First thing I noticed is that YouTube does not display video description immediately. It hides it behind a user click. Some videos provide useful details there that most probably most users do not read. Like video sources.
If details "were working" people would write about sponsors there, and often description is entirely blank.
So that's that. Most users will not care to go to description to see links.
Then I noticed that if some sources were in video description, were using URL shorteners. I hate URL shortener services. Btly, and stuff. I hate clicking on one. You do not see where you will be transported to. I watch various videos on youtube, some more controversial than others. I really prefer to see where I am going to. I was suspecting, maybe incorrectly, that sometime those links were used to hide real destination from YouTube algorithm, to not be demonetized immediately.
That's the second thing. I rarely click on URL shorteners.
I do not see any YouTube comments leading outside of the platform. This seems weird. I know there are a lot of bots, and a lot of bad actors. This would certainly open some flood gates. I remember though that ThioJoe created a program some time ago, a cleaning script that was receiving some traction. One person can fix video comment section, what a big corporation can't. This is a proof for me that YouTube/Google does not care about comments. Maybe there could be a way to have a comment section, where you can post links to anywhere, and your comments will not be hidden from other users (HN proves it is possible).
Videos are YouTube power. They will not care about description, thumbs down, or comment section. Certainly they will not show you a way out of their ecosystem.
Clicks were also always a little bit broken. There were always farms that sold upvotes, view counts. Relying on IT system to count goats is always flaky.
I hope clicks will die. Maybe this will make space for personal web pages that do not try to monetize every your mouse move.
First thing I noticed is that YouTube does not display video description immediately. It hides it behind a user click. Some videos provide useful details there that most probably most users do not read. Like video sources.
If details "were working" people would write about sponsors there, and often description is entirely blank.
So that's that. Most users will not care to go to description to see links.
Then I noticed that if some sources were in video description, were using URL shorteners. I hate URL shortener services. Btly, and stuff. I hate clicking on one. You do not see where you will be transported to. I watch various videos on youtube, some more controversial than others. I really prefer to see where I am going to. I was suspecting, maybe incorrectly, that sometime those links were used to hide real destination from YouTube algorithm, to not be demonetized immediately.
That's the second thing. I rarely click on URL shorteners.
I do not see any YouTube comments leading outside of the platform. This seems weird. I know there are a lot of bots, and a lot of bad actors. This would certainly open some flood gates. I remember though that ThioJoe created a program some time ago, a cleaning script that was receiving some traction. One person can fix video comment section, what a big corporation can't. This is a proof for me that YouTube/Google does not care about comments. Maybe there could be a way to have a comment section, where you can post links to anywhere, and your comments will not be hidden from other users (HN proves it is possible).
Videos are YouTube power. They will not care about description, thumbs down, or comment section. Certainly they will not show you a way out of their ecosystem.
Clicks were also always a little bit broken. There were always farms that sold upvotes, view counts. Relying on IT system to count goats is always flaky.
I hope clicks will die. Maybe this will make space for personal web pages that do not try to monetize every your mouse move.