[leoh]

I wonder if a distributed attempt to build a complementary index for YouTube could be an answer; wherein users install a browser plugin that captures the results and metadata of a given query or metadata when a video is watched.

[ryeights]

This would amount to doing free labor to prop up a trillion dollar company’s subpar product. Then again, YouTube is only barely profitable as-is right? And getting people to switch to a more sustainable paid alternative is a non-starter. So maybe this is the future we deserve

[rchaud]

Nobody that would consider using such an index would be browsing YouTube without an ad blocker.

Free labour is how I was downloading YT videos to my unsupported Windows Phone device in 2011.

[Cpoll]

> free labor to prop up a trillion dollar company’s subpar product

This presumes you're doing the trillion dollar company a favor, but an independent index isn't likely to align with YT's engagement goals.

[lunfard000]

NewPipe search just works perfectly. I gave up searching anything on youtube.

[lIIllIIllIIllII]

Surely most search engines would have indexed most videos at this point?

You could run classifiers against the video but $$$