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Frequently Asked Questions

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benoit74 edited this page Mar 19, 2024 · 2 revisions

(Frequently Asked Question / Frequently Encountered Errors)

What is the difference between a user and a channel

This is indeed a legacy from Youtube. Some old users are publishing directly as a user, while more recents ones are forced to use a channel. At least this is what we get from Youtube when requesting information. As far as we know, there is no way in Youtube UI / HTML code to find whether we are dealing with a channel or a user, so you have to try a first type, and if it fails use the second type.

Why does the scraper fails to find my user / channel while I tested both types?

On some occasion, Youtube API refuses the nice-looking user / channel. For instance for Madrasa channel, we cannot use Madrasa as ID in scraper configuration, Youtube refuses it. In these situations, the solution is to use the technical ID which is hidden behind the nice-looking Madrasa. You should open the channel on your browser, open the page source code and search for the ID in something like <meta itemprop="identifier" content="UCq0wtwcAmYtS3VUCgh1BWAg">. Content value (UCq0wtwcAmYtS3VUCgh1BWAg here) is our technical ID, to be used as ID in the scraper/recipe configuration.

ERROR:Invalid channelId xxx: Not Found

  • Are you sure the ID you provided is not the one of a user? If it is a user, fix the Type.
  • If you use the nice looking channel name, try to find the technical ID in the HTML page and use this value instead.

ERROR:Invalid username xxx: Not Found

  • Are you sure the ID you provided is not the one of a channel? If it is a channel, fix the Type.
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