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Comment by zimpenfish | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn't mind if it didn't keep recommending me videos I've already watched (they're showing the red bar! they know I've watched it!) or from channels I've already said no to or on topics I've frequently said no to or on topics that I watched one video on[1] and now YouTube thinks I want a full page of similar videos.

The algorithm is, for want of some better words, absolute cack.

[1] Even if I don't finish the video or say I don't like it or say "don't recommend channel", FFHS

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I use the like buttons to show myself I've watched a video. It does not result in optimal video recommendations, but hey ho.

The (dis)like buttons are now completely pointless on Youtube, since they removed dislikes when people disliked the wrong things and made Susan (RIP) sad.

It feels like the Youtube algorithm is on drugs now. I get a lot of uninteresting recommendations of videos with no views from channels with no subscribers. A lot of recommendations of things I've already watched recently. A lot of recommendations of stuff that's extremely old (a lot of which I've already watched).

And these recommendations persist for ages. Somehow it must know after a while, after presenting me the same video 50 times that I'm not going to watch it. It's so tiresome. And god help me if I watch a few cat videos. My recs are going to be full of cats for weeks. I feel like I have to watch cat videos in incognito.

> when people disliked the wrong things and made Susan (RIP) sad.

That is wild.

Lol, I know the pain (who doesn’t). Disliking and removing from history works for me, at least in the short term. I put history right on the sidebar with unhook extension, I believe. Sometimes I clear whole pages from there to avoid spam.

What to do with videos I don’t want to dislike, idk. It keeps recommending watch-once-already-watched videos indefinitely.

I solve the problem by watching less and less on youtube. I think it's the solution they wanted.

The goal is maximum relevant ads shown per day, not maximum interesting videos discovered.

You aren’t the target market.

99% of my youtube viewing is via the subscriptions page

Just wait until your kid borrows your phone,one time, to go watch Minecraft videos. You will never escape.

Or your in-laws watch your Netflix over their holiday visit. Now I can't tell if Netflix has generally worse quality content these days or if it's just recommending garbage to me based on what people have watched on my profile.

> to go watch Minecraft videos

Yep, I do that occasionally and bloody hell, you're not wrong about the flood.

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