1d ago

My YouTube homepage after I watch one balatro video

90 comments

Whenever this happens, I simply go into my watch history and delete whatever the fuck it was that turned my entire FP into just that one topic.
- Good to know you can do that.
  
  Really shouldn't have to tho. It's always for a video I clicked accidentally or only watched 15 seconds before I was like "nah." It should weigh things you've fully watched way heavier.

I also hate that yt has enshittified to where it no longer has new or interesting stuff to reccomend. All my subs are from years ago as of late it doesn't reccomend me anything but the biggest channels.

youtube algo is such a piece of shit.
Watch lets plays and tech channels, every day, for months.
Accidentally watch 30 seconds of a right wing psychopaths video because they buried the lede with the video title, and all youtube wants to show me for 2 weeks is right wing extremist bullshit, and takes months to get back into getting suggested the shit i normally watch on the daily.
- I hate how pro right wing YouTube is. Half the time I make an anti-Trump comment, it gets censored. But plenty of pro-MAGA comments get through constantly.
  I can tell that I'm getting censored because my comments simply won't be there when I go back to the same video from a different account. But it'll show up in my comment history with a "some comments might not be visible yet" disclaimer at the top. Sometimes if I keep reposting the comment it'll eventually go through, but by then the video has stopped being promoted by the algorithm and so no one sees it. This only happens to me when I get political.
  
  most websites like youtube/twitter/facebook/etc/etc are all heavily pro-right wing.
  They've claimed in the past they don't want to appear "biased" by cracking down on right wingers for rules violations. but honestly, it was obviously bullshit since they had no problem with "biased" appearances when cracking down on any other group, and often for far far far less than what right wingers routinely get away with.
  Right wingers are where their bread is buttered. They buy more ads, they run less adblocking, and they click more ads.

Been dealing with this BS for over 1.5 yrs now. Nothing fixes it. Skill issue on the YT dev team.

Use Freetube, it's a FOSS desktop application where you can import your subs and playlists
Best selling point is how the homepage is the most recent videos by your subscriptions in order, from most to least recent
I honestly prefer it to youtube in every way
- Trying it on my phone,thanks for the push.
  Fuck big tech. They will keep enshittifying everything unless they are kept afraid all users might leave.
- Nice recommendation, thanks. I'm starting to push away from all these US big tech companies (hence why I'm here in Lemmy) and finding an alternative to YouTube was hard to find. I just hope they don't get into the same troubles as Vanced.
  
  I've been using it for about a year now and I honestly have nothing but praise for it
  Because it uses invidious as a backend for video sources, freetube can have similar problems to it (might have a day without access to yt vids), but that's only happened twice in the past year that I can remember

As someone who has watched 6 of those videos in the screenshot from across 3 different channels, I apologize for my part in training the algorithm into thinking others who watch a single Balatro video might be interested in watching all the variety streamers play Balatro.

the trick is to ignore your homepage and only browse your subscriptions page
you can use an extension to automatically redirect to your subscriptions page
- Pretty much what I do with Lemmy, too.

Pause your YouTube watch and search history. It makes a world of a difference.
I like videos I care about and want to see more of. Watching a single junk video (in theory) doesn't ruin my feed.

You watch one video about old people reacting to rage against the machine and suddenly all the recommended videos are by "reactors" that make $50k a month doing nothing but watching movies with their mouth open
- an acquaintance of mine did a reaction vid where they reacted as one normally would - ie very minimal almost nothing - to a star wars announcement and got death threats lol
- Hey, that is a useful job! Do you always have opinions on things? Are you sure, you always have the right opinions? Come on, let's make sure and watch a person with a funny face watch other things and move said face in a way, we can immitate!

I use a 3rd party app Freetube. Don't need a google account and you can set multiple subscription profiles for different types of content. I only find new channels from suggestions for each video but stick to subscription as home page. But as with any 3rd party front end, YouTube is in constant battle with them, especially with vpn which can break things once in a while but it is a price you have to pay for a bit of privacy.
- Not just privacy, also usability. I can't watch 5 minutes on YouTube without ads and the algorithm is aparantly more important than your own preferences, according to Google.
  
  Oh definitely but my comparison was with Firefox using ublock origin so didn't mention the ads. YouTube with ads is literally unusable for me and I don't wanna pay money to google either. I haven't seen YouTube recommendation page in so long so can't remember how bad it is lol.

Yep. The suggestion algorithm is way too aggressive. Keep in mind you can remove individual videos from your watch history.
- I think it's just quick to hop onto new things that appear, but it evens out fairly quickly. I assume it's similar to a PID controller tuned to adjust quickly but overshoot, and then come back to level over time. It seems to essentially be a test to see how much of a new thing you've watched you're willing to watch. Once it sees you're not opening a lot of them it levels out almost as quickly as it started. This let's it quickly adopt new things you like, but (at least for me) it doesn't stick around if I don't engage.
- Agreed. You watch one video and the entire homepage changes.
  
  I think maybe it’s geared towards people who watch more YouTube. I never have any single topic take over my entire homepage, literally ever. I even watched a balatro video like two weeks ago and I got two tiles on my homepage that showed balatro. But I also watch a lot of YouTube, so any one video doesn’t change much about my watch patterns. Last year my wife decided we were suddenly going to be watching videos about using turkey calls, and we watched about ten of them in a row and then I was getting a good number of recommendations for turkey shit, but still nothing like OP’s homepage.

Free autism diagnosis by the algorithm
- Unironically the YT algorithm that pushed me into videos that eventually made me get diagnosed by a professional.

Log out, clear cookies, never log in again.

If I ever watch one Mr. Bean YouTube video, all my suggestions become Mr. Bean. I mean he's ok but they literally have the same video uploaded to multiple channels with slightly different names.
Give me more different Mr. Bean. Stop repeating the Bean.
- Unfortunately there's only like, 10 Mr. Bean episodes. Not much "more different" to go off of there.
  
  That realisation was what made me doubt all of my childhood memories.
  Kid me was sure there was at least 50 episodes of an hour each. Nope. Only 14. All less than half an hour long.

Just turn watch history off and find your own way. My YT homepage is blank. Fuck suggestion algorithms.
- I had mine off for years. I would look at my subscribed channel feed and that's pretty much it. But I recently turned it back on, and I actually like it. I pretty much only watch videos about science, math, philosophy, technology, SNL, and... Symphony of the Night randomizer races.
  My entire recommended feed is just more of the same, and I've discovered tons of new channels to subscribe to. A lot of the channels I subscribe to only post like once every 2-4 weeks. I don't want to have to do a search just to have something to watch at mealtime. Having random things recommended is nice.
  If I watch a weird video out of the blue, I might see two or three recommended videos of that kind next time I open YouTube. Not at all like what OP's screenshot is showing. I even went on a deep dive watching Snooker videos and it would still only recommend a few a day. And after I stopped watching him, I no longer see a single one of those videos in my feed.
  I'd say it's working pretty great for me. I don't see what all the fuss is about.
- Does no one use the Subscription page anymore? Are people even aware of its existence at this point?
  
  I used to utilize the subscription page. Then Google replaced YouTube accounts with Google accounts. I haven't logged in since.
  Yes, I'm old.
  
  I don't subscribe to anything, but I'd prob use it if I did. I only go to YT for one-off videos and just search for what I need.
- Yep subscribing is the way to go.
  The algorithm is dumb. It will even recommend the same video you watched before if you let it...
  
  It will even recommend the same video you watched before
  That is why I started liking (or dis-liking) every single video I watch, if it has the thumbs up/down I certainly know I already watched it and move on...
  With that said I don't know if I am tweaking or making my algorithm dumber lmao.
- Bump. This is what I do too. So much easier to just avoid it entirely.

What is balatro?
- Look it up on YouTube!
  
  roflcopter
  
  Lmao
  
  ROFL
- Drugs given video game form.
- A well-liked card game on the computer.
- the best way to describe it is a poker roguelike. its weird but addicting, i like it a lot.
- The downfall of my productivity at work

I got way better due to them tho 😅

I'm am so strict about what I watch on my yt account. Anything that is just a one off for curiosity or that I think will destroy my front page gets opened in a private browser or 3rd party app.
Fwiw, you can delete videos from your viewing history to theoretically fix it.
- I do this, but every now and then I still click on a video and then realise I shouldn’t have because my recommended feed is then flooded with videos about that specific topic. I’ll have to remember the watch history trick
  
  I hope it helps!
- This is the way to be. Any time I see someone else's feed in YT I almost always cringe in horror at what they're being force fed. Curate your algorithms folks!
- Yeah i do this. I browse front page for any recommendation and if it's a shitty clickbait or something from a search or lemmy that i don't wanna get flooded with, i delete that video. Then it won't recommend you that sort of video.
  You gotta control the algorithm and make it works for you.
  
  This! You can curate the algorithm to work for you!

Ha! I made this mistake when looking for a morning joe video to use to make fun of my hardcore right wing friend. Now all I see is those shit heads on my algo.

YT assumes you're always binge-watching. Which people often are apparently.
Just use your subscription tab, like we did in the olden days.

Lol y is your watch history still on
- Don't act like disabling Watch History stop Google from recording your watch history for internal purposes.
- Watch history is useful if you actively curate your algorithm feed. If you don't engage with the tools the algorithm interacts with you can quickly end up with a free-for-all on your main page.
  
  Oh it staight up disables the home page. Search > algo.

You're using YouTube wrong. You're supposed to set your default page to the subscriptions page.

At least those are videos of a real videogame.
I find it incredibly insulting how my algorithm is always giving me ads and thinly veiled ads for predatory casinos wearing the mutilated echos of popcap games (pre EA). It equally insults my intelligence and the artistry that actually earns the prestige of successful, critically acclaimed games, and it is a disgusting, pathetic way to earn a living.

not using dark mode in current year
You deserve this
- Why do dark mode users don't understand we dynamic/scheduled mode users exist 🥺

I totally feel you but for a different reason. I played Balatro for a few days and literally the only thing Steam recommended to me for over a month was just card based rogue-like games.
Also I recommend the one by RTGame. Probably my favorite streamer. He's Irish so I never catch the streams but the YouTube videos are great.
- Did you know they called him the Balatro King in the college?

I remember when I Ran by Flock of Seagulls was randomly playing in my head so I decided to listen to it. YouTube took that as me finding a new favourite band. I mostly listen to industrial metal.

Say his name and he appears! I believe in ~~Joe Hendry~~ Balatro!
I don't know who this Baletro guy is, but daaaaaaamn. He owns your youtube.
- It's John Balatro, he play his card well.

So...am I the only one who only uses the "Subscriptions" section? It has been years since I went the YouTube homepage.

pony on the front, lol
- it's coming it's real

I have been watching YouTube basically since they started. Despite having over 1000 subscriptions and an ungodly amount of watch hours if I watch a SINGLE video that's outside my usual wheelhouse my recommendation page will be tainted for like a week trying to get me to watch more of whateber thing I dared venture into.

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