(no subject)

well, fuck. Google has decided that people don't open their youtube notification emails enough, so they've removed the feature. delightful.

I am pretty angry at google, because this breaks the way I interact with most of the channels I like. but I am also deeply puzzled at their claims for typical usage behaviour they are justifying this with. No effect on how many views channels get when email notifications are disabled, really? using mobile push and browser notifications as a substitute??

I don't want to watch videos the moment I become aware of them. this is usually because I have, like... things to do. A job, or a different recreational activity I'm engaging in, or whatever. If I get a mobile push notification in the morning while at work, I am not going to take a break for an hour and watch a let's play. I might watch it when I get home, or I might wait a few hours more to watch it with dinner, or I might wait even longer and watch it a few days later when I'm in the mood for it. A mobile notification is either dealt with immediately, or it hangs around taking up my attention, or it is dismissed (intentionally or by accident) and I need to rely on my fallible human memory to remember it existed later. Email doesn't do that. I can leave things in my inbox to deal with later for a few hours or days (or weeks, or months, or years...) without taking up my attention and while still being easily findable when I'm looking for them.

This is the "RSS is dead" thing all over again, huh.

...speaking of which, youtube still supports RSS feeds, huh. switching my email subscriptions to rss subscriptions is annoying since I don't have an integrated button for that within youtube itself and also who knows how long that'll be supported, but it is fact better while it lasts that the alternatives provided...