A couple of days ago, I posted an issue about the YouTube for Televisions app here: https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/368351604/youtube-for-televisions-app-stuck-auto-playing-thumbnail-previews-with-sound
One poster responded saying that I should go to the YouTube TV Help Community instead of the YouTube Help Community.
I pointed out that the YouTube for Televisions app and the YouTube TV app are two different things.
After that, I was shadow banned.
Shadow Banning is usually reserved for severe trolls, spammers, and problem users who are extremely disruptive and persistent. Apparently, talking about issues for the YouTube for Televisions app, and the differences between the YouTube for Televisions app and the YouTube TV app, are some kind of taboo subject and an extreme enough of an offense that it warrants shadow banning the user. ☹️
I tried posting a thread to the YouTube TV Community asking if that was the appropriate place to be discussing the YouTube for Televisions app: https://support.google.com/youtubetv/thread/368696605/should-issues-regarding-the-youtube-for-televisions-app-be-posted-here
If you click the above link, you will see "This page is no longer available". However, I can see it just fine. That indicates shadow banning. (My replies stopped showing up for other users in the URL at the beginning of this post as well; that's how I originally found out that I was shadow banned.)
Here is the shadow banned thread that I posted to the YouTube TV Community: https://rentry.co/c32r4mmy
The problem here (which is detailed on the rentry URL above along with images), is that there are two different YouTube apps that can be installed on devices like Roku, Amazon Fire, and other streaming TV devices: YouTube TV which is basically a replacement for Cable TV, and the other app which is just called "YouTube", but is usually referred to by Google and other people as either YouTube for Televisions, or sometimes YouTube on Televisions... it doesn't even have an official name.
There is a YouTube TV Help Community, and a YouTube Help Community. The YouTube Help Community has a drop down when you post a thread that asks you to select what version of YouTube that you are using: iOS, Android, or Web. There is no option for the YouTube for Televisions app. The YouTube TV Help Community looks to be specifically for the YouTube TV app. This seems to indicate that the YouTube for Televisions app is unsupported! (Could that actually be true? 😕)
My experience has been that when issues are brought up on the YouTube Help Community regarding the YouTube for Televisions app, it often breaks down into confusion regarding the difference between the YouTube for Televisions app and the YouTube TV app, and disagreement about where issues regarding the YouTube for Televisions app should be posted.
Does anyone here know if there is an official avenue for support for the YouTube for Televisions app? Or, is there really no recourse if changes are made to the YouTube for Televisions app that cause it to behave unexpectedly, or otherwise break?
The YouTube for Televisions app is the main way that I use YouTube. I'm also a YouTube Premium user which currently costs me $13.99 per month. Right now I'm all distraught (lol I know) because the option to turn off thumbnail previews with sound has been removed from older but still supported devices, such as the Roku Ultra 4660X. It does really impact the user experience for me in a negative way. The option to turn thumbnail previews off appears and works on the latest Roku Ultra for example, which is weird to me... wouldn't thumbnail previews actually slow down older devices? And if the user wants thumbnail previews off but can't turn them off, doesn't that cause unnecessary bandwidth usage?