11 ms·

Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations

178 points by tandav 5y ago

marcodiego 5y ago
Better: don't use youtube. Or, if you need, use a better interface like ytdl, newpipe or minitube.
- visarga 5y ago
  YouTube has some people I want to follow. They make good educational videos. Can't replace it. Downloading everything is a PITA.
tandav 5y ago
I use it for 3 months and never wanted to turn it off. I only use subscriptions and direct links and rarely trending. It's easier than I thought before.
gruez 5y ago
Why not just publish as an adblock filter list? You really only need cosmetic filtering to do this (supported by adblock filters), and I don't want to worry about yet another extension going rogue and selling to some a shady company.
deadalus 5y ago
Tried it, works flawlessly. Another recommended Youtube extension is : De-Mainstream YouTube [0] [0] : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/de-mainstream-youtube/dkcdmdpcapjlaoioeenamjdanpeehjan?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/de-mainstream-yout...
penjelly 5y ago
you can use cssbot for stuff like this too. ive always done that instead
- suyash 5y ago
  tell more..
debesyla 5y ago
Hiding distractions? Sure. But I personally find YouTube recommendations quite good - if you don't ruin it by accidentally watching a single meme. It's not perfect, but what would be a good alternative for finding new channels that you would like? Do y'all have any suggestions?
- ___luigi 5y ago
  > YouTube recommendations quite good I feel it suffers from "rich is getting richer" phenomena. Once the video start trending, the recommender starts showing it for any search.
  - sneak 5y ago
    Additionally, most things that trend in that way are going to be lowest common denominator crap, or if it's from one of the better channels, broadly accessible stuff that would be a better use of the listener's time as a listicle instead of a 15 minute video. I wish the recommendations went for the deep cuts instead of the pablum.
kbenson 5y ago
Honestly, that's where I get some of the most use out of YouTube, the recommended videos main page. Sometimes I'm annoyed they aren't showing me enough variation based on my subscriptions and past likes. I'm not sure why I'd want this. Sometimes I'm watching a technical presentation/talk by someone and I'll get other talks of theirs on the recommended videos for that video page, which is useful, or followup videos on a topic. What reasons for people that find this useful have to not wanting recommendations, either as a space to go to specifically to find something to watch or the section on the video page?
- seanw444 5y ago
  I suppose people that only want to watch the video they specifically came for, and don't want to be tempted by other media that they know they'll waste their time on. YouTube does great at recommending videos. I love it, personally. But I can totally respect the former position as well.
- matsemann 5y ago
  If you just a single time watch a video out of your normal categories, yt will never forget. No matter how many times you click not interested. Also, some of the horrific clickbait thumbnails and titles it suggests annoys me. So avoiding those is one less thing to care about. Also, much of the problems with yt isn't how they allow dangerous videos to be on their platform, but how they surface them to lots of people by recommending them. They do little harm unwatched.
  - scrollaway 5y ago
    You can remove an individual video from your watch history by going to library -> watch history.
- zeta0134 5y ago
  I don't know how you're getting relevant recommendations; YouTube seems determined to get me into watching the latest celebrity personalities, or endless streams of clickbait. I use a few custom uBlock Origin rules to hide the recommendations sidebar and the end-of-video overlay complete. If a video doesn't show up in my list of curated subscriptions, I just don't see it, and that's fine. It's good for my feed to be slow and update infrequently; I've got other stuff to do.
jcuenod 5y ago
I've been using adblock to block comments and recommendations for quite a while. Now when I see them, I find them quite aggravating.
dcdc123 5y ago
I don't mind recommendations, YouTube does a pretty good job recommending things I would like. I just hate when I accidentally go to the trending tab. :shudder:
nyjah 5y ago
This might not be the place to ask this, but does anyone know of anything like this for the youtube app? On appleTV and on Droid the youtube app is severely struggling. From the inability to say not interested in a video or don't show this channel, to being unable to refresh the home page without closing the app completely or signing out of an account. There's no community engagement in the app from what I can see. I feel like there is something I am missing in some settings somewhere, but I just don't know.
- pwdisswordfish8 5y ago
  It’s called NewPipe
  - nyjah 5y ago
    I looked at NewPipe and its not what I am looking for. I think what I am looking for is settings in youtube that will reflect the way the youtube app behaves on appletv, if they exist at all.
perihelions 5y ago
Related, uBlock fliters are very effective on Twitter. All of the recommendation sections are easy to select and toggle, https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20twitter%20ublock&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byPopularity https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20twitter%20ublock&type... ("## twitter ublock") https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/of5z86/cleanyourtwitter_collection_of_web_twitter/ https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/of5z86/cleany... edit: And here's the YouTube version of that HN query -- there are several suggested ways to block YouTube Recommendations, https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20youtube%20ublock&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byPopularity https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20youtube%20ublock&type... ("## youtube ublock") edit2: Here's a very satisfying generalized query ("## ## ublock" -- comments with two or more ##-syntax rules), https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20%23%23%20ublock&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byPopularity https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20%23%23%20ublock&type=...
- Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
  Also if you're using android, Youtube app can be replaced with NewPipe(FOSS) by exporting the YT subscription list to it[1]. No ads, No notification pollution & recommendations require manual action(Separate tab). [1] https://newpipe.net/FAQ/tutorials/import-export-data/ https://newpipe.net/FAQ/tutorials/import-export-data/
  - e3bc54b2 5y ago
    As a bonus tip, you can simply remove the recommendation/trending tab from main view. I did, and now all I see when I open NewPipe is my subscriptions. Since I don't subscribe to many channels (highest frequency channel is twice a week) , my YT consumption is down to couple hours per week of explicitly channels that I want to watch. This view also let's me see easily if any subscription is generating more content than I'd like (quality a quantity ratio is universally constant), so it automatically limits oversubscription too.
  - PikachuEXE 5y ago
    I use Windows/MacOS mainly for watch Youtube and I use FreeTube(https://freetubeapp.io https://freetubeapp.io) to replace YT website. However if you want to use it please avoid 0.14.0 since the upgrade to electron 14 was done poorly :S. Use 0.13.x instead (latest 0.13: https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/releases/tag/v0.13.2-beta https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/releases/tag/v0.13.2...) 0.15.0 should be released in a week or two (I become part of dev team since I want a "create new window button") Or you can use nightly build @ https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/actions/workflows/build.yml https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/actions/workflows/bu... (mostly stable just imperfect) The electron upgrade is reverted and would be redone after 0.15.0 released. (https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1763 https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1763 / https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1764 https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1764)
michaelmdresser 5y ago
Does anyone have a ublock origin filter they use to block YouTube recommendations and/or comments?
- skymt 5y ago
  This is what I use: youtube.com##.ytp-suggestions youtube.com##.ytp-pause-overlay youtube.com##.videowall-endscreen youtube.com###related youtube.com##ytd-comments
  - taviso 5y ago
    Hmm, it's okay, but just leaves some blank space on the right. I tried to fix it, adding these to yours seems to work okay: youtube.com###related:upward(#secondary) youtube.com##:root:not(:fullscreen) video:matches-css(left: 0px):style(object-fit: fill!important; width: 100%!important; height: auto!important;)
thepasswordis 5y ago
I honestly just wish the recommendations were better. I watched an interview that Curtis Yarvin gave on Tucker Carlson (about an hour long...interesting at least). Now youtube is sending me all these conservative "talk show" people that I have absolutely 0 interest in. Same thing: I think I watched some video about guns a while ago. I think guns are neat, but I absolutely do not care about watching dozens of videos of bros broing down in the woods with the machine guns.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  I was looking to buy a leather belt about 6 months ago. I found the belt and bought it (am very happy, thank you). Now it appears for the rest of my life I will be getting leather belt advertisements. On Facebook, Youtube, Google, everywhere. The whole reason why I wanted a quality belt was so that it would last me the rest of my life if cared for properly. I intend to never buy another. And what's worse is that it's the same set of ads. Like before I cancelled Hulu, they would show the exact same ad over and over again, just to make it as irritating as possible.
  - wlesieutre 5y ago
    I didn't buy any belts recently and half the ads I see on YouTube are still for belts. I think "internet belt company" is just a thing right now. EDIT: Not leather belts though, nylon with magnetic buckles or something
  - darkwizard42 5y ago
    For what its worth, this is more because none of those advertisers (except maybe the one whose belt you actually bought) know you actually finished and bought a belt! Everyone who wants people to buy their leather belts advertises to people who have searched or previously looked for "leather belts" and that is you... In a perverse way, it's actually good for you to keep getting belt ads. If you just stopped getting them all of a sudden I'd get worried because it means the purchase data of belts was sold and combined with your past search data to server you new ads in an even more devious way.
shmde 5y ago
There is another alternative which I use. Distraction Free (DF) Youtube. Works pretty well. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/df-tube-distraction-free/mjdepdfccjgcndkmemponafgioodelna?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/df-tube-distractio... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/df-youtube/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/df-youtube/ There is another ad-on for youtube which I recently started using. It skips all the advertisement inside the video ( such as self promotion, product promotions, into/outro, sponsorships). https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-youtube/mnjggcdmjocbbbhaepdhchncahnbgone https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-y...
- hoppyhoppy2 5y ago
  SponsorBlock is also available for Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/
post_break 5y ago
Is there a way to hide a channel from YouTube search? I want that.
suyash 5y ago
This is great anti-dote to 'addictive design' practices that these companies use.
wodenokoto 5y ago
At least for music, you get much, much better recommendations when viewing in incognito mode. Basically you get songs that other people who listens to this song also listened to, instead of the same songs youtube thinks you like, regardless of the song playing.
- LeftHandPath 5y ago
  I've started using YouTube while logged out in Brave. Every week or two I'll clear my cache / cookies / service worker / literally all of YouTube's local storage to be truly anonymous again. The recommendations I get (next to a playing video) immediately after doing that are fantastic. It's like a time machine that takes you back to when their recommendations algorithm focused on recommending videos that are highly relevant to what you're currently watching. When I hit an age gate and have to use it logged in, through firefox, the quality hit for the recommendations is immediately noticeable. I was surprised that the difference is so apparent, and I've been spending more time on YouTube again as a result.
bigodbiel 5y ago
Why can’t YT recommend the “next” video, or at least place the current author’s latest/most relevant video
rndmind 5y ago
I just use hooktube.com
ourcat 5y ago
Recently I've seen an increase in recommended videos which already have a red line across the bottom of the thumbnail, to denote that I've already watched it.
smoldesu 5y ago
Freetube[0] is my recommendation if you're looking for this. It has the feature built-in, alongside a whole suite of distraction-minimizing features. It might not be the definitive YouTube client yet, but it definitely gets enough right to become my daily carry. [0] https://freetubeapp.io/ https://freetubeapp.io/
seph-reed 5y ago
I made one of these, that works for YouTube, Twitter, Tumbler, Reddit, Hacker News, Google Search, and Pinterest You can enable/disable whatever you want. The point is to get rid of lame content. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sober-media/hfjcloaonnidjodddmgehpinpdfndnbb https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sober-media/hfjclo...
ssttoo 5y ago
Or if you use firefox, hide things with CSS in your profile's `userContent.css` I've been using this for years to hide everything that's not video: ytd-app #guide, ytd-app #page-manager ytd-browse, ytd-app #secondary, ytd-app #comments { display: none !important; } #hnmain .subtext { visibility: hidden !important; } Source: https://www.phpied.com/defining-user-styles/ https://www.phpied.com/defining-user-styles/
- ssttoo 5y ago
  Forgot to mention `#hnmain .subtext` is for hiding HN comments.
MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
I don't even have a bookmark to the youtube homepage. It's to my empty videos section. So as not to get shown the dumbest clickbait of content I don't need to see.
DevKoala 5y ago
Is there an app that does this? I put for a YouTube subscription and I don’t want to see the recommendations. I just want to watch the videos on the topics I am searching. The recommendations are there to distract you and I always regret clicking on them.
- zaik 5y ago
  I have configured NewPipe to show my subscriptions (disables the 'trending' tab): https://f-droid.org/packages/org.schabi.newpipe https://f-droid.org/packages/org.schabi.newpipe
movedx 5y ago
I've been using this for about 8-9 months now. I highly, highly recommend it. I've found YouTube much easier to consume as a result of this. It's not an endless binge anymore driven by an infinity feed. That being said I use YouTube everyday and I'm an active content creator on the platform my self. I even have Premium.
gpayan 5y ago
I never feel confortable showing or sharing "my" Youtube main page/recommendations with anyone. It's providing details on my personal interests that I don't necessarily want everyone to know about. This especially true in a work context, when the content of my screen is projected/shared with an audience (boy those endscreen video suggestions can be embarrassing).
jaimehrubiks 5y ago
For me recommendations is the best youtube feature. I love it, for me it is super high quality. And I can always tell it if I don't like something. Most of the content I watch came from recommend videos in the main page or a video page.
Jugurtha 5y ago
I watch videos I'd like to get recommended while logged-in. I watch videos I'm not sure about in incognito/private browsing not to influence the recommendations in my account. If I find myself consuming that kind of content more often and would like it to be recommended to me, I promote it to the logged-in session. If I want to see less of it, I gradually demote it, including deleting YouTube history of videos of a certain type, and this acts as an indicator that I'm consuming more than I should.
suketk 5y ago
I've tried Unhook and DF YouTube, but I replaced them both with Undistracted [0]. It's more versatile - it has better configuration, supports more sites (Reddit, Facebook, etc) and allows an arbitrary block list. The internet would be a better place with the ability to hide recommended feeds [1]. They can be useful sometimes, but mostly they're used to distract you from your goal. It's the digital equivalent of placing milk in the back of the grocery store. The ideal home page of a service to me is an empty page with a search bar. [0] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/undistracted-hide-faceboo/pjjgklgkfeoeiebjogplpnibpfnffkng?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/undistracted-hide-... [1] https://suketk.com/feeds-considered-harmful https://suketk.com/feeds-considered-harmful
- Nathanba 5y ago
  my personal solution is to block all images on youtube. I am perfectly happy browsing for information on text-only hackernews so I decided that it should be enough for video search too.
  - saikan 5y ago
    or better yet - https://github.com/trizen/pipe-viewer https://github.com/trizen/pipe-viewer
sayonaraman 5y ago
I just reset profile in youtube settings periodically, their recommendations are way too sticky, like literally the same videos are shown for months even if I watched them already. I wonder what all the highly paid "ML/AI engineers" are doing.
- JADev62096 5y ago
  > I wonder what all the highly paid "ML/AI engineers" are doing. Probably finding ways to automatically take down videos
paulpauper 5y ago
If you are going to disable so many features you may as well just rip the video
darepublic 5y ago
YouTube recommendations has helped me find a ton of good music over the years. No better platform for music imo and that includes dedicated services such as spotify
iansinnott 5y ago
As others have mentioned there can be some real gems in Youtube recommendations. Unfortunately there's always (in my experience) at least one out of place recommendation, usually for something that's entirely unrelated but trending amongst the overall userbase. If it were possible to remove just those random lures along with all live broadcasts the recommendations would likely be uniformly high quality. Anyway, congrats on the extension. This seems especially helpful on mobile where Youtube seems to want to draw you away form the video you actually came to watch.
WaitWaitWha 5y ago
i would like to see groupings. If i could group my channels and my watching pattern, it may alleviate my trepidation about confused algorithms.
schleck8 5y ago
I've been using this myself for a month and it definitely cut down on the time I spent on Youtube. You have fine grain control over what gets hidden, including comments, suggested videos, the frontpage, playlist, infocards and so on.
cyberpsybin 5y ago
Youtube recommendations are fine. People lack self control. It's just a tool.
jcun4128 5y ago
Somewhat related: I wrote my own chrome extension that hides the initial page contents of YouTube other than sidebar/search because I found I would go to look something up like a song and a tile would distract me. So yeah now if I want to actually see the YouTube content on first page, have to click in that area. It's interesting they seem to have a DOM-modified check running. Interesting that feature is part of this nice.
vegai_ 5y ago
Bit too coarse. I dislike that Recommendations list videos that I have seen, but otherwise it's a useful discovery tool.
posed 5y ago
Wow, I was just thinking a few days ago if there's a way to hide the recommendations, which most of the time is distractive and unproductive.
dejw 5y ago
I also recommend chrome extension "Youtube Subscriptions Homescreen" which defaults to your subscriptions page
t0bia_s 5y ago
I use this over year. My time consumtion on YT was reduced drastically since then. Also must have if you want play on YT something for kids.

178 points by tandav 5y ago

marcodiego 5y ago

Better: don't use youtube. Or, if you need, use a better interface like ytdl, newpipe or minitube.

visarga 5y ago
YouTube has some people I want to follow. They make good educational videos. Can't replace it. Downloading everything is a PITA.

tandav 5y ago

I use it for 3 months and never wanted to turn it off. I only use subscriptions and direct links and rarely trending. It's easier than I thought before.

gruez 5y ago

Why not just publish as an adblock filter list? You really only need cosmetic filtering to do this (supported by adblock filters), and I don't want to worry about yet another extension going rogue and selling to some a shady company.

deadalus 5y ago

Tried it, works flawlessly. Another recommended Youtube extension is : De-Mainstream YouTube [0] [0] : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/de-mainstream-youtube/dkcdmdpcapjlaoioeenamjdanpeehjan?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/de-mainstream-yout...

penjelly 5y ago

you can use cssbot for stuff like this too. ive always done that instead

suyash 5y ago
tell more..

debesyla 5y ago

Hiding distractions? Sure. But I personally find YouTube recommendations quite good - if you don't ruin it by accidentally watching a single meme. It's not perfect, but what would be a good alternative for finding new channels that you would like? Do y'all have any suggestions?

___luigi 5y ago
> YouTube recommendations quite good I feel it suffers from "rich is getting richer" phenomena. Once the video start trending, the recommender starts showing it for any search.
- sneak 5y ago
  Additionally, most things that trend in that way are going to be lowest common denominator crap, or if it's from one of the better channels, broadly accessible stuff that would be a better use of the listener's time as a listicle instead of a 15 minute video. I wish the recommendations went for the deep cuts instead of the pablum.

kbenson 5y ago

Honestly, that's where I get some of the most use out of YouTube, the recommended videos main page. Sometimes I'm annoyed they aren't showing me enough variation based on my subscriptions and past likes. I'm not sure why I'd want this. Sometimes I'm watching a technical presentation/talk by someone and I'll get other talks of theirs on the recommended videos for that video page, which is useful, or followup videos on a topic. What reasons for people that find this useful have to not wanting recommendations, either as a space to go to specifically to find something to watch or the section on the video page?

seanw444 5y ago
I suppose people that only want to watch the video they specifically came for, and don't want to be tempted by other media that they know they'll waste their time on. YouTube does great at recommending videos. I love it, personally. But I can totally respect the former position as well.
matsemann 5y ago
If you just a single time watch a video out of your normal categories, yt will never forget. No matter how many times you click not interested. Also, some of the horrific clickbait thumbnails and titles it suggests annoys me. So avoiding those is one less thing to care about. Also, much of the problems with yt isn't how they allow dangerous videos to be on their platform, but how they surface them to lots of people by recommending them. They do little harm unwatched.
- scrollaway 5y ago
  You can remove an individual video from your watch history by going to library -> watch history.
zeta0134 5y ago
I don't know how you're getting relevant recommendations; YouTube seems determined to get me into watching the latest celebrity personalities, or endless streams of clickbait. I use a few custom uBlock Origin rules to hide the recommendations sidebar and the end-of-video overlay complete. If a video doesn't show up in my list of curated subscriptions, I just don't see it, and that's fine. It's good for my feed to be slow and update infrequently; I've got other stuff to do.

jcuenod 5y ago

I've been using adblock to block comments and recommendations for quite a while. Now when I see them, I find them quite aggravating.

dcdc123 5y ago

I don't mind recommendations, YouTube does a pretty good job recommending things I would like. I just hate when I accidentally go to the trending tab. :shudder:

nyjah 5y ago

This might not be the place to ask this, but does anyone know of anything like this for the youtube app? On appleTV and on Droid the youtube app is severely struggling. From the inability to say not interested in a video or don't show this channel, to being unable to refresh the home page without closing the app completely or signing out of an account. There's no community engagement in the app from what I can see. I feel like there is something I am missing in some settings somewhere, but I just don't know.

pwdisswordfish8 5y ago
It’s called NewPipe
- nyjah 5y ago
  I looked at NewPipe and its not what I am looking for. I think what I am looking for is settings in youtube that will reflect the way the youtube app behaves on appletv, if they exist at all.

perihelions 5y ago

Related, uBlock fliters are very effective on Twitter. All of the recommendation sections are easy to select and toggle, https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20twitter%20ublock&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byPopularity https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20twitter%20ublock&type... ("## twitter ublock") https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/of5z86/cleanyourtwitter_collection_of_web_twitter/ https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/of5z86/cleany... edit: And here's the YouTube version of that HN query -- there are several suggested ways to block YouTube Recommendations, https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20youtube%20ublock&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byPopularity https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20youtube%20ublock&type... ("## youtube ublock") edit2: Here's a very satisfying generalized query ("## ## ublock" -- comments with two or more ##-syntax rules), https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20%23%23%20ublock&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byPopularity https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20%23%23%20ublock&type=...

Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
Also if you're using android, Youtube app can be replaced with NewPipe(FOSS) by exporting the YT subscription list to it[1]. No ads, No notification pollution & recommendations require manual action(Separate tab). [1] https://newpipe.net/FAQ/tutorials/import-export-data/ https://newpipe.net/FAQ/tutorials/import-export-data/
- e3bc54b2 5y ago
  As a bonus tip, you can simply remove the recommendation/trending tab from main view. I did, and now all I see when I open NewPipe is my subscriptions. Since I don't subscribe to many channels (highest frequency channel is twice a week) , my YT consumption is down to couple hours per week of explicitly channels that I want to watch. This view also let's me see easily if any subscription is generating more content than I'd like (quality a quantity ratio is universally constant), so it automatically limits oversubscription too.
- PikachuEXE 5y ago
  I use Windows/MacOS mainly for watch Youtube and I use FreeTube(https://freetubeapp.io https://freetubeapp.io) to replace YT website. However if you want to use it please avoid 0.14.0 since the upgrade to electron 14 was done poorly :S. Use 0.13.x instead (latest 0.13: https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/releases/tag/v0.13.2-beta https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/releases/tag/v0.13.2...) 0.15.0 should be released in a week or two (I become part of dev team since I want a "create new window button") Or you can use nightly build @ https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/actions/workflows/build.yml https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/actions/workflows/bu... (mostly stable just imperfect) The electron upgrade is reverted and would be redone after 0.15.0 released. (https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1763 https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1763 / https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1764 https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/pull/1764)

michaelmdresser 5y ago

Does anyone have a ublock origin filter they use to block YouTube recommendations and/or comments?

skymt 5y ago
This is what I use: youtube.com##.ytp-suggestions youtube.com##.ytp-pause-overlay youtube.com##.videowall-endscreen youtube.com###related youtube.com##ytd-comments
- taviso 5y ago
  Hmm, it's okay, but just leaves some blank space on the right. I tried to fix it, adding these to yours seems to work okay: youtube.com###related:upward(#secondary) youtube.com##:root:not(:fullscreen) video:matches-css(left: 0px):style(object-fit: fill!important; width: 100%!important; height: auto!important;)

thepasswordis 5y ago

I honestly just wish the recommendations were better. I watched an interview that Curtis Yarvin gave on Tucker Carlson (about an hour long...interesting at least). Now youtube is sending me all these conservative "talk show" people that I have absolutely 0 interest in. Same thing: I think I watched some video about guns a while ago. I think guns are neat, but I absolutely do not care about watching dozens of videos of bros broing down in the woods with the machine guns.

rsj_hn 5y ago
I was looking to buy a leather belt about 6 months ago. I found the belt and bought it (am very happy, thank you). Now it appears for the rest of my life I will be getting leather belt advertisements. On Facebook, Youtube, Google, everywhere. The whole reason why I wanted a quality belt was so that it would last me the rest of my life if cared for properly. I intend to never buy another. And what's worse is that it's the same set of ads. Like before I cancelled Hulu, they would show the exact same ad over and over again, just to make it as irritating as possible.
- wlesieutre 5y ago
  I didn't buy any belts recently and half the ads I see on YouTube are still for belts. I think "internet belt company" is just a thing right now. EDIT: Not leather belts though, nylon with magnetic buckles or something
- darkwizard42 5y ago
  For what its worth, this is more because none of those advertisers (except maybe the one whose belt you actually bought) know you actually finished and bought a belt! Everyone who wants people to buy their leather belts advertises to people who have searched or previously looked for "leather belts" and that is you... In a perverse way, it's actually good for you to keep getting belt ads. If you just stopped getting them all of a sudden I'd get worried because it means the purchase data of belts was sold and combined with your past search data to server you new ads in an even more devious way.

shmde 5y ago

There is another alternative which I use. Distraction Free (DF) Youtube. Works pretty well. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/df-tube-distraction-free/mjdepdfccjgcndkmemponafgioodelna?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/df-tube-distractio... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/df-youtube/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/df-youtube/ There is another ad-on for youtube which I recently started using. It skips all the advertisement inside the video ( such as self promotion, product promotions, into/outro, sponsorships). https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-youtube/mnjggcdmjocbbbhaepdhchncahnbgone https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-y...

hoppyhoppy2 5y ago
SponsorBlock is also available for Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/

post_break 5y ago

Is there a way to hide a channel from YouTube search? I want that.

suyash 5y ago

This is great anti-dote to 'addictive design' practices that these companies use.

wodenokoto 5y ago

At least for music, you get much, much better recommendations when viewing in incognito mode. Basically you get songs that other people who listens to this song also listened to, instead of the same songs youtube thinks you like, regardless of the song playing.

LeftHandPath 5y ago
I've started using YouTube while logged out in Brave. Every week or two I'll clear my cache / cookies / service worker / literally all of YouTube's local storage to be truly anonymous again. The recommendations I get (next to a playing video) immediately after doing that are fantastic. It's like a time machine that takes you back to when their recommendations algorithm focused on recommending videos that are highly relevant to what you're currently watching. When I hit an age gate and have to use it logged in, through firefox, the quality hit for the recommendations is immediately noticeable. I was surprised that the difference is so apparent, and I've been spending more time on YouTube again as a result.

bigodbiel 5y ago

Why can’t YT recommend the “next” video, or at least place the current author’s latest/most relevant video

rndmind 5y ago

I just use hooktube.com

ourcat 5y ago

Recently I've seen an increase in recommended videos which already have a red line across the bottom of the thumbnail, to denote that I've already watched it.

smoldesu 5y ago

Freetube[0] is my recommendation if you're looking for this. It has the feature built-in, alongside a whole suite of distraction-minimizing features. It might not be the definitive YouTube client yet, but it definitely gets enough right to become my daily carry. [0] https://freetubeapp.io/ https://freetubeapp.io/

seph-reed 5y ago

I made one of these, that works for YouTube, Twitter, Tumbler, Reddit, Hacker News, Google Search, and Pinterest You can enable/disable whatever you want. The point is to get rid of lame content. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sober-media/hfjcloaonnidjodddmgehpinpdfndnbb https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sober-media/hfjclo...

ssttoo 5y ago

Or if you use firefox, hide things with CSS in your profile's `userContent.css` I've been using this for years to hide everything that's not video: ytd-app #guide, ytd-app #page-manager ytd-browse, ytd-app #secondary, ytd-app #comments { display: none !important; } #hnmain .subtext { visibility: hidden !important; } Source: https://www.phpied.com/defining-user-styles/ https://www.phpied.com/defining-user-styles/

ssttoo 5y ago
Forgot to mention `#hnmain .subtext` is for hiding HN comments.

MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago

I don't even have a bookmark to the youtube homepage. It's to my empty videos section. So as not to get shown the dumbest clickbait of content I don't need to see.

DevKoala 5y ago

Is there an app that does this? I put for a YouTube subscription and I don’t want to see the recommendations. I just want to watch the videos on the topics I am searching. The recommendations are there to distract you and I always regret clicking on them.

zaik 5y ago
I have configured NewPipe to show my subscriptions (disables the 'trending' tab): https://f-droid.org/packages/org.schabi.newpipe https://f-droid.org/packages/org.schabi.newpipe

movedx 5y ago

I've been using this for about 8-9 months now. I highly, highly recommend it. I've found YouTube much easier to consume as a result of this. It's not an endless binge anymore driven by an infinity feed. That being said I use YouTube everyday and I'm an active content creator on the platform my self. I even have Premium.

gpayan 5y ago

I never feel confortable showing or sharing "my" Youtube main page/recommendations with anyone. It's providing details on my personal interests that I don't necessarily want everyone to know about. This especially true in a work context, when the content of my screen is projected/shared with an audience (boy those endscreen video suggestions can be embarrassing).

jaimehrubiks 5y ago

For me recommendations is the best youtube feature. I love it, for me it is super high quality. And I can always tell it if I don't like something. Most of the content I watch came from recommend videos in the main page or a video page.

Jugurtha 5y ago

I watch videos I'd like to get recommended while logged-in. I watch videos I'm not sure about in incognito/private browsing not to influence the recommendations in my account. If I find myself consuming that kind of content more often and would like it to be recommended to me, I promote it to the logged-in session. If I want to see less of it, I gradually demote it, including deleting YouTube history of videos of a certain type, and this acts as an indicator that I'm consuming more than I should.

suketk 5y ago

I've tried Unhook and DF YouTube, but I replaced them both with Undistracted [0]. It's more versatile - it has better configuration, supports more sites (Reddit, Facebook, etc) and allows an arbitrary block list. The internet would be a better place with the ability to hide recommended feeds [1]. They can be useful sometimes, but mostly they're used to distract you from your goal. It's the digital equivalent of placing milk in the back of the grocery store. The ideal home page of a service to me is an empty page with a search bar. [0] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/undistracted-hide-faceboo/pjjgklgkfeoeiebjogplpnibpfnffkng?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/undistracted-hide-... [1] https://suketk.com/feeds-considered-harmful https://suketk.com/feeds-considered-harmful

Nathanba 5y ago
my personal solution is to block all images on youtube. I am perfectly happy browsing for information on text-only hackernews so I decided that it should be enough for video search too.
- saikan 5y ago
  or better yet - https://github.com/trizen/pipe-viewer https://github.com/trizen/pipe-viewer

sayonaraman 5y ago

I just reset profile in youtube settings periodically, their recommendations are way too sticky, like literally the same videos are shown for months even if I watched them already. I wonder what all the highly paid "ML/AI engineers" are doing.

JADev62096 5y ago
> I wonder what all the highly paid "ML/AI engineers" are doing. Probably finding ways to automatically take down videos

paulpauper 5y ago

If you are going to disable so many features you may as well just rip the video

darepublic 5y ago

YouTube recommendations has helped me find a ton of good music over the years. No better platform for music imo and that includes dedicated services such as spotify

iansinnott 5y ago

As others have mentioned there can be some real gems in Youtube recommendations. Unfortunately there's always (in my experience) at least one out of place recommendation, usually for something that's entirely unrelated but trending amongst the overall userbase. If it were possible to remove just those random lures along with all live broadcasts the recommendations would likely be uniformly high quality. Anyway, congrats on the extension. This seems especially helpful on mobile where Youtube seems to want to draw you away form the video you actually came to watch.

WaitWaitWha 5y ago

i would like to see groupings. If i could group my channels and my watching pattern, it may alleviate my trepidation about confused algorithms.

schleck8 5y ago

I've been using this myself for a month and it definitely cut down on the time I spent on Youtube. You have fine grain control over what gets hidden, including comments, suggested videos, the frontpage, playlist, infocards and so on.

cyberpsybin 5y ago

Youtube recommendations are fine. People lack self control. It's just a tool.

jcun4128 5y ago

Somewhat related: I wrote my own chrome extension that hides the initial page contents of YouTube other than sidebar/search because I found I would go to look something up like a song and a tile would distract me. So yeah now if I want to actually see the YouTube content on first page, have to click in that area. It's interesting they seem to have a DOM-modified check running. Interesting that feature is part of this nice.

vegai_ 5y ago

Bit too coarse. I dislike that Recommendations list videos that I have seen, but otherwise it's a useful discovery tool.

posed 5y ago

Wow, I was just thinking a few days ago if there's a way to hide the recommendations, which most of the time is distractive and unproductive.

dejw 5y ago

I also recommend chrome extension "Youtube Subscriptions Homescreen" which defaults to your subscriptions page

t0bia_s 5y ago

I use this over year. My time consumtion on YT was reduced drastically since then. Also must have if you want play on YT something for kids.