Official Hooktube Thread

Since every other discussion seems to be getting derailed with Hooktube/Anti-hooktube flaming. So type away! I'll start:

Anti-hooktubers, why don't you like Hooktube? Are you incredulous to the legitimacy of such a project? Or do you think it's unethical? Or are you frustrated that there are people using Hooktube and not looking for a true, viable alternative to YouTube?

I was wondering when this thread was going to be made. :) Coming from the pro-HookTube camp, I use it for multiple reasons, one because YouTube since their last major redesign has become unnecessarily bloated. Two, because YouTube has initiated sneaky censorship tactics like placing videos in a "limited state" and I can use HookTube to get information and data from a video that's been placed in a limited state. For example, this video by Black Pigeon Speaks https://youtu.be/NanumqpBDtA was placed in a limited state recently and as is, I cannot see how many views it has, how many thumbs up or down, nor any comments or recommended videos that you often see to the right.

With the same video using HookTube https://hooktube.com/watch?v=NanumqpBDtA I can see that (as of this post) the video has 159,262 views, 12,302 thumbs up, 436 thumbs down, the list of suggested videos to the right and it can fetch at least some of the top comments that were left on the video. I can also download the video in mp4 format without having to fickle around in a command line with

youtube-dl

or use some crappy browser extension.

It is true that youtube-dl/mpv makes a lot of the practical advantages of Hooktube/nsfwyoutube redundant; however, there's something to be said about the Hooktube in the context of content blockers--so called "adblockers" like uMatrix--because there is a distinction, in that Hooktube is a centralized, universal solution to the same problem that content blockers address, and that is significant. Why? Because not all web browsers have content blockers, nor do all laypeople use (whether that's because they don't care or don't have the know-how is insignificant) content blockers. The latter is really important, because it reveals how elitist the adblock argument really is since adblock users are at the end of the bell curve--content blockers are not the precedent. And while there will always be a persistent niche that uses content blockers, there will be people that simply have to accommodate advertisements, phishing attacks, & c. due to sheer ignorance. Hooktube subverts all that.

It's true that Hooktube isn't a real solution to the YouTube problem, but I don't think that argument in itself is enough to dismiss Hooktube, because Hooktube can still do something really valuable: it can change the precedent. Hooktube can change the expectations that laypeople have when they think of a site like YouTube by universally change the quality of how those videos are served by means of a cleaner UI, no adverts, no tracking, & c..., which can catalyze the demand (and support thereby) of a real YouTube solution.