If you have decided that you cannot live without seeing the number of dislikes that videos get on YouTube, there is now a way to get them back.
A group of developers created an open-source browser extension that brings back the dislike counts on the video sharing site. The extension gets the data from the own YouTube API, which still shows dislikes when it is used for public data, and restores the old layout we were used to seeing on videos before YouTube decided to axe dislikes last month to address harassment problems and "dislike attacks." 9to5Mac spotted Return YouTube Dislike.
The exact number of dislikes a video has received is shown in the extension, which is different from the approximations offered by YouTube. The number of dislikes a creator can see is not available to the public. Individual users can still dislike content.
The extension has been downloaded by more than 200,000 users and has received more than 3,800 positive reviews. It can also be installed on other browsers. The developers advise those who want to use at their own risk, since the jailbroken version is for you.
The extension will bring back dislikes. The developers of the project note that the "dislike" field is going to be removed from the platform. The developers say that dislike counts won't be able to be accessed after that date, which removes any ability to judge the quality of content before watching.
The extension gets its information from a combination of scrapped and YouTube data. The developers claim to save all available data to their database to make sure it will be available when the dislike counts are stopped. They have a plan for when the dislike field is removed from YouTube, but it is not clear if it will work out.
The developers wrote that they would use a combination of disliked statistics, estimates from extension user data and estimates based on viewlike ratios after removing dislike statistics from the YouTube platform.
Return YouTube Dislike is not perfect. The developers said that the dislike counts are not ideal and that they are working on something.
The extension is free, but the developers are taking donations on two platforms.
I don't miss dislikes as I prefer platforms that are not swamps of negative vibes. I say to each of them. Enjoy your dislikes while you can.
