YouTube Red made me a prime Rickroll target

I’ve been using YouTube Red for weeks now, and I love it. On top of being able to download videos for my commute, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to watch pre-roll ads on music videos. I don’t see ads. Videos just play.

But I recently got the fear of God put into me. This morning, my girlfriend casually sent me a link. No big deal. I clicked, because what is a relationship if it isn’t built on trust? It was a clip from Requiem for a Dream, which is a movie I’m genuinely terrified of. She laughed, saying she expected me to see the video title before the video itself. That’s not the case anymore. I don’t see ads. She laughed harder. “Isn’t YouTube Red just a good way to get Rickrolled?”

Before this morning, I never fully appreciated that ads can keep you safe. Many a Nickelroll attempt has been foiled by YouTube ads. Since I pay to never see them, some monster can IM or text me a YouTube link and I’ll be caught in an endless loop of Chad Kroeger or Rick Astley. The same can happen to you. Which means Red subscribers should avoid telling their trollish friends they’ve signed up.

But with every cloud, there’s a silver-lining: I’ve found a plug-in that prevents YouTube from loading Rick Astley videos.