#and it's so frustrating because i don't use auto generated captions but there's some people who HAVE to

[abyssal-debonair]

Do you ever try to do the right thing and it feels like the world is fighting against you doing the right thing?

I feel like it a lot but lately it's me trying to add subtitles but apparently they weren't publishing so now nearly every video I have has subtitles in the drafts and now I have to go through 300 videos to publish subtitles

tbh it's felt like the world has been becoming actively worse in the last two years, both online and irl. it's as if there is no reprieve no matter where you go because the deluge of world suck will start leaking into your bunker no matter how reinforced you think it is. you may be factually & morally correct, but you have no power to enact changes that holds much utility, improve user experience, or life-saving.

technology is definitely a part of it as it becomes more sophisticated and we rely on it more. so it is frustrating and sometimes scary when technology fails, is misused, or acts erroneous to how we intended. it is frightening for technology wield so much power yet be so fallible or in the hands of bad people.

but I digress. I commend you for adding subtitles to your videos. it's something too many people don't take seriously. I miss when YouTube allowed any user to add closed captions to a video. sure, some misused the feature for jokes, but many added comprehensive subtitles that made a video accessible to disabled people like the Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and those who struggle with audio processing. even nondisabled people can use subtitles for when the audio is just, in general, shitty. the auto-generated subtitles suck. humans can do it better and you never know who has that free time and skill.

YouTube removing community-curated captioning moved the responsibility of adding subtitles to the creator, who may be too busy to add subtitles or can't, so they don't. doing so yourself is such a great service to make your videos more accessible and I'm sad for you that the technology failed you despite your efforts.

one thing I've seen some creators do is add subtitles while editing videos before uploading it to Youtube. that way, they're not relying on Youtube's technology in post. perhaps that's something you could do in the future since Youtube has failed you.