YouTubes decision to hide dislike counts on videos hassparked anger and derision.
One inventive programmer has attempted to restore the feature ina net net app extension.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
The plugin currently uses the Google API to generate the dislike count.
However, this functionality will be removed from December 13.
Ill venture to scrape as much data as possible until then, the extensions creatorsaid on Reddit.
After that total dislikes will be estimated using extension users as a sample.
The alpha version isnt perfect.
It currently onlyworks on videos for which the Youtube API returns a valid dislike count.
The calculations could also be skewed by the userbase, which is unlikely to represent the average YouTube viewer.
The results should also improve as uptake grows.
Despite these shortcomings, I applaud the effort.
You canty it out here but proceed at your own risk.
If you want to check out the code, its beenpublished on GitHub.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
