‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
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Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#2Yes they are. They are the drug pushers of the modern era and the harder the drug the harder it pushes you
Sure, it works fine for "normal" content. That's fine. But for "divisive" stuff it's like having someone trying to push you off road at every moment
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#3My youtube sucks, I'm always looking for stuff to kill my time and youtube recommend the same crap videos 500 times in a row. It take a long time to find something I want to watch.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#4My youtube sucks, I'm always looking for stuff to kill my time and youtube recommend the same crap videos 500 times in a row. It take a long time to find something I want to watch.
I've been loading the Youtube homepage every 15 minutes for the past week (I've been sick). It's the same videos over and over again. If I scrolled past it the first time, I'm still going to scroll past it the 100th time I see it.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#5I find YT does a gradient ascent into more popular videos.
I start out listening to a song with 1000 views, I get recommended 10k view songs, then 100k, and before you know it it's back in the mainstream. There's no way to surf a niche, to hunt in a pile of bin ends.
I imagine it's similar for conspiracy stuff. It'll point you in the direction of the most convincing nonsense.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#6I don't know how I was wasting my time watching skateboarding and far right videos...
I like stakeboarding but I am 41 and I have not practiced skateboarding in years.
But I am on the left on politics.
I delete the youtube app and put a URL blocker to stop this behavior.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#7Personally, I find the opposite. When I watch conservative content on YouTube, the recommended video is almost always very milquetoast - almost always an episode of “Uncommon Knowledge” by the Hoover Institute (despite me finding those extremely boring and therefore actively avoiding them), or a speech by Roger Scruton/Jordan Peterson/Douglas Murray - thinkers who are right-wing, but “safe”.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#8Does anyone else find these toxic post on HN to be toxic, not even trying to make a cheap point here. At least on twitter and YT I can consistently ban thinks that play on cheap emotions.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#9I literally only watch one type of video on YouTube (chess games).
The entirety of my recommendations are Jordan Peterson.
Wtf
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#10I’m quite enjoying it- I don’t watch anything political, and if anything comes up that’s a bit strange I just don’t watch it and eventually it goes away. It’s recommending me some great old footage of shows and some interesting new channels, mostly around engineering etc.
I suspect if you try and use it as a news source or anything other than entertainment it would be dangerous.