It's nice to meet another veteran from YouTube's golden era (i.e. 2000s). What you say about the site is exactly correct: YouTube was at its best when monetization was either minimal or entirely absent, when there was almost no censorship aside from prohibiting pornographic material, when the site's design was still sensible, when copyright enforcement was lax and/or easily circumvented, ...
... and when it was dominated by the uploads and activity of its everyday users rather than corporations and large, established channels. It was better then because it was freer, had more diversity of content, and was more authentic. YouTube today is far too sanitized and boring.
It's nice to meet another veteran from YouTube's golden era (i.e. 2000s). What you say about the site is exactly correct: YouTube was at its best when monetization was either minimal or entirely absent, when there was almost no censorship aside from prohibiting pornographic material, when the site's design was still sensible, when copyright enforcement was lax and/or easily circumvented, ...
... and when it was dominated by the uploads and activity of its everyday users rather than corporations and large, established channels. It was better then because it was freer, had more diversity of content, and was more authentic. YouTube today is far too sanitized and boring.