4 ms·

Youtube drama is just that, drama. Despite the end of the "golden age", there's still a lot of quality content on YouTube. However, you won't find it on the Tre

Youtube drama is just that, drama. Despite the end of the "golden age", there's still a lot of quality content on YouTube. However, you won't find it on the Trending page, and most of it is funded through platforms like Patreon, not ads, or is not funded at all (like hobbyists). Here are my rules for YouTube: 1. Disable search and watch history. This restricts the factors that drive your video suggestions to videos you've explicitly selected. 2. Never go to the Trending page. Most stuff there is clickbaity garbage. 3. Actively curate your suggestions. If there are videos in your suggestions you don't care about, click "Not Interested" in the flyout menu. If you watch a video you like and you'd like to see more, subscribe to the channel, upvote the video, or add it to a private playlist. My home page suggestions are limited to videos directly related to videos I've upvoted or channels I've subscribed to, except for the occasional time Google adds a "Popular music" or whatever section that is easily dismissed. Suggestions below videos are also pretty relevant. One of my favourite channels is a New Zealander called Geoffrey Croker who is restoring his classic Land Rover, with dry humour, excellent lighting and cinematography, and good pacing. He just posted a video about the LR's engine that I haven't watched yet, but I'm sure will be great[0]. Rather than using YouTube's algorithm to discover new channels, I rely on comments like this one that I see around the Web, as well as when channels I watch call out other channels, the way This Old Tony[1] frequently does. [0] https://youtu.be/KSjA3KJPwro https://youtu.be/KSjA3KJPwro [1] https://youtu.be/qMrlyEreba8 https://youtu.be/qMrlyEreba8

soared 8y ago
Just only subscribe to what you want to see and ignore the rest. If you want more content, poke around in related videos. Simple as that.
rasz 8y ago
>1. Disable search and watch history. This restricts the factors that drive your video suggestions to videos you've explicitly selected. sadly this is not the case, you will still be flooded by "10 of X, you wont believe number 3" and "person Y stumped liberals with his totally not nazi speech" garbage
- frosted-flakes 8y ago
  Not me. Like I said, the only thing that appears on my home page that isn't related to videos I've liked/channels I've subscribed to is the occasional "Topic" section relating to music, which is easy to dismiss. Of course, you need to clear your search and watch history too, otherwise all those clickbait videos you clicked on before will still be driving your suggestions.
  - rasz 8y ago
    Iv had both cleared and disabled probably for 7 years now, and still get garbage every day. Just now watching some 3dfx gameplay video I get: "$7,000.00 Beta Starter Opened with OpenBoosters - BLACK LOTUS?" investment scam? "MY $1MILLION DIAMOND INVESTMENT" mm Im seeing a pattern here "Flat Earth: What Makes REAL Science? – Wisecrack Edition" wat? Not to mention 10 out of 20 suggestions are videos I already watched and upvoted (I inject custom CSS into YT to make :visited visible again so I can skip it).
    - frosted-flakes 8y ago
      Let me clarify: my home page feed doesn't have any clickbait. The suggestions below videos still have some spam, but it's usually related to the video somehow. I rarely look at them anyway.
      - rasz 8y ago
        How are the three videos I listed above related in any way, shape or form to retro 3dfx gameplay video "Pentium MMX 233 - 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics (Voodoo 1) 8MB running Racing Games from 1998!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb4yajgcLA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb4yajgcLA8 ? Btw today those suggestions are gone, mostly replaced by IRL rally racing ones, probably because one video before that I opened "Paris Dakar 1990 (1990) - Every PC Rally Game". Getting shitty clickbaity/scam suggestions is not a given/reproducible, but they still happen often enough to be noticed on a daily basis.
  - MrEldritch 8y ago
pxtail 8y ago
One more important thing, one should never, ever make mistake and spontaneously watch any random, interesting video without using incognito mode - few mistakes like this and your feed will be pure garbage river, flowing uncontrollably.
- trainerzzz 8y ago
  Okay, think about what this means: it's no longer about the system finding videos for you. It's now about you telling the system which videos are good. The exact opposite of the goal. In order to provide signalling, you have to watch a video, incognito, and then, after determining the video's instrinsic value, possibly re-watch it in cookied spyware (ahem! "normal") mode, so that the system is permitted to log "awareness" of your assent to recognize an alteration to your viewing habits. Do you see how backwards that really is?
- frosted-flakes 8y ago
  No, that's why I disable search and watch history. Watching a video won't affect my feed; only upvoting it or subscribing to the channel does that.
  - jobigoud 8y ago
    That doesn't work for me. I've had watch history disabled for years and I still get recommended videos in the sidebar that are related to videos I've merely watched. I wish there was an extension to remove all the "Recommended for you" entries and only show videos related to the current videos.

soared 8y ago

Just only subscribe to what you want to see and ignore the rest. If you want more content, poke around in related videos. Simple as that.

rasz 8y ago

>1. Disable search and watch history. This restricts the factors that drive your video suggestions to videos you've explicitly selected. sadly this is not the case, you will still be flooded by "10 of X, you wont believe number 3" and "person Y stumped liberals with his totally not nazi speech" garbage

frosted-flakes 8y ago
Not me. Like I said, the only thing that appears on my home page that isn't related to videos I've liked/channels I've subscribed to is the occasional "Topic" section relating to music, which is easy to dismiss. Of course, you need to clear your search and watch history too, otherwise all those clickbait videos you clicked on before will still be driving your suggestions.
- rasz 8y ago
  Iv had both cleared and disabled probably for 7 years now, and still get garbage every day. Just now watching some 3dfx gameplay video I get: "$7,000.00 Beta Starter Opened with OpenBoosters - BLACK LOTUS?" investment scam? "MY $1MILLION DIAMOND INVESTMENT" mm Im seeing a pattern here "Flat Earth: What Makes REAL Science? – Wisecrack Edition" wat? Not to mention 10 out of 20 suggestions are videos I already watched and upvoted (I inject custom CSS into YT to make :visited visible again so I can skip it).
  - frosted-flakes 8y ago
    Let me clarify: my home page feed doesn't have any clickbait. The suggestions below videos still have some spam, but it's usually related to the video somehow. I rarely look at them anyway.
    - rasz 8y ago
      How are the three videos I listed above related in any way, shape or form to retro 3dfx gameplay video "Pentium MMX 233 - 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics (Voodoo 1) 8MB running Racing Games from 1998!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb4yajgcLA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb4yajgcLA8 ? Btw today those suggestions are gone, mostly replaced by IRL rally racing ones, probably because one video before that I opened "Paris Dakar 1990 (1990) - Every PC Rally Game". Getting shitty clickbaity/scam suggestions is not a given/reproducible, but they still happen often enough to be noticed on a daily basis.
- MrEldritch 8y ago

pxtail 8y ago

One more important thing, one should never, ever make mistake and spontaneously watch any random, interesting video without using incognito mode - few mistakes like this and your feed will be pure garbage river, flowing uncontrollably.

trainerzzz 8y ago
Okay, think about what this means: it's no longer about the system finding videos for you. It's now about you telling the system which videos are good. The exact opposite of the goal. In order to provide signalling, you have to watch a video, incognito, and then, after determining the video's instrinsic value, possibly re-watch it in cookied spyware (ahem! "normal") mode, so that the system is permitted to log "awareness" of your assent to recognize an alteration to your viewing habits. Do you see how backwards that really is?
frosted-flakes 8y ago
No, that's why I disable search and watch history. Watching a video won't affect my feed; only upvoting it or subscribing to the channel does that.
- jobigoud 8y ago
  That doesn't work for me. I've had watch history disabled for years and I still get recommended videos in the sidebar that are related to videos I've merely watched. I wish there was an extension to remove all the "Recommended for you" entries and only show videos related to the current videos.