#the ‘better’ adblockers would be behind paywalls and shit

[waterberry-strawmelon]

hey i just saw your reply to that post about youtube slowing down loading times for firefox, and i just wanted to pop by and let you know that you should really just pick one adblocker-- i recommend ublock bc they have a reddit with detailed information to keep everything running shipshape. running 2 or more adblockers just drastically increases the number of "pings" your browser sends google, so the blocks happen faster, and they all use the same ad lists anyway. also try resetting your cache/cookies and logging into a different account-- the blocks are usually tied to one or the other.

Dude you’re a lifesaver, thank you so much. I’m very inexperienced when it comes to tech shit, so I really appreciate the advice!

[maerynaire]

Youtube is a dumb idiot platform run by greedy jerks and I'm smarter than Neal Mohan. Here's eleven entire ways youtube could make money to keep itself afloat without being anti-consumer

1- For every 1 hour of video uploaded by a single person, charge 1 USD. Data needs a physical place to be stored and that costs money, it is completely reasonable that the people using this service pay a small amount of money for it. That said, don't retroactively charge people for video already uploaded or change the fee itself. One and done. Have some integrity.

2- Actually talk to the creators and set up some sort of (actual) partner program among the larger million+ subscriber channels wherein Youtube representatives help facilitate sponsorships (and take a little bit of that money as a treat). That way there's an alternative to predatory MCNs and it solves the issue of people not being able to get in touch with youtube reps, because they will be working directly with youtube reps

3- Make the livestreaming function more accessible and visible (1-5% cut from all donations/subs/whatever they're called on there)

4- Kill youtube tv, movies, kids, and all things of a similar vein and make a singular secondary site dedicated to professionally-made content from studios with the option to either buy a subscription for unlimited access to the library or purchase digital copies in a one-time transaction (basically just make netflix 2 but good, you have the resources)

5- Remove embedded ads for any video under 20 minutes, remove midrolls altogether, raise the price advertisers have to pay for this limited real estate. A lot of people still do not use adblockers, they'll see these ads. You control the supply, so make the people demanding it pay instead of those of us innocent bystanders.

6- A single banner ad on the homepage that you charge advertisers out the nose for, make those little idiot marketing firms fight tooth and nail for even a brief second with it. If you're going to keep people from blocking ads then have this be the singular unblocked ad. Vet whoever wants to rent it thoroughly and keep it as a static image with no audio.

7- Kill content farms. Put in a daily upload limit and investigate channels that upload large amounts of content (especially similar content) frequently. Kill cocomelon and its ilk with hammers. Hell, I'll do that one for free.

8- Fire Neal Mohan and beat him over the head with a boogie board until he apologizes for the crypto bullshit. Likewise. If anyone utters 'web3', 'crypto', 'nft', 'ai art', or 'metaverse' in a non-ironic context, fire them. Then fold their salaries back into server costs.

9- Enforce rules fairly and fix the copyright system so people actually want to use your website. Throw in some quality-of-life changes to while you're feeling spicy. More customization for the actual aesthetics of a channel page would be cool

10- You can keep youtube premium but don't put website functionality behind a paywall, explicitly state that premium is for people who want to support the website, show them exactly where their money is going, and maybe add little bonuses like hats for your profile picture that are randomly unlocked as you watch youtube for premium subscribers only. This is exclusively cosmetic. You can even put out hats that match those special google banners and holidays and shit. Just something cute and nice as a 'hey thanks for supporting us'

11- Integrate the merchandise tab better in a NON-OBTRUSIVE WAY. Maybe have a function for larger channels to have an embedded shop page on their channel. Not the weird, clunky version of this that they have now

[kanralovesu]

Anime Strike can go to Hell

Amazon just released information about it’s exclusive anime streaming channel named Anime Strike. Basically from now on, any exclusive anime Amazon gets their hands on (see The Great Passage and Scum’s Wish) will only be available on this platform. Thing is, to get access to this you need to pay an additional $4.99 per month IN ADDITION to maintaining an Amazon Prime account.  Yeah you heard right. You have to buy into Amazon Prime and only THEN have you unlocked the privileged of paying more to get anime. You don’t even get limited access with a simple Prime Account and you certainly don’t get anything if you’re a filthy commoner.

So, beyond the fact that we hate having to pay for this service, how will this negatively affect the anime community? Well guess what, if the only way to get access to your exclusive anime is a huge pay wall, pirating of that series will skyrocket. This was already a problem for anime like Kabeneri of the Iron Fortress which was exclusive to Amazon Prime Instant Video, but the thing is some anime nerds, myself included, will randomly have access to that service (in my case I piggyback on my parents Prime account). This minimized the problem, but it still existed and it certainly was bad for people without it. This new service takes the problem of pirating and magnifies it tenfold. 

Now, obviously people who only use illegal sites won’t give a shit about this, but they’ve already decided they don’t care about supporting their favorite creators anyway. The people we need to target are those on the fence about illegal viewing. These people are often just poor as fuck and won’t be able to afford Amazon Prime let alone Anime Strike. Normally, I’d tell these people “Hey Crunchyroll is completely free and if you don’t like the ads just use adblock, but at least use a legit site.” However, with Strike there is no half measure. You have to get past the paywall to unlock exclusive content. I can’t convince someone to watch these exclusive anime legally because for some it just isn’t viable at ALL. Hell, I’m a college student, I don’t even have the cash to pay for this service. How does Amazon expect I will get access to their content? 

Some people might say that multiple streaming platforms breeds competition and thus improves the consumer’s experience. This is an essential principle to economics after all. When two companies like Funimation and Crunchyroll merge, there is the danger that those two will monopolize the anime streaming industry, ultimately introducing anti-consumer practices. In these cases its up to the companies themselves to have the best interests of the consumer in mind, and with Crunchyroll and Funimation we know that’s the case.

So why doesn’t the emergence of Anime Strike help the anime community as a whole? Well what we’re seeing here isn’t so much competition as it is monopolizing a particular area of the market. True competition would be if we could watch on either Crunchyroll or Amazon and therefore the consumer would choose who they wanted to support. Daisuki is indeed a legal streaming site which has a lot currently airing anime on it, but personally I think the site is garbage and badly designed so I don’t use it. Last season, however, I was forced to use their inferior service to watch Mahou no Stella, an anime exclusive to them. It was still free, so I sucked it up and watched, but what if I had to pay for the privileged of liking an anime my preferred site didn’t own? 

Here’s an even scarier thought: What if Amazon decides it’s going to monopolize the ENTIRE anime streaming industry. This is a company worth  68.9 billion dollars. Compare that to Cruchyroll, who has a net worth somewhere in the 10s of millions (I could not find an exact number). This is a company with so much disposable income, that if it decides the anime industry is worth it’s investment, it can buy out most anime. Cruchyroll may be in this position right now for anime, but the important difference is that the folks at Cruchyroll love ANIME whereas the folks at Amazon love MONEY. They would not think in interest of the consumer. They would not put time into making things like the Anime Awards. They wouldn’t care about us so long as we kept paying. 

However, I will say that it isn’t bad for EVERYONE in the anime community. If Amazon keeps their hands out of most anime, they can offer a great service for people who do have extra money and already have Prime. The library of anime they have is impressive and I think whats even better is that they have movies on their as well. It’s pretty unfair to expect movie makers to stream those for free and other than Netflix I couldn’t think of another legal site which would let me stream them. 

That being said, the only people benefiting from this are those who have money and that’s never an ideal situation. At the moment I’m definitely not going purchase this service, and I’m debating on whether to tell people to boycott it or not. If we decide not to pay in to their service they might realize they made a mistake and back off on their claims to anime. 

TLDR:

Anime Strike is a service that costs $4.99 and requires an Amazon Prime subscription already. This is horrible because it will encourage people to pirate the exclusive anime they put up there. It also opens up for the potential for Amazon to buy out most currently airing anime and put them all behind their huge pay wall, effectively creating a monopoly on airing anime. Being a big company like they are, they’d likely abuse this position. However, if you can afford the service its not that bad especially because it has anime movies. The problem is not everyone can afford it and there is no half-way option for people without cash like there is on Crunchyroll.