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Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

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Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#31

Post by NortySpock »

quocanh wrote: post #20
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…

If I feel a need to watch a video, especially "watch it before you lose where you found it!" panicky feeling, I push the "Watch Later" button, and just treat that Watch Later queue as an infinitely long list of "meh, eventually I might watch it" videos.

If Youtube ever gets rid of that Watch Later button I guess I'll have to push stuff I'm interested in into a list of bookmarks or a log file or something.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#32

Post by wodenokoto »

At least for music, you get much, much better recommendations when viewing in incognito mode. Basically you get songs that other people who listens to this song also listened to, instead of the same songs youtube thinks you like, regardless of the song playing.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#33

Post by warent »

thepasswordis wrote: post #19

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…

It surprises me how many people aren't being proactive about their recommendations.

Hover your mouse over a recommendation you don't like, click the three dots that appear to the right of the title, click "Not interested". Results change very quickly.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#35

Post by alphabetting »

thepasswordis wrote: post #19

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…

Hover over the recommended video and you can click the three dot tab to select "not interested in Curtis Yarvin" or "not interested in Tucker Carlson." I do this all the time and it makes the feed so much better.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#36

Post by ttctciyf »

zeta0134 wrote: post #17
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…

My method: I subscribe and upvote generously, only downvote when it feels good, and do "not interested" in the sidebar recommends, with prejudice ("I don't like the video") if necessary. But the real trick is, on the yt home page, if any video that even looks like content I don't like comes up, I choose the option "don't recommend any more videos from this channel" immediately.

Only in this way have I managed to completely expunge all mention of J**dan P**erson from my yt recommends.

Completely!

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#37

Post by Fogest »

thepasswordis wrote: post #19

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…

The odd time if there is a "weird" video I see somewhere like reddit I'll just watch it in private browsing to avoid this. It's annoying that I have to do this though.

I find I have the same issue on Spotify as well. I don't listen to Spotify a whole lot, but when I go to the gym I'll use it and listen workout style music. For me the stuff that gives me that energy and focus is often hip-hop/rap style music. But ironically it's probably my least favourite genre to listen to outside of the gym. But since at least half my time listening on Spotify is listening to that kind of music all my recommendations are terrible.

I really wish these services gave better options to manage your interests. I would love to just tell Spotify to just ignore certain genres from recommendations. Part of the problem is that I also suck at discovering music. So it would actually be beneficial to me to have better suggestions on what to listen to.

Re: Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

#38

Post by simorley »

thepasswordis wrote: post #19

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…

> I honestly just wish the recommendations were better.

Which is sad considering how great youtube recommendations used to be around the time Stripe was launched. Remember when people used to go down the youtube rabbit hole to see where they'd end up? Now there is no breadth nor depth to the recommendations. Youtube used to be a vast ocean, now it's a puddle ankle deep and no more than a step wide.

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