I absolutely despise Shorts. Partly for the inane TikTok apeing content, partly because of vertical video and primarily because I make 45-60 second videos for clients and they want them on YouTube - where they become Shorts, no matter what I do (other than add enough empty video at the end to take them past 61 seconds). It’s infuriating.
I hate Shorts because it insists on showing me bullshit 1-2 view shorts of just inane shit interspersed between ones I actually don’t mind.
I hate shorts because they’re the wrong aspect ratio.
Revanced lets you hide shorts.
Newpipe doesn’t even know shorts exist.
I really hate this as well. I have a few short videos in vertical, and it forces it to be shorts. Can’t find any option to not have it be a short in the end.
The desktop site is not any better. The uBlock origin rules for blocking shorts are a lifesaver.
YouTube is that desperate to be TikTok. Why?
Because it seems to be working for TikTok. People’s attention spans are getting shorter and these short videos, each a couple of seconds long, are a money printer, as Google can put even more ads in between even less content.
And there’s not only 1, but 2 rows of them.
Use the Revanced app on android and you can remove these
I do use newpipe, had to fire up the YouTube app for Chromecasting to a TV and was greeted by this.
Look into smarttubenext for Chromecast then. It takes like 30 seconds to install. It’s similar to new pipe. I believe it can even link with new pipe to download videos for offline use.
It’s the entire reason I bought a Chromecast over a Roku or fire TV.
Is there anything like this for android?
That is for android
Well now I am confused, this is what it says for disadvantages:
❌ Disadvantages: no support for phones and tablets, no comments stability, voice search and casting support might be worse than in the official apps, depending on your device; give it a try!
Here’s what it says on the compatibility section of the github readme.
SmartTube requires Android 4.3 or above. It does not work on non-Android devices (incl. LG or Samsung TVs). On unsupported TVs, you can use a TV stick or TV box. Though this app technically runs on smartphones and tablets, it is not optimized for such and offers no official support!
It has been successfully tested on TVs, TV boxes and TV sticks that are based on Android, including:
Android TVs & Google TVs (e.g. Philips, Sony) Chromecast with Google TV & TVs with Chromecast built-in Amazon FireTV stick (all generations) NVIDIA Shield TV boxes running Android (many cheap chinese no-name boxes) Xiaomi Mi Box
Revamped supports Chromecast as well. Does Newpipe not?
Newpipe is a website scrapper. It is fully open source as well. It does not have Chromecast support.
Revanced is a patcher for the official YouTube app, which is why it has chromecast support
Then why does anyone use Newpipe?
Because some people like using FOSS apps. And don’t want all the trackers from the YouTube app.
Plus there’s more shorts that are camouflaged as normal videos:
Direct image linkThis is the worst thing ever.
Youtube search on desktop isn’t great, but usable. Youtube search on a phone is fucked. It’s taken up with things like recommendations based on things you already watched which is not likely to have much to do with what you were searching for.
I’m sorry guys, I actually watch the YouTube Shorts so Google pushing them into more people is my fault. I just don’t care to download Tik Tok and have yet another app. 😭
I don’t think the shorts themselves are a problem, but I’ve never searched for a short
Oh yeah I was only posting dumb comments for content for lemmy. The issue is definitely because YouTube is pushing them front and center on the home screen of the app.
I’ve never actually searched for shorts either; I only ever watch my shorts via clicking on the “Shorts” link at the bottom of the app.
With the sketchiness about TikTok, I much prefer YouTube for shorts.
Sure they’re both evil under the hood. But TikTok scares me more. So I actually appreciate Google digging their claws into this one a little bit.
I just don’t get the point. Why not watch full length videos where you can have context and actually learn something? Shorts can’t really provide context so are just funny moments or something that aren’t really that interesting, just a waste of time.
Listen, I’m a busy guy with a life. I don’t have 20 minutes to dedicate to a video. I’d rather watch a few shorts… a quick
5103045 minute session is all I’m after…I honestly only watch them when I’m super bored or high in bed when I want quick laughs. But honestly, the same question can be asked of people who scroll on Facebook, lemmy, or Reddit hours on end
I would agree with Facebook (and I’ll admit I’m biased), but Lemmy/Reddit are about conversations, and context/information are important. Shorts/tiktok are about quick things that catch your eye and you forget about seconds later, and they can’t inform you on much, if anything.
Good shorts give you everything you need to see in a short period of time. I’ve seen plenty of them which is why I give it a chance.
It’s the not good Shorts that Youtube keeps showing me that I absolutely hate. The 20 view “alpha male” bullshit Shorts that I’ve never shown interest in yet Youtube insists I must love.
A lot of “full length” videos are padded for monetisation purposes. I hate watching some tubers going on and on before actually getting into the main topic.
revanced.
Google should split shorts into a separate app and then let it die like everything else.
There is sorta a way to minimize this. You can set a duration preference. Just set it to 4-20 minutes or longer and no shorts will pop up.
I wonder what will YouTube remove next
If you say “Not interested” on all the videos in the group, they will go away (for a while). God help you if you miss the triple-dots and tap the thumbnail though.
They need filters for sure, I don’t mind shorts but they are treated exactly the same as any other video on the platform.
third party apps enter the chat
That’s why you are supposed to use Newpipe. (Preferrably the version with Sponsorblock and Return Youtube Dislikes)
Fuck YouTube
They might fuck themselves when they start forcing people to turn off adblockers after 3 videos. It’s being tested in different places (probably A/B testing) and when it becomes standard, I wonder what people will start doing.
I’m not turning off my ad blocker to use YouTube. When that happens, I just won’t use YouTube anymore. I’ve stopped using lots of sites/services over the years for one reason or another. It’ll just get thrown on the pile.
I got the original video at the top…
When i search for something on youtube, i use google. I almost never use the youtube search
