4 ms·

This has also been my experience. Whenever I view the YouTube homepage signed out or in an incognito window, the video/creator selection is almost wholly alien

This has also been my experience. Whenever I view the YouTube homepage signed out or in an incognito window, the video/creator selection is almost wholly alien and often very unaligned with my personal views.

pests 3y ago
Well, duh. Its personalized. If you signed out - how do you expect them to show you personalized results? Of course the homepage you see is different than the default or what others see. I'm very happy with the state of my homepage and the recommended videos they push to me. Everything is very on-topic to my interests and what I have curated as my watch history over the years. I do agree the default experience is pretty bland and lackluster.
- eastbound 3y ago
  Youtube lacks a button “Show me something else”. I’m stuck in a local minimum, but I keep hearing about valleys of people watching entirely different stuff. I tried searching but the search keeps returning “content I might be interested in” (ie absolutely unrelated to the search) and it’s impossible to “discover more”. (And in France, the “discover” tab is swamped by rap videos).
  - espadrine 3y ago
    A button was actually introduced a couple of years ago for that! It is called the “New to you” button: https://9to5google.com/2021/10/25/youtube-new-to-you/ https://9to5google.com/2021/10/25/youtube-new-to-you/ I use it regularly, but it is well-hidden (usually, the rightmost tag in the ribbon of buttons at the top).
    - pests 3y ago
      Interesting! Never noticed that before. I'll check it out thank you. On my iPhone it is now the third tag in the ribbon right next to All.
  - pests 3y ago
    So it is true there can be some local minimum problems. Sometimes I'll get on a random topic binge for a few days and I'll notice my homepage changing (sometimes for the worse.) In terms of getting out - hard to say. I rarely if ever use search on YouTube or even most of the discovery features unless there is a very specific video I'm looking for. I don't search specific topics or interests to find content. I don't even use the "subscriptions-only" view because I like seeing the algorithm recommend new things to me and I know good content from any of my subscriptions will bubble up if it is good. A few YouTubers I do watch religiously and will personally check their page every so often. Most of the content I watch and people I subscribe too I found pretty organically. Something will pop up on the homepage that I like. I'll check out more of their videos. Then the next day that person and similar channels will start showing up in the algo. Eventually I'll subscribe if its consistent quality. Rinse and repeat. My current homepage consists of indie gamers playing new games, some technology channels like LTT or similar, low-level electronics and circuit board design, a few programming channels, documentaries for speedrunning history, some DIY channels for DIY or furniture building, Ancient Egypt and its conspiracies, game devlogs. I have a guilty pleasure for Minecraft but its been a few weeks since I watched anything related so looking now its completely fallen off the algo. Every so often I'll get a channel rec from reddit or here and I'll check them out. Oh - don't be afraid to curate your watch history. If I watched something I didn't like I go into my watch history and remove that video so it no longer has influence on the algo. I like my history to be an archive of what I have watched so I can find it again though so this is rare.

pests 3y ago

Well, duh. Its personalized. If you signed out - how do you expect them to show you personalized results? Of course the homepage you see is different than the default or what others see. I'm very happy with the state of my homepage and the recommended videos they push to me. Everything is very on-topic to my interests and what I have curated as my watch history over the years. I do agree the default experience is pretty bland and lackluster.

eastbound 3y ago
Youtube lacks a button “Show me something else”. I’m stuck in a local minimum, but I keep hearing about valleys of people watching entirely different stuff. I tried searching but the search keeps returning “content I might be interested in” (ie absolutely unrelated to the search) and it’s impossible to “discover more”. (And in France, the “discover” tab is swamped by rap videos).
- espadrine 3y ago
  A button was actually introduced a couple of years ago for that! It is called the “New to you” button: https://9to5google.com/2021/10/25/youtube-new-to-you/ https://9to5google.com/2021/10/25/youtube-new-to-you/ I use it regularly, but it is well-hidden (usually, the rightmost tag in the ribbon of buttons at the top).
  - pests 3y ago
    Interesting! Never noticed that before. I'll check it out thank you. On my iPhone it is now the third tag in the ribbon right next to All.
- pests 3y ago
  So it is true there can be some local minimum problems. Sometimes I'll get on a random topic binge for a few days and I'll notice my homepage changing (sometimes for the worse.) In terms of getting out - hard to say. I rarely if ever use search on YouTube or even most of the discovery features unless there is a very specific video I'm looking for. I don't search specific topics or interests to find content. I don't even use the "subscriptions-only" view because I like seeing the algorithm recommend new things to me and I know good content from any of my subscriptions will bubble up if it is good. A few YouTubers I do watch religiously and will personally check their page every so often. Most of the content I watch and people I subscribe too I found pretty organically. Something will pop up on the homepage that I like. I'll check out more of their videos. Then the next day that person and similar channels will start showing up in the algo. Eventually I'll subscribe if its consistent quality. Rinse and repeat. My current homepage consists of indie gamers playing new games, some technology channels like LTT or similar, low-level electronics and circuit board design, a few programming channels, documentaries for speedrunning history, some DIY channels for DIY or furniture building, Ancient Egypt and its conspiracies, game devlogs. I have a guilty pleasure for Minecraft but its been a few weeks since I watched anything related so looking now its completely fallen off the algo. Every so often I'll get a channel rec from reddit or here and I'll check them out. Oh - don't be afraid to curate your watch history. If I watched something I didn't like I go into my watch history and remove that video so it no longer has influence on the algo. I like my history to be an archive of what I have watched so I can find it again though so this is rare.