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Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

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Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#161

Post by acomjean »

Youden wrote: post #68

I think YouTube is like Reddit: it is what you make of it. If you only ever look at the front page of Reddit, you're going to be fed memes and outrage. If you go and subscribe to a few small, focused subreddits, you're going to see things that are relevant to you. Same with YouTube. If you watch a lot of junk content, that's what it's going to feed you in recommendations. If you focus on some specific segment of cont…

Yeah, you need an account on Reddit and Youtube to make it worthwhile. Going into "private browsing" and going to youtube is a weird experience.

There are a bunch of niche youtube channels that don't get a ton of views that seem to support via Patreon (or there just retired).

I mean sometimes the sponsorships make sense. The video about how to change your car's heating/vent fan, came with a link to a place to buy said fan (It was in line with other prices so I used it).

In the how to do things department Youtube is King. Even very obscure things. I had a hubbard squash and needed to open it... you tube had it. Not sure some of those methods where the best, but I found one that was effective.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#162

Post by bfung »

omega3 wrote: post #11

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketabl…

There’s still the “don’t recommend channel” and “not interested” options to modify recommendations.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#164

Post by taldo »

As many others have said: YT these days is mostly entertainment, and, yes, driven by money. There's the few goldmines in their niche topics, but you're not going to have much luck finding them. In particular, I personally find maker-related content to be of pretty good quality, if you follow the right channels.

For some topics, it's the best medium to stay on top of things, e.g. downhill mountain biking, you have the racers' own channels/vlogs, plus the smallish outlets putting out a ton of content during the racing season, plus the official RedBull stuff... There's just no other way to enjoy the sport to this extent.

And, of course, it's an endless library of howtos and tutorials, BUT it's also full of crap. So you have to somewhat know what you're doing in the first place, then find a howto for that very specific thing you need to do, e.g. I know my way around a car, mechanically, but I'd still search for a howto video on changing the accessory drive belt in my particular car, because there's probably an easier way that somebody already documented, and I don't want to spend 1h on what could be a 10m job.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#165

Post by ishjoh »

dzek69 wrote: post #111
omega3 wrote: post #11

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketabl…

> Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. It drives me CRAZY! How often I want to know something about a product (something less popular than smartphones, let's say IP cameras) and I find only ~3 reviews, I watch them all and they are all full of BS, because the reviewer has no experience with the product type they are given, they just f…

Many reviews the reviewers don't have the product and instead cobble together information from the description and other sources, that's why there is no unique information in the reviews and they are so information light. They do this so that they can have affiliate links where they can make money, with a heavy understanding of SEO this can be a very profitable practice.

When I discovered this practice from a well known SEO guru, I was both sad and angry.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#166

Post by bergenty »

omega3 wrote: post #11

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketabl…

I disagree. YouTube content has never been better for me. There has been an explosion of specialized and niche videos and the recommendation algorithm really seems to be working for me.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#167

Post by Mo3 »

abnercoimbre wrote: post #46
omega3 wrote: post #11

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketabl…

> Especially since the removal of downvoting A wake-up call that a single company annihilated our ability to sort out information for ourselves. I'm still rather disturbed and shaken.

You can still see the downvotes with a browser add-on. But yes, I'm also quite disturbed this by this absolutely idiotic decision.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#168

Post by pertique »

brtkdotse wrote: post #69
scoutt wrote: post #51

I'm split between agreeing with you, and that Youtube is no longer a thing for me. Probably it's my forties talking here, but I am under the impression that the content and the format (including the length) is being leaned towards the 15-25 years old range. For (our) work stuff, it's all 30 minutes "learning tutorials", for a kid getting hands on a programming language or tool, or the couch-video-watcher-curious. I h…

Re: Rick Beato, I agree. Especially his “lessons”. Check out Pat Finnerty, he does a series called “Why does this songs stink” and he really has an axe to grind with Beato: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hQWfMI4CVFI

Not to knock Pat Finnerty (his content might be comparatively good) but I thought this was a satirical recommendation. Between the fluff, 8 minute intro, and unrelated sponsorships (for hot sauce too! which was also called out in the thread) he's quite the Youtuber.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#169

Post by gmassman »

tkgally wrote: post #143
djhworld wrote: post #36

Maybe in some areas (software) but I'm finding YouTube a goldmine for my current interest - learning to drive in the UK When I was 17 I started learning for about 8 months but then stopped due to various reasons. I'm 35 now and picking it back up again and the most mind blowing aspect of it is how much content there is on YouTube to help learner drivers, compared to back then! There are loads of creators (usually dri…

> I'm finding YouTube a goldmine for my current interest Same here. I exercise daily at home. A few months ago, on a whim, I bought some kettlebells, which I used to see in the gym but had never used before. Once I started searching for and watching kettlebell instruction videos on YouTube, I started getting more such videos as recommendations. Some of the videos were really good, and they helped me learn how to exer…

I went down a similar kettlebell rabbit hole, now it's one my favorite ways to exercise. I'd highly recommend the Mark Wildman videos on kettlebell technique if anyone else is interested in giving them a go.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#170

Post by jjeaff »

davidthewatson wrote: post #110
grumbel wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did that dislike button ever do anything? It made a number go up, but other than that I have never seen any effect of it. If you want to make bad channels go away, hit the three-dots next to the video on the recommendation side and click "Not Interested".

That sounds wonderful except that it works about as well as the voice on my Google assistant understanding anything beyond simplistic questions and answers. I’ve attempted to train YouTube repeatedly since the appearance of “not interested” that I’m not interested in violence. If I wanted this much violence, I could have gotten it for free. At least with Google assistant I can scream expletives and insults at the ai…

Are you logged in? I don't ever see violent videos on YouTube. It seems to suggest what I like to watch. If you aren't logged in, it will pickup on what other people in your household are watching.
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