Mashable reports that users ran into a black screen on YouTube, and that it stayed for about 6 seconds before the video began playing. The reports indicate it affected several browsers including Firefox, Edge, Vivaldi.

Some users joked that they would rather see a black screen than an ad. While that’s certainly a better experience, it does waste precious seconds of our time. A simple workaround for the black screen on YouTube is to just refresh the page, hit F5 as soon as the page starts loading. uBlock Origin’s filters were updated with a patch to resolve the problem, the add-on updates its filters automatically. If you are still experiencing the black screen issue, just open the extension’s dashboard and manually update the filters. This tug-of-war is getting annoying, but it appears to me that Google’s efforts are actively promoting the use of ad blockers, instead of attracting new subscribers.

  • AeroLemming@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    I’ve noticed an increase in posts on reddit that follow the format of:

    • Post with either a problem that can be solved by a product or a showcase of the functionality of a product
    • Comment from a different account naming the product and basically giving a good review
    • Multiple replies from different accounts corroborating the original comment and sharing their own positive anecdotes

    It’s very sus, especially considering the amount of blatant repost/comment-stealing karma farm bots.

    • [email protected]@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Those’ve been fairly common for the last like… 8 years on Reddit. Interestingly, they started as mug and trinket sale ads and have since launched into every facet. Some major marketing firms use that method now, and I blame spammers for that blight.