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For an entity that keeps posturing how they want to organize the worlds data, Google is really falling apart at the seams when it comes to making all that infor

For an entity that keeps posturing how they want to organize the worlds data, Google is really falling apart at the seams when it comes to making all that information, knowledge and content that people entrusted them with available in a basic, organized way. Especially when it comes to Youtube. Hiding dislikes made entire genres on Youtube worthless and gave so much room to grifters. Now that you're forced to do your own curation, they make that harder, too. That's on top of the fact that the recommended sidebar has been a failed experiment at best for a decade and a half now, subscriptions at some point became nothing more than a soft recommendation unless you manually go through each and every one of them and subscribe to their notifications. The homepage is really just... sad. I do not doubt for one second that Youtube is a beast among beasts to keep alive and the fact that it still exists is a feat itself. But man, some of these decisions of the past few years, especially, really make it tough to look at the timeline of how that platform developed and keep a positive image of Google. I can only conclude that Google would rather be just-another-attention-parasite than a company that brings value to the world, if it means marginally more profit.

delecti 4y ago
> subscriptions at some point become nothing more than a soft recommendation The subscription feed isn't 100% rock solid, but I've used it pretty consistently, almost every day for at least the past decade, and find it quite reliable. It's reliable to the point that I don't think this is even a legitimate criticism: if you want videos from channels you've subscribed to, go to the page that is both easily accessible and expressly for that purpose. https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions
- TrianguloY 4y ago
  I also dislike users that think that the home page is the subscriptions page, and complaining that they are missing videos (go to the subscriptions page!). But I have personally seen on my own account videos from channels I follow that weren't displayed on the subscriptions page, and I noticed because they were displayed on the home page.
  - MildlySerious 4y ago
    I have not visited the homepage other than by accident in many years, FYI. I am talking about results being omitted from the sub feed. This is related to the whole "notification bell" thing. Unless you turn on notifications - manually - for every channel, their uploads may be omitted in the feed. Unless something has changed at some point that I missed.
- MildlySerious 4y ago
  This may depend on the amount of channels you're subscribed to. I've got a lot of subscriptions (423) , split mostly between music and educational channels. Some of the channels that post less frequently just don't show up in my feed at all, which happen to be the more educational ones that I interact with the most. It is known among content creators that Youtube's algorithm highly prefers frequency and consistency, and I suspect that includes the subscription feed in cases where some results are omitted. I've gone to channels manually and realized I've missed the last five or six most recent uploads so many times now, and I check the subscriptions page almost daily and have been, for a long time. On a side note, my bookmark points right to the subscription feed, because I think the homepage is an abomination. I can only recommend that to anyone.
- baja_blast 4y ago
  I agree that for me youtube's recommendations for me at least is spot on, so much so I watch more Youtube than any streaming service by a wide margin. But I do think that removing newest/oldest and downvote sucks, I love engaging in the comment section specially for scientific discussions since I like to gauge people's consensus and look for interesting interpretations. One feature I wish YouTube would add is maybe a mood/topic setting so that when I am in the food to watch dense technical podcasts I can set YouTube to primarily prioritize those recommendations. Conversely on a lazy Sunday I may want to watch more casual fun topics, or maybe history focused content. Right now the recommendations are heavily swayed by my last Youtube binge, so on a Monday when I want to dive into technical topics, my recommendations are very lazy Sunday heavy.
psygn89 4y ago
I agree. What I don't understand is why don't they make these features they removed available in their paid plans. As much as I'd hate to admit it, I would probably pay to have these removed features and more.
zwkrt 4y ago
They do organize the worlds data. They organize it to best ensure that advertisements displayed next to the data are the most likely to affect the user on the site. They organize it at the request of corporations and governments. They organize it to be addictive, flashy, entertaining, divisive, and time consuming.
deleted 4y ago
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delecti 4y ago

> subscriptions at some point become nothing more than a soft recommendation The subscription feed isn't 100% rock solid, but I've used it pretty consistently, almost every day for at least the past decade, and find it quite reliable. It's reliable to the point that I don't think this is even a legitimate criticism: if you want videos from channels you've subscribed to, go to the page that is both easily accessible and expressly for that purpose. https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions

TrianguloY 4y ago
I also dislike users that think that the home page is the subscriptions page, and complaining that they are missing videos (go to the subscriptions page!). But I have personally seen on my own account videos from channels I follow that weren't displayed on the subscriptions page, and I noticed because they were displayed on the home page.
- MildlySerious 4y ago
  I have not visited the homepage other than by accident in many years, FYI. I am talking about results being omitted from the sub feed. This is related to the whole "notification bell" thing. Unless you turn on notifications - manually - for every channel, their uploads may be omitted in the feed. Unless something has changed at some point that I missed.
MildlySerious 4y ago
This may depend on the amount of channels you're subscribed to. I've got a lot of subscriptions (423) , split mostly between music and educational channels. Some of the channels that post less frequently just don't show up in my feed at all, which happen to be the more educational ones that I interact with the most. It is known among content creators that Youtube's algorithm highly prefers frequency and consistency, and I suspect that includes the subscription feed in cases where some results are omitted. I've gone to channels manually and realized I've missed the last five or six most recent uploads so many times now, and I check the subscriptions page almost daily and have been, for a long time. On a side note, my bookmark points right to the subscription feed, because I think the homepage is an abomination. I can only recommend that to anyone.
baja_blast 4y ago
I agree that for me youtube's recommendations for me at least is spot on, so much so I watch more Youtube than any streaming service by a wide margin. But I do think that removing newest/oldest and downvote sucks, I love engaging in the comment section specially for scientific discussions since I like to gauge people's consensus and look for interesting interpretations. One feature I wish YouTube would add is maybe a mood/topic setting so that when I am in the food to watch dense technical podcasts I can set YouTube to primarily prioritize those recommendations. Conversely on a lazy Sunday I may want to watch more casual fun topics, or maybe history focused content. Right now the recommendations are heavily swayed by my last Youtube binge, so on a Monday when I want to dive into technical topics, my recommendations are very lazy Sunday heavy.

psygn89 4y ago

I agree. What I don't understand is why don't they make these features they removed available in their paid plans. As much as I'd hate to admit it, I would probably pay to have these removed features and more.

zwkrt 4y ago

They do organize the worlds data. They organize it to best ensure that advertisements displayed next to the data are the most likely to affect the user on the site. They organize it at the request of corporations and governments. They organize it to be addictive, flashy, entertaining, divisive, and time consuming.

deleted 4y ago

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