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by tombert 305 days ago
I haven't found a good replacement for YouTube that isn't just filled with conservative conspiracy stuff, but for search I've been happy with Kagi.

It cost money but that doesn't bother me too much, because it means they have a means of making money that isn't just selling my data. I also like that I get to rank the results instead of a program trying to predict what to rank at the whims of some kind of marketing.

2 comments

It's a natural consequence of YouTube's practices unfortunately. If the majority of banned users are weird racists and the like, the majority of people looking for an alternative will be likewise.

The only other major market is weird tech nerds like us, but tbh, a lot of us would rather setup a peertube node then actually make any content for it.

Oh, no argument.

I did used to have Rumble installed on my phone specifically for a single creator that was banned from YouTube, but this guy isn't racist, and isn't even conservative. The ads on the videos were something, lots of conspiracy baiting and "vaccine alternatives" and gold investing. I uninstalled it after a few months because it was using an obscene amount of data, even when I wasn't using the app. I don't know why and I couldn't be bothered to investigate.

I have a super fancy video camera that I bought specifically to make YouTube videos, and I had fun setting it up, but then I realized I don't have any ideas for videos to make.

> YouTube that isn't just filled with conservative conspiracy stuff

I often see people complaining about this; but it's just not something I ever experience myself (provided I'm using my account, of course). While I do cultivate my YouTube recommendations using the "Do not recommend again" menu item, I think I've only needed to click that a few times a year - plus most of the videos I watch are from video producers I'm subscribed to (mostly retrotech, sci/tech/edu youtubers and archive film accounts; I do subscribe to a bunch of defence-economics and political youtubers but only because they don't engage in theatrics: it's all very bookish and academic, so that also helps keep the bad content away.

...so if you're seeing extremist and/or conspiratorial content, may I ask if you're clicking the "Do not recommend" menu option (not just the Dislike button) - and have you built a Subscriptions list of consistently non-extremist content? I imagine those are the 2 main things that informs YouTube's recommendation algo.

You've misunderstood, they're saying all the youtube alternatives are like that, not that youtube is.
Here's the kind of thing Youtube censors

https://rumble.com/vt62y6-covid-19-a-second-opinion.html

I wish it were all "discredited". It isn't. It would arguably be wrong to censor things that were actually that

What are some youtube alternatives? YT has so much history and is so pervasive that I hadn't even considered there WERE alternatives.

Or are they all similar to the rumble.com link below, standard 2020's coded propaganda and clickbait bullshit?

edit: Nevermind, looks like they ARE mostly conservative conspiracy crap. Carry on. :-(

one yt alternative would be odysee, another newer project that is not super similar to YT, but an alternative for people looking for more educational, family friendly vlogs is https://lifey.org - still a new project, but growing
If my youtube subs' sponsored segments are anything to go by: Nebula, CuriosityStream, and Magellan.

...though the the problem with creating _good_ content on YouTube that still gets watched by millions over a decade after it was originally posted (looking at you, Jay Foreman) is your sponsored segments and this-month-only coupon codes will age poorly.

Netflix is an alternative, or cable TV.
Not quite equivalent really.

Part of the whole appeal of YouTube is user-generated content. It's fun to see stuff that people have made that wouldn't realistically make it onto TV.

Then there is no alternative to any product or service in the world, because offerings are never identical.
Sorry, bad wording on my end. YouTube isn’t filled with conservative extremist content, and my recommendations aren’t either.

I am saying that the “alternatives” to YouTube (e.g. Rumble, Bitchute) are overwhelmingly filled with conservative conspiracy crap; basically stuff that isn’t allowed on YouTube.

Cheerfully withdrawn :)