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Reviews for DeArrow - Better Titles and Thumbnails on YouTube

DeArrow - Better Titles and Thumbnails on YouTube by Ajay (SponsorBlock)

4 Stars out of 5
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34 reviews
  • by Firefox user 14161687, 2 years ago
  • by z3roa1m, 2 years ago
    Found out about this addon after SponsorBlock prompted me about it.
    A great addition to the """Youtube Fix""" bundle (RYD and SponsorBlock).

    Seriously, browsing Youtube is so much nicer with this installed, no longer being fished into watching useless commentary videos/drama.

    P.S: I completely wiped my previous install (got a remote access trojan that i couldn't delete, thought the extension would remember me from my youtube account details), huge thanks for the key 🫡)

    P.P.S also paywalling an open-source extension isn't such a good (and an effective) idea, but i get that making stuff for free out of pure enthusiasm can only go so far.

    Developer response

    posted 2 years ago
    You can copy the license key from a previous install, or email me to get a code if you didn't know to or forgot

    Use this FcxeV-ea448
  • by yoda, 2 years ago
    I like the idea, but thumbnails appear blank half the time (despite selecting show random screenshot in settings + I have fast internet). In the meantime, I'm using clickbait remover add-on for thumbnails and this for titles.

    Developer response

    posted 2 years ago
    This was a due to a server outage, and a bug preventing it from using the backup server properly when the main server is down.

    Server is back so it should be good now, and I'll fix that bug so it doesn't completely break for other server outages in the future
  • by ds, 2 years ago
    it's great but when i open youtube video it's lag unit somthing happen which i suspect is loading recomnded video thumbnail i have i laptop with 16 gigabyte of ram i think that could be the reson for this lags

    Developer response

    posted 2 years ago
    This should be fixed in the latest version
  • by showers, 2 years ago
    I absolutely love this addon and the concept behind it, but unfortunately, it seems to be very resource-intensive, causing my videos to chug along and lag for the first few seconds while it attempts to load many thumbnails, on top of causing all thumbnails to load slowly...

    Developer response

    posted 2 years ago
    The thumbnail generation service I'm running has gone down to due a storage issue, so it is falling back to local generation, which is probably causing those issues. I'll look into making the local generation work better in the future when outages happen.
  • by Dark Moyan, 2 years ago
    I never knew I need this but now I really need this. I just hope you will add Original vs custom/random thumbnail so we could see the original and the random one.

    Developer response

    posted 2 years ago
    Of you hover the title, there is a button to swap. You can make it always appear in the options
  • by Throwawayaccount, 2 years ago
    This addon most definitely has potential! I find that video's have started buffering... if i click at the video bar on the right I see the video tiles slowly appear. Either way I will keep trying this addon and if the buffering gets bad put it on the sideline and check back on it. Either way 4/5 stars buds! Nice job!

    Edit: Thanks for the update! I do understand that it is in a 'Alpha/Beta' stage. I made an account just to give a 'Bug' or 'RFC' or 'Feedback' and once gain thank you for your effort!

    Developer response

    posted 2 years ago
    Edit: the update to fix this has been released

    Still working out some issues, so I haven't released it yet, but the next update should help fix this by switching how the thumbnails are rendered on the page (By using Image elements instead of Canvas elements)
  • by display name, 2 years ago
    Great idea. Though I am surprised that Tom Scott's channel was picked as a demonstration, as he is not a particularly bad offender in this respect, to the point where I personally do not mind having his original thumbnails and titles.

    If you're aiming at something clickbaity, yet still informative enough to be worth spending time on redacting, maybe show, I dunno, LegalEagle? TLDR News? Linus Tech Tips? Karl Jobst?

    Developer response

    posted 2 years ago
    Very recently, Tom Scott and CGP Grey have started going through their entire backlog and changing titles and thumbnails to be more attention grabbing and vague. Channels doing things like this are a heavy inspiration for this extension.

    It's not just the Linus Tech Tips or the Mr Beasts of the world doing algorithm optimized titles and thumbnails now. Even really great channels like Tom Scott, CGP Grey, and Kurzgesagt are falling for the trap now.

    And I don't blame them! That's what's needed to survive on the platform these days. It's a race to the bottom.

    DeArrow hopes to solve this. DeArrow puts everyone on a level playing field. There is no race to the bottom since no one is allowed to be algorithmically optimized. It pauses the race, and let's the true best videos rise to the top.
  • by Zack Bowden, 2 years ago