YSK: The Wadsworth Constant of YouTube videos

lol. I’m the one who coined the term after Wadsworth came up with the concept!

And then you applied the concept to your username before registering here? Thats dedication.
- This made me laugh way harder than it should have. The mad man actually did!
- Hah! I didn’t even notice. Debo wasn’t available on Reddit 15+ years ago when I joined so I actually added the “re”. It took the rise of Lemmy for me to use my preferred nick. :)
Thanks for your service.

I coined some terms too and it's always a weird feeling when you encounter them in the wild. Like you're happy it took off, but it's a bit sad itks no longer your thing now.
- Such as?
- It became the post of the year on Reddit that year. I bump into it from time to time in the interwebz. :)
Wow, I can't believe that was only 9 days ago...
username checks out
Your commission, Debo: “about two hundred dollars.”

I never noticed before, but almost all the channels I follow break the Wadsworth constant. They jump straight into content and leave any ad/patreon reads to the end. I wonder if I subconsciously did that or if its a happy coincidence.

Many popular channels revised their content format as a direct consequence of the Wadsworth constant
Yep. Try to apply the Wadsworth constant to Veritassium and you'll miss almost all the context of the video.
- Or ProjectFarm. That guy jumps straight in and leaves ZERO room for any BS.
- Calebcity and Prozd skits often go straight in also.
Must be channels that actually have worthwhile content that keeps viewers interested rather than the 90/8/1/1 ratio of most YT videos. 1% intro, 1% finish, 8% actual content, 90% BS, shenanigans, review of previous videos, sponsors, ads, and demands for like and subscribe.

Sponsorblock: For Wadsworth, for what it's worth.

This. SponsorBlock is indispensable, just like an adblocker Youtube would just not be worth the hassle otherwise.
- It’s wild how short some videos are with sponsorblock enabled to skip almost everything. I don’t watch LTT for ethical reasons anymore, but damn, did some 10 minute videos go by in like 2 minutes

I don't know if this is common knowledge, but if you hit 3 on your keyboard after starting a youtube video, it takes you straight to one third of the video played. So the Wadsworth Constant is already integrated into Youtube and has been for years.

I keep running into this by accident, especially when I'm trying to change tabs with Ctrl + number and jump off the Ctrl too fast.

You can also apply it when watching a YouTube video by appending “&wadsworth=1” to the url.

You can also apply it when watching a YouTube video by appending “&wadsworth=1” to the url.

I just confirmed that this no longer works :(

I remember when it did. Here is the 2011 reddit post from the youtube employee who implemented it
- Yeah, it was before YouTube got really Googled up.
- Damn. The Internet was so much cooler 12 years ago.
Don’t think that works anymore.
While this particular method doesn't work on desktop you can hit the number 3 and it will jump to 30% into the video. I'm sorry mobile users.

No way.... I remember seeing this comment ~10 years ago. I've been trying to search for it occasionally through past 5 years. I didn't remember the guy's nickname, only the concept and that it's Youtube's 'constant/rule'. Couldn't find even a mention anywhere. I legit thought I made it up or it's the Mandela effect.

Thank you! I can now live in piece.

Glad I wasn't the only one in this boat

This is so out of date. It really should just be deleted.

Same for online recipes. The content you want is never at the top.

Man, online recipe sites have gotten so bad in the last few years.

There’s like a page of text talking about the food while the page is swimming with intrusive ads or promotions. I hate it.

It’s like the worst parts of old school internet pop is ads gained sentience and a love for cooking.

It’s always a game of finding and clicking print recipe as fast as I can. That and immersive reader have helped on mobile.
- It's 100% Google's fault.
  
  The recipe sites that would feed you the recipe right at the top are downranked in search because you don't spend as long on them.
- At this point if I can't find a "Jump to Recipe" button displayed prominently at the top of the page within three seconds of visiting I just nope out and find a less cancerous site
'reader view' in firefox helps on some sites.
Honestly, most of them have a jump straight to the recipe link or buttons now. I assume it’s because so many people complained in the comments about how they don’t care about their food story.

Porn is the same, the first third is learning her name and getting her clothes off.

I do this all the time.

I was actually mad at a YouTuber who put something really important in the first minute recently, because I'm so used to skipping to the middle.

Which was really weird since that's how all videos should be!

Maybe thankfully, most of the stuff I actually care to watch doesn't suffer too much from that. Other than sponsors somewhere around the 2-5 minute mark, it's mostly tuning in and watching without interruption.

When I do have to look into stuff I don't actually follow, like DIY stuff, yeah, it can be the first 30 seconds, sometimes the first 3 fucking minutes, that are completely disposable filler