Youtube search page has so many shorts before the actual videos...

The desktop site is not any better. The uBlock origin rules for blocking shorts are a lifesaver.

I have several Tampermonkey scripts to keep Youtube useable:
Additionally uBlock, and a plugin to alter the number of results per row (so I don't wind up with gigantic tiles/icons on a large monitor).
It's a complete disaster without these. :/
- Yep, I also have one to automaticlly stop the annoying autoplay on channel pages.
- I am saving this for later, there are also some browser extensions that do this job doesn't it?
YouTube is that desperate to be TikTok. Why?
- Because it seems to be working for TikTok. People's attention spans are getting shorter and these short videos, each a couple of seconds long, are a money printer, as Google can put even more ads in between even less content.
And there's not only 1, but 2 rows of them.

I absolutely despise Shorts. Partly for the inane TikTok apeing content, partly because of vertical video and primarily because I make 45-60 second videos for clients and they want them on YouTube - where they become Shorts, no matter what I do (other than add enough empty video at the end to take them past 61 seconds). It's infuriating.

I hate Shorts because it insists on showing me bullshit 1-2 view shorts of just inane shit interspersed between ones I actually don't mind.
- I hate shorts because they're the wrong aspect ratio.
Revanced lets you hide shorts.
- Newpipe doesn't even know shorts exist.
- Yeah, but my clients aren't likely to be using Revanced ;-)
I really hate this as well. I have a few short videos in vertical, and it forces it to be shorts. Can't find any option to have it be a regular video.

Ok so I am a youtube premium subscriber. And to have the best experience, I had to install 4 plugins Sponsorblock, Dislike button back, Dearrow, ublock (to remove shorts).

After thier recent changes to their search engine, it might be more efficient to cancel my subscription and use piped.

If you feel like keeping YouTube premium you could always vpn to another country and get it for stupid cheap. I believe I vpn’d to Thailand and pay $2 a month for it. You only need the vpn to set up the sub and then you’re good to go.
- Pretty sure they just fixed the loophole. I tried to renew my subscription in India and they now require your payment method to be in the country you are subscribing in e.g. you need an Indian credit card.
- Thank you for the tip.
  I’m currently paying near $9.
how do u add extensions to an app ? unless u repack the apk file, which is the same way as revanced, right ?. i use extensions on pc thou. firefox feeling like its own os with the amount of extensions and scripts i am running on top of the thing rip
- I use extensions with Firefox for PC.
  Unfortunately I’ve an iPhone so I’ve to deal with all of that crap. I only use the phone for music so no complains.
  However, I replaced my Apple Tv with mini pc running linux.

Use the Revanced app on android and you can remove these

I do use newpipe, had to fire up the YouTube app for Chromecasting to a TV and was greeted by this.
- Look into smarttubenext for Chromecast then. It takes like 30 seconds to install. It's similar to new pipe. I believe it can even link with new pipe to download videos for offline use.
  It's the entire reason I bought a Chromecast over a Roku or fire TV.
- Revamped supports Chromecast as well. Does Newpipe not?

Plus there's more shorts that are camouflaged as normal videos:

Direct image link

This is the worst thing ever.

What, you didn't go to YouTube because you want tiktok videos? I only go to YouTube when I'm looking for short punchy videos that could be gifs. I mean what else is the point of a video search engine? I crave pointless short videos with little to no detail on anything.

Like Bo Burnham once said in an interview. Social media companies want to occupy and completely take over your attention.

We are fucked as a species until governments- backed by scientists, put their foot down and stop unnecessary technology that doesn't improve or enrich peoples lifes and in fact only degrade peoples brain and attention span.

I recommend the podcast Your Undivided Attention. They deal with the ethical issues of social media and AI, among other topics.
- Sorry my attention span is only 2 sec

Google should split shorts into a separate app and then let it die like everything else.

revanced.

I've successfully moved to LibreTube and its fucking bliss.

Youtube search on desktop isn't great, but usable. Youtube search on a phone is fucked. It's taken up with things like recommendations based on things you already watched which is not likely to have much to do with what you were searching for.

I'm sorry guys, I actually watch the YouTube Shorts so Google pushing them into more people is my fault. I just don't care to download Tik Tok and have yet another app. 😭

I don't think the shorts themselves are a problem, but I've never searched for a short
- Oh yeah I was only posting dumb comments for content for lemmy. The issue is definitely because YouTube is pushing them front and center on the home screen of the app.
  I've never actually searched for shorts either; I only ever watch my shorts via clicking on the "Shorts" link at the bottom of the app.
- I think they're not, but I question the people who watch them, honestly.
  I just... isn't just letting a single long video play the same thing? Because the way I see it when people doomscroll shorts, they're not actively watching the content either. And whether you ignore video X or shorts A, B, C and D doesn't make a difference, no? It's like leaving the TV on, it's just background noise to turn the brain off to.
I just don't get the point. Why not watch full length videos where you can have context and actually learn something? Shorts can't really provide context so are just funny moments or something that aren't really that interesting, just a waste of time.
- Listen, I'm a busy guy with a life. I don't have 20 minutes to dedicate to a video. I'd rather watch a few shorts... a quick 5 10 30 45 minute session is all I'm after...
- I honestly only watch them when I'm super bored or high in bed when I want quick laughs. But honestly, the same question can be asked of people who scroll on Facebook, lemmy, or Reddit hours on end
- A lot of "full length" videos are padded for monetisation purposes. I hate watching some tubers going on and on before actually getting into the main topic.
- Good shorts give you everything you need to see in a short period of time. I've seen plenty of them which is why I give it a chance.
  It's the not good Shorts that Youtube keeps showing me that I absolutely hate. The 20 view "alpha male" bullshit Shorts that I've never shown interest in yet Youtube insists I must love.
With the sketchiness about TikTok, I much prefer YouTube for shorts.
Sure they’re both evil under the hood. But TikTok scares me more. So I actually appreciate Google digging their claws into this one a little bit.

There is sorta a way to minimize this. You can set a duration preference. Just set it to 4-20 minutes or longer and no shorts will pop up.

I wonder what will YouTube remove next

If you say "Not interested" on all the videos in the group, they will go away (for a while). God help you if you miss the triple-dots and tap the thumbnail though.

They need filters for sure, I don't mind shorts but they are treated exactly the same as any other video on the platform.

third party apps enter the chat

That's why you are supposed to use Newpipe. (Preferrably the version with Sponsorblock and Return Youtube Dislikes)

Fuck YouTube

They might fuck themselves when they start forcing people to turn off adblockers after 3 videos. It's being tested in different places (probably A/B testing) and when it becomes standard, I wonder what people will start doing.
- I’m not turning off my ad blocker to use YouTube. When that happens, I just won’t use YouTube anymore. I’ve stopped using lots of sites/services over the years for one reason or another. It’ll just get thrown on the pile.

I don't get the shorts. It may be because I refuse to watch them, I don't know

I just use third party apps

My favorite part is when the app randomly starts playing a random short when you open the app.

When i search for something on youtube, i use google. I almost never use the youtube search

I got the original video at the top...

Mental Outlaw has a video about post YouTube Vanced. Basically: Kiwi browser + sponsor block + ublock + a violent monkey script to allow audio playback when your screen is off.

And honestly, it's been working great for over a year. I'd rate the overall experience as good if not actually better than Vanced tbh.

Orrr just go for revanced?
- I still use the original app. I never took it off my phone and it still works.
Just use use libretube, newpipe, clipious or any other third party app.
For the web there is invidious and piped

"lakh" 🫣

Just use Newpipe

as if that would solve the core issue
- It would

Try looking up the name of the song.

Setup uBlock to get rid of all shorts.

What tf is a short anyways? I've never clicked on one. Is it a ten second clip or something?

Basically yeah. 10 second or so vertical video to compete with TikTok and Instagram Reels, because no one has an attention span longer than 10 seconds anymore
- Figures.
  I love long videos. If it's ten mins or less I usually don't even bother.
- What pisses me off is that they just assume that everyone who wants to watch videos also wants to watch shorts. There's no native way to block or filter them completely. That's also an aspect where YT got so much worse. Like you can't use quotation marks to explicitly search terms anymore. It just suggests you random garbage that is irrelevant to what you want, which is often burried far below all the other garbage search results. I don't even know why you'd remove a feature like that. It's such an unnecessary dumbing down, because people unaware won't use it anyway, as it is completely invisible to them. YT just goes further down the shitter with each year.
- I find it’s unfair to associate attention span with the usefulness of Shorts. There are jokes and joke formats that don’t work when part of a longer video. The primary value of Shorts is in communicating something relatively unimportant, but it’s okay to consume media purely for enjoyment.