Hacker News Reader

Comment by 0cVlTeIATBs | Hacker News Reader

This looks great; I'm only worried that this might change my habit of specifically avoiding clickbait, so I might no longer send that negative signal.

View on HN

Yeah but don't worry too much about changing your habits, just continue to be selective and critical in your consumption. Remember that it's all about finding a balance between staying informed and maintaining your personal preferences, right?

Yeah, I do a pretty good job already at avoiding garbage but every once in a while I'm caught by surprise. Still, for me at least it's not worth sending a list of every video I watch/search for to a third party and also cloudflare. If this gets popular I could also see it being used maliciously, but it is an interesting idea at least.

Sending a negative signal doesn't seem to be working :)

Negative signals don’t seem to work on any platform. Instagram has a “don’t suggest posts like this” which does absolutely nothing. The only thing which kind of works is “Don’t recommend channel” (YT) / “Don’t suggest posts from this user” (Instagram). However, on Instagram this option only appears occasionally. In most cases I don’t get this option, so I need to click through to their profile to block them. By clicking through to their profile it sends a strong signal to Instagram that I want to see more content like the account I just blocked, so my feed starts filling up with garbage. Writing this makes me realise I need to quit, but it’s difficult.

Don’t worry, they tryout different titles and will see that content matters more than title.

Since watchtime is a major contributor to the algorithm, it might be the opposite if you click out of the video fast enough

surely it's more important that the video itself is of good quality?

You control your mind. You don't want clickbait? You don't need an extension. Control your own.

You’d be a highly effective addictions councillor, especially for physical dependence

The best method for stopping addictions is motivation. If you got enough motivation you can do anything. To get that motivation, you need reasons, and you have to find those reasons, and in this case, is that clickbaits waste your time.

That's my method. And you probably could say "people sometimes can't see the reasons" - that's another issue, and there are different solutions to this, but it is a problem.

Edit: live as you want, but I believe that the best way to you live life is to first control your life.

Most people are on autopilot most of the time.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com