Google removed YouTube’s dislikes counter from YouTube, making it impossible to view low-quality content or watch poorly-graded videos. This caused outrage among millions of Google users, including Asleep_Ad4989 the programmer. He developed a browser plugin to provide a user-requested function.
YouTube was fixed by a third party programmer
Developer working under a pseudonym Asleep_Ad4989An extension was created for popular browsers. It returns to YouTube the function that displays the number of “dislikes” under videos. Google disabled it in the first quarter of November 2021. This caused huge outrage from users across the globe.
According to The Next Web, Asleep_Ad4989’s creation is a mini-plugin that can be used with Chrome and Firefox browsers as well as other browsers built on it. Its performance in Vivaldi was praised by the CNews editorial team.
Reddit was the first place I posted about my project Asleep_Ad4989. The theme was created on November 15, 2021 and received almost 200 comments. It also received over 3,500 positive ratings within a matter of days, which is a sign that users are unhappy with Google’s actions.
The end result of the extension
Asleep_Ad4989 is an open-source creation that the author published on GitHub (owned since 2018 by Microsoft). The extension uses a Google API that allows you to count your dislikes. The plugin was in its early alpha stage, but it is stable. Only in certain videos is the negative rating counter displayed incorrectly.
Why do we need “dislikes”
YouTube has a unique feature called dislikes. These features are not available on Instagram or TikTok. The feature, which has been in existence for many years, allowed users to comment on the quality of videos and help others decide whether or not it was worthwhile to spend their time viewing them. It is possible to ignore a video if it has more “dislikes” than it has “likes”.
YouTube started to look like TikTok without “dislikes”.
Google has made it impossible for users to avoid watching low-quality videos. Bloggers don’t have to worry about creating quality material. This makes it easier for them to blog.
Authors of videos can still see the counter for “dislikes”. YouTube is yet to decide how this parameter will be used after the unpopular innovations.
Maximum dissatisfaction
YouTube posted a video on YouTube Creators announcing the closing of the dislikes counter. As expected, the video received a huge, but not record, number of negative points.
The developers claimed that the primary reason the developers refused to allow the functionality was because “dislikes”, which were frequently used to “destroy” a video clip, were common. The developers didn’t mention anything about the possibility that the new policy would lead to an avalanche in low-quality content.
Users decided to ignore the new ban. Commentaries with the phrase, “Use this comments as a dislike” started appearing under many videos. This is usually used to indicate the number negative marks that have been placed directly on the video.
Even Javed Karaim (Jawed Karam), one of the creators YouTube. He changed the description for the first YouTube video he uploaded in protest.
Description for the very first YouTube Video
Karim published the video in April 2005.
