Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: YouTube Channels for the Intellectually Curious

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 323 posts

Re: Ask HN: YouTube Channels for the Intellectually Curious

#241

Post by BeefWellington »

hansword wrote: post #224
bil7 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the increasing over-clickbaity titles and thumbs an unfortunate appeal to the recommendation algorithm that is now a must. You are leaving views on the table without employing these clickbait methods. One solution that many channels use including Veritasium is trying out various clickbait packaging for the first 24-48h, then swapping to something more descriptive. When these videos represent not only one person's li…

You are right. And I do understand why he does it. I can see his side. But I sit on the other side. I hate it and will tell everyone how much I hate it. --- Edit: Or, if you prefer, in market terms: Because I am not alone, there is a market for non-clickbaity titles, non-exaggerated thumbs, and there are channels that cater to this market.

I think the overwhelming majority of people on HN (and possibly elsewhere) would prefer if they could just have a homepage that was just reverse chronological ordered videos from their subscriptions, with a separate "Discover" tab, with no interference from their algorithm.

This thread might prove an excellent case study for YouTube. I was subscribed to all of the channels I listed and a few more along the same lines; my recommendations have never shown me videos from some of the other channels people have posted in this thread or in reply to my own post. If you want a good recommendations system, this thread has been better than YouTube's algorithm for discoverability on these kinds of topics.

I can't imagine anyone is actually happy with how YouTube works on this front.

Re: Ask HN: YouTube Channels for the Intellectually Curious

#242

Post by kup0 »

periphrasis wrote: post #229

I’m of the belief that social media use ravages the attention span and imposes a high passive opportunity cost on your time (consider how often you absentmindedly open your phone to scroll a feed without looking for anything in particular only to suddenly realize 20 minutes has passed with nothing to show for it). While there is a great deal of informative content on YouTube, personally I find the cognitive trade off…

You don't have to involve yourself with the social-media side of YT at all, though. It is optional. I curate my subscription list and don't browse any discover-type feeds or anything and only see content from channels to which I am subscribed. I block comments sections using a browser extension. I don't watch "shorts". As far as the social media aspect of the site goes, if one ignores the comments and algorithmic content (which isn't always horrible anyway but is certainly optional) you can easily curate a good experience for yourself.

Re: Ask HN: YouTube Channels for the Intellectually Curious

#244

Post by tiborsaas »

foerbert wrote: post #188
tiborsaas wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So basically Veritasium is selling ads to keep making more videos and sometimes he makes things simple enough that high schoolers can understand it? Ok :)

I mean, if you want to consider "selling ads" to include selling undisclosed ads as organic, original, and good-faith reporting of accurate information, then yeah, sure? I sure wouldn't, though.

Care to share an example? It makes talking about this really hard.
Post reply on HN