Shocked expressions, big red arrows pointing to nothing, titles based on shock, surprise or open-ended questions are videos I tend to avoid. I don’t particularly care to watch a video where the first emotion had is sympathy for desperation. (It makes you almost question the emotional state of most of the users that “the algorithm” tuned itself for, TBH. I say that only as an observation of scale when looking at the sheer numbers of viewers that YouTube has.)
Sticking with the subtle stuff is just fine. A picture of the host smiling with an informative title and thumbnail is OK, and not very gag evoking.
Blaming “the algorithm” for having to do that shit is likely a very real thing. However, I will religiously watch channels that produce good content first.
Either way, I have conflicting views: A person has to earn a living, but when emotional exploitation is used in this way, I don’t know what to think. Is it really harmless? Not sure about that yet.
I feel you. DeArrow solves this.
It superficially solves the problem. I want to know who is humiliating themselves to satisfy the algorithm so I can avoid their videos.
Generally I found that people that rely on these types of thumbnails don’t often have very good content. I like Josh the intern but he’s started doing this as well.
Also anything with DESTROYS in the title
I just “don’t recommens me channel” immediately
I killed YouTube history and the algorithm with it. I live on channel subscriptions.
Recommendations are a killer feature on YouTube. Only, one needs to cultivate them carefully. Look through the recommendations on an interesting video and save promising ones into the ‘watch later’ playlist (or better yet, separate playlists per topic). Don’t click on random videos, especially from links on social media — use an incognito tab for that.
This works great for me, I have enough videos saved to last me a year or two at least. YouTube learned my taste quite well, especially when it comes to music — found many good albums and tunes in the recs, despite being a snob.
Don’t click on random videos
Yeah, a single Chrono Trigger cover will contaminate your recommendations for days.
Louis Rossmann’s videos were the break point for me, iirc. I’ve watched a couple of them, comprehended his position well enough, and certainly didn’t need fifty more videos about how laptops are getting un-repairable these days.
I disabled watch history and the default front page is blank for me--tells me to enable watch history. The only place I see recommended videos now is the side bar that shows on the video watch page, which are more relevant than the default home page.
I only watch on desktop, it might be different on phone.
Same thing happened to me. I don’t really search for specific videos or creators, so having absolutely nothing on the front page just made me stop using Youtube. So, good job Google?
YoU wOn’D bAliEvE iT!!!
This was inevitable considering a few notable youtubers (one of them being kwebblekop) has started using AI avatars
I’m glad they do this so I know to avoid their channel. I know their content is likely not something I’m interested in spending my time viewing when I see the thumbnail following whatever the current trend is.
I’m not too interested in the fluffy stuff. But on the occasions I am, it’s easy to find.
For instance, sometimes I like to watch travel vlogs. I avoid the ones that have thumbnails showing the face of the vlogger in every thumbnail, with just one exception, Dale Philip. He also has the most subscribers of anyone I’m subscribed to, by far.
