6 ms·

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless y

by omega3 4y ago

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketable topics) is close to worthless.

LinuxBender 4y ago
There is an addon to bring back downvote visibility in firefox. [1] I believe it makes a call to an API on a 3rd party site so there may be privacy implications. [1] - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/return-youtube-dislikes/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/return-youtub...
bfung 4y ago
There’s still the “don’t recommend channel” and “not interested” options to modify recommendations.
bergenty 4y ago
I disagree. YouTube content has never been better for me. There has been an explosion of specialized and niche videos and the recommendation algorithm really seems to be working for me.
tmaly 4y ago
I am curious, why was downvoting removed? It seems to have had a bad effect based on what you are saying.
abnercoimbre 4y ago
> Especially since the removal of downvoting A wake-up call that a single company annihilated our ability to sort out information for ourselves. I'm still rather disturbed and shaken.
- scoot 4y ago
  "Shaken"? That seems a bit hyperbolic.
  - spacemanmatt 4y ago
    Let people be authoritative on their own condition
    - vanillaicesquad 4y ago
- Mo3 4y ago
  You can still see the downvotes with a browser add-on. But yes, I'm also quite disturbed this by this absolutely idiotic decision.
- kuu 4y ago
  You're waking up a bit too late... It's not different than Facebook and their news feed sorted by the "algorithm", the same as Instagram, TikTok or Twitter (at least with Twitter you still can choose)...
  - EUROCARE 4y ago
    Yes, this ship has sailed ever since search is not returning most relevant results but ordered by whatever they think would make me watch more...
- martin_a 4y ago
  > to sort out information for ourselves. How can you sort something you know nothing about? Downvotes, and their ratio to upvotes, were an important signal to get an idea of how good the video overall was.
  - junon 4y ago
    That's their point.
grumbel 4y ago
Did that dislike button ever do anything? It made a number go up, but other than that I have never seen any effect of it. If you want to make bad channels go away, hit the three-dots next to the video on the recommendation side and click "Not Interested".
- davidthewatson 4y ago
  That sounds wonderful except that it works about as well as the voice on my Google assistant understanding anything beyond simplistic questions and answers. I’ve attempted to train YouTube repeatedly since the appearance of “not interested” that I’m not interested in violence. If I wanted this much violence, I could have gotten it for free. At least with Google assistant I can scream expletives and insults at the ai and get some satisfaction that the qa retrospective will be amusing for those stuck working there. I mean, does ai really deserve respect when it is so poorly designed?
  - jjeaff 4y ago
    Are you logged in? I don't ever see violent videos on YouTube. It seems to suggest what I like to watch. If you aren't logged in, it will pickup on what other people in your household are watching.
  - 411111111111111 4y ago
    The list of "not interested" is also limited to 100 entries. Once you've reached that limit the oldest entries get removed. It's a pointless feature at this point if you ask me.
- AndyJames 4y ago
  It helped a lot with how to/tutorial videos. When looking for a solution I could see at first glance if I'm watching correct video. If there was more dislikes than likes I could tell straight away to not follow this suggestions.
dzek69 4y ago
> Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. It drives me CRAZY! How often I want to know something about a product (something less popular than smartphones, let's say IP cameras) and I find only ~3 reviews, I watch them all and they are all full of BS, because the reviewer has no experience with the product type they are given, they just follow the manual/or some given instructions by the sponsor how to make the product work. So I still know nothing about the product, its pros and cons and I can spot mistakes and BS even in those basic info that was given. In this specific case of IP cameras for example there are TONS of videos NOT showing the real video feed (recordings) from the camera, they just record the smartphone screen with another smartphone/camera and that's it.
- ishjoh 4y ago
  Many reviews the reviewers don't have the product and instead cobble together information from the description and other sources, that's why there is no unique information in the reviews and they are so information light. They do this so that they can have affiliate links where they can make money, with a heavy understanding of SEO this can be a very profitable practice. When I discovered this practice from a well known SEO guru, I was both sad and angry.
- grumbel 4y ago
  That's a difficult problem to solve and extends far beyond Youtube. The reason why that happens is just due to timing, first one to review a new product gets all the clicks. So they can't spend weeks actually using the product to write a proper review, as interest would have been largely faded at that point. Back in the paper magazine days they had much more time, as magazines only got released once a month. Meanwhile if you ignore all the commercial Youtubers and look for regular people using the product, you might end up with a more 'authentic' review, but also with an equally uninformative one, as most people just don't have access to all the latest tech gadgets on the market. They just have the one they are reviewing right now, so it's hard to get any meaningful comparisons. There are a couple of good review sites left, but not nearly enough to cover all the tech stuff that gets released in the wild.
- elaus 4y ago
paulus_magnus2 4y ago
Opportunity for a browser plugin counting upvotes / downvotes / other useful flags
- zthrowaway 4y ago
  https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dislike/gebbhagfogifgggkldgodflihgfeippi https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dis...
incomingpain 4y ago
>Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. This is it isnt it. When they removed downvoting I figured it didnt matter, but really youtube really got past its peak because of this.
whinvik 4y ago
Examples of forums that you search at?
zthrowaway 4y ago
Unfortunately all those downvotes on Biden’s videos on the White House channel right after his inauguration were effective.
wodenokoto 4y ago
I still downvote videos on YouTube.

by omega3 4y ago

LinuxBender 4y ago

There is an addon to bring back downvote visibility in firefox. [1] I believe it makes a call to an API on a 3rd party site so there may be privacy implications. [1] - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/return-youtube-dislikes/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/return-youtub...

bfung 4y ago

There’s still the “don’t recommend channel” and “not interested” options to modify recommendations.

bergenty 4y ago

I disagree. YouTube content has never been better for me. There has been an explosion of specialized and niche videos and the recommendation algorithm really seems to be working for me.

tmaly 4y ago

I am curious, why was downvoting removed? It seems to have had a bad effect based on what you are saying.

abnercoimbre 4y ago

> Especially since the removal of downvoting A wake-up call that a single company annihilated our ability to sort out information for ourselves. I'm still rather disturbed and shaken.

scoot 4y ago
"Shaken"? That seems a bit hyperbolic.
- spacemanmatt 4y ago
  Let people be authoritative on their own condition
  - vanillaicesquad 4y ago
Mo3 4y ago
You can still see the downvotes with a browser add-on. But yes, I'm also quite disturbed this by this absolutely idiotic decision.
kuu 4y ago
You're waking up a bit too late... It's not different than Facebook and their news feed sorted by the "algorithm", the same as Instagram, TikTok or Twitter (at least with Twitter you still can choose)...
- EUROCARE 4y ago
  Yes, this ship has sailed ever since search is not returning most relevant results but ordered by whatever they think would make me watch more...
martin_a 4y ago
> to sort out information for ourselves. How can you sort something you know nothing about? Downvotes, and their ratio to upvotes, were an important signal to get an idea of how good the video overall was.
- junon 4y ago
  That's their point.

grumbel 4y ago

Did that dislike button ever do anything? It made a number go up, but other than that I have never seen any effect of it. If you want to make bad channels go away, hit the three-dots next to the video on the recommendation side and click "Not Interested".

davidthewatson 4y ago
That sounds wonderful except that it works about as well as the voice on my Google assistant understanding anything beyond simplistic questions and answers. I’ve attempted to train YouTube repeatedly since the appearance of “not interested” that I’m not interested in violence. If I wanted this much violence, I could have gotten it for free. At least with Google assistant I can scream expletives and insults at the ai and get some satisfaction that the qa retrospective will be amusing for those stuck working there. I mean, does ai really deserve respect when it is so poorly designed?
- jjeaff 4y ago
  Are you logged in? I don't ever see violent videos on YouTube. It seems to suggest what I like to watch. If you aren't logged in, it will pickup on what other people in your household are watching.
- 411111111111111 4y ago
  The list of "not interested" is also limited to 100 entries. Once you've reached that limit the oldest entries get removed. It's a pointless feature at this point if you ask me.
AndyJames 4y ago
It helped a lot with how to/tutorial videos. When looking for a solution I could see at first glance if I'm watching correct video. If there was more dislikes than likes I could tell straight away to not follow this suggestions.

dzek69 4y ago

> Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. It drives me CRAZY! How often I want to know something about a product (something less popular than smartphones, let's say IP cameras) and I find only ~3 reviews, I watch them all and they are all full of BS, because the reviewer has no experience with the product type they are given, they just follow the manual/or some given instructions by the sponsor how to make the product work. So I still know nothing about the product, its pros and cons and I can spot mistakes and BS even in those basic info that was given. In this specific case of IP cameras for example there are TONS of videos NOT showing the real video feed (recordings) from the camera, they just record the smartphone screen with another smartphone/camera and that's it.

ishjoh 4y ago
Many reviews the reviewers don't have the product and instead cobble together information from the description and other sources, that's why there is no unique information in the reviews and they are so information light. They do this so that they can have affiliate links where they can make money, with a heavy understanding of SEO this can be a very profitable practice. When I discovered this practice from a well known SEO guru, I was both sad and angry.
grumbel 4y ago
That's a difficult problem to solve and extends far beyond Youtube. The reason why that happens is just due to timing, first one to review a new product gets all the clicks. So they can't spend weeks actually using the product to write a proper review, as interest would have been largely faded at that point. Back in the paper magazine days they had much more time, as magazines only got released once a month. Meanwhile if you ignore all the commercial Youtubers and look for regular people using the product, you might end up with a more 'authentic' review, but also with an equally uninformative one, as most people just don't have access to all the latest tech gadgets on the market. They just have the one they are reviewing right now, so it's hard to get any meaningful comparisons. There are a couple of good review sites left, but not nearly enough to cover all the tech stuff that gets released in the wild.
elaus 4y ago

paulus_magnus2 4y ago

Opportunity for a browser plugin counting upvotes / downvotes / other useful flags

zthrowaway 4y ago
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dislike/gebbhagfogifgggkldgodflihgfeippi https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dis...

incomingpain 4y ago

>Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. This is it isnt it. When they removed downvoting I figured it didnt matter, but really youtube really got past its peak because of this.

whinvik 4y ago

Examples of forums that you search at?

zthrowaway 4y ago

Unfortunately all those downvotes on Biden’s videos on the White House channel right after his inauguration were effective.

wodenokoto 4y ago

I still downvote videos on YouTube.