
Supposedly it’s because that shows a “lack of passion”. Personally, I find that rather toxic. Like, dude, I do this for work and I also have a life. I literally do not have enough time to exercise, take care of my loved ones and also maintain personal projects.
I don’t see the problem… having side projects will improve your chances at MANY jobs, and even applying for university if they’re related to your field. Even if you have no time at all, if you’re genuinely passionate about technology, I’d expect you to at least have aspirational goals for things on the side. A side project does not have to be finished or maintained to show “passion”.
The entertainment company doesn’t want to hire boring 9-5 drones just in it for the paycheck. Big surprise. They’re allowed to be selective.
I’ll be that guy. I don’t understand why LTT gets so much crap from people constantly, they seem to have a very toxic community even without the scandals. But in regards to the more recent scandal, I really think a lot of those things are fixable and I’ll be watching to see if they fix them.
As far as the sexual harassment stuff goes I can see that as a legitimate reason to stop watching. At the same time though, how should we feel with such limited and one sided information? And especially how should I feel if the problems aren’t inherent to the company and if they don’t reoccur?
Maybe someone can help clear this up for me because I’m not that informed and I’m still giving them a chance but maybe I shouldn’t be.
I don’t understand why LTT gets so much crap from people
Because their clowns. Literally. Their content is pure tech entertainment with constant immature humour and little substance. The way they present themselves is like a group of teenagers messing around.
Then there’s their “expertise”. They don’t know tech beyond a Windows “power user”.
But in regards to the more recent scandal, I really think a lot of those things are fixable and I’ll be watching to see if they fix them.
Linus showed his true colours during the Billet Labs incident. He doubled down hard, and I’m convinced that even today Linus feels like he did nothing wrong. They have zero reputation to salvage, IMO.
Yeah this is what I mean. I don’t get why people who don’t like their content bother hating them. You don’t like that they mostly exist for entertainment, cool, why bother caring? If you want deep tech dives or something else, there’s plenty of content out there. You’re upset they aren’t more knowledgeable as if everyone making tech content needs to know everything.
And yeah I did feel like they messed up with the Billet incident and it was one of the more important things they needed to address properly. They made a mistake and I do think that Linus handled it poorly to say the least. They deserved that part of the scandal. All I’ll say is I’m willing to wait and see if they improve or if they make similar mistakes. If that’s a big deal to you, I get that, but that’s not where a majority of the hate is coming from either. It’s coming from what I said before about tech people wanting different content
I don’t get why people who don’t like their content bother hating them.
Because for good or bad, they have a significant influence in the tech world. And since they are more bad, people don’t like them.
Take the Linux challenge, for example. They massively misrepresented the usability of Linux for the average person and for gamers. They even concluded at the end of their challenge that Linux was unsuitable for most gamers. And the release and success of the Steam Deck shortly afterwards was quite delicious.
Then there was the bit where Linus didn’t read the warning about the package manager removing the desktop environment and just hit yes, then complained that it wasn’t his fault and that the system was poorly designed.
The guy literally has an issue with accountability.
You’re upset they aren’t more knowledgeable as if everyone making tech content needs to know everything.
A better statement is that I’m upset because they preach their deep and unchallengeable knowledge and act as a be-all end-all authority in tech.
But really I’m not “upset” by them. I just really dislike them and think they’re insufferable.
And I don’t watch LTT. And there are plenty of other, and objectively better, channels about tech. And I watch those better channels, including GamersNexus.
All I’ll say is I’m willing to wait and see if they improve or if they make similar mistakes.
Their entire channel is a giant mistake. All of their content is garbage by virtue of their proven flawed and subpar provides. A process they admitted was flawed, and from what I’ve seen is still flawed with the garbage corrections in the comments nonsense they promised to fix.
They’re just going to go about business as usual and just be a little more careful with their public image. They don’t deserve the views they get.
Check the other comment thread from the parent, there’s a discussion which goes into it.
Thanks for sharing? Why is every Lemmy single comment section filled with unrelated iamverysmart comments.
Excuse me, I use Arch and Firefox with uBlock.
Ok linus.
Friendly reminder that pirates didn’t usually stole gold. Piracy was stealing shipping goods, then selling them for profit at some port. Digital piracy is thus defined as acquiring, and then distributing for profit, media that you don’t own the copyrights of. Ad blocking is categorically not piracy.
Also, “piracy” or “copyright infringement” isn’t theft in any sense.
A key element of theft is that you deprive the rightful owner of something. You now have it and they no longer do. What makes it wrong is that the person who should have it no longer does. It’s not that you have it. That’s why the punishment for “mischief” where someone completely destroys something belonging to someone else is similar to the punishment for the theft of that same object.
Copyright infringement is breaking the rule that the state imposed giving someone the exclusive right to control the copying of something. You’re not depriving anyone of anything tangible when you infringe a copyright. They still have the original, they still have any copies they made, any copies they gave out or sold are still where they were. The only thing you’re doing is violating the rule that gave them exclusive control. If you’re depriving someone of anything, it’s depriving them of the opportunity they might have had to make money from selling a copy.
If anything, copyright infringement is more similar to trespassing than to theft. Just like copyright infringement, trespassing involves not allowing someone to control who accesses their property. If you sneak onto someone’s campground property and have a bonfire party, the person loses the opportunity to rent out the campground for the bonfire, and any money they might have received for doing that. But, if you sneak in and sneak out and leave no trace, you could argue that nobody is harmed.
It doesn’t have to be for profit, but it does require distribution of content you don’t have the rights to redistribute. I think it’s also fine to lump in acquiring content that you don’t have the rights to (i.e. it doesn’t matter which end of the transaction you’re part of).
Blocking ads is merely a TOS violation, and it only applies if you actually agree to the TOS. If you don’t consent to the TOS and the platform doesn’t make any attempt to prevent you from using the service, then I think you have an argument that the TOS doesn’t apply. I use YouTube w/o a YouTube account, so I don’t consent to their TOS, but they still happily serve up content. So in my understanding, I’m not even violating any TOS because I haven’t agreed to any, I’m just using their website with an add-on that blocks certain URLs. If YouTube decides to prevent me from accessing their content w/o agreeing to their TOS, then I’ll probably stop watching YouTube, or maybe I’ll decide to accept their TOS, idk, because it hasn’t happened yet.
That said, I do feel bad for creators not making money from me blocking YouTube’s ads, so I tend to donate or buy merch on occasion, and that eases my conscience. Regardless, I’m quite sure that if YouTube tried to argue that blacking ads was somehow a copyright violation, that they’d lose.
You’re being pedantic, but I’m sure you understand the point.
I’ll spare you the troubles.
Anybody who needs to be told this is either a newborn or braindead.
Of you didn’t watch the full video, which is fair enough, it’s a point Linus makes which the comment refers to. So Linus is either newborn or braindead? I mean ok maybe. 🗿
I’m downvoted for pointing out what Linus said in the video, why exactly?
You have watched his videos, he is not the brightest bulb in the shed. Even on technical topics he sometimes spouts really awful things. Remember when he accidentally made racists remarks because he got confused about the meaning of the words he was using?
No I don’t, care to share?
Here, not only did he admit he used to call people the R word, which, nice of him to not do that anymore, but so uncool to have done it in the first place. He also didn’t knew that Hard R refers to a racist slur. Which tells you the kind of background and mind space he comes from. Again, good of him to want to do better, but he has a lot to of catch up to do.
Alright, that clip was funny but he said he used the R word, not that he called people it. And it wasn’t an uncommon word at all twenty years ago. There are better points to make.
It’s OK. I also used to use the N word. I didn’t call anyone it, I just used it. It wasn’t racist, I don’t use the word anymore, but I never called anyone that.
/s
This is some sovereign citizen mental gymnastics.
Well that’s a thumbnail I’d never click on
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And that’s why I have Dearrow. Bye bye bait thumbnails and titles.
You have to understand shit like these thumbsnails arent made for people like you and me.
They are made for the mindless horde of sub-intellectual gremlins who are incapable of rational, independent thought. The kind that run out and put sandpaper on their windshield wipers and microwave their phones to “fast recharge” them because they saw a video that said to do that.
and the sad, terrifying reality, is these mentally stunted little goblins outnumber us by margins that are too terrifying to even think about.
Aren’t you just such a smart, special, edgy boy
Weird take, but you do you man.
Username checks out
This is why I love my username.
Cause its low hanging fruit that people who can mount no actual counter point cant resist the urge to reach for.
well, there are quite a lot of stupid things i did as a kid. kids just need to learn critical thinking through experience.
i would guess, that a large audience of youtube is kids: except retirees, they usually have the most free time.
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We should all endeavor to learn from your shining example.
There’s a Firefox plugin that replaces YT thumbnails with stills from the video. It makes browsing YT so much better.
Why does this and maybe something to replace the title with just an accurate thesis statement kind of titlesounds so good to me!
Dearrow does both.
what the shit is going on with that neon ass hair
They let Luke bleach it on the wan show.
He’s never done it before, and took too long so some parts are ultra blonde and others are barely different.
All of their thumbnails are unfortunately click-baity. They spoke about ut in an older video. Apparently, the click-baity images drive too much traffic for them to justify something more subtle.
Oh, no I totally get it. I’m well aware I’m in the tiny minority that are put off by them. It’s just the kind of illusion that once it gets broken you can no longer unsee it.
It’s the same with clickbait headlines. If it’s a question, the answer is no.
“Is this the end of Russia?”
No.
keeps on scrolling
Doesn’t matter how good the video is if nobody clicks on it, Veritasium already made a great one about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2xHZPH5Sng
/r/punchablefaces material
I bet they removed it faster than a porn video on YouTube Kids! 😲
Low bar
Funny, considering in the past he’s gone on big rants about how adblocking is no different from piracy, and is theft.
But then again, its Linus we’re talking about, its not like he has a particularly big issue with theft anymore.
I think he mentioned that ad-blocking is priacy, but I don’t recall he said piracy is theft or piracy is inheritly unethical.
He mentioned many time that he pirates stuff, except he would pay for them first.
He did address this in the video
Do you have a source? I’ve watched his videos for awhile but I don’t remember hearing this take from him.
It was in the streams with Luke. I dont remember the exact ones, I’m sorry. I can say that the last time I saw it was years ago, though, but thats because I stopped watching his content years ago.
edit
actually found a clip embedded in another site, i’m shocked.
He talks about it in this video (the video this thread is about)
No, because that isn’t Linus’s take.
I think he’s referencing a stream once upon a time where Linus discussed the arguments around streaming and it’s impact on creators, from a creator’s perspective .
But because he uttered something in favor of ads on his videos-which is how they got paid-he’s now considered ultra pro invasive ads by the user above, who professes to not actually watching Linus
“These are my Principles and if you don’t like them, I have others”
Linus didn’t say piracy is theft to my knowledge. He pirates a bunch of games.
Of course de-googling your life is a violation of the terms is service…
Ah so its war you want, YouTube.
A war they will lose. They will spend everything on something a COMMUNITY will rally together to defeat. Take the L and come up with a better plan.
What happened to his hair?
Obligatory Louis Rossmann commentary on the matter. https://youtu.be/qHwP6S_jf7g?feature=shared
…to the surprise of absolutely no one who’s been paying attention. They got rid of the coalmine canary clause like a fucking decade ago.
What the heck does complying with wiretap orders have to do with removing YouTube videos about adblockers?
“Don’t be evil”
Oh I thought you were talking about their FISA warrant canary which has also gone away because of course the feds are snooping on Google accounts.
There would be less talking over each other due to word definitions if the music industry had not convicted people that murder and stealing on boats was good way to describe unauthorized copying.
German has the term raubkopieren for piracy which translated literally means theft-copying. I kind of find that term funny because somehow it makes it sound even worse than just piracy, since with pirates we at least have the pop fiction image of the pirate, and because it has a paradoxical sound to it (“how can you steal something by copying?”).
WHAT
Pirating
oh im stupid lmfao
Fucking hilarious.
Didn’t he say that using adblockers in YouTube was basically piracy?
Yes, he also said that piracy can be a personal choice, and showed how to do it.
he did, but didn’t condemn it.
He did, and I disagree with that point. Piracy is copyright violation, ad-blocking is TOS violation. They’re entirely different things.
That said, he said he understands why people do it and didn’t condemn it, and in this video shows how you can do it. I think that’s laudable, I just disagree with his assertion that blocking ads is in some way piracy.
