• Debo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    lol. I’m the one who coined the term after Wadsworth came up with the concept!

  • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    I never noticed before, but almost all the channels I follow break the Wadsworth constant. They jump straight into content and leave any ad/patreon reads to the end. I wonder if I subconsciously did that or if its a happy coincidence.

    • lando55@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Many popular channels revised their content format as a direct consequence of the Wadsworth constant

    • Kemwer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yep. Try to apply the Wadsworth constant to Veritassium and you’ll miss almost all the context of the video.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Must be channels that actually have worthwhile content that keeps viewers interested rather than the 90/8/1/1 ratio of most YT videos. 1% intro, 1% finish, 8% actual content, 90% BS, shenanigans, review of previous videos, sponsors, ads, and demands for like and subscribe.

    • amio@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      This. SponsorBlock is indispensable, just like an adblocker Youtube would just not be worth the hassle otherwise.

      • greenteadrinker@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        It’s wild how short some videos are with sponsorblock enabled to skip almost everything. I don’t watch LTT for ethical reasons anymore, but damn, did some 10 minute videos go by in like 2 minutes

  • lemonuri
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    1 year ago

    I don’t know if this is common knowledge, but if you hit 3 on your keyboard after starting a youtube video, it takes you straight to one third of the video played. So the Wadsworth Constant is already integrated into Youtube and has been for years.

    • radix@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I keep running into this by accident, especially when I’m trying to change tabs with Ctrl + number and jump off the Ctrl too fast.

    • Arthur BesseA
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      1 year ago

      You can also apply it when watching a YouTube video by appending “&wadsworth=1” to the url.

      I just confirmed that this no longer works :(

      I remember when it did. Here is the 2011 reddit post from the youtube employee who implemented it

    • readyno@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      While this particular method doesn’t work on desktop you can hit the number 3 and it will jump to 30% into the video. I’m sorry mobile users.

  • janAkali@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    No way… I remember seeing this comment ~10 years ago. I’ve been trying to search for it occasionally through past 5 years. I didn’t remember the guy’s nickname, only the concept and that it’s Youtube’s ‘constant/rule’. Couldn’t find even a mention anywhere. I legit thought I made it up or it’s the Mandela effect.

    Thank you! I can now live in piece.

    • ranoss@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Man, online recipe sites have gotten so bad in the last few years.

      There’s like a page of text talking about the food while the page is swimming with intrusive ads or promotions. I hate it.

      It’s like the worst parts of old school internet pop is ads gained sentience and a love for cooking.

      It’s always a game of finding and clicking print recipe as fast as I can. That and immersive reader have helped on mobile.

      • admiralteal@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        It’s 100% Google’s fault.

        The recipe sites that would feed you the recipe right at the top are downranked in search because you don’t spend as long on them.

        • blargerer@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          This doesn’t pass the smell test for me. If I find a recipe I like I tend to spend the duration of that recipe on the website. the extra time it takes to skim to the recipe itself is a rounding error in that math. I posit the actual reason is that recipes aren’t copyrightable so the websites need to add all the extra bullshit, which is copyrightable, in order to make it hard for some bot to trivially take their recipes.

      • PoastRotato@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        At this point if I can’t find a “Jump to Recipe” button displayed prominently at the top of the page within three seconds of visiting I just nope out and find a less cancerous site

        • mangaskahn@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There are plugins for Chrome and Firefox that add that button, but your method is probably better for discouraging the extra filler.

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Honestly, most of them have a jump straight to the recipe link or buttons now. I assume it’s because so many people complained in the comments about how they don’t care about their food story.

  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I do this all the time.

    I was actually mad at a YouTuber who put something really important in the first minute recently, because I’m so used to skipping to the middle.

    Which was really weird since that’s how all videos should be!

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    Maybe thankfully, most of the stuff I actually care to watch doesn’t suffer too much from that. Other than sponsors somewhere around the 2-5 minute mark, it’s mostly tuning in and watching without interruption.

    When I do have to look into stuff I don’t actually follow, like DIY stuff, yeah, it can be the first 30 seconds, sometimes the first 3 fucking minutes, that are completely disposable filler