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Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

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Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#11

Post by seanw444 »

kbenson wrote: post #9

Honestly, that's where I get some of the most use out of YouTube, the recommended videos main page. Sometimes I'm annoyed they aren't showing me enough variation based on my subscriptions and past likes. I'm not sure why I'd want this. Sometimes I'm watching a technical presentation/talk by someone and I'll get other talks of theirs on the recommended videos for that video page, which is useful, or followup videos on…

I suppose people that only want to watch the video they specifically came for, and don't want to be tempted by other media that they know they'll waste their time on.

YouTube does great at recommending videos. I love it, personally. But I can totally respect the former position as well.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#13

Post by sneak »

___luigi wrote: post #8
debesyla wrote: post #7

Hiding distractions? Sure. But I personally find YouTube recommendations quite good - if you don't ruin it by accidentally watching a single meme. It's not perfect, but what would be a good alternative for finding new channels that you would like? Do y'all have any suggestions?

> YouTube recommendations quite good I feel it suffers from "rich is getting richer" phenomena. Once the video start trending, the recommender starts showing it for any search.

Additionally, most things that trend in that way are going to be lowest common denominator crap, or if it's from one of the better channels, broadly accessible stuff that would be a better use of the listener's time as a listicle instead of a 15 minute video.

I wish the recommendations went for the deep cuts instead of the pablum.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#14

Post by nyjah »

This might not be the place to ask this, but does anyone know of anything like this for the youtube app? On appleTV and on Droid the youtube app is severely struggling. From the inability to say not interested in a video or don't show this channel, to being unable to refresh the home page without closing the app completely or signing out of an account. There's no community engagement in the app from what I can see.

I feel like there is something I am missing in some settings somewhere, but I just don't know.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#15

Post by matsemann »

kbenson wrote: post #9

Honestly, that's where I get some of the most use out of YouTube, the recommended videos main page. Sometimes I'm annoyed they aren't showing me enough variation based on my subscriptions and past likes. I'm not sure why I'd want this. Sometimes I'm watching a technical presentation/talk by someone and I'll get other talks of theirs on the recommended videos for that video page, which is useful, or followup videos on…

If you just a single time watch a video out of your normal categories, yt will never forget. No matter how many times you click not interested.

Also, some of the horrific clickbait thumbnails and titles it suggests annoys me. So avoiding those is one less thing to care about.

Also, much of the problems with yt isn't how they allow dangerous videos to be on their platform, but how they surface them to lots of people by recommending them. They do little harm unwatched.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#16

Post by perihelions »

Related, uBlock fliters are very effective on Twitter. All of the recommendation sections are easy to select and toggle,

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20twitter%20ublock&type... ("## twitter ublock")

https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/of5z86/cleany...

edit: And here's the YouTube version of that HN query -- there are several suggested ways to block YouTube Recommendations,

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20youtube%20ublock&type... ("## youtube ublock")

edit2: Here's a very satisfying generalized query ("## ## ublock" -- comments with two or more ##-syntax rules),

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20%23%23%20ublock&type=...

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#17

Post by zeta0134 »

kbenson wrote: post #9

Honestly, that's where I get some of the most use out of YouTube, the recommended videos main page. Sometimes I'm annoyed they aren't showing me enough variation based on my subscriptions and past likes. I'm not sure why I'd want this. Sometimes I'm watching a technical presentation/talk by someone and I'll get other talks of theirs on the recommended videos for that video page, which is useful, or followup videos on…

I don't know how you're getting relevant recommendations; YouTube seems determined to get me into watching the latest celebrity personalities, or endless streams of clickbait.

I use a few custom uBlock Origin rules to hide the recommendations sidebar and the end-of-video overlay complete. If a video doesn't show up in my list of curated subscriptions, I just don't see it, and that's fine. It's good for my feed to be slow and update infrequently; I've got other stuff to do.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#19

Post by thepasswordis »

I honestly just wish the recommendations were better.

I watched an interview that Curtis Yarvin gave on Tucker Carlson (about an hour long...interesting at least).

Now youtube is sending me all these conservative "talk show" people that I have absolutely 0 interest in.

Same thing: I think I watched some video about guns a while ago. I think guns are neat, but I absolutely do not care about watching dozens of videos of bros broing down in the woods with the machine guns.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#20

Post by quocanh »

kbenson wrote: post #9

Honestly, that's where I get some of the most use out of YouTube, the recommended videos main page. Sometimes I'm annoyed they aren't showing me enough variation based on my subscriptions and past likes. I'm not sure why I'd want this. Sometimes I'm watching a technical presentation/talk by someone and I'll get other talks of theirs on the recommended videos for that video page, which is useful, or followup videos on…

The problem is actually how good those recommendations are. They're designed to keep your eyes glued to the site as long as possible. It's a personal choice, but removing recommendations is one of the best things for your mental health if you're going to use YT or any social media.

That said, I also find them useful. But some people believe that it's better to seek out information for yourself even if being spoonfed is easier.

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