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I looked up some DevOps stuff on reddit through a proxy with adblockers in private mode and all of a sudden my front page was filled with posts about depression

by c3534l 7y ago

I looked up some DevOps stuff on reddit through a proxy with adblockers in private mode and all of a sudden my front page was filled with posts about depression, men asking advice about how to talk to women, and advice about getting a job and moving out of your parents house. These were based on sessions cookies, but I was still kinda offended it pegged me as a sad loser just because I wanted to know more about NGINX and Heroku.

rchaud 7y ago
There is almost no action you can take on Youtube without it recommending a deluge of god-awful 'user generated content' videos on these topics. The only solution is to frequently right click and select "Not Interested" and then "Not interested in the channel: [channel name]". The recs are poor enough that I don't mind blanket-banning an entire channel from my feed. Youtubers so frequently "compete" by using clickbait titles and thumbnails, I'm glad I at least have this method to punish that kind of behaviour.
- pzmarzly 7y ago
  Another solution - block the recommendations altogether. On PC, you can use specialized extension, or just Stylus (the latter works especially well with old Youtube layout). On Android, use NewPipe[0] or Youtube Vanced[1]. On iOS, perhaps Ivory[2] will do. Or at least delete your watch & search history[3], so the recommendations will be related only to the video you are currently watching. If you are subscribed to enough good channels, you won't notice anything aside of suddenly having much more free time. And whenever you're bored, unlock recommendations for a while to learn about new channels (I do it once every few months). [0] https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe [1] https://vanced.app/ https://vanced.app/ , beware of scam sites [2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivory-video-player/id1294347486 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivory-video-player/id129434748... [3] https://www.youtube.com/feed/history https://www.youtube.com/feed/history (on old YT layout)
- thenewnewguy 7y ago
  > The only solution is to frequently right click and select "Not Interested" and then "Not interested in the channel: [channel name]". This has never worked for me. I've tested this while signed in without blocking anything - "not interested in this channel" has never once caused a channel to not be recommended to me.
elcomet 7y ago
Are you sure those weren't just regular ads without any personalization ? This seem like the kind of ad which is very broad and could fit most men (how to talk to woman, how to get a job, ...)
- c3534l 7y ago
  Yes, because I closed my private window and reopened it to see if it made a difference. They also had regional stuff from where my vpn is located.
  - greycol 7y ago
    I'm unsure of behaviour in firefox, but at least for me chrome at work will keep session information for the private window until chrome is closed completely not just the private window. Having said that anecdotally I'm sure google do ip/wifi network tracking as after I was connected to a friends wifi network while he was in the process of moving house I began being served ads for moving companies even though I had done no similiar searches or visited related sites.
elliekelly 7y ago
> These were based on sessions cookies, but I was still kinda offended it pegged me as a sad loser just because I wanted to know more about NGINX and Heroku. The same thing happened to me except I'm a cis woman and my front page was filled with transgender posts/subs. Reddit seemed to conclude that the only reason I could possibly be interested in DevOps is because I'm actually be a man.

by c3534l 7y ago

rchaud 7y ago

There is almost no action you can take on Youtube without it recommending a deluge of god-awful 'user generated content' videos on these topics. The only solution is to frequently right click and select "Not Interested" and then "Not interested in the channel: [channel name]". The recs are poor enough that I don't mind blanket-banning an entire channel from my feed. Youtubers so frequently "compete" by using clickbait titles and thumbnails, I'm glad I at least have this method to punish that kind of behaviour.

pzmarzly 7y ago
Another solution - block the recommendations altogether. On PC, you can use specialized extension, or just Stylus (the latter works especially well with old Youtube layout). On Android, use NewPipe[0] or Youtube Vanced[1]. On iOS, perhaps Ivory[2] will do. Or at least delete your watch & search history[3], so the recommendations will be related only to the video you are currently watching. If you are subscribed to enough good channels, you won't notice anything aside of suddenly having much more free time. And whenever you're bored, unlock recommendations for a while to learn about new channels (I do it once every few months). [0] https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe [1] https://vanced.app/ https://vanced.app/ , beware of scam sites [2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivory-video-player/id1294347486 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivory-video-player/id129434748... [3] https://www.youtube.com/feed/history https://www.youtube.com/feed/history (on old YT layout)
thenewnewguy 7y ago
> The only solution is to frequently right click and select "Not Interested" and then "Not interested in the channel: [channel name]". This has never worked for me. I've tested this while signed in without blocking anything - "not interested in this channel" has never once caused a channel to not be recommended to me.

elcomet 7y ago

Are you sure those weren't just regular ads without any personalization ? This seem like the kind of ad which is very broad and could fit most men (how to talk to woman, how to get a job, ...)

c3534l 7y ago
Yes, because I closed my private window and reopened it to see if it made a difference. They also had regional stuff from where my vpn is located.
- greycol 7y ago
  I'm unsure of behaviour in firefox, but at least for me chrome at work will keep session information for the private window until chrome is closed completely not just the private window. Having said that anecdotally I'm sure google do ip/wifi network tracking as after I was connected to a friends wifi network while he was in the process of moving house I began being served ads for moving companies even though I had done no similiar searches or visited related sites.

elliekelly 7y ago

> These were based on sessions cookies, but I was still kinda offended it pegged me as a sad loser just because I wanted to know more about NGINX and Heroku. The same thing happened to me except I'm a cis woman and my front page was filled with transgender posts/subs. Reddit seemed to conclude that the only reason I could possibly be interested in DevOps is because I'm actually be a man.