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

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

#371
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 the spirit of POSIWOD, I suggest POBIHOU: the purpose of a button is how it's used.

Designers may have an intention. People will apply their own needs and usage to features, in the spirit of desire paths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path>

If people are using "dislike" to indicate that they're not interested in content, particularly in a context in which there are few other ways to do so, then that is what the button means.

You might extend that more broadly to any aspect of a UI/UX.

In a past life I designed some elements of a content moderation / feedback system. Among the more amusing aspects of that was encountering people who told me that I was using the system I'd designed wrong.

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

#372
Especially with their new vertical and short format, I feel like downvoting does nothing. I get hooked in by something that looks interesting, and then get served reaction videos that I hate, people stealing content from others and assembling it into "5 hacks you didn't know", beginner mountain bikers going slow on a flat run, and for whatever reason garage workers complaining that people tell them they don't know their jobs but yeah they know their jobs. I'm scared to watch these things because they last 10s each so by the time I realize what it is and downvote/switch I'm already halfway through and I assume youtube considers this as a success and reinforces my stream with that garbage. PITP is that I still get the same content despite downvoting

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

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone uses Bing?

Bing is also great for searching porn, including an embeeded video player :) (you might have to change your region to usa first)

Letting Bill Gates know I'm into midget porn doesn't seem like a great idea.

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

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like it's owned by a Russian company. Does that affect what it allows you to see? I notice for instance that a quick search for "War in Ukraine" returns top results from Russian news outlets calling it a "Military Operation".

Of course it affects what you see. Search engines are a form of soft power that states can't afford NOT to influence. As a user of them, I make sure to use multiple engines (preferably with distinct indices and jurisdictions) when I research something essential that affects my long-term future. This is because I distrust how politics is done (industry lobbying).

>As a user of them, I make sure to use multiple engines

You may be interested in our alternative YouTube recommendations. Search a channel to find a list of other channels making similar videos. For example, our recommendations for How Money Works include other established econ focused channels like Economics Explained and Money & Macro but also smaller more obscure channels like Wall Street Millennial:

https://channelgalaxy.com/id%3DUCkCGANrihzExmu9QiqZpPlQ/

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

#376

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…

Another good option is to switch to Odysee and be done with youtube

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

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone uses Bing?

If you use DuckDuckGo, you've been successfully tricked into using Bing.

Certainly not tricked. They tell you. They also aggregate from many search engines, so it's not just Bing.

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

#378
post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

You can't sell ads to someone who's given up watching because they can't find anything interesting.

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

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Some might say that you can still use search At some point Youtube search was neutered. I get 5-10 results for any given query before Youtube gives up and just offers me recommendations rather than search results. Interestingly, if I search google for [search term] site:youtube.com, I actually get pages of results which are never present in the Youtube search. Sadly, it seems that Google has intentionally diminished…

I feel like I also learned the other day that Google’s search is bad like this too. That it’ll say there’s millions of results and just stop after like 400.

It's really weird, isn't it, how much Google managed to degrade the one thing it historically did the best?

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

#380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Some might say that you can still use search At some point Youtube search was neutered. I get 5-10 results for any given query before Youtube gives up and just offers me recommendations rather than search results. Interestingly, if I search google for [search term] site:youtube.com, I actually get pages of results which are never present in the Youtube search. Sadly, it seems that Google has intentionally diminished…

> Sadly, it seems that Google has intentionally diminished Youtube's own search function in order to prioritize use of the recommendation system. That's because recommended videos are more popular, and more popular videos earn them more ad revenue.

That argument makes sense to explain why recommendations are terrible, but not why search is terrible.
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