Around 2012, YT's shittiness level reached OTA TV levels and that's when I peaced out.<p>My rule: it's not worth using YT, TikTok, or any other corporate behemoth with your attention as their product. So if a form of media runs ads, I'm out.<p>There's nothing particularly defensible about YT's readily commodifiable service and indefensible business model except the power law distribution of a monopoly. YT's closest competitor/alternative was once Vimeo. The problem was their founders made a critical error of taking venture funding and, later, going public, leading to poor decisions driven by the board that gradually wrecked it.<p>YT is allowed by the market to be shitty because there is no viable competitor in their space. The biggest touted contenders aren't much of a threat: TikTok started as a copy of Vine, so it's unsuitable for substantive, long-form content. Instagram is TikTok plus pictures. Twitch is pigeonholed for specific uses: gamers and ear-licking models. Reddit Live isn't for persistent, on-demand content hosting. There isn't much else except tiny startups, some of which may well be better for both viewers and creators.<p>To be a YT competitor I'd want to use: Charge content creators and viewers a modest subscription fee so they don't have to have ads AND have engagement and monetization tools for the creators. Don't spam me with ads for viral cat videos.