The part that says either ?si= or &si= is only for tracking. You can remove this part of the link and it will still function just the same. It makes the link shorter and also helps protect your privacy. The only important part of a YouTube URL is the video ID. There are two types of URLs:
For this one you can remove everything after and including the ampersand if present.
For this one you can remove everything after and including the question mark.
Note the exception is if you want to intentionally leave in playlist information you might want to keep that part.
How is it surprising? If you leave the microscopic echo chamber that is Lemmy, I’m sure 9 out of 100 people know what a URL is. Just because people use something every day doesn’t mean they know how it works.