100%. Half the time I get blocked due to VPN or whatever I just close the tab and go with my life. The rest of the time I try all known workarounds. If those fail, I just go with my life.
My hatred for monopolisation and enshittification is stronger than my desire to watch content on any platform.
Lol, this is exactly why I use Lemmy. Sure there might be less engagement than reddit. But I'd rather gargle a bucket of diarrhea than go back to that shitty place.
This is also a good beginner way to learn about self hosting in docker.
Freetube can make a great backup for when google inevitably breaks something.
And for thise videos you really cant miss there is always yt-dlp scripted to download a channels latests video on a schedule straight to jellyfin of course.
I have not visited the youtube website in more then a year.
It's not perfect, but I use grayjay. They have an android app and a desktop client, and are usually pretty quick to make updates that will sidestep Google's anti-adblocking measures (within 1-2 days.) Again, not perfect, but I don't mind a slightly worse experience to avoid having to see an ad. Plus it has sponsor block support built right in
Ok, so there are hosted instances? At face value this looks like you need to self host. Which I am more than capable of both in terms of equipment and experience. I just don't want to go that far to watch youtube. Thanks for explaining.