Looks like YouTube is blocking adblockers again. This time, they are claiming that the use of adblockers violates its terms of service.
I read the terms of service: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms#20c5cf0fa6 There is nothing in there about adblockers. And yes, I actually read the terms, I didn't just search for 'adblock'; contrary to youtube.com's lies, you are NOT required to disable adblock.
So once again, let's delve into how to watch get around YouTube's adblockerblocker.
1/5
Invidious is to YouTube what Nitter is to Twitter: An alternative front-end that anybody can run on their own website that lets people watch videos on youtube.com. Note that Invidious instances don't host anything; they just embed videos from youtube.com.
Here is a list of verified instances: https://docs.invidious.io/instances/
2/5
Alternatively, you can use dedicated apps. Personally, I'm a fan of FreeTube on desktop and NewPipe on my phone (NewPipe is available for Android and derivatives; I'm not sure it's available for iThings). Both allow you to subscribe to YouTube accounts without needing an account yourself; in fact, you can't even log in. As such, you might be able to read comments, but you can't comment yourself, or like videos. On the plus side, no relevancy algorithms.
3/5
Some video players can directly play video if you feed them a youtube.com URL. I personally use MPV, but if you're scared of the command line, SMPlayer gives you a nice graphical program that can natively play YouTube videos (as well as videos from a bunch of other video sites).
VLC works on phones, but not on desktop.
4/5
As for subscribing to channels, NewPipe and FreeTube have that functionality built in.
I prefer to use an RSS reader, because every YouTube channel has an associated RSS feed. For an online RSS reader, you usually just need to copy the channel URL. If that doesn't work, go to the channel page, press Ctrl+u to view the source code, and search for /feeds/ to get the RSS URI which you can then copy into your feed reader.
Thank you for reading.
5/5
Infrapink (he/his/him)
Snep 