YouTube's server-side ads resulted in a black screen for ad blocker users

ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 770 points – YouTube's server-side ads resulted in a black screen for ad blocker users - gHacks Tech News
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Mashable reports that users ran into a black screen on YouTube, and that it stayed for about 6 seconds before the video began playing. The reports indicate it affected several browsers including Firefox, Edge, Vivaldi.

Some users joked that they would rather see a black screen than an ad. While that's certainly a better experience, it does waste precious seconds of our time. A simple workaround for the black screen on YouTube is to just refresh the page, hit F5 as soon as the page starts loading. uBlock Origin's filters were updated with a patch to resolve the problem, the add-on updates its filters automatically. If you are still experiencing the black screen issue, just open the extension's dashboard and manually update the filters. This tug-of-war is getting annoying, but it appears to me that Google's efforts are actively promoting the use of ad blockers, instead of attracting new subscribers.

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I think the baseline of what I would want is:

  • Have actual moderation of the ads. Don't allow malware ads, don't allow porn ads etc
  • Don't allow obtrusive ads, or at least categorize them and have preferences. Do NOT play my ads 2x the volume of whatever I was watching.
  • Don't interrupt my video with ads. Play before or after. Ideally after, but I can see why that would not be feasible. I guess it is also feasable if the creator marks ad breaks, like the current-day sponsor segments.

I genuinely think Youtube premium is alrightish as it is. I wouldn't pay for it; though, since I do not want to give my money to Google. They are getting enough out of me that I don't want to give them.

I honestly just want the alternatives, like PeerTube, to have a funding model, which allows creators to get paid. Donations? Sure. Optionally ads? Sure. I think peertube having opt-in ads that go to the creator would go a long way.

Don't interrupt my video with ads. Play before or after. Ideally after, but I can see why that would not be feasible. I guess it is also feasable if the creator marks ad breaks, like the current-day sponsor segments.

FYI ad placement and type is decided by the creator not youtube. If you see a video full of ads in the middle it's because the creator of that video chose it to be so.

That's not necessarily true (though I'm sure in most cases it is). I remember cases where creators had to specifically ask Youtube support to disable mid-roll ads since they were disabled on the creators side but viewers still saw them. Also happened with non-monetized videos/channels. But it's been at least a year since I saw the last case of that, so maybe Youtube has fixed it in the meantime.

Yeah, just like Twitch, it seems that YouTube has a way of conveniently "forgetting" these directives every now and then

Yep. Sadly, in both companies management seems to be kinda inept when it comes to building proper user support