Youtube has reached the terminal stage of enshittification:

• the good stuff is VHS-quality TV content that somebody pirated

• the ads, once nonexistent, are typically disreputable and now incessant

• the few 'creators' worth watching are lost in an ocean of audience-captured, brain-dead garbage "hey guys... [product placement disguised as organic content]... misinformation... remember to like and subscribe... [product placement disguised as organic content]"

• access becomes increasingly arcane due to ad-blocking measures

• one of the lowest quality comments sections - largely inorganic, rogue state-sponsored - on the internet

• increasingly just AI slop

The day I can't scrape videos via yt-dlp is last day I permit youtube domains on my network. Personally, I would prefer to eat a rotten cat carcass than pay a single cent to Youtube.

In a better world, youtube would be some kind of a protocol, not a mediocre company serving as a middleman.