4 ms·

Heaven forbid I ever accidentally click on or get interested in some random talk show video, video roughly about video games or a big media news video. All of m

Heaven forbid I ever accidentally click on or get interested in some random talk show video, video roughly about video games or a big media news video. All of my normal engineering, business, programming, guns, history, and mechanics recommendations go right the fuck out the window. For the next week, half my recommendations are just filled with dogshit because of one accidental video. I stopped watching movie trailers because of this too. For some reason if I ever choose to watch a movie trailer, youtube thinks I want to watch makeup tutorials by teenagers. Drives me insane. YouTube is better off with meta tag recommendations instead of their fancy little AI.

CommieBobDole 7y ago
I think that's a problem on every platform; on Apple News, if I read an article that's actual news that involves a celebrity somehow ("Tom Hanks murders 12, dies in hail of gunfire") I get a deluge of celebrity gossip ("OMG you won't believe what Kylie Jenner's cousin's brother's hairstylist said")articles for weeks. I sort of feel like their recommendation AI is a bunch of if-then statements designed to funnel you into more heavily-monetized content if they think you display any interest at all.
- corporateslave5 7y ago
  Yeah these aren’t content recommendation engines, they’re ad engines
  - corodra 7y ago
    I somewhat do agree with the ad engine... but it's a crappy one. I'm a guy in my 30s. Nothing in my view history ever says, "Hey, this guy is progressive enough to wear makeup." At that, I watch english, polish, and french videos. Ads I get, Spanish. I dont know spanish. I'd accept general language learning ads. But tostitos and I think one was health or house insurance... in spanish. It's like the ad bot is some redneck that thinks there are two languages, American and not-American. The recommendation bot and ad bot are just terrible. The moment theres a half way decent competitor to youtube, my ass is jumping ship.
    - colejohnson66 7y ago
      Do you have the “tune ads based on view history” (or whatever it’s called) turned off by chance?
      - corodra 7y ago
        Already checked that a while ago when I complained to a friend who asked the same. I still get plenty of ads for stuff like CNC machines, mechanic classes and other stuff. I'm okay with some random stuff that feels like the marketer was going out on a limb. But some are just... selling paintings to Stevie Wonder.
    - neutronicus 7y ago
      Book a honeymoon, constantly Google administrative marriage questions ... still get ads for engagement rings.
      - Simon_says 7y ago
        You never know. Maybe people who got married recently are more likely to get married again soon?
        corodra 7y ago
        I'm curious what happens then if you ever have to plan a funeral. Which, yea I'm being morbid... but it would be pretty messed up to continue getting funeral related ads over time.
- corodra 7y ago
  Oh there was a LegalEagle episode on Kim Kardashian studying to pass the bar. He goes over the history and process of taking the bar without going to law school. But the title of the video has her name. Reality TV recommendations... Jersey shore... celebrity gossip...everywhere...it took 2 weeks to disappear. Strep throat is cured in less time than contracting celeb gossip videos.
purple_ducks 7y ago
Try delete it from your watch history: https://www.youtube.com/feed/history https://www.youtube.com/feed/history Your recommendations may return to normal.
jxramos 7y ago
Ditto on the meta tag!
haroldp 7y ago
There is a minor chilling effect to this. I have chosen to follow a link because of the mess I thought it would make of my youtube/amazon recommendations.
baud147258 7y ago
On Desktop, you can avoid this issue by watching the video in a private browsing session. It doesn't work on mobile though.
- netsharc 7y ago
  On Android I use NewPipe, I can turn off the recommended videos, and even comments, for a more blissful YouTube experience. Although one person did complain Google closed his account because he used that app: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21247759 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21247759

CommieBobDole 7y ago

I think that's a problem on every platform; on Apple News, if I read an article that's actual news that involves a celebrity somehow ("Tom Hanks murders 12, dies in hail of gunfire") I get a deluge of celebrity gossip ("OMG you won't believe what Kylie Jenner's cousin's brother's hairstylist said")articles for weeks. I sort of feel like their recommendation AI is a bunch of if-then statements designed to funnel you into more heavily-monetized content if they think you display any interest at all.

corporateslave5 7y ago
Yeah these aren’t content recommendation engines, they’re ad engines
- corodra 7y ago
  I somewhat do agree with the ad engine... but it's a crappy one. I'm a guy in my 30s. Nothing in my view history ever says, "Hey, this guy is progressive enough to wear makeup." At that, I watch english, polish, and french videos. Ads I get, Spanish. I dont know spanish. I'd accept general language learning ads. But tostitos and I think one was health or house insurance... in spanish. It's like the ad bot is some redneck that thinks there are two languages, American and not-American. The recommendation bot and ad bot are just terrible. The moment theres a half way decent competitor to youtube, my ass is jumping ship.
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    Do you have the “tune ads based on view history” (or whatever it’s called) turned off by chance?
    - corodra 7y ago
      Already checked that a while ago when I complained to a friend who asked the same. I still get plenty of ads for stuff like CNC machines, mechanic classes and other stuff. I'm okay with some random stuff that feels like the marketer was going out on a limb. But some are just... selling paintings to Stevie Wonder.
  - neutronicus 7y ago
    Book a honeymoon, constantly Google administrative marriage questions ... still get ads for engagement rings.
    - Simon_says 7y ago
      You never know. Maybe people who got married recently are more likely to get married again soon?
      - corodra 7y ago
        I'm curious what happens then if you ever have to plan a funeral. Which, yea I'm being morbid... but it would be pretty messed up to continue getting funeral related ads over time.
corodra 7y ago
Oh there was a LegalEagle episode on Kim Kardashian studying to pass the bar. He goes over the history and process of taking the bar without going to law school. But the title of the video has her name. Reality TV recommendations... Jersey shore... celebrity gossip...everywhere...it took 2 weeks to disappear. Strep throat is cured in less time than contracting celeb gossip videos.

purple_ducks 7y ago

Try delete it from your watch history: https://www.youtube.com/feed/history https://www.youtube.com/feed/history Your recommendations may return to normal.

jxramos 7y ago

Ditto on the meta tag!

haroldp 7y ago

There is a minor chilling effect to this. I have chosen to follow a link because of the mess I thought it would make of my youtube/amazon recommendations.

baud147258 7y ago

On Desktop, you can avoid this issue by watching the video in a private browsing session. It doesn't work on mobile though.

netsharc 7y ago
On Android I use NewPipe, I can turn off the recommended videos, and even comments, for a more blissful YouTube experience. Although one person did complain Google closed his account because he used that app: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21247759 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21247759