IP address

[dalkin]

Howdy. I'm pretty sure the answer is "yes it does" but if I load a URL into a browser widget and it draws content, does the request pull your IP into play at any point?

[FourthWorld]

Socket comms require that server to be able to know the IP address of the requesting client in order to reply.

If this is a privacy concern there may be a way to route the request through TOR.

But even with that, the user-agent string still contains information which can be used to cross-reference movements across the web:
https://kittens.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/ ... user-agent

What is the problem you're looking to solve?

[dalkin]

Thanks for your reply Richard. It's not so much a problem as it is a piece of mischief. I know someone with a YouTube channel who would like more hits so on a slow afternoon I wrote a small app that loads the URL ( 2 minutes long ) randomly over the course of 60 minutes setting 'x' number of times. The concern is that YT would discover that it's artificial and punish the channel because if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's the fact that the engineers behind YT are smarter than me, so I don't think I would risk it and it will sit on the shelf as another path to fame and fortune thwarted by the Gods of Reality.

That being said, it would also be a tool to target channels spreading disinformation.

[FourthWorld]

Some YT creators I follow say the algorithm has gotten very picky, weighting videos watched to the end much higher than just load traffic.

[dalkin]

The following code increased my views from 3 to 88 (and yes folks, that's a younger me outlining the secrets of comedy) but insert your own URL. I had it on a 300 cycle loop overnight (my idea of a stress test) but the 'views' count stopped at 88, which could be either YouTube punching me in the nuts, or else it marked a 'day' cutoff. I'll check tomorrow and see if the count is updated. I've had no word from YT about suspension/throttling/deactivation but use it with care obviously.

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   -- Configuration
   put 300 into tTotalRepeats  -- Number of play cycles
   put "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_TzJowsR5E" into tURL
   put 60 into tMinWait  
   put 420 into tMaxWait  
   
-- Main loop
   repeat with i = 1 to tTotalRepeats
      -- Load video with random start time (0-600 seconds)
      put random(600) into tRandomStart
      set the URL of widget "YTPlayer" to tURL & "&start=" & tRandomStart
      
      -- Calculate random wait time safely
      put tMaxWait - tMinWait into tRange
      if tRange < 1 then put 1 into tRange  -- Ensure minimum range
      put random(tRange) + tMinWait into tWaitTime
      
      -- Status feedback
      put "Cycle" && i & "of" && tTotalRepeats & \
            " - Waiting" && tWaitTime && "seconds" into field "statusField"
      
      -- Wait with message handling
      repeat with t = 1 to tWaitTime
         wait 1 second with messages
         put "Cycle" && i & " of" && tTotalRepeats & \
               " -" && tWaitTime - t && "seconds remaining" into field "statusField"
      end repeat
   end repeat
   
   -- Cleanup
   put "Playback complete" into field "statusField"
end mouseUp

[dalkin]

The interface in its most humble form.

[dalkin]

Views were 88, now 43! Truncated by an algorithm or human hand? No notifications from YT so maybe I'll never know.

[FourthWorld]

Social media companies are largely unregulated in the US, their algorithms concealed from the public, designed to maximize engagement for advertisers while minimizing monetization payouts to the content creators making ad revenue possible.

See also: any William Gibson novel.

[richmond62]

Social media companies are largely unregulated in the US

And over-regulated in Europe.

Difficult to work out which is better.

[FourthWorld]

Social media companies are largely unregulated in the US

And over-regulated in Europe.

Difficult to work out which is better.

If this were a trial I would offer the current state of social discourse in the US as my only evidence. #CaseClosed

[dalkin]

This morning the views have dropped to 31. YT has spoken!