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YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

engadget.com

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Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#331

Post by Bakary »

happytiger wrote: post #184

This concentration of videos around recent topics and YouTube’s circling of that content seems to be one of the reasons so much disinformation and misinformation gets pushed on the platform. It’s not just an inconvenience. If I watch a video from one or the other side of the political spectrum, or watch something more fringe just because I want to learn about the subject, I get nonstop recommendations for more videos…

If we expand the argument a bit, we might say that we're okay with some bathtubs but not others. If there is a slight chill or the water is ice cold, we feel trapped, but if we like the temperature we're fine not plunging into the ocean.

It's true that we can't avoid having our thoughts affected by our environment but it feels weird to know that so much of our mental landscape is determined by alogrithms or persons that are not connected to the actual material or social fabric of our lives.

Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#332

Post by Double_a_92 »

aantix wrote: post #135

I wrote an app called SmartKid that attempts to curate your YouTube recommendations via disliking videos that match a set of keywords (e.g. Minecraft, mrbeast, reaction). https://smartk.id/ Working on getting my Youtube api quota extended.

Interesting site. But the "Sign up for FREE" button is very sus to the point where it stops me from even trying it.

Either it's really free so it should just say "Sign up" or it's not free so there should be a "Pricing" section that I can see before I sign up.

Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#333

Post by xani_ »

You're supposed to click in video in recommendedation in the three dot menu and click either "not interested" or "do not recommend channel"... for some fucking idiotic reason.

Other fact about downvotes is that they count as engagement so downvoting a video promotes it more than not clicking anything at all, that is why many youtubers go "if you don't like it click the downvote and write about that in the comment"... because both of those actions drive "engagement" so video is promoted more

Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#334

Post by Bakary »

adolph wrote: post #231

Seems like someone has rediscovered the: Placebo Button is a push-button or other control that appears to have functionality but has no physical effect when pressed. Such buttons can appear to work, by lighting up or otherwise reacting, which rewards the user by giving them an illusion of control. They are commonly placed in situations where it would have once been useful to have such a button but the system now oper…

The ballot box as well. Only half joking here.

Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#336

Post by xani_ »

dijonman2 wrote: post #222
mirekrusin wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many smart people there and such an idiotic solution - this whole short sighted, mind narrowing, engagement "boosting" recommendation system must be trained on attention horizon of a fruit fly.

It’s also about engagement and avoiding offending folks via dislikes. IMO dislikes are essential.

It's probably companies advertising their products getting salty their new movie or something got 90% downvotes and YT is all too eager to please its ad overlords.

Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#337

Post by xani_ »

c4ptnjack wrote: post #199
darth_avocado wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem with this approach is that it takes a lot of curation to get your recommendation in a decent shape and it takes you one accidental video view to have your feed be full of uninteresting content related to that video. This asymmetry is the root of all the recommendation system problems.

Can this not be at least partially solved by relying more heavily on a user's feedback(like/ dislike buttons, numerical rating systems, and any other feedback mechanisms) to better understand preferences of the viewer? Along with simply being more patient and diligent when trying to discern actual user desire? It seems like the problem of asymmetry in recommendation platforms is more a choice from a design perspectiv…

They sell ads, not a good user experience.

For them to sell user experience they'd need to have competition breathing down their necks first

Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#338

Post by xani_ »

treeman79 wrote: post #122
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #32

The trick to improving YouTube recommendations is to regularly prune uninteresting videos and channels. Eventually this should start surfacing videos you're more likely to find interesting. I've actually hit the end of my recommendation stream on the mobile app after marking dozens of videos with Not Interested. Once this happens it starts recommending videos you've already watched or older videos from creators you'v…

Mine will not give up on family guy. Hundreds of dis likes. Don’t recommend.

"he just keeps watching and engaging with content, let's give him more!"

Click triple dot thingy on recommendations and select "not interested"

Re: YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations

#339

Post by xani_ »

daveoc64 wrote: post #131
mikrl wrote: post #80

I didn’t like when they removed the dislike counts, and I still don’t like it. When I look for videos of folks working on Subarus, I don’t want to have to manually scrub through the video to gauge the quality. Before I’d just look at the ratio and if I was feeling generous I’d preview the frames to see if they had what I wanted. Now it takes me at least 2 mins longer to get to the same judgement which begs the questi…

The problem with the dislike button seems to be that nobody agrees on what it should be used for. In previous HN discussions, it's become apparent that some people use it to say "I am not interested in this video". That is of zero use to other users. The video isn't necessarily bad, it's just on a topic you don't care about. If you are instead using it to mean "this video is factually wrong" or "this video is obnoxio…

> In previous HN discussions, it's become apparent that some people use it to say "I am not interested in this video".

THEY HAVE "NOT INTERESTED BUTTON"

IT'S JUST FUCKING HIDDEN https://imgur.com/a/fXjiBCu

All they need to do is to put it beside dislikes

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