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I also find that I often experience the modern version of "no one gets me" quite frequently, which is that none of the algorithms really get me. Maybe I am inte

I also find that I often experience the modern version of "no one gets me" quite frequently, which is that none of the algorithms really get me. Maybe I am interested in too many disparate things. Probably the worst offender here is the YouTube algorithm. YouTube really really believes I'm someone who wants a never-ending stream of Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, etc. I have no idea how YouTube became convinced of that, and why it won't give up on the idea. I don't click on the videos, When they pop up in my shorts I immediately swipe past them, I can't even figure out how the kinds of videos I do watch would be connected. I would actually love to have a good algorithm that would scour all of the content of the web and recommend just the things I would like, but all the algorithms that exist seem bad at doing that.

082349872349872 3y ago
> I can't even figure out how the kinds of videos I do watch would be connected. Should they be? What in YouTube's business model involves providing accurate recommendations? (FWIW I've been loving the nearly-completely blank new YT home page. Tune in, turn off YT history, see the lame reccos drop out)
- importantbrian 3y ago
  It seems to me that it would be in YouTube's best interest to provide me with accurate recommendations. The more content they can get me to watch, the more ads I view, which is how they get paid. It would seem that more accurate recommendations would encourage more view time and more add engagement.
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    To put it more baldly: Your matching problem is: what are the videos I would most like to watch Youtube's matching problem is: what are the most lucrative videos which the modal user will still watch Consider the limiting case: if people were willing to watch ads without any content in between, YT would happily serve them exactly that.
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    Could be; I believe they believe their recommendations are just good enough to get you (or at least their modal user) to watch the ads for which they get paid the most, and if they made more accurate recommendations they'd have to serve ads that didn't pay as well. Maybe that's too cynical, and accurate recommendations are difficult. I've observed I can do much better by searching for content on my own, so I do.
ahazred8ta 3y ago
"click your profile icon in the top-right of YouTube and choose Your Data In YouTube again. Scroll down to YouTube Watch History and click the field labeled On. There, you can choose the Turn off option" -- Another method is to set Auto-Delete to 'anything older than 3 months'.

082349872349872 3y ago

> I can't even figure out how the kinds of videos I do watch would be connected. Should they be? What in YouTube's business model involves providing accurate recommendations? (FWIW I've been loving the nearly-completely blank new YT home page. Tune in, turn off YT history, see the lame reccos drop out)

importantbrian 3y ago
It seems to me that it would be in YouTube's best interest to provide me with accurate recommendations. The more content they can get me to watch, the more ads I view, which is how they get paid. It would seem that more accurate recommendations would encourage more view time and more add engagement.
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  To put it more baldly: Your matching problem is: what are the videos I would most like to watch Youtube's matching problem is: what are the most lucrative videos which the modal user will still watch Consider the limiting case: if people were willing to watch ads without any content in between, YT would happily serve them exactly that.
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  Could be; I believe they believe their recommendations are just good enough to get you (or at least their modal user) to watch the ads for which they get paid the most, and if they made more accurate recommendations they'd have to serve ads that didn't pay as well. Maybe that's too cynical, and accurate recommendations are difficult. I've observed I can do much better by searching for content on my own, so I do.

ahazred8ta 3y ago

"click your profile icon in the top-right of YouTube and choose Your Data In YouTube again. Scroll down to YouTube Watch History and click the field labeled On. There, you can choose the Turn off option" -- Another method is to set Auto-Delete to 'anything older than 3 months'.