DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube.

Basilisa@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Technology@lemmy.world – 506 points – DeArrow - A Browser Extension for Better Titles and Thumbnails
dearrow.ajay.app

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19421887

DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube. The goal is to make titles accurate and reduce sensationalism. No more arrows, ridiculous faces, and no more clickbait.

"Clickbait" isn't the exception anymore, it's becoming the norm. Many have even started going through their entire backlog, changing old titles and thumbnails to be more attention grabbing and vague.

It's no one's fault. It's a system that creates a race to the bottom.

DeArrow hopes to stop this cycle. It's time to return to a more peaceful experience.

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One of the best addons you can get. Period.

It's like a paradigm shift when you browse YouTube after enabling it.

This plus using ublock to remove useless UI elements makes for a prime disenshittified YouTube experience.

  • uBlock Origin
  • DeArrow
  • Sponsorblock
  • Return YouTube Dislike

Or for everything built-in: Piped

Don't forget Enhancer for Youtube. A metric ton of Youtube customizations and quality of life features, also includes disabling shorts or converting them into the standard Youtube video format.

Sounds like piped also has most of that. As a bonus, piped requires no account, no addons and no direct connection to google.

Unhook for removing crap.

Jump Cutter for the superior video speed experience.

How's invidious? Aren't they very similar?

I never used it, but yeah I guess it's basically the same. LibreTube, the Android App I use, just happens to use piped so I selfhost that and therefore also use it on the desktop.

You convinced me, I'm totally adding this today! :)

I also would throw in sponsorblock to that too - it skips all the "but first, Raid Shadow Legends..." "don't forget to like share and subscribe" nonsense :)

edit: thank you, I just poked into YouTube Revanced, and found DeArrow was on! This explains why I didn't like youtube's content when on my PC, so I'll 100% be adding this to Firefox! :)

Interesting, I had to enable dearrow in ReVanced manually. It was disabled by default.

Thinking about it, I would not put it past me to have set it and forgotten 😂 it's been a while since I played about with the settings!

The way I found about was, finding the Firefox extension first, which then motivated me to search for the config option

Using uBlock Origin to get rid of the Youtube Shorts section of the sub feed was amazing for me. Are there other things you block too?

Here's a non exhaustive list of things I've blocked:

  • The pill strip on top with a list of video topics (don't know what the official term is.)
  • YouTube shorts suggestions.
  • Ads that are injected into the suggestions.
  • "Shorts remixing this video" section in the video descriptions.

I'll perhaps share my ublock filter list for YouTube later.

Edit: My uBlock Origin filters:

www.youtube.com##.ytd-rich-item-renderer.style-scope > .ytd-feed-nudge-renderer.style-scope
www.youtube.com###voice-search-button
www.youtube.com##ytd-rich-section-renderer.ytd-rich-grid-renderer.style-scope > .ytd-rich-section-renderer.style-scope
www.youtube.com##yt-related-chip-cloud-renderer.ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer.style-scope
www.youtube.com##.ytd-ad-slot-renderer.style-scope
www.youtube.com##ytd-reel-shelf-renderer.ytd-item-section-renderer.style-scope:nth-of-type(1)
www.youtube.com##ytd-reel-shelf-renderer.ytd-item-section-renderer.style-scope:nth-of-type(2)
www.youtube.com##ytd-reel-shelf-renderer.ytd-structured-description-content-renderer.style-scope

The pill strip on top with a list of video topics

There's one reason not to block this: all the way on the right of that list is a "new to you" feed button, which is pretty neat to try sometimes.

Could you share the URL of that link? IMO, there should be a better way of presenting that than on the pill bar on the top.