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I personally really preferred old Youtube, where your subscriptions were the main thing you saw along with the absolute "most popular viewed today" kinds of thi

I personally really preferred old Youtube, where your subscriptions were the main thing you saw along with the absolute "most popular viewed today" kinds of things. The algorithm has only made the site worse in my experience and I always go directly to my subscriptions to be able to at least see things I'm subbed to.

syshum 5y ago
It appears to me that YT is actively trying to move away from subscriptions completely, relaying on this recommendation algorithm for everything hell I would not be surprised if with in 5 years they remove the subscribe button completely, replacing it with just the notification bell
toby- 5y ago
I'm of the same opinion. A user's subscriptions seemingly matter very little nowadays, I've noticed. The focus on recommendations is so heavy I'm very often recommended videos I've already watched, some of them multiple times; very few recommendations are videos (old or new) from channels I'm subscribed to. I've also noticed that many content creators are now offering email newsletters (such as Tom Scott) and encouraging subscribers to connect outside of YouTube, presumably as a response to this.
- NoraCodes 5y ago
  Why would YouTube recommend videos from people you're subscribed to? You already have a reliable feed of those videos on the subscriptions feed. They are trying to get you to subscribe to other channels to increase your watch time.
  - 0xffff2 5y ago
    I agree. This is actually my chief complaint about YouTube's front page. I wish there were options to categorically remove videos from channels I'm subscribed to and videos I've already watched from the recommendation feed.
  - gibba999 5y ago
    Youtube doesn't give me a reliable feed of my subscriptions. If I haven't watched something in a few months, it's basically dead to the algorithm. This is obnoxious since I tend to watch series of documentaries, and I prefer to watch many episodes in a row. Stuff just poofs out of existence.
    - zamadatix 5y ago
      https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions is your subscription feed, you can get there by clicking "subscriptions" in the left pane. The feed on the home page is recommendations. That may, by chance, include things you're subscribed to but it will also include other recommended content and possibly not recommend things you are subscribed to as it's not meant to be a second copy of the subscription feed.
      - squeaky-clean 5y ago
        That still doesn't give reliable recommendations of your subscribed channels, it's just a chronological list of their new content. If I subscribe to a youtuber with a back-catalog of several years of videos, I want recommendations of those prior videos, not only their brand new ones.
  - toby- 5y ago
    It did use to overwhelmingly recommend videos from channels you were subscribed to. Such videos made up a major portion of your recommendations. And yes, there is the subscriptions feed, but it only shows new videos from subscribed-to channels; it doesn't function as a 'recommended' list for your subscriptions, which is what I miss and want.
sneak 5y ago
Be thankful they still let you view a chronological feed at all.

syshum 5y ago

It appears to me that YT is actively trying to move away from subscriptions completely, relaying on this recommendation algorithm for everything hell I would not be surprised if with in 5 years they remove the subscribe button completely, replacing it with just the notification bell

toby- 5y ago

I'm of the same opinion. A user's subscriptions seemingly matter very little nowadays, I've noticed. The focus on recommendations is so heavy I'm very often recommended videos I've already watched, some of them multiple times; very few recommendations are videos (old or new) from channels I'm subscribed to. I've also noticed that many content creators are now offering email newsletters (such as Tom Scott) and encouraging subscribers to connect outside of YouTube, presumably as a response to this.

NoraCodes 5y ago
Why would YouTube recommend videos from people you're subscribed to? You already have a reliable feed of those videos on the subscriptions feed. They are trying to get you to subscribe to other channels to increase your watch time.
- 0xffff2 5y ago
  I agree. This is actually my chief complaint about YouTube's front page. I wish there were options to categorically remove videos from channels I'm subscribed to and videos I've already watched from the recommendation feed.
- gibba999 5y ago
  Youtube doesn't give me a reliable feed of my subscriptions. If I haven't watched something in a few months, it's basically dead to the algorithm. This is obnoxious since I tend to watch series of documentaries, and I prefer to watch many episodes in a row. Stuff just poofs out of existence.
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions is your subscription feed, you can get there by clicking "subscriptions" in the left pane. The feed on the home page is recommendations. That may, by chance, include things you're subscribed to but it will also include other recommended content and possibly not recommend things you are subscribed to as it's not meant to be a second copy of the subscription feed.
    - squeaky-clean 5y ago
      That still doesn't give reliable recommendations of your subscribed channels, it's just a chronological list of their new content. If I subscribe to a youtuber with a back-catalog of several years of videos, I want recommendations of those prior videos, not only their brand new ones.
- toby- 5y ago
  It did use to overwhelmingly recommend videos from channels you were subscribed to. Such videos made up a major portion of your recommendations. And yes, there is the subscriptions feed, but it only shows new videos from subscribed-to channels; it doesn't function as a 'recommended' list for your subscriptions, which is what I miss and want.

sneak 5y ago

Be thankful they still let you view a chronological feed at all.