Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2024 April 30

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April 30

Cursor hovering over the thumbnail at YouTube

On my YouTube subscription list, if the cursor hovers over the thumbnail of a video, the video starts playing (without audio) inside the thumbnail. When I click on the video, it then starts playing at the point where the thumbnail got to. That means if I don't notice that the cursor is hovering over a video, when I open it, it might start 15 minutes in, and I have to stop and restart the video to watch from the beginning. This has got to be one of the most useless and annoying features I've ever seen on a website. Is there any way to turn it off? Can I go to Settings and click something so it stops doing that? —Mahāgaja · talk 11:36, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Yes. Go into your settings (click on your icon), go into Playback and Performance, turn off Video Previews. It will turn it off for 30-60 days. Then, it tends to turn back on. I believe that it turns back on because Youtube counts those previews as views, increasing viewership counts. Similarly, I turn off the shorts. They turn off for 30 days and turn back on again. I also turn off autoplay. That stays off for longer, usually, but turns back on eventually. Again, having it autoplay increases view counts. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 12:01, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Thanks! I turned off video previews. I had no option for turning off shorts, but they annoy me less now that they're segregated into their own section of the subscription page rather than being lumped in with the full-length videos, like they used to be. I've had autoplay switched off for years and it's never turned back on. —Mahāgaja · talk 12:12, 30 April 2024 (UTC)