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‘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)

#241

Post by wpietri »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #60

For 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…

I'm glad it works for you, but dedicated individual action by someone especially capable and focused on the topic isn't a solution to systemic problems like this. Indeed, hero stories are often used to diminish problems. Systemic problems need systemic solutions.

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#242

Post by whywhywhywhy »

thatishard wrote: post #19
thatishard wrote: post #3

My 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.

Another thing, don't click on a "Clickbait" video because you are curious, it will open the gates of hell and destroy your recommendations for a week.

Removing them from your watch history can often fix this.

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#243

Post by ramon »

Even as guest Youtube wants to do the recommendation algorithm it's great what can I say besides privacy is the last thing they're worried about anyways. They're almost like: You know you're being monitored, don't worry about it we'll get you some great videos along the way.

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#244

Post by OJFord »

jessriedel wrote: post #207
_0ffh wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use the "watch later" feature anymore. It's always a bit irritating when you want to catch up on the list only to find that a video has been removed in the mean time. So I switched to archiving using youtube-dl. Also nice to have a few backup videos in case of an internet outage.

This is conceivable to me, bit I've never had this happen. What sort of videos would be removed that you actually wanted to watch?

People remove and re-upload (or not) their videos sometimes, so if you could even find it that'd be an annoying extra step.

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#245

Post by wccrawford »

yodsanklai wrote: post #226
qwerty456127 wrote: post #60

For 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…

> 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. Not really my experience. I'm not sure but I have the impression that the recommendation heuristic is very time-sensitive. Let say I watch sailing videos for a few days, it tends to forget I was interested in guitars the previous week.

I've noticed the same, except that it occasionally remembers and pops something up that I haven't watched in a while. I think, "Oh, I haven't seen one of those in a while!" about once a week now.

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#246

Post by verisimilitude »

Here are some CSS selectors I block on YouTube to remove recommendations and other annoyances:

div#secondary .videowall-endscreen .ytp-pause-overlay .iv-promo-video .ytp-cards-teaser .ytp-button

That first one is super-nice -- using that, I no longer need superhuman self-control to prevent my brain from falling into a YouTube black hole powered by millions of iterations of A/B testing targeted at my lizard brain. I just watch one video and then... close the tab.

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#247

Post by WaitWaitWha »

Aeronwen wrote: post #175
dageshi wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just pay for youtube premium?

No dark pattern there.

I have no idea what you are referring to. This has never ended badly for consumers. Why, I remember when cable came out. For a small monthly fee we could get rid of all the advertising. That turned out ... just... oh wait. Okay, then Sirius Satellite! All those ads on the radio? Just get Sirius at a small monthly fee, and bam! All ads will... be... gone... forever... Well, uhmmm... Okay. Never mind. /s

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#248

Post by Ar-Curunir »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #60

For 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…

"Just don't watch bad stuff"

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#249

Post by wpietri »

jw1224 wrote: post #231
troebr wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't that bad. Some influencer videos, music, prank videos, sports, a couple niche youtubers, some video games. I saw a couple educational videos in there too. Sure the influencer stuff is pretty stupid, but whatever, it's not harmful.

Influencers are very often harmful. 1. Their aspirational lifestyles perpetuate feelings of inadequacy amongst their viewers, especially when their target market is often predominantly young people. Their audiences grow up with self doubt and anxiety by comparing their lives to that of the influencers they follow. 2. They are in the pockets of their advertisers and sponsors. Any recommendations they make are inherent…

I'm a fan of Reddit's AmITheAsshole and I'm always stunned by the stories of teens whose life plan is to become an influencer. As a sociological phenomenon, it's fascinating: celebrity distilled down to an implausibly pure form, like Paris Hilton rendered into uncut white powder. But as somebody who feels responsibility to the kids in my extended family, it's a worry. I'm not even sure how to explain to them that it might not be the best way to spend 40 or 50 years.

Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)

#250

Post by bvcvbuiy »

At some point I as listening a lot of nursery rhymes song with my child. When doing this I just let the recommendation algorithm choose the next song for me because I don't really care what to watch next. After a few week I was stuck in a two song loop where song N+1 was equal to song N-1...
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