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I thought for a moment they were going to turn off recommendations. For users not signed in, they are on by default. Instead this is like asking users to clic
by 3xblah 7y ago
I thought for a moment they were going to turn off recommendations. For users not signed in, they are on by default.
Instead this is like asking users to click thumbs up or down in response to an ad, "Don't show me this ad again" or fill out a survey about the ads.
The issue is not that the user is annoyed by a specific toxic video. That is only the effect, not the cause. The issue is that Google's recommendation system is, as they say, "broken". Either fix it to stop promoting "popular" garbage (which is "popular" because it is auto-recommended and auto-played), or turn if off by default.
This is another example of an "opt-out" that most users cannot be bothered with. Instead of sane defaults: recommendations off, auto-play off.
If Google must force users to interact with a particular video and click something so they can collect another data point, then a more sensible approach would be "opt-in". Let users decide whether they want some recommendations based on a particular video they manually select. "Show me recommendation based on this video"
Just more dark patterns. If a choice was one users wanted (recommendations on, auto-play on), then the way to test that is to make them choose it. Instead, Google makes the default choices that benefit Google and requires users to change settings. Often forcing them to sign-in and be tracked in order to change a default setting.
- cameronbrown 7y ago> Either fix it to stop promoting "popular" garbage (which is "popular" because it is auto-recommended and auto-played), or turn if off by default. Or maybe people like content that you don't? People aren't drones who watch something because it was shovelled into their watch next. Chances are it was decent content. For them. If you consider this a dark pattern then you probably need to get a better perspective. There are far worse actors online.
- xg15 7y ago> People aren't drones who watch something because it was shovelled into their watch next. Actually, in this context, they are. If YouTube were content with people using recommendations as you describe, they could simply keep the sidebar list where you could click on one if you're interested. (or the recommendations that pop up after a video is played, or the home screen or the seemingly half dozen other places they show recommendations) Instead, they implemented Autoplay mode, which basically works exactly like the force-fed drone model you described.
- yakshaving_jgt 7y agoThis is a reasonable thought, but how do you explain the new meme comment along the lines of "What the hell was this doing in my recommended?"
- cameronbrown 7y agoMaybe I'm in some weird minima on an algorithm but my recommendations have always been rock solid. All I can really share is my own data point though.
- golergka 7y agoEasy: survivor bias. A lot of people are using youtube, and people who get good recommendations don't have any fuel to do memes. So, even if the amount of people who get bad recommendations is minimal, the meme would still exist.
- 3xblah 7y agos/Just more dark patterns. //