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Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

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Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#191

Post by mateo1 »

spamalot159 wrote: post #82
werid wrote: post #20

It's annoying clicking some youtube link only to find it was something you really don't want more of, and then youtube proceed to recommend much more of it, even though you barely watched any of it. kinda forces me to watch something else that is new but at least somewhat wanted in an attempt to make the algorithm look at the new shiny i'm interested in and forget the previous one. i find it funny though when amazon…

It's frustrating that nowadays YouTube seems like it can only keep 3 or 4 types of videos that you like in its head. I feel like I'm watching the same thing over and over whenever I click on recommendations. I totally agree with you.

The fewer categories they use, the less manpower and computer power they spend on classifying and censoring content. They serve millions upon millions of queries a day with millisecond response times, and they don't get paid for providing value to you, so that's what we get. I hate what the internet is these days.

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#192

Post by mateo1 »

solarkraft wrote: post #81

I like recommendation features in principle. I don’t want an unfiltered feed of stuff. It would just be nice if they were configurable, understandable and actually worked for me. Some systems’ “We’re showing you this because ...” is an important first step, but it needs to go way, way, further. Big companies probably don’t do it because they’re afraid of overwhelming a user, disclosing too much about their own algori…

There is one problem really. These companies are not charging money for their services. It's the same problem with other mega-corps. They can afford short and medium-term losses to kill other players entering the field. This is the root cause of so many problems in capitalism.

There are of course other challenges preventing people and corporations from entering this field but at this point I don't even think there's hope. They have not only destroyed everyone else in the private sector, but they partnered with governments and political entities in such a way that their continued rule is basically cemented in place. You won't get the recommendations that you know would be good for you because they're not trying to do something good for you, they're trying to extract more value from you.

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#193

Post by BugsJustFindMe »

pseudalopex wrote: post #190
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Previews show on the main screen when you hover. But clicking in to get more info auto-starts the show, not just a preview.

The same setting controls both in my experience.

And if I want automatic previews because that's convenient but not for shows and movies to start themselves because that's annoying?

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#194

Post by frosted-flakes »

vitorgrs wrote: post #152
eCa wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Click the three dots and then either "Not interested" or "Don't recommend channel". Seems to work reasonably well for me.

Doesn't work well at all. There's a popular garbage news channel here in Brazil. Every week I have to do that, it never works. I never click on the videos, so no idea why they think I'm interested.

You can block individual channels from recommendations ("Don't recommend channel").

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#195

Post by 1_player »

trickstra wrote: post #75
werid wrote: post #20

It's annoying clicking some youtube link only to find it was something you really don't want more of, and then youtube proceed to recommend much more of it, even though you barely watched any of it. kinda forces me to watch something else that is new but at least somewhat wanted in an attempt to make the algorithm look at the new shiny i'm interested in and forget the previous one. i find it funny though when amazon…

use Invidious https://docs.invidious.io/Invidious-Instances.md

It'd be great to know what invidious is in the first place. No description of it in the docs site, and the main site is an empty placeholder. Super.

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#197

Post by smsm42 »

Garlef wrote: post #11
greshario wrote: post #2

Use duckduckgo and this is a non-issue.

I tried it and went back to google because google saves me time. As a dev, I google a lot to figure out how to do X. My experience with DuckDuckGo was that it added 2-10 minutes of filtering for usable results every time.

Have been using DDG for years, needed to call to Google maybe once per month in a particularly tough queries, on those I get about 50% success ratio - sometimes Google helps, sometimes doesn't. For the vast majority of routine queries DDG is more than enough.

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#198

Post by ivan1783 »

Spotify cannot figure out that I don't listen to German/French podcasts/books and constantly recommends them to me. My interface is English, I listen to primarily English but also Russian/German/French music and will often specifically click off of French/German music and after 5 years it still cant figure out that I don't want fucking French and German books and podcasts. WTF SW people, I thought this was your bread and butter...don't even get me started on youtube ads which seem to follow the country you're currently in, like...how haven't you figured out which languages I speak after using you for 10 years.

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#199

Post by pizza234 »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #166
pizza234 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not so easy. It seems that major companies are on the offensive against privacy. Google search, map and translate display a pop up. Youtube search displays two (!). Bing translator is the most dishonest - for anything else than a trivial sentence, it requires a captcha to be completed, pretending that it detected abnormal traffic (I know it's a lie, because if I don't use private mode, it doesn't do this). The servic…

I imagine the captcha is to combat bots abusing the service. > I know it's a lie, because if I don't use private mode, it doesn't do this If you don't use incognito/private browsing then you have an ordinary-looking set of cookies, so it makes sense you wouldn't be challanged with a captcha.

> If you don't use incognito/private browsing then you have an ordinary-looking set of cookies, so it makes sense you wouldn't be challanged with a captcha.

Right. I find it very troubling (in a general sense; I don't doubt that there are technical grounds) though, that browsing in incognito/private mode is a flagged behavior.

Re: Afraid to Google a thing because I don't want the algorithm to think I like it

#200

Post by beaconstudios »

rozab wrote: post #162
spamalot159 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's frustrating that nowadays YouTube seems like it can only keep 3 or 4 types of videos that you like in its head. I feel like I'm watching the same thing over and over whenever I click on recommendations. I totally agree with you.

Exactly! Sometimes my recommendations are good, with long form tech and history content I actually want to watch. But click on one Top Gear clip and that's all out the window, and I have to actively recall what these channels were called and try to build them back into my recs. There was a time a couple years ago I watched one episode of Arthur for nostalgia purposes and it completely obliterated my recommendations.…

I hope you never make the mistake of clicking on a clip from The Office!
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