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Is there some kind of curated… I dunno, “smart YouTube”? I can’t stand browsing the site, but love these kinds of gems. [edit] I dunno, “smart” isn’t even righ

Is there some kind of curated… I dunno, “smart YouTube”? I can’t stand browsing the site, but love these kinds of gems. [edit] I dunno, “smart” isn’t even right to describe my ideal YouTube—I’d want to include stuff like those “slow”-style videos that aren’t necessary smart. Just non-clickbait YouTube? Low-dopamine-abuse YouTube?

kylebenzle 2y ago
It's ironic you say that as that is where these videos have been coming from more and more (YouTubes recommendation algorithm). Nine times out of ten, this one included, I'll see the video on YouTube THEN here in HN.
- dwighttk 2y ago
  gotta feed the algorithm, and it will still try crap, but eventually ends up more signal than noise
  - merely-unlikely 2y ago
    Be mindful of what you click (and possibly even just linger over). You get what you engage with, love it or hate it.
    - dwighttk 2y ago
      thankfully they have a "never recommend this channel" that I find pretty effective when they're sending me bait...
fallinditch 2y ago
> curated Here's one with some good stuff https://theawesomer.com/category/videos/ https://theawesomer.com/category/videos/
beAbU 2y ago
Make use of subscriptions, dislike your dislikes, like your likes and liberally hide/remove things from your feed you dont want. Also make sure to prune your history from time to time, especially if you watched "junkfood" and dont want more recommendations for it. The algorithm catches on quickly. My feed is pretty decent and relative to my interests.
- okdood64 2y ago
  Pretty much this. I've curated the recommendations pretty well to my liking over the years. It has some recency bias on "junkfood" I might watch from time to time but it clears away quickly.
  - beAbU 2y ago
    You can remove items from your history, which clears out the junk immediately. Sometimes my wife will accidentally watch something on the TV's YouTube app without signing in to her account first, and then the history delete feature comes in quite handy to ensure I don't get any knitting or kpop videos in my feed.
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  I never subscribe to anything and I never like or dislike videos. I do use "never recommend this channel" occasionally, especially for that bald guy with the beard who has like a dozen channels. If I see his face in a thumbnail it's an instant "never recommend." I will probably start doing the same for channels that are obviously AI created or AI-voiced. Yet it still learns from what I watch and though it throws some clickbait into the mix it's mostly stuff that's relevant to my interests. You never know what it's leaving out though, so a service that curates videos based on stated interests might be interesting. On the other hand I already spend too much time on YouTube so it's not like I need more to watch.
  - helpfulclippy 2y ago
    I was spending way too much time on YouTube. So I disabled history and subscribed to channels I liked. My YouTube use plummeted immediately. Sometimes I search for something or someone links something interesting and I click that, and maybe even add a new subscription that way. I am missing a lot of what YouTube has to offer and it’d be cool if it had a more useful/less exploitative recommendation algorithm, but like you said I don’t need more things to watch.
js8 2y ago
I don't use these but you might want to check things like CuriosityStream or Nebula.
HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
Everyone has different interests though. e.g., I went through the whole series of PacificNorthwestHillbilly videos of rebuilding a 1950's Caterpillar bulldozer. You might not care in the slightest.

kylebenzle 2y ago

It's ironic you say that as that is where these videos have been coming from more and more (YouTubes recommendation algorithm). Nine times out of ten, this one included, I'll see the video on YouTube THEN here in HN.

dwighttk 2y ago
gotta feed the algorithm, and it will still try crap, but eventually ends up more signal than noise
- merely-unlikely 2y ago
  Be mindful of what you click (and possibly even just linger over). You get what you engage with, love it or hate it.
  - dwighttk 2y ago
    thankfully they have a "never recommend this channel" that I find pretty effective when they're sending me bait...

fallinditch 2y ago

> curated Here's one with some good stuff https://theawesomer.com/category/videos/ https://theawesomer.com/category/videos/

beAbU 2y ago

Make use of subscriptions, dislike your dislikes, like your likes and liberally hide/remove things from your feed you dont want. Also make sure to prune your history from time to time, especially if you watched "junkfood" and dont want more recommendations for it. The algorithm catches on quickly. My feed is pretty decent and relative to my interests.

okdood64 2y ago
Pretty much this. I've curated the recommendations pretty well to my liking over the years. It has some recency bias on "junkfood" I might watch from time to time but it clears away quickly.
- beAbU 2y ago
  You can remove items from your history, which clears out the junk immediately. Sometimes my wife will accidentally watch something on the TV's YouTube app without signing in to her account first, and then the history delete feature comes in quite handy to ensure I don't get any knitting or kpop videos in my feed.
SoftTalker 2y ago
I never subscribe to anything and I never like or dislike videos. I do use "never recommend this channel" occasionally, especially for that bald guy with the beard who has like a dozen channels. If I see his face in a thumbnail it's an instant "never recommend." I will probably start doing the same for channels that are obviously AI created or AI-voiced. Yet it still learns from what I watch and though it throws some clickbait into the mix it's mostly stuff that's relevant to my interests. You never know what it's leaving out though, so a service that curates videos based on stated interests might be interesting. On the other hand I already spend too much time on YouTube so it's not like I need more to watch.
- helpfulclippy 2y ago
  I was spending way too much time on YouTube. So I disabled history and subscribed to channels I liked. My YouTube use plummeted immediately. Sometimes I search for something or someone links something interesting and I click that, and maybe even add a new subscription that way. I am missing a lot of what YouTube has to offer and it’d be cool if it had a more useful/less exploitative recommendation algorithm, but like you said I don’t need more things to watch.

js8 2y ago

I don't use these but you might want to check things like CuriosityStream or Nebula.

HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago

Everyone has different interests though. e.g., I went through the whole series of PacificNorthwestHillbilly videos of rebuilding a 1950's Caterpillar bulldozer. You might not care in the slightest.