this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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top 39 comments
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[–] lemming007@lemm.ee 36 points 1 year ago

No, the best decision would be if they allowed us to disable shorts.

[–] Echo71Niner@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

After I selected LEAVE HISTORY OFF, it stopped letting me browse and keeps asking me to ENABLE HISTORY. Anything google product has become hostile.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They'll soon also block you from watching videos if you are using an adblocker.

[–] MixedRaceHumanAI@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well, no shite. I'll use Chromium without adblock and signed-in account, then. I'll separate my YouTube and personal web browsing... oh wait, Firefox Containers exist.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm definitely not going to watch ads if there's no way around them. I'd just move on. The platform has been on a constant downfall for me over the past decade anyway. Most of it is just clickbait shit and the recommendation algorithms became worse and worse too. Same with the search function. They don't even allow you to search for explicit terms using quotation marks anymore and I still don't understand why they did that. All my search results are muddled with unrelated garbage now, often times in front of the stuff I actually want to find.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nebula seems like a cool concept. Not sure if there is enough content to be worth it for me yet (I dont watch much youtube to begin with), but I definitely like the idea. They are also currently partnered with a documentary service, so that might push me into it though.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you want to pay for ad free YT then you can just pay for ad free YT.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't want ad free youtube. I want a platform that isn't going to recommend garbage, has fair profit sharing with creators and doesn't encourage creators to pump out garbage based off of their business model.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social -1 points 1 year ago

Then Nebula isn't for you either. It's 90% the same content that's on YT, including a bunch of the clickbait bullshit.

[–] j4k3@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the nostalgia. I haven't seen a login YT home feed in years, and I used to be a CC. YT has been a dumpster fire since the lobotomy of 2017.

[–] MixedRaceHumanAI@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

It's even worse now. It used to have a gigantic "thumbnails" like a size of my middle and index finger combined.

[–] DoolB@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] FrameXX@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You won't get video recommendations on your home feed (and maybe also other parts of youtube) if you have watch history disabled in your google account settings (you request google not to save your watch history).

[–] DistractedDev@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why would people want this? How else do you find videos to watch?

[–] TheSpookiestUser@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I am subscribed to over 100 channels, ranging from daily uploads to 1 video every few months. Frankly I don't need more stuff to watch. When I do want to find something new, it's either a recommendation from a friend, something I saw on a different social media, or something I searched for myself deliberately.

This change isn't a good thing, it's Google trying to pressure more people into giving up more data, but the "threat" of them removing their algorithmically recommended content from my feed is not a threat at all, it's a bonus if anything.

[–] aaaa@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I don't watch any YouTube personalities or subscribe to channels. If I'm on YouTube, it's to see a specific music video, informational video, or something linked by a friend

In short, if I'm not specifically looking for a video, I don't need or want one recommended to me.

[–] MixedRaceHumanAI@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

We can still find content from subscribed channels.

[–] ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Wait so you guys are disabling it or?

[–] scarrtt@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I leave it on, the suggestions are good as far as I can tell. What's everyone's beef with it?

I don't get the YouTube hate in general. It's much more interesting than Netflix or TV so I'm happy to pay, although I pay Argentina rates courtesy of subscribing while connected to my VPN and I use Sponsor Block to skip the in-video ad reads. It still counts

[–] mabd@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah, I'm all for privacy, but I actually get interesting things recommended by YouTube. If I turn this off won't I just get random YouTube videos? No thanks. I also do use my watch history for "I watched it the other day, what was that video called again?"

[–] TimeSquirrel@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Every time I set up a new computer, and before I log into Youtube and see my own recommendations, I look at the raw front page and am shocked that people find all that bullshit entertaining. Nothing but clickbait, drama, and political videos as far as the eye can see.

[–] ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I recently started a new google account and was actually disturbed by the absolute shit on the raw front page.

I actually tried to watch some of the videos to get an inkling of what is supposed to be appealing and I just couldn't. It was sooooo bad.

[–] lunicoDee@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago

It's like any other social, they show you what the masses watch, andò what they want you to watch (mostly because they're going to profit more if you watch ultramonetized videos)

[–] scarrtt@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly, it's total garbage. I've been training the algo for years, no way I'm giving that up

[–] lunicoDee@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

the algorithm is changing form me, and also for other people

[–] lunicoDee@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

For me the thing that holds me back from using an alternative frontend is that the yt algoritm doesnt work on those. The thing that i hate is that it doesnt recommend the channels which I'm subscibed to most of the times. Also, on my FreeBSD-based mobile operanting system, there arent frontend wrappers so I'm left with the proprietary app which is included in the package store

I want to watch less YouTube so I leave recommendations off

[–] MixedRaceHumanAI@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I disabled my Google and YouTube's history settings since 2019.

[–] sic_1@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some video suggestions let me suspect that this only disables me being able to see my history though.

[–] 8rhn6t6s@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel this too. When i listen to a song on one device then it gets recommended on another even with history off was kind of sus

[–] MixedRaceHumanAI@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, this is the point of "removing" tailored suggestions on YT's homepage.

[–] beetus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idk why you would want less tailored suggestions for content. They'll still suggest stuff, it just won't be relevant to you. Shrug. I'm a big fan of YouTubers rec algorithm, especially for music.

[–] MixedRaceHumanAI@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Dude, I recently turned on my History for the first time since 2019, watched five monetized videos (long-form film-related stuffs, turned off uBlock Origin), and YT just flooded me with nonsense local stuffs with their ridiculous "thumbnails" on homepage.

I was like, "lulz nope dis is disgusting."

[–] Prandom_returns@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

There's a firefox plugin that redirects you to your subscriptions' uploads instead of that nonsense that "Home" was. Highly recommend.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

They'll soon also block you from watching videos if you are using an adblocker.

[–] style99@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Nice, isn't it?

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

A good move from Youtube for sure.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

They'll soon also block you from watching videos if you are using an adblocker.

[–] Deftdrummer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

They need to ban reaction thumbnails ffs