# YouTube 653 Hacker News commenters recommended YouTube and 1346 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 13 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (21 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended as an unmatched library of educational, DIY and long-form video, but critics complain about Shorts, AI dubs, a buried chronological feed and junk recommendations. ## Why people recommend it - Vast educational content (9 comments): "I see that youtube is on the blanket banned list - which is a bit surprising given they are probably one of the more responsible platforms and it also contains lots of educational stuff." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48539762)) "YT is currently a most critical piece of the WWW: the informational content and intellectual participation on YT competes with its complement." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896928)) "I just want someone who's good at explaining a math concept or who has managed to get the footage I want to see about how something is done." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46770711)) - Go-to for DIY repair (2 comments): "YouTube provides a lot of value to a lot of people. I've learned a lot of math, physics, history, DIY from it. But it's addictive (to some)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47538313)) "As a knowledge base for DIY learning how to repair random stuff around the house, there is no alternative to Youtube." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49542579)) - Good recommendations when curated (5 comments): "my feed is 80%+ decent stuff - science channels, AOPA safety videos - stuff like that. But my other account has absolutely terrible suggestions on the algorithm" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410199)) "Youtube is actually my favorite algo because barring unexpected pipelines like fitness to red pills my home feed is 90% things I consider worth watching" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47101794)) "Thankfully on Youtube I can completely disable recommendations on the site and I use it purely as a source of information" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47114408)) - Huge breadth of content (5 comments): "YouTube captures the full set of extremes and everything in between, so I don't think it's fair to label the entire thing a cesspit of stupidity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49587939)) "Nowadays, you can probably find it on YT, and that's great IMHO. I my musical horizon would be so much more limited without it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47178098)) "the massive amount of (good) content present in YouTube (and YT music) is the reason I'm willing to pay the premium price" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50015949)) ## What people warn about - Pushy Shorts and junk feed (5 comments): "What it does is make it so if you click a short from somewhere the short plays, but then if you try to swipe to the next one it hits you with the "You reached your short limit"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47788214)) "it won't show me videos unless I start watching things first, unless I go to Shorts, where I am presented with an infinite scroll of what appears to be deeply unsettling" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46029883)) "I've drastically cut my use of YouTube (even though there are creators I like and wish to support) because I am so tired of wading through all the junk." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48303732)) - Chronological subscriptions buried (2 comments): "This pattern does not represent how I use the product. I want to know what's newest and the time ordered list being deprioritized in the UI and fractured makes that worse." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47656450)) "Unfortunately, I now have to scroll through the "most relevant" section, then through shorts, and only then do I reach the videos in the chronological order." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49541796)) - Engagement algorithm harms society (2 comments): ""the algorithm" (of Twitter/X, FB, Instagram, YouTube, Google, everyone) has propagandising biases that damage society" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48875150)) "Twitter YouTube and other various individually engagement-tuned sources are recruiting a new audience and helping fragment the consensus on objective reality." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48441263)) - Unwanted auto-generated AI dubs (2 comments): "I absolutely hate that YouTube is doing that; I'm Dutch/English so obviously fluent in both languages yet YouTube randomly decides to give me this horrific AI dub" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829716)) "You still get the autogenerated dubs by default, the comments moved to end of the earth, and many other stuff (shorts etc.) people get pissed about." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46052709)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [PeerTube](https://hackerapproved.com/p/peertube.md): 66 recommend - [YouTube Shorts](https://hackerapproved.com/p/youtube-shorts.md): 21 recommend - [Loops app](https://hackerapproved.com/p/loops.md): 21 recommend - [Twitch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/twitch.md): 12 recommend - [Rumble](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rumble.md): 8 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.youtube.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "YouTube", https://hackerapproved.com/p/youtube/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).