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How well does YouTube's algorithm know you?
- Thread starter MysticGon
- Start date
The music playlist Youtube gives me is really good and that's why I like YouTube Music more than the other competing services.
The videos, I don't like. It's like if I search one thing, it starts recommending me all the videos from that channel despite me not liking the content much. Then it just messes up my discovery of finding stuff I like since it rarely changes recommendations. It's kinda annoying.
The videos, I don't like. It's like if I search one thing, it starts recommending me all the videos from that channel despite me not liking the content much. Then it just messes up my discovery of finding stuff I like since it rarely changes recommendations. It's kinda annoying.
My situation is: I have the Subscriptions page bookmarked and rarely visit the Home page, though I do see the Recommended videos on the FireTV app frequently. I also try to prune videos from my watch history when I don't want to get hit with a wave of similar content in my feed.
So when I look at my list of recommended videos, it's mostly clear how they got there, and most are videos I might conceivably watch, though I hardly ever just dive into a bunch of recommendations; that's not really how I use YouTube. Most of the time I'm either watching stuff I'm subscribed to or searching for something specific. Except if I'm needing something to listen to as I fall asleep, or something on in the background when I'm on my phone. Then I'll just let it autoplay some Best of Giant Bomb or Monster Factory or MBMBAM clips.
So when I look at my list of recommended videos, it's mostly clear how they got there, and most are videos I might conceivably watch, though I hardly ever just dive into a bunch of recommendations; that's not really how I use YouTube. Most of the time I'm either watching stuff I'm subscribed to or searching for something specific. Except if I'm needing something to listen to as I fall asleep, or something on in the background when I'm on my phone. Then I'll just let it autoplay some Best of Giant Bomb or Monster Factory or MBMBAM clips.
I went slightly out of my way to train the algorithm:
- Hard right channels get blocked immediately.
- I tell it to stop recommending videos when they're the top 1% most annoying.
- When i start videos where I don't want them to influence the recommendations, I open it up in a private window.
- Hard right channels get blocked immediately.
- I tell it to stop recommending videos when they're the top 1% most annoying.
- When i start videos where I don't want them to influence the recommendations, I open it up in a private window.
It recommends these moronic Ben Shapiro videos like once a quarter so...Idk I feel like it doesn't really know me.
My fiancé has ruined whatever algorithm I had. My recommendations go wildly between retrogames, drag queens, politics, make-up tutorials, theme parks, and walking tours.
it knows me pretty well. but what i dont like is when i get side tracked by a random video, then all of a sudden my "recommended" list is fuckin packed with that video's category. i get it, but could you maybe just ease it into me instead of straight into my veins?
Same issue for me. It's dumb too because I used to like trolling the front page for new interesting things daily but now it literally just gives me the same videos I've already watched with a few new ones sprinkled in to what I just watched a minute ago.
Oh, I also get those 10+ year old videos where all the views and comments are from a day ago about "11y old vid+ 5mil views = algorithm strikes again" like, tons of these types.
Their algorithm is honestly pretty awful these days and I can only imagine it is hurting them since I'm definitely watching less videoes considering I've seen 90% if the front page even after endlessly scrolling.
I always hit either "do not suggest videos like this" or "not interested in this channel" to keep my recommendations from getting crazy. Since I watch content on news and documentary style channels it can get out of hand pretty quickly with the right wing propaganda and conspiracy theories if I don't curate.
This is my problem.
I often put rain sounds on to go to sleep, and that's all it recommends for me.
I watched a few Completionist video's the other night, and now it's that. They really need to mix it up a bit more.
Pretty good, at this point I can pretty safely click on a new person I have not heard of and they are up front with more progressive views. Like Bioninc Pig was a recent one that I got recommended and his movie reviews calls out sexism and racism. I very readily use the do not recommend features.
Hit:
.
.
.
and use the do not recommend features. You can also try searching and cleaning up your watch history of why you were recommended it. I watched like 2 Iceberg videos a while back when the Mario one happened and the rest were bad but I kept getting new recommendations till I deleted them.
Hit:
.
.
.
and use the do not recommend features. You can also try searching and cleaning up your watch history of why you were recommended it. I watched like 2 Iceberg videos a while back when the Mario one happened and the rest were bad but I kept getting new recommendations till I deleted them.
It knows me well enough to suggest me video game and math rock videos.
Even then, I generally don't do what it suggests because YOU CAN'T TRUST THE SYSTEM
Even then, I generally don't do what it suggests because YOU CAN'T TRUST THE SYSTEM
I am a man of culture.
Since I actually like Track and Field (Sha'Carri Richardson 2021) the damn thing thinks I'm a huge perv.
Since I actually like Track and Field (Sha'Carri Richardson 2021) the damn thing thinks I'm a huge perv.
I've been trying for years, my history is pretty much blank and it still insists on marvel, football and tanks.
Yeah, the recency bias with their Algorithm is pretty terrible. I dip into my subscriptions regularly and go....why the hell aren't you recommending me any of these (and related) videos Youtube? I watch those channels on the regular, but then as soon as I stray into another topic, my feed is flooded with crap.
That could be the issue, I still have my history I just remove what I need to. Pretty sure I managed to purge it of things like Jon White Nationalist Jafari, PBG and the Compleationist as well as put them on do not recommend those channels and they dont show anymore.
It keeps recommending me Let's Plays, AVGN/Nostalgia Critic knock offs, and weirdly enough videos from my subscriptions I've already watched. I mostly use it to watch Defunctland, Nick Knacks, and stuff about Japan. It does sometimes get a home run with obscure theme park videos but most of the time I have no idea why it thinks I want to watch that stuff.
Right now it's full of 'x out of context' videos.
Right now it's full of 'x out of context' videos.
It doesn't know me at all. I've got the quartering and other alt right shit heads on my recommended feed. I created a new account so maybe it'll take some time to settle but that just makes it even worse because YouTube might be recommending these toxic personalities by default.
The homepage only recommendeds channels I'm subbed to (usually back catalogue stuff), I don't/wont watch anything/anyone else.
It probably recommends a lot more of the content that I'm subscribed to than stuff based on my recent viewing, but all in all, I don't get any of the crazy alt-right stuff that a lot of people complain about, so I'm happy with it so long as it keeps that shit the hell out of my feed. My recommended feed is 90% music, cooking, comedy and then the handful of gaming things that I subscribe to like GiantBomb, Minnmax and Kinda Funny Games.
Google don't know shit. It recomends me to buy Yakuza Collection every day even though i bought it more than a year ago.
It's terrible. You look up one car review and you're inundated with car channels forever. I really expected Google of all companies to have a better handle on behavioural / content mapping, with context.
I almost never look at the front page any more - I just act on the notifications I've enabled for channels I actually care about.
I almost never look at the front page any more - I just act on the notifications I've enabled for channels I actually care about.
It's pretty solid at this point, though I marvel at how often it shows me things I already watched and liked/disliked, complete with the full red bar showing it was watched all the way. That, and they still surface identical videos pretty often. Like, if a movie trailer comes out and I watch it on the official channel, YT still tries to recommend the exact same video from several other sources.
i've had my history disabled for years, but i noticed they started providing fairly relevant recommendations a few months back. their algorithm probably takes a bunch of other things into account like channel subscriptions, likes, and account interaction off the site.
i don't mind it anymore since it's introduced me to a lot of channels and videos that i like. i'm still going to leave my history disabled because now i feel like it'll ruin my feed haha.
Not very well. I delete my history now and then, so it doesn't seem to have much to go on.
Every time I look up one video about some topic, the algorithm assumes I'm fucking crazy about that one thing and shows me a million screaming youtubers about that topic. I quickly tell it I'm not interested, but sometimes I just delete history and move on. It's easier that way.
Every time I look up one video about some topic, the algorithm assumes I'm fucking crazy about that one thing and shows me a million screaming youtubers about that topic. I quickly tell it I'm not interested, but sometimes I just delete history and move on. It's easier that way.
I tend to get a ton of videos from creators that I follow but have already watched a year ago. Really annoying.
I spend most of my time on my Subscriptions page but for the most part my suggestions are pretty good. Occasionally there's an odd video that creeps in but mostly it's stuff that has some relation to what I watch.
Every blocked channel weasels its way back into recommends/topic based lists at some point. I have to double check sometimes to see if they're blocked and they are.
Last week YouTube went from;
Prairie Dog family documentary to
Lion cub playing with its dad to
"You wanna see a lion die?" to
"Hey you want some holocaust shit?" in a very short space of time. It's like it keeps trying to escalate me into the darkest stuff it can find.
Last week YouTube went from;
Prairie Dog family documentary to
Lion cub playing with its dad to
"You wanna see a lion die?" to
"Hey you want some holocaust shit?" in a very short space of time. It's like it keeps trying to escalate me into the darkest stuff it can find.
It does okay. Seems to have very short-term memory. Yesterday I watched a video on a new channel, and today it's pushing me multiple videos from that same channel/topic. This happens all the time. Music is a little better, but there again it tends to presume I want to listen to the same shit over and over.
Sometimes youtube will just randomly decide to recommend Ben Shapiro to me, so youtube must think I'm dumber than a second coat of paint.
The algorithm treats me well. I gets vids I'm interested in most of the time (not all the time).
It's dumb when it recommends vids I have already watched though. Come on man heh.
It's dumb when it recommends vids I have already watched though. Come on man heh.
I don't let the algorithm tell me what to watch, as I never open the main page, I go straight to my subscriptions.
