zlacker

THIS. THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS.

This has been one of the most frustrating things I run into with Youtube scrolling the page. Can’t leave your cursor on the page while scrolling without managing to have the spacing shift the thumbnails just so slightly so that your cursor lands back into a thumbnail for an autoplay to start and add to the metrics.

>>kotaKa+(OP)
It's even worse on mobile. You don't even need to hover for an autoplay video to show in your history.

>>kotaKa+(OP)
I can’t think of other examples, but this exact problem is a constant frustration for me on multiple sites. I can’t scroll with my cursor on the page without crap happening that I don’t want to happen.

As to the reason, at least with Youtube and Facebook, the answer is obvious: they want to increase their ad revenue by claiming additional “plays” or “interactions” or whatever they want to call it today. I remember realizing several times over the years that I had been conned when I paid for ads. The top-level numbers looked good, but when I dug in, I realized they were all faked.

>>kotaKa+(OP)
This may be a dumb question, but when you have video doing autoplay (as in the video starts playing while you're scrolling looking at multiple videos - you haven't clicked on one), does it show up in your watch history?

>>s3p+0a
Just tested. If you hover for 10s+ then it does get added to your watch history.

EDIT: or did you mean on autoplay as in part of a playlist playing in the small player in the corner while you are on the home page?

>>jtbayl+M5
> I can’t scroll with my cursor on the page without crap happening that I don’t want to happen.

Same stuff with the mobile youtube app. If you so much as graze the screen anywhere while watching a video the replay speed doubles. This is so sensitive that even a tiny unintentional finger touch, or a water droplet landing on the screen triggers it. Whoever thought that is a good idea as a feature, i can’t comprehend.

Plus they have no data to see how badly their feature annoys me. From a metrics perspective “the user wanted to fast forward for 5s” looks the same as “a careless finger cradling the phone triggered the fast forward and it took the user 5s to realise what is going on and adjust their hold, now they are annoyed at how fragile this app is”. Someone might have even used the statistics of all the inadvertent activations in their promo package to show what a popular feature they made!

>>kotaKa+(OP)
This drives me absolutely nuts on Netflix too, perhaps more so.

>>kotaKa+(OP)
You can just... turn it off: https://www.youtube.com/account_playback

I have it turned on, but leave my mouse to the right of the screen if I don't want autoplay. It's habit now.

>>krisof+2p
Couple this with the no-bezel iPhones, and there is no way to hold your phone without touching the screen and accelerating the video (or clicking on ads).

>>kotaKa+(OP)
Put your mouse up in the header on or near the scrollbar, scrolling will flow below to the video list.

>>jeffhu+it
It just turns itself back on in a couple of weeks. Dark patterns ahoy.

>>jeffhu+it
It's not sticky. On iOS Chrome at least, I go pick that, within a few days it's set back to autoplay. And yes, I'm paying for premium

>>eastbo+8M
Serious question as I use an Android device, but do people not purchase cases for iphones? I use an Otterbox case for my phone and it gives it a bezel (though the phone might have had one to begin with—I don't remember).

>>encryp+Jl1
People do, but they shouldn't have to purchase a case to have their phone correctly. I have never purchased a case for a phone and have no intention to start, myself.

>>eastbo+8M
> and there is no way to hold your phone without touching the screen

Sure there is. iPhone or otherwise, I don’t touch the screen when holding my phone.

Might be an issue for people with small hands perhaps. I’m trying to figure out in what circumstances I would be forced to touch my display whilst merely holding my phone but can’t of one, so it must be a size/grip thing, or I’m just holding my phone like a weirdo.

>>eastbo+8M
I agree, this obsession with filling the entire surface area with touch-sensitive display, and the quest for zero edge bevel width, is the bane of usability, often the soft fleshy part of your hand holding on the edge folds over and marginally makes contact with the screen, and then the screen ignores all your tops from your other hand that you explicitly makes.

>>encryp+Jl1
I have a case for my iphone and the problem I have described is happening even with that on.

>>kotaKa+(OP)
Because of excessive things like this, I often point at my screen with a pen now and leave the mouse alone. Or take notes on a different laptop to avoid this stuff.

>>bigstr+oy1
That is a really stupid design decision. I am so sorry for users who have to deal with that.

>>bigstr+oy1
Ignore my other reply as it was meant for another comment. Regarding your comment:

I mean, I suppose you're right. However, that being said, a case is a good idea nonetheless, just as is a screen protector. A good case protects the phone against damage from dropping, just as a good screen protector does the same for the screen.

>>krisof+Rl2
That is unfortunate friend. I guess I was wrong. Not all cases provide that solution...