I mean, the dumb algorithm keeps recommending videos I've watched a day ago. No wonder it's a disaster.
‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
51–60 of 366 posts
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#52I find youtube recommendations crap because if I watch something on one subject it seems to assume the subject is now the love of my life and proceeds to offer a zillion on just that subject. regarding what the article is talking about ... eh, it seems like they're saying it works fine but sometimes puts up videos whose politics they don't like. Short of going in and removing the stuff you don't like so that other pe…
This isn't my experience at all. On certain subjects, YouTube will start relentlessly pushing an agenda. If I watch some videos where people talk about sci-fi movies or TV, my recommendations become flooded with videos about how SJWs are ruining Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who, etc. It's gotten to the point that I now only watch such videos in Incognito Mode.
I get the same, together with videos about how social media is censoring conservatives while am literally being recommended their videos.
It's quite something.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#53My 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.
You know it's bad when one of the reasons for dismissing a video is "I've watched this before". If I didn't know any better, I'd say it's a separate sub-system(gasp, microservice) that doesn't integrate nicely with the service that stores/holds your previous viewing history.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#54I know I'm old but dang for some reason I really dislike recommendations from almost any company. For media I grew up in the 70s and had the TV Guide. I'd look through to see what I wanted to watch, circle some things and then watch. No spying what-so-ever. So, I like for example HN where AFAIK I'm not tracked so much and I choose what I want from the top of the list. Conversely I mostly hate Amazon, Netflix, Amazon…
It's like the media company is taking the driver seat of your mind and decides you need to watch these videos over and over. Where have individualism and creativity gone?.
The search function still exists, recommendations are really aimed at low effort engagement. YouTube recommendations are only aiming for the equivalent quality of channel surfing when most user generated content is really bad.
Sadly, it’s largely your own history that clogs the recommendations. The less you use a recommendation engine the more relevant it becomes.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#55> Chaslot noted that divisive and sensational content is often recommended widely: conspiracy theories, fake news, flat-Earther videos
Not true at all. In many countries, content from Corona-deniers is instantly removed, even in live streams, and their creators are banned for 1 or 2 weeks.
Edit: Downvoters, please just comment
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#56I always thought the recommendations were fine but today I was setting up an old Mac Mini I found and I saw the default recommendations because I wasn’t logged in, there were a weird amount of videos about Muslims and conspiracies for some reason.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#57> Chaslot noted that divisive and sensational content is often recommended widely: conspiracy theories, fake news, flat-Earther videos Not true at all. In many countries, content from Corona-deniers is instantly removed, even in live streams, and their creators are banned for 1 or 2 weeks. Edit: Downvoters, please just comment
COVID misinformation is a bit of an outlier in how the various social networks are treating content, though.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#58Protip if this annoys you: go to myactivity.google.com, delete everything and pause all further collection. Now only your subscriptions and likes count (and maybe a few other things that are not considered "activity"). It's so much better! Did it once and now I don't want to go back.
It's too bad YouTube doesn't let you keep your history (so you can go back and find something you saw before) without it feeding into recommendations.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#59> Chaslot noted that divisive and sensational content is often recommended widely: conspiracy theories, fake news, flat-Earther videos Not true at all. In many countries, content from Corona-deniers is instantly removed, even in live streams, and their creators are banned for 1 or 2 weeks. Edit: Downvoters, please just comment
COVID misinformation is a bit of an outlier in how the various social networks are treating content, though.
I agree but still a good example that OP's statements are questionable.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#60For me YouTube recommendations are not toxic, they are so amazing I some times wonder how comes the world around is not heaven when everybody has free access to this.
That's because I always watch high-quality educational content and some beautiful comforting and inspiring music. So for me YouTube is a fountain of knowledge, visual and musical aesthetics etc. Every day I get inspiration, healthy kind of fun and learn something cool, useful and healthy.
But people who watch stupid and destructive stuff (even once) are doomed because they are going to get the same and worse kind of content recommended over and over. This is a particularly underestimated social problem indeed.
That's why I recommend to avoid signing-in into YouTube. Better watch anonymously so you can always clean the cookies and get out of the pit.