horizonly 
kropot 
StroomAfwaarts 🌱@kropot wait, is it with or without the question mark?
Trinsec@StroomAfwaarts @kropot
The question mark is necessary if there's anything after it. In this case the 2nd example has 't=69' so the question mark stays. (t for where in the video to start)
But in general, you can remove the question mark and anything after it and you get the original video without fuss.
The question mark is necessary if there's anything after it. In this case the 2nd example has 't=69' so the question mark stays. (t for where in the video to start)
But in general, you can remove the question mark and anything after it and you get the original video without fuss.
GunChleoc@StroomAfwaarts @trinsec @kropot In general, links with parameters work like this:
link/to/file/on/the/internet
?
parameter1=value1
&
parameter2=value2
&
parameter3=value3
So, you delete the parameter=value bit and the separator before it (? or &) if you want to get rid of it.
Youtube links can also look like this:
youtube.com/watch?v=videoid&si=trackingid&t=69
In this case you delete &si=trackingid
aburka 🫣@StroomAfwaarts @kropot The question mark separates the URL from the parameters. Ampersand separates the parameters from each other.
In the first URL, the tracking junk was the only parameter, so everything can be removed. In the second, it's leaving behind the time code parameter.
On links to youtube.com (as opposed to youtu.be) the video ID is itself a parameter /watch?v=etc, so you'd always be leaving the question mark.
Ugly Bag of Mostly Water@kropot
THANK YOU. I've reached an age/busyness level where technology is running away from me, and I would not have known about this without your post.
THANK YOU. I've reached an age/busyness level where technology is running away from me, and I would not have known about this without your post.
Theriac@kropot
Or don't use Youtu.be, use yewtu.be
Or don't use Youtu.be, use yewtu.be
@Spotify does this too if I recall.
Firefox has a plugin called ClearURLs that cleans URLs across the entire web, not just YouTube. Might be available on Chrome too.
Matt Zagaja
Quick Fastly@[email protected] you can also do this with ublock origin by adding actually legitimate url shortener as a custom filter
Brahms
Goerp
lily 💖
Robot
sirlan <( rawr )@kropot nice video id
now at @@kropot i knew it, i've been removing that for ages because it looked sus
Aria 
@kropot Wowza. I love this new change! /j I knew it was something like this.
Octavia Con Amore 
Succubard's Library@kropot By the way, the & at the end is part of the time tag, not the source identifier, right? 
(oh, I just realised it doesn't have alt-text. Would you be up for adding some?)
Reina 
@OctaviaConAmore @kropot The questionmark tells the server that whatever comes after this is an argument. The first letters are the key, then an equalsign then the value. When you add more arguments, you separate them with an ampersand. This is why you want to remove the ampersand but not the questionmark in this case as it's only a single argument
Cyber Yuki@kropot image description: instructions on how to remove source identifiers from YouTube links. Remove the part including si= and before any & or ? sign.
Ibly 🏳️⚧️ 
@kropot yikes, that's what i figured was going on when i started seeing this garbage
someone should make a tool that automatically removes junk like this from copied URLS, i'm sure there's some way to make extensions do that, even if it has to be a separate option from "copy link" (though i think it'd be easier to outright change the URLs on the page)
someone should make a tool that automatically removes junk like this from copied URLS, i'm sure there's some way to make extensions do that, even if it has to be a separate option from "copy link" (though i think it'd be easier to outright change the URLs on the page)
antifa supersoldier@kropot I've been removing tracking garbage from links for so long now that it's just habit for me, but thanks for sharing.
I'd also like to share these extensions with everyone:
• ClearURLs - Removes tracking elements from URLs
https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon#readme
• FastForward (successor to Universal Bypass) - Automatically skips annoying link shorteners
https://github.com/FastForwardTeam/FastForward#readme
GitHub - ClearURLs/Addon: ClearURLs is an add-on based on the new WebExtensions technology and will automatically remove tracking elements from URLs to help protect your privacy.
ClearURLs is an add-on based on the new WebExtensions technology and will automatically remove tracking elements from URLs to help protect your privacy. - ClearURLs/Addon
Reid 
@kropot huh, so I wasn't alone to get the extra junk in the links
MagmaSys/'wertercatt'@kropot
Also change "youtu.be/" to "redirect.invidious.io/watch?v="
You're already having to do a lot of work to remove the source identifier, so go full fuck'em and link to an alternate frontend instead.
Also change "youtu.be/" to "redirect.invidious.io/watch?v="
You're already having to do a lot of work to remove the source identifier, so go full fuck'em and link to an alternate frontend instead.
🏳️🌈Trentskunk🏳️🌈
@kropot There is an android app called URLCheck that lets you intercept and rewrite URLs in various ways. I haven't tested this specific thing, but one of the modules allows for regex rewrite rules.
Gik 
| 💙➡️🇺🇦@kropot you might also use this format
https: //www.youtube.com/ watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
with watch?v= (no spaces) still dropping the part you indicated
https: //www.youtube.com/ watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
with watch?v= (no spaces) still dropping the part you indicated
KateYagi@kropot I always just snipped that off as a character count saving measure even before I understood it was a tracking thing.
Wonder what happens if you put junk data there.
Wonder what happens if you put junk data there.
Famicom 
@kropot Here's a userscript that removes it automatically: https://github.com/Xenorio/YTShareAntiTrack
Doc Scrantonbeen removing everything after the & for a good fuckin while, they especially do that on anything you search
Jes Moved to @@kropot also on spotify
Mima-sama@kropot For extra protection, use your favorite Invidious instance when sharing links! Invidious will provide a link to the original anyway if your friend needs it anyway ;)
༒ ɐɥɔǝʇɐɯ ʍǝɹpuɐ ༒@kropot I've noticed this query param on links from twitter and spotify as well.
Huh@kropot is that the link to never gonna give you up
tyil@kropot Wonder if there's a WebExtension yet to scrub these off.
ari melody 💫@kropot i just delete because blatantly obvious tracking data in my links is really ugly. if i wanted a longer link, i'd use the youtube URL already in my address bar!!
Merlin Gillard 🚋😷@kropot There's a great addon on Firefox for this (also works for the other URL trackers from facebook, amazon...): ClearURLs.
It changed my life!
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clearurls
It changed my life!
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clearurls
Christopher Kyba@merling @kropot Just installed it. I'd been doing this by hand for years when posting e.g. #AcademicJobs
jonossa seuraava@kropot
The next level is to use a different front end all together
https://github.com/SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect
The next level is to use a different front end all together
https://github.com/SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect
GitHub - SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect: A simple web extension that redirects Twitter, YouTube, Instagram & Google Maps requests to privacy friendly alternatives.
A simple web extension that redirects Twitter, YouTube, Instagram & Google Maps requests to privacy friendly alternatives. - SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect
xrvs@jonossaseuraava @kropot like 80% of the invidious instances are not working though /shrug
which is still youtube’s fault, but nowadays i suppose i’d just throw the youtube link and download it with yt-dlp
Paolo 🐇@kropot you can use extensions or apps to do that for you! I use URLCheck on Android and it's really convenient
Eric@kropot Or maybe adjust the Source Identifier a bit to disrupt the tracking system?
Coo Ling Fan@kropot I have no social media account and feel myself good
Vio@kropot Is that story really true ? I haven't seen any Youtube video's link with such a thing, even by checking at the instant.
Julien@VioB @kropot i just copied a link from the YouTube app and this is what I got:
https://youtu.be/snj<redacted>f8?si=S<redacted>Y
4bz@kropot do this for pretty much every link. The ? And everything after for almost any link is not needed. At least I've yet to run into one that broke after removing all the extra bs
Peter Janes@kropot
For Android users, an open-source app called Léon - The URL Cleaner can remove tracking components from many different sites before they're shared (or opened, in many cases). https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.svenjacobs.app.leon (Play Store) or https://www.f-droid.org/packages/com.svenjacobs.app.leon/ (F-Droid)
Artificial Stupidity@kropot I don’t think it works exactly like this, so if my link went viral and 100k accounts posted it, so what, they are all mine?
it just helps to pin point who exactly started to share this, that’s all. all it helps is building social graph and pretty sure google gonna use that not for my benefits, so yeah, deleting si= makes sense
Tired Bunny 
@kropot
Please sanitize your YouTube links! Recently YouTube's links got 2 times longer. They added Source Identifier in them for the sole purpose of collecting data. You can delete it, and link will still work just fine.
In the simple link, actual link to video is before question mark, question mark and everything after that is source identifier
In the other case, there is also time code after identifier, so you can remove source identifier, everything after question mark but before and symbol, excluding question mark but including and symbol.
Why you should delete that?
1. You post that link on social media, Google crawler finds it, checks the data base and now it knows this account on other social media belongs to you.
2. I click on your link and now Google knows our accounts are connected.
Please sanitize your YouTube links! Recently YouTube's links got 2 times longer. They added Source Identifier in them for the sole purpose of collecting data. You can delete it, and link will still work just fine.
In the simple link, actual link to video is before question mark, question mark and everything after that is source identifier
In the other case, there is also time code after identifier, so you can remove source identifier, everything after question mark but before and symbol, excluding question mark but including and symbol.
Why you should delete that?
1. You post that link on social media, Google crawler finds it, checks the data base and now it knows this account on other social media belongs to you.
2. I click on your link and now Google knows our accounts are connected.
Julie Webgirl@juliewebgirl @kropot Content warnings usually take less space than full posts, so I usually do them when making an image description comments
E. Murphy, the name you know@kropot Thanks, I'd been trimming that just because it was *something* obviously unimportant to me, but hadn't bothered to research what. Also, everyone remember to actually check out the link in the screenshot for a cool bonus.