YouTube

I'm not sure how if I'm explaining this properly, but lately I feel like I've been getting recommendations for videos about non-existent controversies. Like, the content creators are trying to make a big about nothing to get people to click.

You Are Not Alone as I’ve gotten an few videos like that myself. Another thing I’ve noticed lately is everyone is either using more clickbait titles or they only talk about the actual topic of their for like ten seconds. It’s started ever since Mat Pat left. Even Mutthar is doing it.

Edited by eirigfi on Mar 24th 2024 at 9:29:30 AM

Just scrolled through my Youtube homepage removing several such videos, so yes, its definitely a thing.

How did you remove them?

Yeah, I'm starting to get annoyed whenever some YouTubers put out some clickbait title and said title had nothing to do with whatever they are talking about in the video. This also happens with the thumbnails.

I've also seen a lot of channels imply that they're ending their channel/changing how they produce content (with video titles like "Things Need to Change"), only for the video to just be promoting their Patreon.

I'd also like to give a shameless plug for the DeArrow extension, which crowdsources better video titles and thumbnails. I don't think it has totally fixed clickbait (since I usually watch videos when they're new and avoid clickbait channels in the first place), but I've noticed a pretty good improvement so far.

Yeah, I've been seeing a lot of channels saying that they are "ending their channels" or "changing things on their channels" and it ended up not actually happening. Those are clickbaits that are a bit too extreme since many viewers will actually think that these channels are ending.

Clickbait has been a thing since forever. It continually adapts to what audiences seem to want.

And unfortunately it seems like everyone on the platform is doing it cause why not?

If you don't play the game, you don't get the views.

YouTube is testing a new feature on its official Android and iThing apps.

It's a reworking of the skip ahead function. Right now, tapping the video n+1 times in quick succession jumps forward n seconds. The new function uses some combination of watch history, harvested data, and AI to instantly jump to the point it thinks the viewer wants to jump to.

Sounds like this will be useful to skip sponsorships.

> Sounds like this will be useful to skip sponsorships.

which is precisely why they won't let you do that

AdBlocker wasn't working well for YouTube today. So I got uBlock Origin and it works perfectly, none of that "ad blocker detected so you can't watch a video unless you turn it off or subscribe lol" garbage.

I think I'm going to get the Ublock Origin. My Ad Blocker hasn't been working that well lately.

I doubt YouTube staff care whether people watch the sponsor segments.

Yeah, I think that the sponsor stuff is only really important to the content creators.

Sponsors with ads! I always thought sponsors would make creators stop ads (I wouldn't know nowadays), but apparently they still put ads?

I have my history disabled because I don't want Youtube following what I follow. But I thinking of turning it on to try and get rid of all the video recommendations I find morally repugnant. But I don't trust Youtube to remember and block what I want it to block and just use my history for ad revenue.

When I was a kid my older sibling kept engrossing me with what was going on in democrat/republican news. Said it was because a POC needed to be politically aware. I asked a basic right vs wrong question and my sibling explained FOX news was full of bad people with racist/problematic/selfish views.

So I then asked "well if they're so bad, why do you watch them? Wouldn't it be better to just tune them out and not give them time of day?" Sibling said "its still important to know what the other other side is saying" and gave me a smirk like I was too young to truly understand. They weren't wrong; I thought that was dumb and just considered FOX news and anything linked to it "bad."

Of course this led to a problem because I liked the Simpsons.

Anyway, I'm older now and while politics is still maddening and news cycles are repetitive and cynical, I get it. I went through a brief "my opinion matters and if I absorb enough news content I'll eventually be super smart and capable" phase in my 20's, especially with digital content making a breakthrough into public consciousness. It started with CNN getting delivered to me on a platter then MSNBC. Then I would skim those Tucker Carlson news reports and Sean Hannity and The Five.

Youtube decided I really liked those. It took a month of me just not following the news before that stopped. I don't fully regret it though. Even if I don't morally agree with something there's moral value in keeping abreast of it. It was fascinating, like my sibling said, even if you don't completely agree with one side of the American political spectrum, to hear the points the other side raised. I've taken that viewpoint with me throughout my life.

Now, granted, morally repugnant is a wide definition. And I'm at a point now where I still hate Youtube fame/drama and don't want to support the system around it at all, so it probably would be mentally healthier to just filter out all content I find repugnant. But then I'd miss such exciting news like Logan Paul fighting Mike Tyson in a boxing ring, Ninja having cancer, Matpat leaving Youtube, and professional breakdowns about what happened to (insert youtuber/company here) and why they were always destined to fail.

I agree with the value of being exposed to worldviews outside your own, though I'm only capable of handling that if the most extreme elements have been filtered out. Of course, even videos that provide that information second hand like I describe have a tendency to tip the Youtube algorithm toward providing less filtered stuff.

YouTube makes it annoyingly difficult to fully block anyone from your feed. You can tell it, "Don't recommend this channel," but that doesn't apply to search results.

I am having issues with manosphere and alt-right dipshits being recommended, all despite most of my views being from the complete opposite of them.

That explains a lot. You'd think Search would have that but nope.

Search has been crap since 2022 I'd say.

I don’t believe you can remove ads anymore unless you make the video include content that would get it demonetised. You Tube want the ads to run because they get a cut from the ads but not from the sponsorships.