Pro-tip: the less you use YouTube these days, the better. After having my channel since 2012 and being a regular user even before that, I finally closed the darn thing not too long ago.
The final straw for me was when I started to get those popups attempting to block video playback due to my usage of uBlock Origin, even though THEY THEMSELVES were the ones who made their site completely unusable without an adblocker (I use uBlock filter lists to clean up my search results too. It helps me find videos that would have otherwise been buried by corporate clickbait crap). And now, just a week or so ago, Google literally admitted they're deliberately making the YT user experience worse for users of adblockers, although users of browsers other than Google Crumb are also reporting the same issues even without an ad blocker. Good thing I've abandoned the sinking ship, my visits to YT are probably 10% of what they were two years ago.
I've found ways to circumvent the adblocker ban, but TBH it's not really worth it regardless - all but five or so of my favorite channels have either become inactive, their content turned to crap, or even got terminated in a few cases.
I recall watching a video from one of said favorite creators where said he believed that vertical networks were the future of 'You-Tubing' given how poorly run YT is now. And I think that would be fabulous - imagine if VCFED had its own video sharing site, dedicated just to vintage computers. YT alternatives like Odysee have long been struggling to gain popularity, but for YT alternatives dedicated to a specific audience/subject, I don't think it would be nearly as much of an issue since communities like VCFED are already pretty small and close-knit.
