[ndriscoll]

So I presume you browse with a vulnerable webp library or something in case sites you do browse would like to use that functionality? You can't know whether they wanted to use it if your browser silently blocks their attempts.

[sanswork]

Yes, that sounds exactly like what I'm suggesting and not a bad faith argument at all.

[ndriscoll]

Correct. Web adware/spyware is drive-by malware and a frequent funnel for scammers. Malware blockers are simply prudent. Intentionally allowing their programs to run would be insane. A normal person doesn't stop to consider whether blocking malware is somehow freeloading.

[sanswork]

You will justify wanting things for nothing no matter what. Luckily for the rest of us, people like you are the minority so there are still enough resources for us to get the content we enjoy. But keep telling yourself that your not supporting the creators you enjoy is some moral victory.

[ndriscoll]

There's where you are confused; I generally do not want things from "the creators" (e.g. I simply don't understand the audience for something like LTT. Non-technical people LARPing as nerds?), and don't see "creator" as a separate class of person.

To the extent that youtube has anything interesting on it, it tends to be random 1 minute recordings from some dude that just fixed something, or recordings of e.g. lectures that were being given anyway, and they felt like posting it somewhere free. These aren't people asking for support. They're unlikely to get more than a few hundred views.

See also [0]. There's already an infinite wealth of top quality works out there, already for free. It'd already take a lifetime to scratch the surface of the best ones. The "creators" you speak of are irrelevant.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44946863