I want TH-cam to recognize that just because I engage with travel content, it doesn’t mean I no longer want to see video essays and cooking videos. It’s like the algorithm thinks you can’t have more than one interest at the same time.
Interesting, I thought it was just my watching habits that caused that effect because I do tend to focus on one thing at a time but maybe it’s a TH-cam thing too
XD for real, even autistic people (as I am) have more than just one single interest lol it's like i look up a single video about sleep ambiance and my whole feed now is just riddled with sleep bowls and meditation stuff like STOP bro omg. i watch an ann rearden video and all my stuff is now cooking. relax a little bit!
YES!! The only time I actually get the videos I want is if I'm on a channel dedicated to just one thing. 2 at the most. If you're interested in more than 1-2 things, TH-cam just stops working and video vomits at you.
It's odd because I have so many interests and YT does recommend me a little of them all. But, unlike you, I can switch from space actuality to let's play on Nintendo games to video essay about sociology, or series review and analysis, back to space science and all of this within an hour or even less. So I do hope that YT gives me several recommendations, even of games I never heard about or about a science I haven't studied yet. Though, I admit I regularly have to actively search for the kind of content I feel like watching. It's only natural though, algorithms can't know what I have in mind right now. Lucky me!
One of my main issues with TH-cam more recently is that I'm scared to click on a random video that interests me, because then it will be all I'm recommended for weeks.
Yeah I searched fantasy music playlists for when I’m reading or going to sleep and now almost every video in my recommended is just that. Same with scam-baiting videos, I watch tons of other things but when I started getting back into them they were taking up my recommended after only watching a couple of them.
Hahaha I thought the same thing. He knows how whack TH-cam is so we'll, that he showed in our feeds and started with "you probably have no idea who I am and why my video was recommended to you" His right though, it's fantastic small channels are being recommended, I've said that to a few people. I reckon the algorithm is just so complex the code needs to be tweaked
This is only getting worse over time too. I feel like especially lately I've been spending more time scrolling on YT than watching videos. Getting the same recommendations, seeing things I've already watched (but without showing it??), and lately getting a lot of videos with a max of 100 views with bad quality content. I enjoy the low-stakes variety that comes with YT, I don't really like watching shows or movies as much. Not sure what to do at this point. (yes I searched this video cuz it was getting that bad and to make sure im not crazy)
I feel the same way about this site now. I used to have real variety and it had helped me be more creative and learn more actively than I am now. I still love YT for content over any other platform but a lot of the good OG content is no longer correct or acceptable. Caused me to scroll for good videos, but it's a habit I have from years of being able to find new interesting content in a space where that doesn't even happen anymore. Like have you refreshed the page and it only rearranges the recommendations slightly? Honestly it's infuriating what it has become 😒
i thought i was crazy at first. now i know otherwise. im glad some small channels are recommended to me though cause i found two people who deserve way more support.
I've recently been recommended some travel videos from some aunties and picture collages from older folks, and honestly it's way better than what I was watching before 😂
Fr, TH-cam's been recommending me some interesting channels recently. A couple of days ago it recommended me two gay furry let's players. Honestly, pretty good channel
i never saw this man before, until TH-cam decided to put him on my front page as a recommended video. (I am thankful for it and watched a couple of his videos, it's interesting fun content, thanks TH-cam, you did something right for once👍🏻)
Personally the worst aspect of it for me is that sometimes you’ll find one of these random videos interesting so you watch that one video and then suddenly for ages the algorithm thinks that niche is your favourite thing and will fill your entire page with similar videos even if you never click on them and aren’t still interested in the subjects or content types
Yea it’s usually viral type videos that almost anyone would be curious about. But it’s like rubbernecking an accident.. of course you want to look, but realize that if you force yourself to look forward, you’ll waste less time on something irrelevant. All you can do now is delete it from your watch history
A few days ago, I watched a TH-camr who was reviewing 3 games in my favorite video game franchise across 3 separate videos. I didn’t watch any other videos by this TH-camr, and I was only interested in watching them because they were about a niche game franchise that I love. Yesterday I counted ELEVEN videos in a row unrelated to that franchise by that same creator in my recommended videos on the side of another video completely unrelated to that creator or that game franchise. I would understand if it was one or two videos spread out to try to gauge if my interest in that channel is more than just that one game franchise, but 11 videos in a row is insane. TH-cam really needs to fix their algorithm…
what's particularly baffling and distressing to me, is that i can manually select videos i DON'T want youtube to show me, submitting the reason "I DONT LIKE THIS VIDEO" and i KEEP getting videos on the same topic! (ie serial child killer news pieces). it's legit traumatising to see those headlines. yet creators can't say certain generic words or they get demonetized. their algorithms are fucking appalling.
I have no idea why this was recommended but I agree. The search not letting me strictly search the subject is honestly infuriating and has our family thinking of cancel our TH-cam premium plan. TH-cam has been getting worse since around 2017, I remember they changed the home page and the way subscriptions work and how they show content. I am super sad, wish things would get back to the way they were when TH-cam was in its earlier years
TH-cam just feels stagnant. I feel like I can't actually find new things because it either recommends things I've already seen, people I'm subscribed to that I'll watch anyway, or stuff that is completely irrelevant to my interests. No matter what it just feels like I'm going in a loop. For context of how I got here though, I'm pretty sure I was recommended this because I always watch similar videos. So even with this, youtube still isn't giving me new things to explore that would broaden what I find interesting.
I've been having the same problem. I've been trying to use the "New to You" tab to find new content, but the option to go there doesn't even reliably show up on mobile, and when it does the feed is never more than 20 videos.
My problem is that it seems to mainly recommend content you’ve watched very recently. For example if I binge watched TH-cam videos about movies for an entire month I’d only be getting recommendations about movie videos or random stuff I’m not interested in. Then let’s say I watch videos about dogs for one week and take a break from movie content, it will then act like it completely forgot I like movie content or any of the movie people I subscribed to and just start only recommending me dog videos. It’s annoying because it seems to want to keep you on a loop of just watching the same content you are watching continuously. Then you get on a TH-cam and just see the same videos and type of videos over and over when TH-cam used to frequently show you topics you used to watch to see if you wanted to start watching them again or show you people you’re subscribed to but haven’t watched in a while. It seems like you’re cut off from everything now other than what you’re currently watching and seemingly completely random videos you’ve never showed interest in. Used to id get on TH-cam see someone I haven’t watched in a while and say “oh yeah I need to start watching them again”. Now that never happens unless I happen to remember them or scroll all the way through my subscribed list.
I found a good solution is to have an alt account and just watch some of the videos that you normally watch. Usually the reccomendation after a bit is a bit spicy. Igcognito also works pretty well.
The only part of TH-cam’s algorithm that I hate is that when I’m watching a video, the recommended videos underneath it are now completely UNRELATED to the video that I’m watching, and those videos are basically the exact same videos I would just see in my home feed
I usually use TH-cam for work and my content basically should relate to that as I'm keeping myself more productive engaging with such content everyday even for a bit. BUT the only exception of "unrelated" content under videos that I watch is honestly... Cats lol. Short, uplifting and no pressure 😂
Absolutely! Now it's way more hard to find the next episode of a let's play series so it's basically mandatory to find the playlist. And similarly if I want more videos from the channel I'm watching they won't be recommended if they aren't a large channel.
Just speculation, but I wonder if that change was made to stop people going down some of the conspiracy theory or far-right rabbit holes that used to be a huge problem. I remember there being a lot of concerns that the recommendeds would skew people deeper and deeper down these dark places and it was doing a lot of damage.
I completely agree. TH-cam has become constraining and instead of feeling free to explore content I’m actually interested in, I’m seeing only a small selection of what TH-cam thinks I like. Very annoying.
Not to forget, getting the MSM shoved in your face, like with videos from CNN, NBC, FOX or HuffPo getting pushed on top, but the *independent* voices and independent smaller news channels getting almost *no* fraction or exposure when searching.
It's why I think giving capitalists unchecked power over such an important piece of media is a really bad idea. I think there should be government regulations by the EU and US to set standards, improve transparancy and maybe combat some of the bad incentives. The important thing though is that they need to be regulations for youtube, not for youtube users.
I'm definitely experiencing this. It also seems like youtube's "memory" is getting bad; I have watched a large variety of content, predominately targeted towards young people. Recently, though, I've been watching a few embroidery and sewing videos. TH-cam seems to have forgotten everything about me and mistaken me for an elderly lady! a few videos out of the ordinary and know I can't find anything else I'm in to. And I'm getting ads for makeup that look good on wrinkly skin (so old people), even though I'm a teenager!
I've recently noticed youtube isn't tracking my Account and my Wife's separately... I'm getting her favorite channels recommended, and she's getting mine. Also, I get ads based on what she's been shopping for. Some people might think that's creepy, but I'm just annoyed at the usability impact: If I want to watch that stuff, I'll log in with my wife and we'll watch it together. Save the screen space!
I'm getting the reverse. I started watching one younger creator and now everything I'm recommended is for teens/young adults. I don't need clubbing outfits ffs I'm *literally ancient*! If I show up in the club, something has gone horribly wrong
This video is so meta. I can easily assume Zack had no idea it would do this well, but the algorithm did exactly what he described and put his video at the forefront of all of our pages because we, the people, hit the like button and interacted with it. The irony of this video landing on so many peoples pages that it has now amassed 1,000,000+ views is astounding. Kudos to you, Zackary.
The one that annoyed me the most is the fact that I would search a video that I KNOW EXISTS and then YT would suggest 3 random videos then give me some "for you" videos like... whaaa? I'm glad this video got big and arrived to my recommends. You deserve it.
Explains why TH-cam has felt so bland to me lately. I open it, see a bunch of content I don’t really care about, and give up. It feels like a chore to watch TH-cam now more than ever. Not to even mention the terrible search function. All these content platforms keep sterilizing themselves to be more marketable and it’s ruining them. On the bright side, this social media apocalypse is making me want to pick up a book instead for once.
The search function isn't even giving me results of the words I actually searched. I just get my recommended videos which have nothing to do with the search
@@effbar2400it’s def a user wide problem if it isn’t a platform centered problem. But many people say these things so I don’t think it’s limited to tht individual
My biggest beef right now is keeping the videos or programs I've watched reposted WITHOUT the red line under them to show I've already watched them !!! If it's within the last month I can usually remember I've watched them. I find it extremely frustrating and a waste of my time !!! As for watching YOUR video, I specifically watched it in hopes you would be a legit source of information and was not disappointed. I am 70 years old, consider myself computer literate, and watch a lot of videos on new trends, subject matter, and interest of the younger people to help me understand their generational culture and give me a better understanding of conversations I have with neighbor kids, great grand nephews/nieces, etc. I realize my age group isn't your target range, but your posts do help tremendously in understanding younger minds, their slang, abbreviations, etc. Thanks so much.
Yes!! I honestly feel like the only way you can keep up with young people these days is through SOME kind of Social Media. I’m only 37, but I’m already “old” and falling behind 😂. It’s not like I really care to be “young and hip,” but it’s nice to keep up with the culture a little bit and at least know what’s going on with younger people.
Actually, I'm frustrated with TH-cam more for the opposite reason... it is VERY difficult to break out of any sort of echo chamber you've knowingly or unknowingly created for yourself.
Agreed. I found a new interest, watched that and only that on TH-cam for a few weeks, and now I'm barely recommended anything else and literally have to search generic terms to find broader content.
This Gentleman man says He wants to be suggested to people in the same space as him. For Me if want to find small or new music production channels just do targeted search select Release date as Today, and there you go you will find every new producer's channel that exists. I think people need to use there brains.
I'm so tired of apps trying to be like other apps. I don't want shorts from TH-cam. I want TH-cam from TH-cam, if I want TikTok then I want TikTok. Keeping it separately encourages me to use each app MORE because they're DIFFERENT. I don't want to go everywhere and see the same thing. I'm glad I came across this video, this makes so much sense now.
Therein lie the rub, though. You and I may want different apps for different things, but companies want you on their things forever. TH-cam wants you on TH-cam and nothing else (or, barring that, at least some other product owned by daddy Google). TikTok wants you only on TikTok. Facebook only on Facebook. Unfortunately, viewers and creators are diametrically opposed to companies on this front.
I thought it was just me, because I always click them out of curiosity. I figured it just knew I had that behavior, not that it was doing this for everyone.
I have the same curiosity towards these random videos, and I think the same hold for most people. But a lot of videos about a "niche", aren't designed with new viewers in mind, so I usually click away within a minute.
I’ve definitely found it harder to find videos I’m interested in. I feel like TH-cam used to be really on point at recommending videos I’ll like. Now it just feels… stale. You explained why really well.
I'm at a point I don't watch many TH-cam videos myself to these days is wayyy too much negativity and drama and clickbait videos that Idc about and is so tiring and draining
Another thing the algorithm is doing that annoys me a little is it only shows me stuff I've been into recently. I tend to go through phases, so it'd be nice if it at least factored overall watch history in a bit instead of just assuming my latest interest is now my only interest forever until I manually search out other things I like again/specifically choose from my subscribed tab.
I simply "remind" youtube of my former preference by searching for my former favorite vid's and calling them up for viewing. It usually takes a few times before the algorithm gets the hint.
Exactly! All those channels I subbed to and been meaning to go back to but don't remember the name of are just... gone forever, until my peabrain remembers one of their old videos and finds them again based on that.
Totally agreed with you. Why did youtube keep showing me the videos I have watched? Why can't youtube showing me some content in the niche I am interested in, etc...
I can confirm this video randomly popped in my feed without me having ever visited your channel, at least it was one of the extremely rare actually interesting recommendations
I serious can't believe that more people aren't talking about this. Not only do youtube recommendations suck but google results are all screwed up now too and i feel like NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT
@@River337yt and no one is talking about it. I literally can’t find most of the things I look for now and most other search engines just mirror google Please turn it back
People talk about it and TH-cam ignores them. They have done it with ads, with dislikes and now with a shitty system. The issues is that the latter might actually be a change that actively hurts them as it will probably decrease time within the platform
One thing I really hate, is how the algorithm tries to force short-form videos down my throat. I rarely watch anything less than 20 min, but it keeps recommending shorts and 2 min videos.
Yes! I’m trying to find something interesting and educationalish to put on while I do chores or something similar to keep my interest but recently it’s been like 9 min videos than I have to jump to another ruining my flow
I agree so much with this. Most of the channels I used to enjoy the most have shut down, cause the algorithm didn't like them doing slow paced 40+ min long videos, so they got pushed down and were never shown on the homepage. Some of them I only found out they were shut down, after actively going looking for them, finding that they kept posting videos that I never got to see and in the end they gave up the fight and shut down. it is so frustrating. And Instagram is doing the same shit, shoving "Reels" down my throat instead of showing me what I have told them time and time again that I want to see. And since what i post the most are black and white ink drawings, I don't tick any of the "cool" boxes for vibrant colours or reel content, so my subscribers don't even see what I post.
Just got this pushed today. Never heard of you, but it did answer a question of "why is youtube burying the stuff I want and flooding me with crap?" I will now probably get flooded with other random crap I don't want.
I feel like irrelevant stuff is being forced on me. You came to me randomly. It's like the the algorithm sensed my frustration and you were there to explain. I am old - not your target demographic. I mainly look at ecology, agricultural, and biology topics. But as soon as you don't resist an impulse to watch some comedian you get a firehose of comedy. It's hard to get back on course. Your critique is spot on.
I've noticed this as well. I watch one video on a topic that I wanted to at and only at that moment in time, and the TH-cam decides that that is my entire personality.
Haha, yes! i once watched a video of birds splashing about in a bird bath and before I knew it all my recommended videos were of birds bathing in a bird bath. They weren't even a variety of birds but all the exact same ones, lol!
@@DevonExplorer We put on a "cat entertainment" video, where it's just birds and squirrels and whatnot in the forest to entertain our cats for a little bit. Well, because we searched for it and watched it for 15 minutes, that's now half my suggestions.
No kidding. The algorithm is embarrassingly-bad now. Multi-billion $ company that lets childish minds authorize downgrades to the ML. There is not a single executive at youtube, and probably precious few at "Alphabet" above them who deserves to be in any leadership position. Can you imagine an actual, educated, mature adult saying "Yeah, once they've watched one video, lets show that same video again and again in their feed even though they never click on it ever again? Good grief. Google needs a shareholder revolt. @@shwawn_suggi
I thought I was crazy for losing interest in TH-cam over the last year or so. Mind you, I have been consuming content on this platform for as long as I can remember. Back then it felt like I could load up the homepage and instantly find 3-4 videos that I would gladly watch to burn time. Now it feels like a schlep to find something worthwhile. Thanks for explaining, I hope they bring back the old TH-cam.
I don't use the homepage, I stick to my subscription feed, and if I must look for something new I use search. The homepage is where the algorithm lives and I find it chaotic af.
Yeah sometimes it feels like TH-cam doesn’t want you to use it. I remember scrolling through my homepage and seeing nothing but 10 second memes or clips from tv. None of my subscriptions
I've found, that if I don't see something interesting in the first half-page, or so... It's going to be less interesting the farther I scroll. About once a month, a 'really random' suggestion will really hit with me. But, it is rare that the algorithm serves me anything that rises to 'must watch'. Sometimes, I click on that oddball suggestion that I've seen suggested 50 times, just to get it off my homepage.
Recently, my mom has been complaining about getting videos recommended to her that have almost no views, and no relation to her viewing interests - religious videos, spiritual videos, mindfulness videos - and she thought it was her fault for clicking on a video like that several weeks ago, lol 😄 She is even explicitly telling the TH-cam recommendation algorithm on each of those videos (via the small menu button next to the video) that she is not interested in that content. But TH-cam still recommends her those videos over and over again 😂
TH-cam feels very OFF these days. You hit the nail on the head. And the fact your video was recommended is actually on-brand for the types of videos I enjoy watching.
I will say, I absolutely love getting videos with like 8 views in my recommendations. You get such a good picture of what the average person is doing on youtube, it's insanely fascinating to me. Getting videos I've already seen though, is pretty annoying.
im also totally fine with that, the issue its that trying to find any video regarding a topic its bordeline impossible to find, along with getting tiktok level recomendations and isane levels of shorts shoved everywhere. I find myself closing youtube all the time or goign specifically to channels i know and rewatching their videos, because outside the odd 8 view recomended video from a theme i like 90% of everything else its just.. meh (not because the person itself, but the theme of the video)
This is how I found a channel of some guy washing his clothes for 2 hours per vid. Or an entire underground community of people showing off their filled coloring books
@@geekzombie8795 I'm trying to find motivation but lifes a bit hectic at the moment😂 had a new born - yay finally a dad - plus trying to learn ue5 from a complete at home noob setting to make random videos is probably not the smartest.... .....and I dont have the same passion for modern games any more.........funny enough I moved back to streaming on twitch after a very long break....growing faster there than on here which is weird as I was going well on here for my content quality I thought but now it's like nah no one wants to see what you do😂 plus I havnt been to a car show for a long time plus left all my car clubs after covid....maybe I will just put a timelapse car wash video of my r33 gts 25de sedan and see how that goes......
Yeah, this video was recommended to me out of nowhere. HOWEVER, unlike all the other random bullshit I see potential in this channel. I feel like this could become something much much bigger in the long run. Just keep at that grind, I'm rooting for you.
i actually searched up this video, im doing an essay about how youtube is falling off, and searching for this video is exactly how you described it, it really helped me
TH-cam used to be incredibly addictive to binge and always interesting. Lately,I find like 3 or 4 videos and then idk what to watch :/ Im even struggling to influence the algorithm to give me what I DO want by actively seeking it out. Whatever they changed is just awful right now
I would suggest that many of you spend too much time on TH-cam and somehow expect there to be an unlimited quantity of videos that you will find interesting. Even within a niche that you like, most of the content is not good or at best mediocre. You're basically expecting an endless amount of high quality content for free, 7 days a week for however many years you've been watching YT - which simply doesn't exist. Perhaps a better solution would be to stop whining about this fact and go and actually do something, instead of looking at videos.
What is driving me nuts is that when I scroll on my phone TH-cam records every pause as something I watched, even if I only spent the amount of time it took me to move my finger. Later when I go through my history all of those channels are recorded as watched. Lovely-I now have a hundred videos to scroll through as I try and find the video I did watch and want to watch again or share with someone. I never thought about what it might be doing to some creator's analytics.
Is that why I sometimes see videos in my feed that have a piece of the red bar highlighted red as if watched (some of) it, but have never even seen the thumbnail or title in my life?
Ive been refreshing my youtube feed like three times every time i wanted to watch something today because everything felt so disconnected from what I like and then I saw this thumbnail and I felt a cosmic connection with the rest of humanity instantly (and yeah i do love video essays on internet culture)
Fr I feel like the algorithm completely disregards my actual interests and just give me random nonsense it's obvious I'm not going to watch while suppressing people I actually WANT to watch. For instance, I'm not subscribed to Wendigoon since I don't watch too many of his videos, but I used to get recommended his videos anyways. Now, I legit thought he hasn't posted in almost a year because I'm no longer getting recommended his videos. But based on what I watch, even if I never watched him, I still watch people in his area of expertise, so I should still be getting recommendations of him. It's wild.
Yes, I keep getting videos that I’ve never had anything to do with or had any interest in or videos that I used to watch. For example Danny Gonzalez, I really don’t watch him and don’t WANT to watch him. I don’t really like his content so it’s pretty annoying when he keeps popping up. There’s also Mr. Beast (used to watch) and this one video about how North Korea is inescapable now. I really don’t care about any of them so it frustrates me when I’m trying to find a good video to watch.
Completely agree -- this video hits the nail on the head. Anecdotally I find myself scrolling longer, being less interested, and often just switching to other platforms. Video recommendations don't seem to update nearly as frequently as they once did, and often my homepage looks very similar day-to-day. The "algorithm" nowdays seems to just ignore my watch patterns, and focus on irrelevant ones.
Same - I hate that the same videos just sit on my recommended page for ages. It used to be so good at recommending things I'm interested in and keeping it fresh :(
I think search has always been pretty meh, but the new algorithm I think is actually a step in the right direction. I've been using TH-cam since around 2009 as my main form of media, and I am enjoying that this new algorithm is recommending me videos with less views. There was a period where it would only show me popular videos in my niches, but now I'm getting recommended videos from very small creators.
I used to get sucked into TH-cam rabbit holes late at night but that doesn’t happen anymore. I feel like I’m constantly looking for content to watch but have a hard time finding new creators to watch. I’ve seen the exact same videos being recommended to my 6 year old niece and she watches Roblox videos and I watch mostly commentary. Somethings broken and I’m kinda ready to take a break from TH-cam all together I am interested in internet culture so TH-cam did hit the nail on the head with this recommendation.
Exactly the same here, I watch documentary style content and I get the same random stuff as my sister's recommended, it's even the same as stuff on a brand new account
I first noticed that first with Shorts, when there became actual creators from TikTok flocking to the platform instead of just phone clips from a decade ago and little kids recording themselves or their TV screen. Now even my front page looks almost like when I’m signed out…
Genuinely, I'm happy I was recommended this video. The amount of times I've had to hit "not interested" and "don't recommend this channel" the past few months is truly staggering. It's why I've been considering getting off TH-cam and doing whatever else with my time.
I’ve hit not interested many times and the next day I get recommended the video again. It happens regularly to the point that I don’t even bother anymore.
I've probably clicked "I'm not interested" a hundred times on "Camping in the Woods" videos and they still recommend it to me after a week. I don't get it, I've never watched a camping video in my whole life. I can't even think of anything that I watch that's remotely related to camping. Why is TH-cam pushing this on me?
I have the same thing. I get random videos by indian kids that shouldn't be on the platform. I also get loads of Jordan Peterson and self improvement channels which I actively dislike every single time. It goes completely unnoticed. Yet there are hundreds of channels I have subscribed, I haven't seen a video of them for years.
I love video essays, multi hour long videos, outlandish movie and show theories, but I haven't been getting any of those. No video essays, longest videos cap at 22 minutes, and no theories. You are the first video in weeks that actually caught my interest and held my attention the entire video, and I am so greatful! Glad I'm not crazy, and glad I found you
I have definitely felt a difference in the past months.. About half a year ago, i thought my algorithm was perfect, i had so much fun watching TH-cam. But nowdays it's like tiktok and twitter, a few bangers in the beginning, and then just endless doomsurfing in hopes of the right content. I am so glad that I'm not alone, this video was also amazing and very informative. Thanks❤
Funny, opposite of my experience. My algorithm was perfect about 5 years ago, and it progressively got worse and worse, to the point where 6 months ago my page was filled with exact same channels and topics. I would scroll for 10 minutes until giving up and doing something else. Today it is still far from golden times, but gradually gets better. Almost as if we both could have the best of two worlds if youtube added recommendation settings, one showing similar content to what you watch, and the other exposing you to something new and unrelated.
Mid - late 2018 is when things went to shit. Since then I will get 3 videos relevant to the search I just did, and then the rest of the results are page after page of Linus Tech Tips.
Same I noticed that youtube just stopped recommending me pc/old tech videos because I like watching those and think they're fun and interesting. Then just nothing despite me watching so many of these videos. Content creators I used to watch every other day just stopped showing up and then I'd go weeks or months not knowing they were still making new stuff constantly
In the spirit of scientific research, confirming your video got recommended to me out of the blue. I ignored it for many days...finally watched it. I still have no idea why it got recommended to me based on content I usually watch, but I found your explanation useful and informative. Thanks, hope this helps and best wishes for reaching your monetization goals.
This has been very reoccurring as well - refreshing the main youtube page does absolutely nothing. If there's a video uploaded in the past week that I haven't watched from a creator I'm subscribed to, it's going to stay in the top suggestions. Refreshing the page just shuffles the order they're in, sometimes. It's like youtube is literally telling me "These are your only options. Pick one."
Yup, same. I actually only watched this now because I got the "TH-cam Ad Problem" video recommended and decided to watch that one, just to realize it's from the same creator as this video which had parked in my recommended for several days, but which I had ignored (I can say now tho, it's a good video!). Usually, when I'm really getting annoyed by a video staying rent-free in my recommended, I eventually tell TH-cam that I'm not interested in the video and it goes away.
I'm into niche things, but getting recommended mainstream ones. Searching for something very specific became almost impossible. TH-cam should try to be better than tiktok instead of copying it. And now youtube always recommends just new videos, even if you're looking for timeless things that are just as valid several years later.
Dude fr playlists is your best friend now, like I love the niche videos from 5-10 years ago or vidoes with that vibe, and it’s impossible to find them again it makes it feel like I found a piece of gold because legit searching for it I’ll never find it.
@@banshiii4049 it's the only way I can keep track of things. I watch coding videos online and trying to refind a good one is nigh on impossible using the search bar, even if you know the name of the video.
If I wanted to watch tiktoks I'd download TikTok if TH-cam becomes like TikTok people like me who don't care about TikTok will just stop using TH-cam. That's such a dumb idea from yt.
My problems with TH-cam are it's echo chambers, it's search engine being crappy all of a sudden, and Temu, Shein, and dating ads that are definitely not generative popcorn. There's not even an option to remove inappropriate ads that I don't want to see, and I remember there used to be.
One of the most annoying things I’ve come across lately is the ridiculous word censorship that’s getting channels flagged. It’s honestly getting out of hand. Creators now have to say “unalived” or “deleted” instead of “murdered” or committed “suicide”. Changing the agreed upon word doesn’t change the meaning. If we can’t have a conversation with “scary” words in them that, often times are blocked without any context, it really takes the value out of the content.
Funny how this video was also randomly recommended to me, I feel like the recent TH-cam algorithm changes have been a mixed bag of good and bad outcomes and I'm super glad that you and everyone here feels the same way! You made some great suggestions to how the algorithm could change and I hope TH-cam will consider them.
I miss being able to click several videos and use my history as a short-term queue. It saved me from so much of the doom scroll, often times I'd click several vids, then do minimal scrolling to find some more towards the end of the content I picked. It was so much better. I do find myself keeping up with the channels I'm subscribed to more purely because I find it a good palate cleanser from the endless doom scroll. Especially when I'm getting suggested doomer-esque content.
I feel confident in saying the random low view videos in people's recommendations are an earnest(?) effort to give visibility to the bajillions of low view channels
I do hate youtubes new changes but having this video and creator recommended out of nowhere talking about the exact reason why its happening is so surreal. Great video, thank you for existing
especially the new youtuber channel design ,now i don't know how to access the community tab ,about section or the in channel search bar ,only just recently discovered how to access all the videos in a channel and can only comment using the reply button without it there is no way for me to comment
Big problem with search results "for you" / "you might also like" is how they insert random junk - no search match whatsoever! - kinda like gratuitous irrelevant twitter ad every 6 screens.😡
I've been really really really really really really irritated with TH-cam. Everytime I watch something once, they send it to my page with a flood of other content from the same creator. They Drown me with certain stuff I am NOT inquiring about & totally ignore other things I look up. I don't research as much on TH-cam anymore because it's just to time consuming clearing out all the content triggered by one article. It's always the dark stuff, too. Never the lighter subjects. Super disappointing because computer technology was supposed to stimulate our curiosity, NOT limit us to dark corners and force us to shut down our inquiries due to freaky algorithms. Depressing.
Bread and circuses. The powers that be do not want us asking questions or finding answers, they want us enmeshed and engorged with bull dinky. We need to enmesh our would-be owners with the dirt. Only solution. And that will only lead to new owners... Bad actors are perennial like weeds.
I accidentally clicked on a video about serial killers, i had to go and delete it from my watched history because it immediately started recommending me murder, kidnapping etc videos. thanks i hate it!
It's cool, but it's so unhelpful to small creators because I'm recommended random stuff from some small creators but the tiny creators I care about are never recommend to me despite me subscribing and turning on notifications (that rarely appear). I've found a few good niches through this system but for some reason it's like when the channel gets too small TH-cam forgets all of your interests. It's like they assume I'll click on someone's recording of a discord call out of pity that it only has 500 views but wouldn't want to listen to a video essay about my favorite game ever because it's only got 50 views.
@@theflyingspaget Yeah unfortunately by pushing small creators indiscriminately to people outside their target demo, it can inadvertently tank the video performance, which often hurts the small creator even more
TH-cam have a box that comes up occasionally, asking if you want something different from what is usually recommended... It would be nice if that feature was worked on a little, giving ppl a choice :( A behaviour science thing. if choosing to watch something new, your more likely to have an open mind about it, allowing you to enjoy it more than you would have if it was the only option you had with seemingly no other choice. The same thing happens when youtubers buy adds and they are shown to ppl outside their target audience. This was actually tested by another content creator. 'The spiffing brit, youtube is broken - how to kill a youtube video' Time stamp 2:12 TH-cam is hurting creators in the same way :/ Its bad marketing :(
" i keep seeing the same stuff " " i keep seeing random stuff " this guy is mad that people who don't know about famous people saw a video about famous people on youtube . this is exactly the kind of person who should see the video lol
I’ve definitely noticed the change in the search features and it’s one of the most annoying things on this site. Though I don’t use TH-cam often, trying to find a specific video/a range of videos on a certain topic is almost impossible now.
The search function drives me crazy now, I've always loved watching anime speed paint videos, but I get like 10 I can pick from before it's like here's this creator you watch who isn't related to what you searched at all~~✨ it's really cut down on how often I watch those now 😭
The search is really bad. Starting to remind me of shopping on Amazon. So I'm getting irrelevant results & irrelevant ads. The recommendations are the only thing that has improved for me.
It's an absolute nightmare trying to find some old vids with key words. Not even the full title of the vid makes it show up at top. Yt be crap nowadays
I feel like when I type a word in the TH-cam search engine, TH-cam is using that word for 5 listed videos in the results and then it completely forgets what i searched after that and tells me to go f-k myself with the rest
My biggest problem that started occurring not too long ago with the algorithm and the homepage is that: For basically the entire day, my homepage recommendation doesn't change except for some exceptions where I get a new video recommended. Other than that, every time I refresh the home page or go back to the homepage after watching a bunch of videos, I always get the same videos and reels from the same creators. The only thing that changes when I refresh my homepage is the positionnement of the videos and shorts on my homepage. It is now more of a chore trying to find: 1. A new video that wasn't recommended to me AND 2. A new video that isn't bad or not related to what I usually watch.
Something I've been noticing for a few years is sometimes youtube will recommend a video I've already watch and seemingly deliberately hide the watch time bar so it doesn't look like you've already seen it.
There is a limited memory for one's "watched' bars. Watch too many, and older ones get forgotten. Though I do sometimes have doubts about priority of forgetting.
In my music section,it no longer gives me the option to eliminate videos. Listen again is a useful feature until it fills up with videos/ songs you listened to once or twice and never want to hear again. Other videos have the not interested option, and the don't recommend option, why not in music? Also, my recommended searches should be things I have searched, and they're not. I'm not a gamer or interested in sports, so all the most searched options are of no use to me. It used to have my own searches, but not anymore.
@@musaran2 This was my assumption when I first noticed but it kept happening so I actually checked on a number of occasions by going to the channel in another tab to compare and it still had the watch bar most of the ones I checked.
I hate TH-cam anymore. I’m so incredibly bored with having to sift through the same damn videos day after day after day. I used to love it but those days are over. The crap they recommend is so not me. It’s like they don’t care what I want to watch.
Finally someone is talking about this. I am interested in slice of life and Japanese fashion content, yet I get soooo many recommendations for videos about celebrity drama, commentary on why (insert anything) is problematic, and random makeup influencers.
oh for fuck sake tell me about it @DiaryofNatalieRose. I used to be able to find funny anime memes now I can only find "girls are into this" "look, look what this celebrity/politician did" bro, I don't give a fuck what celebrities are up to (yeah hopefully throwing themselves off a bridge ASAP wearing cement shoes) or what 3D GIRLS in the real world are into you dare to recommend the 3D to me???, Do I look like that's going to be relevant info to me any time soon?. I'm fucking sick of my recommended being 95% contaminated with shit I have absolutely 0 interest in. I want more anime and more Minecraft.
@@akabaneaki what's irritating about it is that TH-cam is effectively forcing people to agree to all of these terms on how they process their data yet the recommendations are still garbage. This is no small amount of data they are collecting about people and because of that I think people are entirely justified in expecting relevant content based on their interests. I'm sending them data about basically every video and channel I watch and yet I'm still receiving utter shit that has nothing to do with anything I watch or any channel I have subscribed to so I have to ask the question "why does TH-cam need to process my data?"
It definitely feels different. I’m SO sick of TH-cam constantly recommending videos I’ve already seen! Then again…It recommended this video too and I liked it.
This! My entire recommended is videos I have already seen or are on my watch later list. Why would you recommend something I already saved? Its so counter intuitive
Thanks for this video. I just got recommended your video today out of the blue. I'm experiencing all the issues you have raised, including getting recommendations that have nothing to do with subjects I'm interested in. I'm in Australia and speak English yet my News tab is filled with news channels from a different country each day - none of them in English. When I deliberately search for a particular issue, it is often difficult to find anything useful in the results. Not a huge fan of the shorts. Don't use TikTok and don't need the YT version in my feed.
It was recommended, and I clicked because I feel the same. I am not sure what happened but last year my page looked nice and full o professional TH-camr thumbnails. Now.... it look like I am logged out, or searches influence way too much future the page and recommendations. cheers!
It does NOT look like you're logged out. Believe me. I am not logged in at work so when I go on youtube for some music, it looks like a fcking porn site... because all of the pop music playlists use half-naked women at the beach for their thumbnails. Sigh.
I was having this question for a longer time, then was randomly recommended to this video, google's algorithm also sucks giving you completely unrelated results all the time.
I'm glad other people are feeling this way. Search feels useless. Recommendations is full of stuff I've already seen. It feels like it's getting harder and harder to discover new content.
I feel the same way about Spotify. It's the same, over and over again. Instagram has the same "narrow view" thing, plus a lot of ads. Reddit is the only social media where i feel i discover some new stuff, but they are riddled with repost bots too.
Or can we talk about how it will recommend you the same video over and over that you haven't clicked because you are not interested in? I wasn't interested the first time, I promise I won't be interested the 20th either.
Finally, someone brought this up. These issues, especially constantly being recommended videos I’ve already watched, have been frustrating me for quite a while now. Finding content that I want to watch has become more and more of a struggle lately, and I’ve started watching less and less videos as a result. Interestingly, and only slightly related, I’ve noticed that the less time I spend on TH-cam, the more aggressive the advertisements become.
This isn't as much of a problem for me because I watch the same videos over and over again (long video essays), but I've been having an issue with TH-cam continuously putting the same video in my autoplay which is annoying when I'm trying to listen to something while I'm doing housework and the like. The algorithm is also continuously shoving religious content down my throat, specifically a lot of former Christians who have deconstructed into atheists, which I sometimes appreciate but if I watch something even somewhat related to religion the Christian deconstruction becomes everything I'm recommended. I'm not Christian, never was, born an atheist. This is related because this one stupid video chasing me is an atheist deconstruction of the Bible, which was cool the first time but holy fuck if I hear the intro to it one more time I will quit TH-cam.
"especially constantly being recommended videos I’ve already watched" With no red bar either so if its a generic looking video or has an nonspecific title its hard to tell if you've seen it before. Meme compilations are pretty bad for it.
Confirmed popped up out of nowhere. Yes TH-cam recommendations has been "off" so to speak for about a year as you said. Also I noticed TH-cam has started mixing in ads in the normal home page feed as if they are regular videos from a content creator, which is really annoying and you have to be careful so you don't click anything by mistake.
My TH-cam frustrations: -I cannot find any more DIY channels to watch to fill out my feed -If I watch genres that more often make long videos, those genres totally take over my feed. Instead of judging based on the quantity of videos. -the issues you mentioned about searching
i would like to add the fact that if u go to a channel that has been on youtube for more than 10 years ( or exactly 10 years ) u can see only the oldest and the most recent videos, but u cant see the videos in the middle;-;
I like to watch movie reactions, but youtube only shows me the same maybe 5 channels that do those. Occasionally I'll get one brand new channel with 6 views and a terrible mic.
Totally agree, been feeling like the recommended videos have mostly been meh for a long time! But once in a while there’s a video like this that rightfully pops off - glad TH-cam is sending new viewers your way!
As someone who has been on TH-cam as long, this resonates with my soul. Opening the homepage to see none of my regular creators or people I have subscribed to makes it feel like TH-cam is dead in a way. I am finding I am usually at a loss for what to watch these days or I'm relying on my memory to manually search channel names. It's terrible timing with TikTok blowing up as I think a lot of people will choose to make that permanent jump.
I'd like to ask then: why are you not subscribed to your favorites and use subscription tab to see all of them? Homepage is the place where I go when I want to see something different and my usual TH-cams bookmark is straight to subscriptions.
@@jiritsu0 For my take: I almost exclusively use my subscriptions tab because the homepage is so worthless to me anymore, but even the subscriptions tab isn't perfect as it's listed by most recent release, which ultimately makes it flooded by the largest of my subscribed channels that produce content with a whole team and my smaller channels are lost in the flood. Anymore, besides getting direct notifications, I have to think about a channel and directly navigate to their page to get their content.
@@Rhyzal_ That is so true about the big channels that produce a lot can clog up the subscription tab. It is a tricky thing for the creator side on that too: there's some content that needs individual videos (like in product reviews and that sort of things), but floods the feeds or make big compilations that might not go well as people just skip major parts and leave the watch time on those low, which in return makes them "undesirable" in the eyes of the algorithm.
Holy cow I thought I was going crazy. It’s absolutely wild how so many of us in the comments feel the same way. The shock to us all finding your video too!
I used to ask out loud if I was crazy as I scrolled through TH-cam for literal hours slogging through only videos I've already seen or ones I've already selected 'not interested' on. Absolutely insane that there are millions of videos on the platform but it can't figure out what we like to watch.
@@drswaqqinscheckingin7210scrolling needlessly for HOURS? Trying to find a single video that’s new to you? At that point you need to start reading or engaging in another hobby and admit that shorts/scrolling have taken over your life. That would be the best case - the worst case is he could simply do research on new content.
Yeah recommending the same random thing you've already watched is stupid. Now I could see maybe it is something you have watched multiple times before, but space out before it recommends it again.
1.Yes, this video randomly on my page 2.Yes, somehow, my favorite creators and niche ...gone? Only very few 3.The best algo is TH-cam music apps on Android, from "maybe i just pick 3"...end up 50 my fav bands/genres selected. 4.New algo mimic TT, where "everyone have a chance to be on fyp", this is better for small creators, they have a chance to compete and might gain interest from different demography.
I’ve been finding it really hard to find engaging content recently, and I thought it was just me. I didn’t even know you when you showed up on my recommended, but I have to say this video was quite informational and entertaining. Love your content man, keep it up.
My biggest complaint right now is almost entirely related to the search function. I use youtube in my classroom as a teacher, and its gotten a lot harder to find the content I KNOW exists, that I have previously seen, but now I get so few results related to my query that I struggle to find some of the more obscure videos I like to use in class.
Every year I use the same video to teach bon dancing. This time I had to get so weirdly specific about the video I was looking for to find the bon dancing video.
I very much agree, I feel like I scrolled through the home page a lot more lately to find something I actually care to watch, and have more recently found myself just giving up and looking elsewhere for entertainment which I feel really means that TH-cam has failed to do it's job if I'm leaving the site to find something else.
Yep I've just been reading books, they give me kids content on here or garbage made for teenagers and it's embarrassing to show other people because I dont want them thinking i watch any of that.
I searched youtube to find a video about how bad their search is and this was the only one that had enough relevance to click because youtube is SO GODDAMN BAD AT THEIR OWN JOB
I LITERALLY was complaining about this in my head when I saw this video, TH-cam has become so frustrating to use. I can sit and refresh my recommended page for no joke 10 minutes straight while clicking "not interested" on videos I've already watched/ don't want to watch, and STILL get recommended THE SAME VIDEOS. Or alternatively TH-cam will stop showing me any videos and just give me "mixes" to watch, mixes containing videos I'VE ALREADY WATCHED!!! It's gotten to the point where I literally have to sit down and think of what specific TH-camr I want to watch or what might be interesting. It feels like shopping but you're only allowed to look at products you know already exist or have previously bought, and you have to guess the names of the other items to find them. It's made TH-cam so unbelievably UN-relaxing to use because I just get so frustrated with how seemingly purposely bad the recommendation ai is.
ive literaly deleted all my watch history a couple months ago i wouldn't recommend doing that because it'll just recomend you videos you have already watched before reseting it
I recommend the extention "BlockTube". Works completely within the TH-cam system so no weird menus or anything. Allows you to block videos and even whole channels from ever being recommended. You can also block key words like for instance if you don't like "iceberg" videos (though it's not very smart, it will block _all_ iceberg videos, even ones about actual icebergs like for instance, if you like documentaries you may miss out on something to do with the Titanic if you have such a filter on. You can not only block Shorts, but also block videos of a certain length. When I'm in the mood for video essays I just pump it up to 3000 seconds and I get plenty of 50+ min videos recommended to me. But, my favourite part of the extension, is looking at a homepage of 24 videos or so, blocking 20 of them, and feeling confident I will _never_ see them again.
Spot on. The algorithm is so off at the moment it's crazy. I get the impression they're trying to remediate the problem with more and more "do you like this video?" And "is this suggestion right for you?" Questionnaires that they expect you to fill in to help get your personal feed sorted out somewhat, but people just aren't going to take the time to fill these things in, and it won't fix the overall problems either.
The ironic thing is I only ever get those lil surveys on videos that I've already watched or from channels I'm subscribed to. It doesn't help that clicking "not interested" or "do not recommend" don't seem to work.
My problem with those is that a binary yes/no doesn't work without letting me explain *why* I said yes or no. Like, when I say I don't want Jordan Peterson's Kermit the Frog ass on my front page, is youtube gonna understand that I don't like him because he's an alt-right hack, or is it gonna assume I'm not into science and psychology? I like seeing charismatic people sit around and shoot the shit. I don't like Joe Rogan. Can youtube understand that difference when I say I'm not interested in clips from his show?
@@andrewsad1 Good point. I don't think that it can tell tbh. I've gotten a shtload of far right grifter garbage recommended to me lately. Doesn't seem to make any difference that I never watch them, the algorithm is assuming I want to see it anyway because Ive been interested in something vaguely tangential to whatever wedge issue that their propaganda mills are churning out at the time. And as they just grift from one subject to the next trying to farm outrage off of just about anything, it's pretty much guaranteed that theirs are the channels that'll keep getting recommended over and over again.
I only get those stupid questionnaires asking me if I liked videos I haven't watched. Well, I don't know, do I? If I watch the video they disappear. 🤦🏼♂️
I miss the days when the recommended list under each video actually contained similar content to the video I was current watching, allowing me to sort of rabbit hole into specific topics. Now that that section is almost entire filled with TH-cam drama, videos I've already seen, and Taylor Swift music videos, I don't think I've used that feature in years.
i sweaarrr that was when youtube was actually fun to watch. Right now its all mish mash from small creators, old videos and some weird unheard of content that ive never watched before.
@sandraswan9008 I got so many unwanted Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Cardi B Videos (I only ever listen to Gospel music or the Oak Ridge Boys/Statler Brothers/Home Free) that, after "Do not recommend channel" was ignored for over a month, I just hit "Violent or repulsive content" every time.
I can spend several minutes just scrolling, looking for anything interesting. Most videos are so far outside what I care about that I just keep on scrolling. It feels like it got worse and worse over the last few years, especially this last year. Your explanation feels spot on!
omg yes, I remember like even still a year ago I would be able to find something to watch on the maximum first 10 recommended videos guessing high, now I will scroll for minutes trying to find something to sleep to, I literally just clicked on this video bc I was like ok im scrolling for so long now lets just watch this random one he might be chill enough for me to fall asleep
This is exactly what is happening to me. It seem like it's getting worse every month. Before, I'd find something interesting to click on off the bat. Now I scroll for days, then refresh the page and scroll until I force myself to watch something I don't really have an interest in. Spend a minute on the video, then leave. The new algorithm is not good.
@@WrenFairX no they wont, they dont want you to scroll on youtube, they want you to spend your time on the site as watch time. Netflix knows its users will exit the app within 90 seconds if they cant find anything. TH-cam is probably similar
This was absolutely randomly recommended but solidly relevant because I'm a heavy user and have been feeling for a couple months that TH-cam was broken or I'd reached "the end of the internet." The recommendations have been tiny videos most wildly outside of my rather wide interest range. Thanks for at least validating what little sanity I have left and letting me know it's not imaginary. Very well done video as well. Props.
I feel your pain also being a heavy user (being disabled and thus not being able to get out much), it's one of my main 'Entertainment/educational' apps... Do you also get the following issues? Seen these changes? CHANGES I SERIOUSLY H A T E ABOUT TH-cam - ONLY having 'Auto (recommended)', 'Higher picture quality', 'Data Saver', 'Advanced' on video quality settings. Where as once you could set a DEFAULT RESOLUTION FORALL VIDEOS YOU PLAYED... NOW, you can ONLY set 'Higher' or 'Data Saver' as a all video playback resultion. IF you set (say) 720p, it ONLY APPLIES TO THAT CURRENT VIDEO. So this REMOVES a personal want or NEED to globally set a resolution (for example if your internet is slow, or, you are ONLY watching videos on a 720p TV etc (what is the point of having TH-cam play 1080, 4k videos when your TV CANNOT?? And the 'Auto' setting... DON'T get me started!!! 😠 - 'TH-cam Shorts'... I AM 52!! I AM NOT INTERESTED IN SHORTS, I DO NOT WATCH SHORTS AND WILL NOT WATCH SHORTS! Is what I told TH-cam customer services when asking HOW TO PERMANENTLY DISABLE THEM!!!... "Sorry sir, at this time there is no function in 'Settings' to disable them so, you can't do that.' is what I got as a reply.... "Have you tried clicking the 3 dot menu and removing them one by one so the algorithm can learn your preferences?" I got asked... YEAH... IT DOES NOT WORK, these bloody 'SHORTS' (like a BLOODY VIRUS!!!) KEEP POPPING UP IN MY 'SUGGESTED'...FFS! - And YES... I HAVE NOTICED AN INFLUX OF RANDOM, WEIRD, OFF TOPIC, NOT INTERESTING TO ME video, sigh 😒, 'Suggestions'. I have subscribed to the channels (and thus subjects/topics) I mostly watch, SO WHERE THE F ARE THESE OTHER RANDOM VIDEOS COMING FROM???? So, now, quite frequently, MY time is WASTED on hitting the 'Not interested' and 'Don't recommend channel' options... ALL THIS AND MORE and I'm a 'PREMIUM' payer!!! 😠😠😠😠 😎🇬🇧
@@thedarkknight1971 - my god, get out of my head.😁 I have been thinking the same exact things, in ALL CAPS too!! 100% pissed about every one of those things. It used to be just the constant "shadow banning", but now it's just crap puked out all over the screen and I have to clean it so I can find the videos I actually want to watch!!! One of my channels said YT was "pushing" "creators" to make more shorts. So, I sent a very precise comment to that channel saying I will NEVER watch any "shorts" if they ever did make them and I actually hate them and how they clutter up my videos and PLEASE don't start adding them because they are a waste of my time. TO ALL "CREATORS"::::: REAL subscribers will watch your videos in their entirety and don't need a stupid "teaser" about something they would watch anyway, because they like your content!! wth, YT. I am a daily watcher and the other day I didn't even watch one video because the one I tried to watch wouldn't load at a lower resolution and would skip about 6-7 seconds for every 5 it played. Beyond frustrating and I would just rather not even watch anything. I found an old magazine I hadn't finished and read that instead.
You hit the nail in the head when it comes to identifying the issues viewers are experiencing while watching TH-cam these days! The search issue in particular drives me insane, it has gotten impossible to find anything through TH-cam’s search.
yeah, I hate that new feature they have due to those few times that I tried to search for some nostalgic video I watched years ago but could't find even though I put in the same thing as last time and I knew what I was searching for to, but I decided I'd just go read a novel instead of watching videos because after searching for an hour I was not in the mood. TH-cam better fix its system though
@@elisethearmy so, with uBlock Origin, you can actually block specific elements from websites. i've successfully removed the shorts shelf from my homepage and my subscription feed, and you can clean up the search with this feature too, although when i tried it it broke my subscription tab so it takes some trial and error
I got recommended videos about random topics that i'm not interested in, videos that i've already watched and 2-10 years old videos. It's all over my feed. I hope this ends soon because it's so annoying.
@@alephnulI I do feel like most of the valueful recommendations for me are longer form content. It feels more and more like the algorithm is incentivizing videos towards a few lengths: less than 2 minutes (clips, simple one note sketches, etc.), 25-30 minutes, and 50+ minutes, very much including multi-hour long videos. The world of 8-15 minute videos feels like it's shrinking, and sorta makes it feel like each video either takes meaningful commitment (especially the 50+ minute ones), or are so bite-sized that they don't leave a lasting impression and I just get booted back into the video choosing cycle too soon.
i love video essays as well, specifically gaming essays, but finding genuinely interesting and creative essays is definetly harder than it used to be. i generally find the most creative channels through suggestion from friends or recommendations from bigger creators. the most interesting channels are never recommended by TH-cam itself which continues to push videos that are barely related to a video i saw 3 years ago.
@@friedkeenan I identified this recently when talking with someone about how the intros that so many videos used to have have largely faded entirely over the last few years, with longer form content usually doing unique video-specific introductions rather than the classic intro a channel might use on every video, very short form content dropping intros entirely, and only some 25-30 minute videos retaining that older style of intros. However when the intros are retained they're now shorter and sometimes placed later after an 'intro clip' from the video's main content in order to grab attention, with the classic intro instead serving as a dividing slide between the 'hook' and the actual content. I think it's a sign of how TH-cam videos are generally made to a higher quality these days and are more refined and optimised for viewer retention and their target demographics.
I get the same recommendations of video essays, even stopped using youtube because of how obnoxiously similar the videos were, though, as soon as i started watching horror game content again (like manlybadasshero) or react content (cinnamontoastken, jacksfilms), I'm being recommended more of those types of content also after a couple of videos. For some reason, finding a smaller content creator and then watching more tended to suggest me more small creators, I usually find them by looking for a niche game from my childhood (such as sims castaway) or because I like sonic and fnaf sometimes a smaller creator will just pop up in my recommended randomly because they're a popular subject. The system isn't perfect and sometimes it days a couple days for changes to take a major effect but it's some advice I have. I also highly suggest a youtube shorts blocker, specifically shorts blocker.
I think, for me, the biggest and most annoying change is the search function. I’m constantly shown videos that I have already watched. I want new videos when I search for something!
and it doesn’t even show as watched which means i’ll go ‘that sounds familiar’ and probably watch it anyway, but if i watched it 5 years ago, i don’t actually want to watch it again
@@losermillie this happens to me even within a week or two of watching it, yt just forgets and even if i say ive already seen it several times itll STILL put it there. Also def agree that searches are horrible now, literally have better luck going thru google/firefox search and THEY find the types of vids i want more often that yt lately
For sure! Obviously if there are videos that I know I might want to watch again, I can save them in a playlist... No good reason to put them in my search results.
You are saying exactly what I'm feeling. The Search part infuriates me to no end. Literally goes against the entire purpose of even having a search. I'm using that tool because I want to find something within that specific search parameter. Not a bunch of unrelated garbage. How anyone thought filling the search with random suggested content was a good idea is beyond me. I've about had it with suggested content in general. They just want to manipulate us into using the platform as long as possible. It's morally corrupt.
I read that UselessTube actually purposely tries to get you to view videos you hate. Illogical? They have figured out that angry people comment more than contented ones, and advertisers think that more comments mean longer viewing of the video, so their ads are seen more. Of course, when I am annoyed, I do not pay for any part of the thing that is annoying me.
@@stephenszucs8439anything that is advertised to me once (or more) per video during my ENTIRE browse, is doomed to get zero money from me for life. Every 15 minutes is just nagging.
This was recommended to me out of nowhere, and it's one of the very few things that have been worth it. Hopefully TH-cam themselves will watch and know how much we hate this.
I would share your optimism if it wasn't for the fact that TH-cam only tunes their algorithm for maximum profits and not user satisfaction. They don't care if we like what we watch as long as we continue to watch and they make ad money from it.
Your video was in my suggestions, but, as a 50-year-old woman, I tend to be in none of the demographics for the types of videos that I like. I also have been frustrated with getting the same videos served to me, especially ones from creators I have unsubscribed from. That said, this video was really enlightening. I am glad you made it to my feed.
@kevlarbasin7501 Yes, I am aware of that. It was just a trend I had noticed that hadn't happened until the last year or so. Thanks for the tip, just the same.
The biggest downside for me is TH-cam is pushing me very quickly into certain niches and does not let me leave. Like, I watch a lot of political content but recently I wanted to know few exercises so I watched approx. 10 videos from fitness niche. Since I did that 70% of recommended content is from various sport science/fitness/gym bros. Cool it down TH-cam, I want my politics and essays and my gaming TH-camrs back.
I consciously avoid watching videos on topics I'm interested in but don't usually watch because I don't want my home page filled with just that type of video...
I don't typically watch essays and don't generally engage in videos internet culture, however I *was* in fact recommended to this as the SECOND shown video on my TH-cam homepage this morning. To hear you call that out and explain why I've been seeing seemingly random videos on my sidebar and homepage for weeks now has definitely made me realize that I'm not crazy lol. This video was well made (especially the title and thumbnail), and I appreciate the explanation greatly! Keep up the good work for the people interested in your kind of content!
This video was recommended out of nowhere, but I'm glad these issues were addressed. You addressed all the point that have made youtube less enjoyable over the last year or more
2024 update: it got worse, it's now recommending me videos i watched 1-3 YEARS AGO and videos that are barely related to the video that i just watched. and it's recommending playlists for some reason and i can't click not interested on them
I *AM* interested in video essays about Internet culture, but this video was indeed recommended to me out of nowhere, and I can confidently say I've NEVER heard of the channel before, though I'm glad to have given it a shot. :) On topic as well, I think it was literally the only new video on my home page, everything else was stuff I'd already seen, or shorts.
Yea i too am an avid viewer of video essays, but like i feel theres been a shift in youtube’s ecosystem where the context you get is either one specific thing, videos you have seen recently or things you searched up on google
I agree, while I enjoy video essays it's rare I get them from smaller creators. Hopefully this hits his target demographic hard enough to cause a stir.
I watch on my TV and Xbox and have been extremely frustrated with TH-cam. My most common gripes: 1. Promoting already watched videos for days in a row. 2. If I search it feels that I've lost ALL interest in any topic other than my most recent search. 3. I love to discover new things and am obsessed with learning but TH-cam fails to keep me engaged in active learning by refusing to promote new and interesting ideas to me.
My issue with youtube lately is flooding one type of content and only that. I've been listening to some playlists while working and now I have to scroll hard to find something that isn't that while I take a break. This video was a nice change among my recommendations, thankfully.
This!! My subscriptions haven't changed, but I barely get suggested videos from peopleno consistently watch. I follow a few miniature making channels, and that's ALL I'm seeing right now. Next week it will be something else and I won't see any different videos. it's like it either shows you too much of something, or a nothing good at all.
I want TH-cam to recognize that just because I engage with travel content, it doesn’t mean I no longer want to see video essays and cooking videos. It’s like the algorithm thinks you can’t have more than one interest at the same time.
Interesting, I thought it was just my watching habits that caused that effect because I do tend to focus on one thing at a time but maybe it’s a TH-cam thing too
XD for real, even autistic people (as I am) have more than just one single interest lol
it's like i look up a single video about sleep ambiance and my whole feed now is just riddled with sleep bowls and meditation stuff like STOP bro omg. i watch an ann rearden video and all my stuff is now cooking. relax a little bit!
instagram has this issue too and it annoys the hell out of me
YES!! The only time I actually get the videos I want is if I'm on a channel dedicated to just one thing. 2 at the most. If you're interested in more than 1-2 things, TH-cam just stops working and video vomits at you.
It's odd because I have so many interests and YT does recommend me a little of them all.
But, unlike you, I can switch from space actuality to let's play on Nintendo games to video essay about sociology, or series review and analysis, back to space science and all of this within an hour or even less.
So I do hope that YT gives me several recommendations, even of games I never heard about or about a science I haven't studied yet.
Though, I admit I regularly have to actively search for the kind of content I feel like watching. It's only natural though, algorithms can't know what I have in mind right now. Lucky me!
One of my main issues with TH-cam more recently is that I'm scared to click on a random video that interests me, because then it will be all I'm recommended for weeks.
Ha ha, whatever you do, DO NOT click on a 'funny/cute animals' vid, or you'll be doomed for all eternity with vids of that topic ha ha
That's why I had to create sub channel for music listening. Luckily it's so easy to switch subchannels by clicking top right corner.
Oh it's so true. . .
Yeah I searched fantasy music playlists for when I’m reading or going to sleep and now almost every video in my recommended is just that. Same with scam-baiting videos, I watch tons of other things but when I started getting back into them they were taking up my recommended after only watching a couple of them.
Add an account!
This guy hacked the algorithm just to tell us how the algorithm sucks. He's a genius.
lol
He was showing youtube logo a lot, maybe youtube machine learning picks it up and then marks it as "good video"
Hahaha I thought the same thing. He knows how whack TH-cam is so we'll, that he showed in our feeds and started with "you probably have no idea who I am and why my video was recommended to you"
His right though, it's fantastic small channels are being recommended, I've said that to a few people. I reckon the algorithm is just so complex the code needs to be tweaked
Ikr? The other videos come not even close to this amount of views
he works for the shadow government
This is only getting worse over time too. I feel like especially lately I've been spending more time scrolling on YT than watching videos. Getting the same recommendations, seeing things I've already watched (but without showing it??), and lately getting a lot of videos with a max of 100 views with bad quality content. I enjoy the low-stakes variety that comes with YT, I don't really like watching shows or movies as much. Not sure what to do at this point. (yes I searched this video cuz it was getting that bad and to make sure im not crazy)
I feel the same way about this site now. I used to have real variety and it had helped me be more creative and learn more actively than I am now. I still love YT for content over any other platform but a lot of the good OG content is no longer correct or acceptable. Caused me to scroll for good videos, but it's a habit I have from years of being able to find new interesting content in a space where that doesn't even happen anymore. Like have you refreshed the page and it only rearranges the recommendations slightly? Honestly it's infuriating what it has become 😒
"Do not recommend."
"Not interested."
"Do not recommend."
"Do not recommend."
"Not interested."
*Refresh*
See's the exact same videos.
People🐑 aren't even mentioning all the insane yt censorship, shadow banning, comment deletion, propaganda etc , etc. Damn...
Ye youtube sucks and I get the same experience like you
i thought i was crazy at first. now i know otherwise. im glad some small channels are recommended to me though cause i found two people who deserve way more support.
I've recently been recommended some travel videos from some aunties and picture collages from older folks, and honestly it's way better than what I was watching before 😂
Crazy? I was crazy once.
@@ofskittlezCrazy? I was crazy once. They put me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. Rats make me crazy.
They locked me in a rubber room. Rubber room with rats. Rats make me crazy
Fr, TH-cam's been recommending me some interesting channels recently.
A couple of days ago it recommended me two gay furry let's players. Honestly, pretty good channel
I have literally never seen this man before in my life but he's spitting straight fire facts.
Same.
I am crazy though
i never saw this man before, until TH-cam decided to put him on my front page as a recommended video.
(I am thankful for it and watched a couple of his videos, it's interesting fun content, thanks TH-cam, you did something right for once👍🏻)
The algorithm has summoned us all here and here we are.... is the algorithm god? (Pls don't respond like I am being serious)
Saaame.
Personally the worst aspect of it for me is that sometimes you’ll find one of these random videos interesting so you watch that one video and then suddenly for ages the algorithm thinks that niche is your favourite thing and will fill your entire page with similar videos even if you never click on them and aren’t still interested in the subjects or content types
Yea it’s usually viral type videos that almost anyone would be curious about. But it’s like rubbernecking an accident.. of course you want to look, but realize that if you force yourself to look forward, you’ll waste less time on something irrelevant. All you can do now is delete it from your watch history
yeah i've had the same issue at times
Agreed!
A few days ago, I watched a TH-camr who was reviewing 3 games in my favorite video game franchise across 3 separate videos. I didn’t watch any other videos by this TH-camr, and I was only interested in watching them because they were about a niche game franchise that I love. Yesterday I counted ELEVEN videos in a row unrelated to that franchise by that same creator in my recommended videos on the side of another video completely unrelated to that creator or that game franchise. I would understand if it was one or two videos spread out to try to gauge if my interest in that channel is more than just that one game franchise, but 11 videos in a row is insane. TH-cam really needs to fix their algorithm…
what's particularly baffling and distressing to me, is that i can manually select videos i DON'T want youtube to show me, submitting the reason "I DONT LIKE THIS VIDEO" and i KEEP getting videos on the same topic! (ie serial child killer news pieces). it's legit traumatising to see those headlines. yet creators can't say certain generic words or they get demonetized. their algorithms are fucking appalling.
I have no idea why this was recommended but I agree. The search not letting me strictly search the subject is honestly infuriating and has our family thinking of cancel our TH-cam premium plan. TH-cam has been getting worse since around 2017, I remember they changed the home page and the way subscriptions work and how they show content. I am super sad, wish things would get back to the way they were when TH-cam was in its earlier years
TH-cam just feels stagnant. I feel like I can't actually find new things because it either recommends things I've already seen, people I'm subscribed to that I'll watch anyway, or stuff that is completely irrelevant to my interests. No matter what it just feels like I'm going in a loop.
For context of how I got here though, I'm pretty sure I was recommended this because I always watch similar videos. So even with this, youtube still isn't giving me new things to explore that would broaden what I find interesting.
I've been having the same problem. I've been trying to use the "New to You" tab to find new content, but the option to go there doesn't even reliably show up on mobile, and when it does the feed is never more than 20 videos.
You described the main problem perfectly
And the default shit they give people to explore is NOT IT at all.
My problem is that it seems to mainly recommend content you’ve watched very recently. For example if I binge watched TH-cam videos about movies for an entire month I’d only be getting recommendations about movie videos or random stuff I’m not interested in.
Then let’s say I watch videos about dogs for one week and take a break from movie content, it will then act like it completely forgot I like movie content or any of the movie people I subscribed to and just start only recommending me dog videos. It’s annoying because it seems to want to keep you on a loop of just watching the same content you are watching continuously.
Then you get on a TH-cam and just see the same videos and type of videos over and over when TH-cam used to frequently show you topics you used to watch to see if you wanted to start watching them again or show you people you’re subscribed to but haven’t watched in a while.
It seems like you’re cut off from everything now other than what you’re currently watching and seemingly completely random videos you’ve never showed interest in.
Used to id get on TH-cam see someone I haven’t watched in a while and say “oh yeah I need to start watching them again”. Now that never happens unless I happen to remember them or scroll all the way through my subscribed list.
I found a good solution is to have an alt account and just watch some of the videos that you normally watch. Usually the reccomendation after a bit is a bit spicy. Igcognito also works pretty well.
The only part of TH-cam’s algorithm that I hate is that when I’m watching a video, the recommended videos underneath it are now completely UNRELATED to the video that I’m watching, and those videos are basically the exact same videos I would just see in my home feed
OR they recommend stuff you’ve already seen???
I usually use TH-cam for work and my content basically should relate to that as I'm keeping myself more productive engaging with such content everyday even for a bit. BUT the only exception of "unrelated" content under videos that I watch is honestly... Cats lol. Short, uplifting and no pressure 😂
Absolutely!
Now it's way more hard to find the next episode of a let's play series so it's basically mandatory to find the playlist.
And similarly if I want more videos from the channel I'm watching they won't be recommended if they aren't a large channel.
@@Rose_Haw exactly
Just speculation, but I wonder if that change was made to stop people going down some of the conspiracy theory or far-right rabbit holes that used to be a huge problem. I remember there being a lot of concerns that the recommendeds would skew people deeper and deeper down these dark places and it was doing a lot of damage.
I completely agree. TH-cam has become constraining and instead of feeling free to explore content I’m actually interested in, I’m seeing only a small selection of what TH-cam thinks I like. Very annoying.
Not to forget, getting the MSM shoved in your face, like with videos from CNN, NBC, FOX or HuffPo getting pushed on top, but the *independent* voices and independent smaller news channels getting almost *no* fraction or exposure when searching.
@@eternity8811 Did you even watch the video..? The search results suck
It's why I think giving capitalists unchecked power over such an important piece of media is a really bad idea.
I think there should be government regulations by the EU and US to set standards, improve transparancy and maybe combat some of the bad incentives. The important thing though is that they need to be regulations for youtube, not for youtube users.
it's true you try to find one thing and then it gives a million other things not even relevant to what you're trying to find
I was thinking of getting TH-cam Premium, but I think I'll get Nebula instead.
I'm definitely experiencing this. It also seems like youtube's "memory" is getting bad; I have watched a large variety of content, predominately targeted towards young people. Recently, though, I've been watching a few embroidery and sewing videos. TH-cam seems to have forgotten everything about me and mistaken me for an elderly lady! a few videos out of the ordinary and know I can't find anything else I'm in to. And I'm getting ads for makeup that look good on wrinkly skin (so old people), even though I'm a teenager!
Getting ads on wrinkly skin is CRAZY
I've recently noticed youtube isn't tracking my Account and my Wife's separately... I'm getting her favorite channels recommended, and she's getting mine. Also, I get ads based on what she's been shopping for.
Some people might think that's creepy, but I'm just annoyed at the usability impact: If I want to watch that stuff, I'll log in with my wife and we'll watch it together. Save the screen space!
I'm getting the reverse. I started watching one younger creator and now everything I'm recommended is for teens/young adults. I don't need clubbing outfits ffs I'm *literally ancient*! If I show up in the club, something has gone horribly wrong
This video is so meta. I can easily assume Zack had no idea it would do this well, but the algorithm did exactly what he described and put his video at the forefront of all of our pages because we, the people, hit the like button and interacted with it. The irony of this video landing on so many peoples pages that it has now amassed 1,000,000+ views is astounding. Kudos to you, Zackary.
My thoughts exactly!!!!! 😂👌
came here to say that lol, algo has become sentient, and it has a sense of irony XD
I was conned, and I'm okay with it
Absolutely peak banger irony and LOVE it! :D
It was literally the first video on my yt homepage when i opened it today
The one that annoyed me the most is the fact that I would search a video that I KNOW EXISTS and then YT would suggest 3 random videos then give me some "for you" videos like... whaaa? I'm glad this video got big and arrived to my recommends. You deserve it.
Fr and then it straight up turns into liveleak
Use new pipe for searching
@@randomdude2540 what’s that?
Explains why TH-cam has felt so bland to me lately. I open it, see a bunch of content I don’t really care about, and give up. It feels like a chore to watch TH-cam now more than ever. Not to even mention the terrible search function. All these content platforms keep sterilizing themselves to be more marketable and it’s ruining them. On the bright side, this social media apocalypse is making me want to pick up a book instead for once.
Choose the book. I'm trying too.
It's because you're not interested not some platform wide issue
The search function isn't even giving me results of the words I actually searched. I just get my recommended videos which have nothing to do with the search
Completely in the same place.
@@effbar2400it’s def a user wide problem if it isn’t a platform centered problem. But many people say these things so I don’t think it’s limited to tht individual
My biggest beef right now is keeping the videos or programs I've watched reposted WITHOUT the red line under them to show I've already watched them !!! If it's within the last month I can usually remember I've watched them. I find it extremely frustrating and a waste of my time !!! As for watching YOUR video, I specifically watched it in hopes you would be a legit source of information and was not disappointed. I am 70 years old, consider myself computer literate, and watch a lot of videos on new trends, subject matter, and interest of the younger people to help me understand their generational culture and give me a better understanding of conversations I have with neighbor kids, great grand nephews/nieces, etc. I realize my age group isn't your target range, but your posts do help tremendously in understanding younger minds, their slang, abbreviations, etc. Thanks so much.
you're a legend, thank you
Just go and delete your watch history. Algorithm will forget everything about you. You will start life from scratch 😊
Yes!! I honestly feel like the only way you can keep up with young people these days is through SOME kind of Social Media. I’m only 37, but I’m already “old” and falling behind 😂. It’s not like I really care to be “young and hip,” but it’s nice to keep up with the culture a little bit and at least know what’s going on with younger people.
Actually, I'm frustrated with TH-cam more for the opposite reason... it is VERY difficult to break out of any sort of echo chamber you've knowingly or unknowingly created for yourself.
Agreed. I found a new interest, watched that and only that on TH-cam for a few weeks, and now I'm barely recommended anything else and literally have to search generic terms to find broader content.
Searches 1 video about a motorcycle. Now every short an recommended something with motorcycle
yes!!
@Doomvega this kinda happens to me, sometimes lol
Me and smosh videos rn
I knew I wasn't crazy and finding something interesting in TH-cam was being a massive struggle
This Gentleman man says He wants to be suggested to people in the same space as him. For Me if want to find small or new music production channels just do targeted search select Release date as Today, and there you go you will find every new producer's channel that exists. I think people need to use there brains.
I'm so tired of apps trying to be like other apps. I don't want shorts from TH-cam. I want TH-cam from TH-cam, if I want TikTok then I want TikTok. Keeping it separately encourages me to use each app MORE because they're DIFFERENT. I don't want to go everywhere and see the same thing. I'm glad I came across this video, this makes so much sense now.
Yeah it’s annoying. It’s become especially cancerous this year and a bit and I just want to drop it all more than I ever have
Agreed. They are teenagers with identity crisis, and all wanting to become like each other when they are perfectly fine who they are.
but for the sake of storage, i think it's better for it to be all in one app...
Therein lie the rub, though. You and I may want different apps for different things, but companies want you on their things forever.
TH-cam wants you on TH-cam and nothing else (or, barring that, at least some other product owned by daddy Google).
TikTok wants you only on TikTok.
Facebook only on Facebook.
Unfortunately, viewers and creators are diametrically opposed to companies on this front.
exactly!
I actually searched why TH-cam is getting boring and I got your video, whatever points you mentioned are absolutely relatable and correct!
Sammmmeww
same.
Similar
I thought it was just me, because I always click them out of curiosity. I figured it just knew I had that behavior, not that it was doing this for everyone.
I have the same curiosity towards these random videos, and I think the same hold for most people.
But a lot of videos about a "niche", aren't designed with new viewers in mind, so I usually click away within a minute.
same dude, so tired ofa b1 droid singing being recommended to me, i dont care at all mate
Yea i have corusiority so i click random vids
wsg mogswamp
same here
I’ve definitely found it harder to find videos I’m interested in. I feel like TH-cam used to be really on point at recommending videos I’ll like. Now it just feels… stale. You explained why really well.
I'm at a point I don't watch many TH-cam videos myself to these days is wayyy too much negativity and drama and clickbait videos that Idc about and is so tiring and draining
Another thing the algorithm is doing that annoys me a little is it only shows me stuff I've been into recently. I tend to go through phases, so it'd be nice if it at least factored overall watch history in a bit instead of just assuming my latest interest is now my only interest forever until I manually search out other things I like again/specifically choose from my subscribed tab.
I know right, every time I watch something I usually don't watch half my recommendations are suddenly filled with adjacent content.
I simply "remind" youtube of my former preference by searching for my former favorite vid's and calling them up for viewing. It usually takes a few times before the algorithm gets the hint.
Yes! This is sooo f* annoying. Like we’ve all turned into one track minded cyclops
MOOOOOOOD
Exactly! All those channels I subbed to and been meaning to go back to but don't remember the name of are just... gone forever, until my peabrain remembers one of their old videos and finds them again based on that.
Totally agreed with you. Why did youtube keep showing me the videos I have watched? Why can't youtube showing me some content in the niche I am interested in, etc...
I can confirm this video randomly popped in my feed without me having ever visited your channel, at least it was one of the extremely rare actually interesting recommendations
Same
Same
Agreed, most recommendations are dogwater nowadays on this site.
@@kristinebailey6554actually I searched for it but im goad got this recommende
Same
I serious can't believe that more people aren't talking about this. Not only do youtube recommendations suck but google results are all screwed up now too and i feel like NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT
Yep google is absolute trash now unless the result you're looking for is one of the top 3 or 4 results.... It's crazy
@@River337yt and no one is talking about it. I literally can’t find most of the things I look for now and most other search engines just mirror google
Please turn it back
People talk about it and TH-cam ignores them. They have done it with ads, with dislikes and now with a shitty system. The issues is that the latter might actually be a change that actively hurts them as it will probably decrease time within the platform
@@strange-universeI thought they had to at least go off of some sort of research.
@@strange-universe lol that’s called gaslighting
One thing I really hate, is how the algorithm tries to force short-form videos down my throat. I rarely watch anything less than 20 min, but it keeps recommending shorts and 2 min videos.
YES AGREE!!!!
This! Then when u give in to them harassing us to watch shorts, they repeat the same shit in specific loops.
Hmmm, I'm the opposite, I get mad if the video is more than 15 minutes lol. Interesting to see the opposite side of the spectrum.
Yes! I’m trying to find something interesting and educationalish to put on while I do chores or something similar to keep my interest but recently it’s been like 9 min videos than I have to jump to another ruining my flow
I agree so much with this. Most of the channels I used to enjoy the most have shut down, cause the algorithm didn't like them doing slow paced 40+ min long videos, so they got pushed down and were never shown on the homepage. Some of them I only found out they were shut down, after actively going looking for them, finding that they kept posting videos that I never got to see and in the end they gave up the fight and shut down.
it is so frustrating.
And Instagram is doing the same shit, shoving "Reels" down my throat instead of showing me what I have told them time and time again that I want to see. And since what i post the most are black and white ink drawings, I don't tick any of the "cool" boxes for vibrant colours or reel content, so my subscribers don't even see what I post.
Just got this pushed today. Never heard of you, but it did answer a question of "why is youtube burying the stuff I want and flooding me with crap?" I will now probably get flooded with other random crap I don't want.
I feel like irrelevant stuff is being forced on me. You came to me randomly. It's like the the algorithm sensed my frustration and you were there to explain. I am old - not your target demographic. I mainly look at ecology, agricultural, and biology topics. But as soon as you don't resist an impulse to watch some comedian you get a firehose of comedy. It's hard to get back on course. Your critique is spot on.
I've noticed this as well. I watch one video on a topic that I wanted to at and only at that moment in time, and the TH-cam decides that that is my entire personality.
Haha, yes! i once watched a video of birds splashing about in a bird bath and before I knew it all my recommended videos were of birds bathing in a bird bath. They weren't even a variety of birds but all the exact same ones, lol!
Ha! Agreed! I watch “Canadian Prepper”
@@DevonExplorer We put on a "cat entertainment" video, where it's just birds and squirrels and whatnot in the forest to entertain our cats for a little bit. Well, because we searched for it and watched it for 15 minutes, that's now half my suggestions.
No kidding. The algorithm is embarrassingly-bad now. Multi-billion $ company that lets childish minds authorize downgrades to the ML. There is not a single executive at youtube, and probably precious few at "Alphabet" above them who deserves to be in any leadership position. Can you imagine an actual, educated, mature adult saying "Yeah, once they've watched one video, lets show that same video again and again in their feed even though they never click on it ever again? Good grief. Google needs a shareholder revolt. @@shwawn_suggi
I thought I was crazy for losing interest in TH-cam over the last year or so. Mind you, I have been consuming content on this platform for as long as I can remember. Back then it felt like I could load up the homepage and instantly find 3-4 videos that I would gladly watch to burn time. Now it feels like a schlep to find something worthwhile.
Thanks for explaining, I hope they bring back the old TH-cam.
I don't use the homepage, I stick to my subscription feed, and if I must look for something new I use search. The homepage is where the algorithm lives and I find it chaotic af.
Yeah sometimes it feels like TH-cam doesn’t want you to use it. I remember scrolling through my homepage and seeing nothing but 10 second memes or clips from tv. None of my subscriptions
I've found, that if I don't see something interesting in the first half-page, or so... It's going to be less interesting the farther I scroll. About once a month, a 'really random' suggestion will really hit with me. But, it is rare that the algorithm serves me anything that rises to 'must watch'. Sometimes, I click on that oddball suggestion that I've seen suggested 50 times, just to get it off my homepage.
The question should be, to which old TH-cam are you referring? The app has gone through so many iterations.
literally! i would have so many internal battles of what to watch next, and now it’s a blessing if i even open youtube anymore
Recently, my mom has been complaining about getting videos recommended to her that have almost no views, and no relation to her viewing interests - religious videos, spiritual videos, mindfulness videos - and she thought it was her fault for clicking on a video like that several weeks ago, lol 😄 She is even explicitly telling the TH-cam recommendation algorithm on each of those videos (via the small menu button next to the video) that she is not interested in that content. But TH-cam still recommends her those videos over and over again 😂
Sad. That would be very frustrating.
Funny, I Keep getting Chinese and Islamic or even Jewish recommendations..
Make sure she restarts her computer from time to time. TH-cam is bad at updated individual accounts.
That has started happening to me too, usually shorts.. Videos are still within my echo chamber but shorts are weird and random zero views videos
Oh my gosh so I'm not the only one spammed religious content when I haven't ever engaged with it??
I am constantly clicking "don't recommend channel" and "I don't like the video" on things I have no interest in.
Me too, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I've started reporting videos I'm not interested in to see if that'll change anything.
Take a break from youtube and watch others things
TH-cam feels very OFF these days. You hit the nail on the head. And the fact your video was recommended is actually on-brand for the types of videos I enjoy watching.
I will say, I absolutely love getting videos with like 8 views in my recommendations. You get such a good picture of what the average person is doing on youtube, it's insanely fascinating to me. Getting videos I've already seen though, is pretty annoying.
There are websites that can find a random vid for you with little to no views
im also totally fine with that, the issue its that trying to find any video regarding a topic its bordeline impossible to find, along with getting tiktok level recomendations and isane levels of shorts shoved everywhere.
I find myself closing youtube all the time or goign specifically to channels i know and rewatching their videos, because outside the odd 8 view recomended video from a theme i like 90% of everything else its just.. meh (not because the person itself, but the theme of the video)
This is how I found a channel of some guy washing his clothes for 2 hours per vid. Or an entire underground community of people showing off their filled coloring books
@@geekzombie8795 I'm trying to find motivation but lifes a bit hectic at the moment😂 had a new born - yay finally a dad - plus trying to learn ue5 from a complete at home noob setting to make random videos is probably not the smartest.... .....and I dont have the same passion for modern games any more.........funny enough I moved back to streaming on twitch after a very long break....growing faster there than on here which is weird as I was going well on here for my content quality I thought but now it's like nah no one wants to see what you do😂 plus I havnt been to a car show for a long time plus left all my car clubs after covid....maybe I will just put a timelapse car wash video of my r33 gts 25de sedan and see how that goes......
@@kephrianbro I dont even get 20 views on my shorts
Yeah, this video was recommended to me out of nowhere. HOWEVER, unlike all the other random bullshit I see potential in this channel. I feel like this could become something much much bigger in the long run. Just keep at that grind, I'm rooting for you.
Same
Same
Same
Same
same
i actually searched up this video, im doing an essay about how youtube is falling off, and searching for this video is exactly how you described it, it really helped me
TH-cam used to be incredibly addictive to binge and always interesting. Lately,I find like 3 or 4 videos and then idk what to watch :/ Im even struggling to influence the algorithm to give me what I DO want by actively seeking it out. Whatever they changed is just awful right now
Perfect summation
I would suggest that many of you spend too much time on TH-cam and somehow expect there to be an unlimited quantity of videos that you will find interesting.
Even within a niche that you like, most of the content is not good or at best mediocre.
You're basically expecting an endless amount of high quality content for free, 7 days a week for however many years you've been watching YT - which simply doesn't exist.
Perhaps a better solution would be to stop whining about this fact and go and actually do something, instead of looking at videos.
I actually sort of like that the algorithm sucks, so that people don't spend as much time in the app
Nailed the problem down PERFECTLY!
@@thealexanderbondI would suggest not pulling assumptions out of your ass.
What is driving me nuts is that when I scroll on my phone TH-cam records every pause as something I watched, even if I only spent the amount of time it took me to move my finger. Later when I go through my history all of those channels are recorded as watched. Lovely-I now have a hundred videos to scroll through as I try and find the video I did watch and want to watch again or share with someone. I never thought about what it might be doing to some creator's analytics.
You can turn that off in your settings. It's called something along the lines of "preview," if I remember correctly.
Thanks@@RachelB.BookReferences
You can delete videos from your watch history.
Is that why I sometimes see videos in my feed that have a piece of the red bar highlighted red as if watched (some of) it, but have never even seen the thumbnail or title in my life?
Ive been refreshing my youtube feed like three times every time i wanted to watch something today because everything felt so disconnected from what I like and then I saw this thumbnail and I felt a cosmic connection with the rest of humanity instantly (and yeah i do love video essays on internet culture)
Fr I feel like the algorithm completely disregards my actual interests and just give me random nonsense it's obvious I'm not going to watch while suppressing people I actually WANT to watch. For instance, I'm not subscribed to Wendigoon since I don't watch too many of his videos, but I used to get recommended his videos anyways. Now, I legit thought he hasn't posted in almost a year because I'm no longer getting recommended his videos. But based on what I watch, even if I never watched him, I still watch people in his area of expertise, so I should still be getting recommendations of him. It's wild.
I'm happy I don't seem to have gotten this change yet. My recommended is still normal. I have noticed the search being shit though.
Yes, I keep getting videos that I’ve never had anything to do with or had any interest in or videos that I used to watch. For example Danny Gonzalez, I really don’t watch him and don’t WANT to watch him. I don’t really like his content so it’s pretty annoying when he keeps popping up. There’s also Mr. Beast (used to watch) and this one video about how North Korea is inescapable now. I really don’t care about any of them so it frustrates me when I’m trying to find a good video to watch.
exactly what i did
I know right! I've never had this problem In the past but now it feels like refreshing is just a step to finding a relevant video
It's videos like this that makes me happy TH-cam offers me random videos from people I have never heard of before.
Completely agree -- this video hits the nail on the head. Anecdotally I find myself scrolling longer, being less interested, and often just switching to other platforms. Video recommendations don't seem to update nearly as frequently as they once did, and often my homepage looks very similar day-to-day. The "algorithm" nowdays seems to just ignore my watch patterns, and focus on irrelevant ones.
Yes! I've been getting that old TV feeling of "ugh.. There's nothing on."
Same - I hate that the same videos just sit on my recommended page for ages. It used to be so good at recommending things I'm interested in and keeping it fresh :(
I think search has always been pretty meh, but the new algorithm I think is actually a step in the right direction. I've been using TH-cam since around 2009 as my main form of media, and I am enjoying that this new algorithm is recommending me videos with less views. There was a period where it would only show me popular videos in my niches, but now I'm getting recommended videos from very small creators.
half the time my homepage is filled with videos that I have already watched
Whatever stops me accidentally watching one video and being bombarded with the same c**p as if it was my favorite thing ever
I used to get sucked into TH-cam rabbit holes late at night but that doesn’t happen anymore. I feel like I’m constantly looking for content to watch but have a hard time finding new creators to watch. I’ve seen the exact same videos being recommended to my 6 year old niece and she watches Roblox videos and I watch mostly commentary. Somethings broken and I’m kinda ready to take a break from TH-cam all together
I am interested in internet culture so TH-cam did hit the nail on the head with this recommendation.
Exactly the same here, I watch documentary style content and I get the same random stuff as my sister's recommended, it's even the same as stuff on a brand new account
I first noticed that first with Shorts, when there became actual creators from TikTok flocking to the platform instead of just phone clips from a decade ago and little kids recording themselves or their TV screen. Now even my front page looks almost like when I’m signed out…
Genuinely, I'm happy I was recommended this video. The amount of times I've had to hit "not interested" and "don't recommend this channel" the past few months is truly staggering. It's why I've been considering getting off TH-cam and doing whatever else with my time.
I’ve hit not interested many times and the next day I get recommended the video again. It happens regularly to the point that I don’t even bother anymore.
I've probably clicked "I'm not interested" a hundred times on "Camping in the Woods" videos and they still recommend it to me after a week. I don't get it, I've never watched a camping video in my whole life. I can't even think of anything that I watch that's remotely related to camping. Why is TH-cam pushing this on me?
@@One.Zero.One101lmao youtube wants you to touch grass
I have the same thing. I get random videos by indian kids that shouldn't be on the platform. I also get loads of Jordan Peterson and self improvement channels which I actively dislike every single time. It goes completely unnoticed. Yet there are hundreds of channels I have subscribed, I haven't seen a video of them for years.
There are other things to do? What magic is this?
I love video essays, multi hour long videos, outlandish movie and show theories, but I haven't been getting any of those. No video essays, longest videos cap at 22 minutes, and no theories. You are the first video in weeks that actually caught my interest and held my attention the entire video, and I am so greatful! Glad I'm not crazy, and glad I found you
I have definitely felt a difference in the past months..
About half a year ago, i thought my algorithm was perfect, i had so much fun watching TH-cam.
But nowdays it's like tiktok and twitter, a few bangers in the beginning, and then just endless doomsurfing in hopes of the right content.
I am so glad that I'm not alone, this video was also amazing and very informative.
Thanks❤
Funny, opposite of my experience. My algorithm was perfect about 5 years ago, and it progressively got worse and worse, to the point where 6 months ago my page was filled with exact same channels and topics. I would scroll for 10 minutes until giving up and doing something else. Today it is still far from golden times, but gradually gets better. Almost as if we both could have the best of two worlds if youtube added recommendation settings, one showing similar content to what you watch, and the other exposing you to something new and unrelated.
Holy shit same man hours of scrolling fr
Mid - late 2018 is when things went to shit. Since then I will get 3 videos relevant to the search I just did, and then the rest of the results are page after page of Linus Tech Tips.
Yeah 100% Agreed. I just tend to scroll for a while before I find more content I actually want to watch,,
Same I noticed that youtube just stopped recommending me pc/old tech videos because I like watching those and think they're fun and interesting. Then just nothing despite me watching so many of these videos. Content creators I used to watch every other day just stopped showing up and then I'd go weeks or months not knowing they were still making new stuff constantly
In the spirit of scientific research, confirming your video got recommended to me out of the blue. I ignored it for many days...finally watched it. I still have no idea why it got recommended to me based on content I usually watch, but I found your explanation useful and informative. Thanks, hope this helps and best wishes for reaching your monetization goals.
Same, actually saw it refuse to go away on my husband's account and came and looked it up on my own, we normally watch yt through our ps5
This has been very reoccurring as well - refreshing the main youtube page does absolutely nothing. If there's a video uploaded in the past week that I haven't watched from a creator I'm subscribed to, it's going to stay in the top suggestions. Refreshing the page just shuffles the order they're in, sometimes. It's like youtube is literally telling me "These are your only options. Pick one."
@@AmazingRofa spam?
Same here.
Yup, same. I actually only watched this now because I got the "TH-cam Ad Problem" video recommended and decided to watch that one, just to realize it's from the same creator as this video which had parked in my recommended for several days, but which I had ignored (I can say now tho, it's a good video!). Usually, when I'm really getting annoyed by a video staying rent-free in my recommended, I eventually tell TH-cam that I'm not interested in the video and it goes away.
I'm into niche things, but getting recommended mainstream ones. Searching for something very specific became almost impossible. TH-cam should try to be better than tiktok instead of copying it. And now youtube always recommends just new videos, even if you're looking for timeless things that are just as valid several years later.
Dude fr playlists is your best friend now, like I love the niche videos from 5-10 years ago or vidoes with that vibe, and it’s impossible to find them again it makes it feel like I found a piece of gold because legit searching for it I’ll never find it.
@@banshiii4049 it's the only way I can keep track of things. I watch coding videos online and trying to refind a good one is nigh on impossible using the search bar, even if you know the name of the video.
Broo yt search option is very accurate
If I wanted to watch tiktoks I'd download TikTok if TH-cam becomes like TikTok people like me who don't care about TikTok will just stop using TH-cam. That's such a dumb idea from yt.
@@banshiii4049I'm so glad it wasn't just me
My problems with TH-cam are it's echo chambers, it's search engine being crappy all of a sudden, and Temu, Shein, and dating ads that are definitely not generative popcorn. There's not even an option to remove inappropriate ads that I don't want to see, and I remember there used to be.
One of the most annoying things I’ve come across lately is the ridiculous word censorship that’s getting channels flagged. It’s honestly getting out of hand.
Creators now have to say “unalived” or “deleted” instead of “murdered” or committed “suicide”. Changing the agreed upon word doesn’t change the meaning.
If we can’t have a conversation with “scary” words in them that, often times are blocked without any context, it really takes the value out of the content.
I'm unalive 💀
Some of those word-alternates started on TikTok to evade automated censors, but then they became a legitimate part of the lexicon across the web.
@@hovhadovah how do u bleach ur skeleton? Its pearly white 🤤
@@hovhadovah go touch wheat u bubonic plague
That's not a actual issue. No one has actually been demonitized for saying killed. Their just being safe since it's a issue on tik tok
Funny how this video was also randomly recommended to me, I feel like the recent TH-cam algorithm changes have been a mixed bag of good and bad outcomes and I'm super glad that you and everyone here feels the same way! You made some great suggestions to how the algorithm could change and I hope TH-cam will consider them.
I miss being able to click several videos and use my history as a short-term queue. It saved me from so much of the doom scroll, often times I'd click several vids, then do minimal scrolling to find some more towards the end of the content I picked. It was so much better.
I do find myself keeping up with the channels I'm subscribed to more purely because I find it a good palate cleanser from the endless doom scroll. Especially when I'm getting suggested doomer-esque content.
It's just random, the algorithm picking up something good is still a chance
I love your pfp and I know where it's from 🥹
@@ask343 Heyyyy let's go ✊ it's such an amazing song
I feel confident in saying the random low view videos in people's recommendations are an earnest(?) effort to give visibility to the bajillions of low view channels
I do hate youtubes new changes but having this video and creator recommended out of nowhere talking about the exact reason why its happening is so surreal. Great video, thank you for existing
Fr it's kinda nice. Freaky, but nice.
itys kindof a testament against the proof that youtube is ruined lol
Why is it surreal?
especially the new youtuber channel design ,now i don't know how to access the community tab ,about section or the in channel search bar ,only just recently discovered how to access all the videos in a channel and can only comment using the reply button without it there is no way for me to comment
Yeah, kinda ironic, isn't it?
Big problem with search results "for you" / "you might also like" is how they insert random junk - no search match whatsoever! - kinda like gratuitous irrelevant twitter ad every 6 screens.😡
I've been really really really really really really irritated with TH-cam. Everytime I watch something once, they send it to my page with a flood of other content from the same creator. They Drown me with certain stuff I am NOT inquiring about & totally ignore other things I look up. I don't research as much on TH-cam anymore because it's just to time consuming clearing out all the content triggered by one article. It's always the dark stuff, too. Never the lighter subjects. Super disappointing because computer technology was supposed to stimulate our curiosity, NOT limit us to dark corners and force us to shut down our inquiries due to freaky algorithms. Depressing.
Bread and circuses.
The powers that be do not want us asking questions or finding answers, they want us enmeshed and engorged with bull dinky.
We need to enmesh our would-be owners with the dirt. Only solution.
And that will only lead to new owners... Bad actors are perennial like weeds.
Did you know you can delete videos from your watch history? Also you can research in an incogneto window.
I accidentally clicked on a video about serial killers, i had to go and delete it from my watched history because it immediately started recommending me murder, kidnapping etc videos. thanks i hate it!
@@withthesehands5799 Useful to learn how to avoid FedGov though. 😉
Notice the doomscrolling, that trance-like state when it happens. Save your brain while you can
I love the fact that small creators are being pushed out more, found this video exactly because of the algorithm change. Very good quality video btw
thats probably the only good part of this new algorithm
It's cool, but it's so unhelpful to small creators because I'm recommended random stuff from some small creators but the tiny creators I care about are never recommend to me despite me subscribing and turning on notifications (that rarely appear). I've found a few good niches through this system but for some reason it's like when the channel gets too small TH-cam forgets all of your interests. It's like they assume I'll click on someone's recording of a discord call out of pity that it only has 500 views but wouldn't want to listen to a video essay about my favorite game ever because it's only got 50 views.
@@theflyingspaget Yeah unfortunately by pushing small creators indiscriminately to people outside their target demo, it can inadvertently tank the video performance, which often hurts the small creator even more
TH-cam have a box that comes up occasionally, asking if you want something different from what is usually recommended...
It would be nice if that feature was worked on a little, giving ppl a choice :(
A behaviour science thing.
if choosing to watch something new, your more likely to have an open mind about it, allowing you to enjoy it more than you would have if it was the only option you had with seemingly no other choice.
The same thing happens when youtubers buy adds and they are shown to ppl outside their target audience.
This was actually tested by another content creator.
'The spiffing brit, youtube is broken - how to kill a youtube video' Time stamp 2:12
TH-cam is hurting creators in the same way :/
Its bad marketing :(
" i keep seeing the same stuff " " i keep seeing random stuff " this guy is mad that people who don't know about famous people saw a video about famous people on youtube . this is exactly the kind of person who should see the video lol
I’ve definitely noticed the change in the search features and it’s one of the most annoying things on this site. Though I don’t use TH-cam often, trying to find a specific video/a range of videos on a certain topic is almost impossible now.
The search function drives me crazy now, I've always loved watching anime speed paint videos, but I get like 10 I can pick from before it's like here's this creator you watch who isn't related to what you searched at all~~✨ it's really cut down on how often I watch those now 😭
The search is really bad. Starting to remind me of shopping on Amazon. So I'm getting irrelevant results & irrelevant ads. The recommendations are the only thing that has improved for me.
i think rhe search engine got changed or something because is not working on anything like it used to (google, facebook, twitter, etc)
It's an absolute nightmare trying to find some old vids with key words. Not even the full title of the vid makes it show up at top.
Yt be crap nowadays
I feel like when I type a word in the TH-cam search engine, TH-cam is using that word for 5 listed videos in the results and then it completely forgets what i searched after that and tells me to go f-k myself with the rest
My biggest problem that started occurring not too long ago with the algorithm and the homepage is that:
For basically the entire day, my homepage recommendation doesn't change except for some exceptions where I get a new video recommended. Other than that, every time I refresh the home page or go back to the homepage after watching a bunch of videos, I always get the same videos and reels from the same creators. The only thing that changes when I refresh my homepage is the positionnement of the videos and shorts on my homepage.
It is now more of a chore trying to find:
1. A new video that wasn't recommended to me
AND 2. A new video that isn't bad or not related to what I usually watch.
Something I've been noticing for a few years is sometimes youtube will recommend a video I've already watch and seemingly deliberately hide the watch time bar so it doesn't look like you've already seen it.
There is a limited memory for one's "watched' bars.
Watch too many, and older ones get forgotten.
Though I do sometimes have doubts about priority of forgetting.
In my music section,it no longer gives me the option to eliminate videos. Listen again is a useful feature until it fills up with videos/ songs you listened to once or twice and never want to hear again. Other videos have the not interested option, and the don't recommend option, why not in music?
Also, my recommended searches should be things I have searched, and they're not. I'm not a gamer or interested in sports, so all the most searched options are of no use to me. It used to have my own searches, but not anymore.
Seems I’ve already commented happens all too often. 🤦♀️🤷♀️
@@musaran2 This was my assumption when I first noticed but it kept happening so I actually checked on a number of occasions by going to the channel in another tab to compare and it still had the watch bar most of the ones I checked.
I hate TH-cam anymore. I’m so incredibly bored with having to sift through the same damn videos day after day after day. I used to love it but those days are over. The crap they recommend is so not me. It’s like they don’t care what I want to watch.
Finally someone is talking about this. I am interested in slice of life and Japanese fashion content, yet I get soooo many recommendations for videos about celebrity drama, commentary on why (insert anything) is problematic, and random makeup influencers.
Yes, this. Its a lot of negativity blasting itself into our lives
teach the algo you don’t want their constant libtard propaganda by downvoting all of it
prob won’t work tho lol
oh for fuck sake tell me about it @DiaryofNatalieRose. I used to be able to find funny anime memes now I can only find "girls are into this" "look, look what this celebrity/politician did" bro, I don't give a fuck what celebrities are up to (yeah hopefully throwing themselves off a bridge ASAP wearing cement shoes) or what 3D GIRLS in the real world are into you dare to recommend the 3D to me???, Do I look like that's going to be relevant info to me any time soon?. I'm fucking sick of my recommended being 95% contaminated with shit I have absolutely 0 interest in. I want more anime and more Minecraft.
ikr! same here! its sooo annoying
@@akabaneaki what's irritating about it is that TH-cam is effectively forcing people to agree to all of these terms on how they process their data yet the recommendations are still garbage. This is no small amount of data they are collecting about people and because of that I think people are entirely justified in expecting relevant content based on their interests. I'm sending them data about basically every video and channel I watch and yet I'm still receiving utter shit that has nothing to do with anything I watch or any channel I have subscribed to so I have to ask the question "why does TH-cam need to process my data?"
It definitely feels different. I’m SO sick of TH-cam constantly recommending videos I’ve already seen! Then again…It recommended this video too and I liked it.
This! My entire recommended is videos I have already seen or are on my watch later list. Why would you recommend something I already saved? Its so counter intuitive
Thanks for this video. I just got recommended your video today out of the blue. I'm experiencing all the issues you have raised, including getting recommendations that have nothing to do with subjects I'm interested in. I'm in Australia and speak English yet my News tab is filled with news channels from a different country each day - none of them in English. When I deliberately search for a particular issue, it is often difficult to find anything useful in the results. Not a huge fan of the shorts. Don't use TikTok and don't need the YT version in my feed.
It was recommended, and I clicked because I feel the same. I am not sure what happened but last year my page looked nice and full o professional TH-camr thumbnails. Now.... it look like I am logged out, or searches influence way too much future the page and recommendations. cheers!
Sall :))
It does NOT look like you're logged out. Believe me. I am not logged in at work so when I go on youtube for some music, it looks like a fcking porn site... because all of the pop music playlists use half-naked women at the beach for their thumbnails. Sigh.
ariana what are you doing here :))
I was having this question for a longer time, then was randomly recommended to this video, google's algorithm also sucks giving you completely unrelated results all the time.
th-cam.com/video/QMF9AiUSBfY/w-d-xo.html part 2
I'm glad other people are feeling this way. Search feels useless. Recommendations is full of stuff I've already seen. It feels like it's getting harder and harder to discover new content.
I feel the same way about Spotify. It's the same, over and over again. Instagram has the same "narrow view" thing, plus a lot of ads. Reddit is the only social media where i feel i discover some new stuff, but they are riddled with repost bots too.
@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist4 Maybe the content was the bibles sold along the way?
Or can we talk about how it will recommend you the same video over and over that you haven't clicked because you are not interested in? I wasn't interested the first time, I promise I won't be interested the 20th either.
Oh absolutely! Even if you go to the "New To You" tab it gives stuff that you've skipped over before. Take a hint, TH-cam! lol@@fluteoboe101
@@fluteoboe101 youtube manages to show the same video over and over or very similar ones that I've specifically marked that I am not interested in
Finally, someone brought this up. These issues, especially constantly being recommended videos I’ve already watched, have been frustrating me for quite a while now. Finding content that I want to watch has become more and more of a struggle lately, and I’ve started watching less and less videos as a result. Interestingly, and only slightly related, I’ve noticed that the less time I spend on TH-cam, the more aggressive the advertisements become.
This isn't as much of a problem for me because I watch the same videos over and over again (long video essays), but I've been having an issue with TH-cam continuously putting the same video in my autoplay which is annoying when I'm trying to listen to something while I'm doing housework and the like.
The algorithm is also continuously shoving religious content down my throat, specifically a lot of former Christians who have deconstructed into atheists, which I sometimes appreciate but if I watch something even somewhat related to religion the Christian deconstruction becomes everything I'm recommended. I'm not Christian, never was, born an atheist. This is related because this one stupid video chasing me is an atheist deconstruction of the Bible, which was cool the first time but holy fuck if I hear the intro to it one more time I will quit TH-cam.
"especially constantly being recommended videos I’ve already watched"
With no red bar either so if its a generic looking video or has an nonspecific title its hard to tell if you've seen it before. Meme compilations are pretty bad for it.
Same my recommendations have been absolute pure garbage or just stuff I've watched already three times
If you aren't on mobile, I'd reccommend using ublock origin. Right now it's blocking 860 ads for me.. goddamn
to be fair, being recommended videos I’ve already watched is not a problem to me.
Confirmed popped up out of nowhere. Yes TH-cam recommendations has been "off" so to speak for about a year as you said. Also I noticed TH-cam has started mixing in ads in the normal home page feed as if they are regular videos from a content creator, which is really annoying and you have to be careful so you don't click anything by mistake.
My TH-cam frustrations:
-I cannot find any more DIY channels to watch to fill out my feed
-If I watch genres that more often make long videos, those genres totally take over my feed. Instead of judging based on the quantity of videos.
-the issues you mentioned about searching
THIS!
i would like to add the fact that if u go to a channel that has been on youtube for more than 10 years ( or exactly 10 years ) u can see only the oldest and the most recent videos, but u cant see the videos in the middle;-;
I want to add that it autoplays weird s### unrelated to anything I'm watching or have ever watched.
60% of my feed is lofi now, lol
I like to watch movie reactions, but youtube only shows me the same maybe 5 channels that do those. Occasionally I'll get one brand new channel with 6 views and a terrible mic.
Totally agree, been feeling like the recommended videos have mostly been meh for a long time! But once in a while there’s a video like this that rightfully pops off - glad TH-cam is sending new viewers your way!
@
I love your videos
Thanks Tiffany! Happy to see you here. Your content is great!
Honestly use the "new to you tab" i feel this is how youtube USED to be.
As someone who has been on TH-cam as long, this resonates with my soul. Opening the homepage to see none of my regular creators or people I have subscribed to makes it feel like TH-cam is dead in a way. I am finding I am usually at a loss for what to watch these days or I'm relying on my memory to manually search channel names. It's terrible timing with TikTok blowing up as I think a lot of people will choose to make that permanent jump.
I'd like to ask then: why are you not subscribed to your favorites and use subscription tab to see all of them? Homepage is the place where I go when I want to see something different and my usual TH-cams bookmark is straight to subscriptions.
@@jiritsu0 For my take: I almost exclusively use my subscriptions tab because the homepage is so worthless to me anymore, but even the subscriptions tab isn't perfect as it's listed by most recent release, which ultimately makes it flooded by the largest of my subscribed channels that produce content with a whole team and my smaller channels are lost in the flood. Anymore, besides getting direct notifications, I have to think about a channel and directly navigate to their page to get their content.
Same here. Just being served up UTTER SHIT. No WAY am I going to pay for TH-cam based on this experience.
@@Rhyzal_ That is so true about the big channels that produce a lot can clog up the subscription tab. It is a tricky thing for the creator side on that too: there's some content that needs individual videos (like in product reviews and that sort of things), but floods the feeds or make big compilations that might not go well as people just skip major parts and leave the watch time on those low, which in return makes them "undesirable" in the eyes of the algorithm.
If a channel is really important to you, save one or more of their videos so its easy to find the channel you are looking for
100% correct, and TH-cam needs to not only WATCH this, but IMPLEMENT your suggestions!
I've never watched a single one of your videos, but both you and (strangely) the YT algorithm are spot on for this video.
same here, I hadn't seen him before but YT algorithm got him another subscriber 👍🏼
Same here
Same here - I watch lots of video essays and internet lore stuff
Same here
Holy cow I thought I was going crazy. It’s absolutely wild how so many of us in the comments feel the same way. The shock to us all finding your video too!
I used to ask out loud if I was crazy as I scrolled through TH-cam for literal hours slogging through only videos I've already seen or ones I've already selected 'not interested' on. Absolutely insane that there are millions of videos on the platform but it can't figure out what we like to watch.
@@davesmith3023 dont you think that scrolling thing is them trying to figure out what they want to watch?
@@drswaqqinscheckingin7210scrolling needlessly for HOURS? Trying to find a single video that’s new to you? At that point you need to start reading or engaging in another hobby and admit that shorts/scrolling have taken over your life. That would be the best case - the worst case is he could simply do research on new content.
Yeah recommending the same random thing you've already watched is stupid. Now I could see maybe it is something you have watched multiple times before, but space out before it recommends it again.
1.Yes, this video randomly on my page
2.Yes, somehow, my favorite creators and niche ...gone? Only very few
3.The best algo is TH-cam music apps on Android, from "maybe i just pick 3"...end up 50 my fav bands/genres selected.
4.New algo mimic TT, where "everyone have a chance to be on fyp", this is better for small creators, they have a chance to compete and might gain interest from different demography.
I’ve been finding it really hard to find engaging content recently, and I thought it was just me. I didn’t even know you when you showed up on my recommended, but I have to say this video was quite informational and entertaining. Love your content man, keep it up.
yeah, this. youtube recommends dogshit mostly.
The only way I find content I like is to go to the channels of my favorite creators. Finding new creators is so hard
Fr@@cory99998
im glad i have a watch later with more than 1000 interesting videos
@@vindi167 sometimes my recommended page gets so back I have to dig in my watch later bro. TH-cam is just fucked up rn
My biggest complaint right now is almost entirely related to the search function. I use youtube in my classroom as a teacher, and its gotten a lot harder to find the content I KNOW exists, that I have previously seen, but now I get so few results related to my query that I struggle to find some of the more obscure videos I like to use in class.
I knew all of Robert Sapolsky's videos vanished! I used to be able to find stuff about behavioral biology and now it's a desert!
It's getting really bad when it comes to videos on history
Every year I use the same video to teach bon dancing. This time I had to get so weirdly specific about the video I was looking for to find the bon dancing video.
You know you can save videos and even make folders, right? I used to have a folder for each subject and there they were when I needed them.
Also a teacher and I have to download/record things as I find them
I very much agree, I feel like I scrolled through the home page a lot more lately to find something I actually care to watch, and have more recently found myself just giving up and looking elsewhere for entertainment which I feel really means that TH-cam has failed to do it's job if I'm leaving the site to find something else.
LOL … and what will that be?
@@KarmasAbutch not op, but any number of streaming services with series or movies
@@thejadedjester4935 so not creator content then?
It is disadvantages everybody, I don't know why their self sabotaging
Yep I've just been reading books, they give me kids content on here or garbage made for teenagers and it's embarrassing to show other people because I dont want them thinking i watch any of that.
I searched youtube to find a video about how bad their search is and this was the only one that had enough relevance to click because youtube is SO GODDAMN BAD AT THEIR OWN JOB
I LITERALLY was complaining about this in my head when I saw this video, TH-cam has become so frustrating to use. I can sit and refresh my recommended page for no joke 10 minutes straight while clicking "not interested" on videos I've already watched/ don't want to watch, and STILL get recommended THE SAME VIDEOS. Or alternatively TH-cam will stop showing me any videos and just give me "mixes" to watch, mixes containing videos I'VE ALREADY WATCHED!!! It's gotten to the point where I literally have to sit down and think of what specific TH-camr I want to watch or what might be interesting. It feels like shopping but you're only allowed to look at products you know already exist or have previously bought, and you have to guess the names of the other items to find them. It's made TH-cam so unbelievably UN-relaxing to use because I just get so frustrated with how seemingly purposely bad the recommendation ai is.
ive literaly deleted all my watch history a couple months ago i wouldn't recommend doing that because it'll just recomend you videos you have already watched before reseting it
I recommend the extention "BlockTube". Works completely within the TH-cam system so no weird menus or anything.
Allows you to block videos and even whole channels from ever being recommended. You can also block key words like for instance if you don't like "iceberg" videos (though it's not very smart, it will block _all_ iceberg videos, even ones about actual icebergs like for instance, if you like documentaries you may miss out on something to do with the Titanic if you have such a filter on.
You can not only block Shorts, but also block videos of a certain length. When I'm in the mood for video essays I just pump it up to 3000 seconds and I get plenty of 50+ min videos recommended to me.
But, my favourite part of the extension, is looking at a homepage of 24 videos or so, blocking 20 of them, and feeling confident I will _never_ see them again.
Spot on. The algorithm is so off at the moment it's crazy. I get the impression they're trying to remediate the problem with more and more "do you like this video?" And "is this suggestion right for you?" Questionnaires that they expect you to fill in to help get your personal feed sorted out somewhat, but people just aren't going to take the time to fill these things in, and it won't fix the overall problems either.
The ironic thing is I only ever get those lil surveys on videos that I've already watched or from channels I'm subscribed to. It doesn't help that clicking "not interested" or "do not recommend" don't seem to work.
My problem with those is that a binary yes/no doesn't work without letting me explain *why* I said yes or no. Like, when I say I don't want Jordan Peterson's Kermit the Frog ass on my front page, is youtube gonna understand that I don't like him because he's an alt-right hack, or is it gonna assume I'm not into science and psychology? I like seeing charismatic people sit around and shoot the shit. I don't like Joe Rogan. Can youtube understand that difference when I say I'm not interested in clips from his show?
@@andrewsad1 Good point. I don't think that it can tell tbh. I've gotten a shtload of far right grifter garbage recommended to me lately. Doesn't seem to make any difference that I never watch them, the algorithm is assuming I want to see it anyway because Ive been interested in something vaguely tangential to whatever wedge issue that their propaganda mills are churning out at the time. And as they just grift from one subject to the next trying to farm outrage off of just about anything, it's pretty much guaranteed that theirs are the channels that'll keep getting recommended over and over again.
@@littlestone1541Thank God I thought I was the only one getting that shit
I only get those stupid questionnaires asking me if I liked videos I haven't watched.
Well, I don't know, do I?
If I watch the video they disappear. 🤦🏼♂️
I miss the days when the recommended list under each video actually contained similar content to the video I was current watching, allowing me to sort of rabbit hole into specific topics. Now that that section is almost entire filled with TH-cam drama, videos I've already seen, and Taylor Swift music videos, I don't think I've used that feature in years.
i sweaarrr that was when youtube was actually fun to watch. Right now its all mish mash from small creators, old videos and some weird unheard of content that ive never watched before.
@sandraswan9008 I got so many unwanted Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Cardi B Videos (I only ever listen to Gospel music or the Oak Ridge Boys/Statler Brothers/Home Free) that, after "Do not recommend channel" was ignored for over a month, I just hit "Violent or repulsive content" every time.
I was getting so annoyed by the suggestions, that I disabled them. Now I only see the suggestions when the clip has ended
yea its so very, very Ass.
@@stephenszucs8439 thanks for the laugh...I went to UFO and Bigfoot suggestions
This video wasn’t recommended, I went LOOKING for it because I’m so annoyed with the algorithm!!
I can spend several minutes just scrolling, looking for anything interesting. Most videos are so far outside what I care about that I just keep on scrolling.
It feels like it got worse and worse over the last few years, especially this last year.
Your explanation feels spot on!
Don’t say it makes you keep scrolling, they’ll double down 💀
omg yes, I remember like even still a year ago I would be able to find something to watch on the maximum first 10 recommended videos guessing high, now I will scroll for minutes trying to find something to sleep to, I literally just clicked on this video bc I was like ok im scrolling for so long now lets just watch this random one he might be chill enough for me to fall asleep
This is exactly what is happening to me. It seem like it's getting worse every month. Before, I'd find something interesting to click on off the bat. Now I scroll for days, then refresh the page and scroll until I force myself to watch something I don't really have an interest in. Spend a minute on the video, then leave. The new algorithm is not good.
YEEES
@@WrenFairX no they wont, they dont want you to scroll on youtube, they want you to spend your time on the site as watch time. Netflix knows its users will exit the app within 90 seconds if they cant find anything. TH-cam is probably similar
This was absolutely randomly recommended but solidly relevant because I'm a heavy user and have been feeling for a couple months that TH-cam was broken or I'd reached "the end of the internet." The recommendations have been tiny videos most wildly outside of my rather wide interest range. Thanks for at least validating what little sanity I have left and letting me know it's not imaginary. Very well done video as well. Props.
I feel your pain also being a heavy user (being disabled and thus not being able to get out much), it's one of my main 'Entertainment/educational' apps... Do you also get the following issues? Seen these changes?
CHANGES I SERIOUSLY H A T E ABOUT TH-cam
- ONLY having 'Auto (recommended)', 'Higher picture quality', 'Data Saver', 'Advanced' on video quality settings. Where as once you could set a DEFAULT RESOLUTION FORALL VIDEOS YOU PLAYED... NOW, you can ONLY set 'Higher' or 'Data Saver' as a all video playback resultion. IF you set (say) 720p, it ONLY APPLIES TO THAT CURRENT VIDEO. So this REMOVES a personal want or NEED to globally set a resolution (for example if your internet is slow, or, you are ONLY watching videos on a 720p TV etc (what is the point of having TH-cam play 1080, 4k videos when your TV CANNOT?? And the 'Auto' setting... DON'T get me started!!! 😠
- 'TH-cam Shorts'... I AM 52!! I AM NOT INTERESTED IN SHORTS, I DO NOT WATCH SHORTS AND WILL NOT WATCH SHORTS! Is what I told TH-cam customer services when asking HOW TO PERMANENTLY DISABLE THEM!!!... "Sorry sir, at this time there is no function in 'Settings' to disable them so, you can't do that.' is what I got as a reply.... "Have you tried clicking the 3 dot menu and removing them one by one so the algorithm can learn your preferences?" I got asked... YEAH... IT DOES NOT WORK, these bloody 'SHORTS' (like a BLOODY VIRUS!!!) KEEP POPPING UP IN MY 'SUGGESTED'...FFS!
- And YES... I HAVE NOTICED AN INFLUX OF RANDOM, WEIRD, OFF TOPIC, NOT INTERESTING TO ME video, sigh 😒, 'Suggestions'. I have subscribed to the channels (and thus subjects/topics) I mostly watch, SO WHERE THE F ARE THESE OTHER RANDOM VIDEOS COMING FROM???? So, now, quite frequently, MY time is WASTED on hitting the 'Not interested' and 'Don't recommend channel' options...
ALL THIS AND MORE and I'm a 'PREMIUM' payer!!! 😠😠😠😠
😎🇬🇧
@@thedarkknight1971 - my god, get out of my head.😁 I have been thinking the same exact things, in ALL CAPS too!! 100% pissed about every one of those things. It used to be just the constant "shadow banning", but now it's just crap puked out all over the screen and I have to clean it so I can find the videos I actually want to watch!!! One of my channels said YT was "pushing" "creators" to make more shorts. So, I sent a very precise comment to that channel saying I will NEVER watch any "shorts" if they ever did make them and I actually hate them and how they clutter up my videos and PLEASE don't start adding them because they are a waste of my time. TO ALL "CREATORS"::::: REAL subscribers will watch your videos in their entirety and don't need a stupid "teaser" about something they would watch anyway, because they like your content!! wth, YT. I am a daily watcher and the other day I didn't even watch one video because the one I tried to watch wouldn't load at a lower resolution and would skip about 6-7 seconds for every 5 it played. Beyond frustrating and I would just rather not even watch anything. I found an old magazine I hadn't finished and read that instead.
You hit the nail in the head when it comes to identifying the issues viewers are experiencing while watching TH-cam these days! The search issue in particular drives me insane, it has gotten impossible to find anything through TH-cam’s search.
working as intended
yeah, I hate that new feature they have due to those few times that I tried to search for some nostalgic video I watched years ago but could't find even though I put in the same thing as last time and I knew what I was searching for to, but I decided I'd just go read a novel instead of watching videos because after searching for an hour I was not in the mood. TH-cam better fix its system though
yeah fr, i don’t want to search shorts, i wish there an option to hide all the shorts results
and previuosly watched videos. if I want to see them again I put them in a playlist. Simple as that.
@@elisethearmy so, with uBlock Origin, you can actually block specific elements from websites. i've successfully removed the shorts shelf from my homepage and my subscription feed, and you can clean up the search with this feature too, although when i tried it it broke my subscription tab so it takes some trial and error
I got recommended videos about random topics that i'm not interested in, videos that i've already watched and 2-10 years old videos. It's all over my feed. I hope this ends soon because it's so annoying.
I feel like YT has become a video essay factory. I love video essays (including this one). But less and less do I see creative new formats.
@@alephnulI I do feel like most of the valueful recommendations for me are longer form content. It feels more and more like the algorithm is incentivizing videos towards a few lengths: less than 2 minutes (clips, simple one note sketches, etc.), 25-30 minutes, and 50+ minutes, very much including multi-hour long videos. The world of 8-15 minute videos feels like it's shrinking, and sorta makes it feel like each video either takes meaningful commitment (especially the 50+ minute ones), or are so bite-sized that they don't leave a lasting impression and I just get booted back into the video choosing cycle too soon.
i love video essays as well, specifically gaming essays, but finding genuinely interesting and creative essays is definetly harder than it used to be. i generally find the most creative channels through suggestion from friends or recommendations from bigger creators. the most interesting channels are never recommended by TH-cam itself which continues to push videos that are barely related to a video i saw 3 years ago.
@@friedkeenan I identified this recently when talking with someone about how the intros that so many videos used to have have largely faded entirely over the last few years, with longer form content usually doing unique video-specific introductions rather than the classic intro a channel might use on every video, very short form content dropping intros entirely, and only some 25-30 minute videos retaining that older style of intros.
However when the intros are retained they're now shorter and sometimes placed later after an 'intro clip' from the video's main content in order to grab attention, with the classic intro instead serving as a dividing slide between the 'hook' and the actual content.
I think it's a sign of how TH-cam videos are generally made to a higher quality these days and are more refined and optimised for viewer retention and their target demographics.
th-cam.com/video/X9XliNA2XCo/w-d-xo.html part 2
I get the same recommendations of video essays, even stopped using youtube because of how obnoxiously similar the videos were, though, as soon as i started watching horror game content again (like manlybadasshero) or react content (cinnamontoastken, jacksfilms), I'm being recommended more of those types of content also after a couple of videos.
For some reason, finding a smaller content creator and then watching more tended to suggest me more small creators, I usually find them by looking for a niche game from my childhood (such as sims castaway) or because I like sonic and fnaf sometimes a smaller creator will just pop up in my recommended randomly because they're a popular subject.
The system isn't perfect and sometimes it days a couple days for changes to take a major effect but it's some advice I have.
I also highly suggest a youtube shorts blocker, specifically shorts blocker.
I think, for me, the biggest and most annoying change is the search function. I’m constantly shown videos that I have already watched. I want new videos when I search for something!
and it doesn’t even show as watched which means i’ll go ‘that sounds familiar’ and probably watch it anyway, but if i watched it 5 years ago, i don’t actually want to watch it again
@@losermillie this happens to me even within a week or two of watching it, yt just forgets and even if i say ive already seen it several times itll STILL put it there. Also def agree that searches are horrible now, literally have better luck going thru google/firefox search and THEY find the types of vids i want more often that yt lately
For sure! Obviously if there are videos that I know I might want to watch again, I can save them in a playlist... No good reason to put them in my search results.
Tbf it is nice for asmr.
@@raezor82 playlists r for saving videos not the search feature
You are saying exactly what I'm feeling. The Search part infuriates me to no end. Literally goes against the entire purpose of even having a search. I'm using that tool because I want to find something within that specific search parameter. Not a bunch of unrelated garbage. How anyone thought filling the search with random suggested content was a good idea is beyond me. I've about had it with suggested content in general. They just want to manipulate us into using the platform as long as possible. It's morally corrupt.
I can‘t agree more!
This is what frustrates me the most. I can deal with the algorithm but the search is maddening.
on top of that, the difference is very subtle, so its harder to just skip over the irrelevant results
I read that UselessTube actually purposely tries to get you to view videos you hate. Illogical? They have figured out that angry people comment more than contented ones, and advertisers think that more comments mean longer viewing of the video, so their ads are seen more. Of course, when I am annoyed, I do not pay for any part of the thing that is annoying me.
@@stephenszucs8439anything that is advertised to me once (or more) per video during my ENTIRE browse, is doomed to get zero money from me for life. Every 15 minutes is just nagging.
A year later and it still hasn’t changed I searched for this video cos I thought I was the only one that was getting this problem
I swear this is what everyone has been trying to say for awhile now, but we just couldn't articulate it. Thanks for being the voice of the people
I actually like the new system, except for shorts on desktop. Fuck shorts
This was recommended to me out of nowhere, and it's one of the very few things that have been worth it. Hopefully TH-cam themselves will watch and know how much we hate this.
I would share your optimism if it wasn't for the fact that TH-cam only tunes their algorithm for maximum profits and not user satisfaction. They don't care if we like what we watch as long as we continue to watch and they make ad money from it.
must be the runescape music
Your video was in my suggestions, but, as a 50-year-old woman, I tend to be in none of the demographics for the types of videos that I like. I also have been frustrated with getting the same videos served to me, especially ones from creators I have unsubscribed from. That said, this video was really enlightening. I am glad you made it to my feed.
Not sure if your aware but you can block entire channels from showing up in your feed.
The three dots dropdown next to the video title lets you choose to not get recommendations from a channel again.
@kevlarbasin7501 Yes, I am aware of that. It was just a trend I had noticed that hadn't happened until the last year or so. Thanks for the tip, just the same.
you have to thumbs down the videos from creators you unsubscribe from. That'll stop them from recurring pop ups.
@@kevlarbasin7501ok but then some other crap will take its place, trust me I know :D
I found this video by search. Your video was the ONLY one, actually talking about what I searched for. It was at the top.
The biggest downside for me is TH-cam is pushing me very quickly into certain niches and does not let me leave. Like, I watch a lot of political content but recently I wanted to know few exercises so I watched approx. 10 videos from fitness niche. Since I did that 70% of recommended content is from various sport science/fitness/gym bros. Cool it down TH-cam, I want my politics and essays and my gaming TH-camrs back.
Getting back in track ironically always takes hours upon hours of watching the content you actually like 😅
I consciously avoid watching videos on topics I'm interested in but don't usually watch because I don't want my home page filled with just that type of video...
I liked a SINGLE viking song video 3 days ago, and now my rec is full as well, it's annoying asf!
Same. Slight interest in fitness, bombarded with CARNIVORE BROS
Yep, I watched a couple of classical music compilations and now it's completely stuffed my main page
I don't typically watch essays and don't generally engage in videos internet culture, however I *was* in fact recommended to this as the SECOND shown video on my TH-cam homepage this morning. To hear you call that out and explain why I've been seeing seemingly random videos on my sidebar and homepage for weeks now has definitely made me realize that I'm not crazy lol. This video was well made (especially the title and thumbnail), and I appreciate the explanation greatly! Keep up the good work for the people interested in your kind of content!
3:35 i am both interested in videos about internet culture AND this video was recommended out of nowhere lol
It's the first for me
This video was recommended out of nowhere, but I'm glad these issues were addressed. You addressed all the point that have made youtube less enjoyable over the last year or more
2024 update: it got worse, it's now recommending me videos i watched 1-3 YEARS AGO and videos that are barely related to the video that i just watched. and it's recommending playlists for some reason and i can't click not interested on them
I *AM* interested in video essays about Internet culture, but this video was indeed recommended to me out of nowhere, and I can confidently say I've NEVER heard of the channel before, though I'm glad to have given it a shot. :) On topic as well, I think it was literally the only new video on my home page, everything else was stuff I'd already seen, or shorts.
Same here!
Yea i too am an avid viewer of video essays, but like i feel theres been a shift in youtube’s ecosystem where the context you get is either one specific thing, videos you have seen recently or things you searched up on google
exactly the same for me!
I agree, while I enjoy video essays it's rare I get them from smaller creators. Hopefully this hits his target demographic hard enough to cause a stir.
@@j.sherriff😊😊😊 pooooo😊
I watch on my TV and Xbox and have been extremely frustrated with TH-cam. My most common gripes: 1. Promoting already watched videos for days in a row. 2. If I search it feels that I've lost ALL interest in any topic other than my most recent search. 3. I love to discover new things and am obsessed with learning but TH-cam fails to keep me engaged in active learning by refusing to promote new and interesting ideas to me.
My issue with youtube lately is flooding one type of content and only that. I've been listening to some playlists while working and now I have to scroll hard to find something that isn't that while I take a break. This video was a nice change among my recommendations, thankfully.
This!! My subscriptions haven't changed, but I barely get suggested videos from peopleno consistently watch. I follow a few miniature making channels, and that's ALL I'm seeing right now. Next week it will be something else and I won't see any different videos. it's like it either shows you too much of something, or a nothing good at all.
Hyped to get this video nonstop for the next week