[HN Gopher] Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations
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Unhook: Hide YouTube Recommendations
Author : tandav
Score : 72 points
Date : 2021-09-29 19:50 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (chrome.google.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (chrome.google.com)
| suyash wrote:
| This is great anti-dote to 'addictive design' practices that
| these companies use.
| thepasswordis wrote:
| I honestly just wish the recommendations were _better_.
|
| I watched an interview that Curtis Yarvin gave on Tucker Carlson
| (about an hour long...interesting at least).
|
| Now youtube is sending me all these conservative "talk show"
| people that I have absolutely 0 interest in.
|
| Same thing: I think I watched some video about guns a while ago.
| I think guns are neat, but I absolutely do _not_ care about
| watching dozens of videos of bros broing down in the woods with
| the machine guns.
| warent wrote:
| It surprises me how many people aren't being proactive about
| their recommendations.
|
| Hover your mouse over a recommendation you don't like, click
| the three dots that appear to the right of the title, click
| "Not interested". Results change very quickly.
| asdff wrote:
| When you aren't on youtube much it can be exasperating to
| manage this in this way. For example, I was watching a
| biology lecture on youtube. Recommendation tends to be insane
| conspiracy theories that include some words from the biology
| lecture title, and zero other high quality biology lectures.
| I'm not going to sit there and hover my mouse over literally
| every recommendation when they are all insane. I will just
| continue to not use youtube much, so far I haven't felt like
| I've been missing out.
| scrollaway wrote:
| You have to work on them a little bit but once you do, the
| recommendations are incredibly high quality.
|
| Just make sure to hide the stuff you don't want to see on your
| homepage. I go as far as removing dumb videos from my watch
| history (or watching them in incognito in the first place).
|
| I find that most people who complain about the YouTube
| algorithm expect it to just work out of the box with zero
| tuning. It's not that good and to be honest I personally don't
| want it to be that good. But if you put in a LITTLE effort I
| promise you it's an absolute recommendation beast. I have
| hundreds of hours of content in my watch later list just
| because of it. It's all super high quality and I'm rarely
| disappointed hitting random videos in my homepage.
| rsj_hn wrote:
| I was looking to buy a leather belt about 6 months ago. I found
| the belt and bought it (am very happy, thank you). Now it
| appears for the rest of my life I will be getting leather belt
| advertisements. On Facebook, Youtube, Google, everywhere. The
| whole reason why I wanted a quality belt was so that it would
| last me the rest of my life if cared for properly. I intend to
| never buy another.
|
| And what's worse is that it's the same set of ads. Like before
| I cancelled Hulu, they would show the exact same ad over and
| over again, just to make it as irritating as possible.
| darkwizard42 wrote:
| For what its worth, this is more because none of those
| advertisers (except maybe the one whose belt you actually
| bought) know you actually finished and bought a belt!
|
| Everyone who wants people to buy their leather belts
| advertises to people who have searched or previously looked
| for "leather belts" and that is you...
|
| In a perverse way, it's actually good for you to keep getting
| belt ads. If you just stopped getting them all of a sudden
| I'd get worried because it means the purchase data of belts
| was sold and combined with your past search data to server
| you new ads in an even more devious way.
| htrp wrote:
| Alternatively, the Faustian bargin we made with the FAANGs
| was that we would provide our data and they would give us
| useful ads.
|
| If I bought a nice leather belt, perhaps I should get ads
| for nicer leather shoes or some other item, maybe a leather
| polish/waterproofing kit to keep my belt nice and new. The
| failure of the Advertising-Industrial complex in that
| regard has been disappointing to say the least.
| blondin wrote:
| the incognito mode in chrome and inprivate in edge have
| become my "normal" browsing mode. i keep a regular window
| for a handful of web sites & apps like gmail, youtube,
| github, etc.
|
| i instinctively open everything else in incognito now. i
| have noticed less tracking, less ads, and a more pleasant
| browsing experience.
| rsj_hn wrote:
| Yes, I know the cause, but I'm pointing out a flaw in their
| plan.
|
| It would be smarter to look for pools of products and be
| _less targetted_. E.g. to know that people who buy long
| lived leather belts may also be interested in long-lived
| leather wallets, or long-lived shirts, or glass containers
| instead of plastic, etc, and then rotate all these products
| in, rather than this targetted barrage of non-stop belt ads
| for the next year. This just can 't be the optimal
| advertising strategy, there must be diminishing returns to
| this level of specificity.
| darkwizard42 wrote:
| For what its worth, companies probably DO look into this,
| but people who are bidding on the "leather belt" keyword
| are outpaying those companies in adjacent products.
|
| At the end of the day, advertising space is auction based
| and if the belt companies want to bid the highest for
| that space, they win.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| I didn't buy any belts recently and half the ads I see on
| YouTube are still for belts. I think "internet belt company"
| is just a thing right now.
|
| EDIT: Not leather belts though, nylon with magnetic buckles
| or something
| hawtkey wrote:
| I really like the new containers feature in firefox for this- I
| have a trash container so my main youtube container doesn't get
| polluted.
| alphabetting wrote:
| Hover over the recommended video and you can click the three
| dot tab to select "not interested in Curtis Yarvin" or "not
| interested in Tucker Carlson." I do this all the time and it
| makes the feed so much better.
| Legion wrote:
| You pretty much have to coach it with a generous amount of "Not
| Interested", "Don't Recommend Channel", etc. clicks on video
| recommendations of the sort you don't want.
| Fogest wrote:
| The odd time if there is a "weird" video I see somewhere like
| reddit I'll just watch it in private browsing to avoid this.
| It's annoying that I have to do this though.
|
| I find I have the same issue on Spotify as well. I don't listen
| to Spotify a whole lot, but when I go to the gym I'll use it
| and listen workout style music. For me the stuff that gives me
| that energy and focus is often hip-hop/rap style music. But
| ironically it's probably my least favourite genre to listen to
| outside of the gym. But since at least half my time listening
| on Spotify is listening to that kind of music all my
| recommendations are terrible.
|
| I really wish these services gave better options to manage your
| interests. I would love to just tell Spotify to just ignore
| certain genres from recommendations. Part of the problem is
| that I also suck at discovering music. So it would actually be
| beneficial to me to have better suggestions on what to listen
| to.
| simorley wrote:
| > I honestly just wish the recommendations were better.
|
| Which is sad considering how great youtube recommendations used
| to be around the time Stripe was launched. Remember when people
| used to go down the youtube rabbit hole to see where they'd end
| up? Now there is no breadth nor depth to the recommendations.
| Youtube used to be a vast ocean, now it's a puddle ankle deep
| and no more than a step wide.
| handrous wrote:
| Like the rest of the Web, there's still a lot there--Google
| just won't help you find it.
| missinfo wrote:
| I don't think it shows enough similar recommendations. When I'm
| trying to research what kind of TV to buy or how to foam latte
| art or watching Curtis Yarvin interviews, I _want_ lots of
| similar videos.
|
| How is Youtube supposed to know that in some cases you want
| similar recommendations and other times you don't?
| [deleted]
| tandav wrote:
| I use it for 3 months and never wanted to turn it off. I only use
| subscriptions and direct links and rarely trending. It's easier
| than I thought before.
| wodenokoto wrote:
| At least for music, you get much, much better recommendations
| when viewing in incognito mode. Basically you get songs that
| other people who listens to _this_ song also listened to, instead
| of the same songs youtube thinks you like, regardless of the song
| playing.
| shmde wrote:
| There is another alternative which I use. Distraction Free (DF)
| Youtube. Works pretty well.
|
| https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/df-tube-distractio...
|
| https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/df-youtube/
|
| There is another ad-on for youtube which I recently started
| using. It skips all the advertisement inside the video ( such as
| self promotion, product promotions, into/outro, sponsorships).
|
| https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-y...
| gruez wrote:
| Why not just publish as an adblock filter list? You really only
| need cosmetic filtering to do this (supported by adblock
| filters), and I don't want to worry about yet another extension
| going rogue and selling to some a shady company.
| bigodbiel wrote:
| Why can't YT recommend the "next" video, or at least place the
| current author's latest/most relevant video
| deadalus wrote:
| Tried it, works flawlessly.
|
| Another recommended Youtube extension is : De-Mainstream YouTube
| [0]
|
| [0] : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/de-mainstream-
| yout...
| ssttoo wrote:
| Or if you use firefox, hide things with CSS in your profile's
| `userContent.css`
|
| I've been using this for years to hide everything that's not
| video: ytd-app #guide, ytd-app #page-
| manager ytd-browse, ytd-app #secondary, ytd-app
| #comments { display: none !important; }
| #hnmain .subtext { visibility: hidden !important; }
|
| Source: https://www.phpied.com/defining-user-styles/
| ssttoo wrote:
| Forgot to mention `#hnmain .subtext` is for hiding HN comments.
| penjelly wrote:
| you can use cssbot for stuff like this too. ive always done that
| instead
| suyash wrote:
| tell more..
| debesyla wrote:
| Hiding distractions? Sure. But I personally find YouTube
| recommendations quite good - if you don't ruin it by accidentally
| watching a single meme.
|
| It's not perfect, but what would be a good alternative for
| finding new channels that you would like? Do y'all have any
| suggestions?
| ___luigi wrote:
| > YouTube recommendations quite good
|
| I feel it suffers from "rich is getting richer" phenomena. Once
| the video start trending, the recommender starts showing it for
| any search.
| sneak wrote:
| Additionally, most things that trend in that way are going to
| be lowest common denominator crap, or if it's from one of the
| better channels, broadly accessible stuff that would be a
| better use of the listener's time as a listicle instead of a
| 15 minute video.
|
| I wish the recommendations went for the deep cuts instead of
| the pablum.
| jaimehrubiks wrote:
| For me recommendations is the best youtube feature. I love it,
| for me it is super high quality. And I can always tell it if I
| don't like something. Most of the content I watch came from
| recommend videos in the main page or a video page.
| MeinBlutIstBlau wrote:
| I don't even have a bookmark to the youtube homepage. It's to my
| empty videos section. So as not to get shown the dumbest
| clickbait of content I don't need to see.
| rndmind wrote:
| I just use hooktube.com
| Jugurtha wrote:
| I watch videos I'd like to get recommended while logged-in. I
| watch videos I'm not sure about in incognito/private browsing not
| to influence the recommendations in my account. If I find myself
| consuming that kind of content more often and would like it to be
| recommended to me, I promote it to the logged-in session. If I
| want to see less of it, I gradually demote it, including deleting
| YouTube history of videos of a certain type, and this acts as an
| indicator that I'm consuming more than I should.
| ourcat wrote:
| Recently I've seen an increase in recommended videos which
| already have a red line across the bottom of the thumbnail, to
| denote that I've already watched it.
| smoldesu wrote:
| Freetube[0] is my recommendation if you're looking for this. It
| has the feature built-in, alongside a whole suite of distraction-
| minimizing features. It might not be the definitive YouTube
| client yet, but it definitely gets enough right to become my
| daily carry.
|
| [0] https://freetubeapp.io/
| kbenson wrote:
| Honestly, that's where I get some of the most use out of YouTube,
| the recommended videos main page. Sometimes I'm annoyed they
| aren't showing me enough variation based on my subscriptions and
| past likes. I'm not sure why I'd want this.
|
| Sometimes I'm watching a technical presentation/talk by someone
| and I'll get other talks of theirs on the recommended videos for
| that video page, which is useful, or followup videos on a topic.
|
| What reasons for people that find this useful have to not wanting
| recommendations, either as a space to go to specifically to find
| something to watch or the section on the video page?
| keb_ wrote:
| > What reasons for people that find this useful have to not
| wanting recommendations, either as a space to go to
| specifically to find something to watch or the section on the
| video page?
|
| Recommendations that "the algorithm" provide to me are rarely
| good, but they are _always_ distracting, and often click-baity.
| Instead, I come to YouTube to watch the channels I know I
| enjoy. The shortcut on my New Tab page directs me straight to
| my Subscriptions page, and that 's where I stay.
|
| Do I ever discover new channels? Sure! When a friend shares a
| video with me, or I stumble across a link on HN. :)
| quocanh wrote:
| The problem is actually how good those recommendations are.
| They're designed to keep your eyes glued to the site as long as
| possible. It's a personal choice, but removing recommendations
| is one of the best things for your mental health if you're
| going to use YT or any social media.
|
| That said, I also find them useful. But some people believe
| that it's better to seek out information for yourself even if
| being spoonfed is easier.
| NortySpock wrote:
| If I feel a need to watch a video, especially "watch it
| before you lose where you found it!" panicky feeling, I push
| the "Watch Later" button, and just treat that Watch Later
| queue as an infinitely long list of "meh, eventually I might
| watch it" videos.
|
| If Youtube ever gets rid of that Watch Later button I guess
| I'll have to push stuff I'm interested in into a list of
| bookmarks or a log file or something.
| kbenson wrote:
| > But some people believe that it's better to seek out
| information for yourself even if being spoonfed is easier.
|
| I mean, when I'm looking for something specific on YouTube
| from my desk, I agree. When I'm in bed watching it on my TV,
| not so much.
| seanw444 wrote:
| I suppose people that only want to watch the video they
| specifically came for, and don't want to be tempted by other
| media that they know they'll waste their time on.
|
| YouTube does great at recommending videos. I love it,
| personally. But I can totally respect the former position as
| well.
| matsemann wrote:
| If you just a single time watch a video out of your normal
| categories, yt will never forget. No matter how many times you
| click not interested.
|
| Also, some of the horrific clickbait thumbnails and titles it
| suggests annoys me. So avoiding those is one less thing to care
| about.
|
| Also, much of the problems with yt isn't how they allow
| dangerous videos to be on their platform, but how they surface
| them to lots of people by recommending them. They do little
| harm unwatched.
| zeta0134 wrote:
| I don't know how you're getting relevant recommendations;
| YouTube seems determined to get me into watching the latest
| celebrity personalities, or endless streams of clickbait.
|
| I use a few custom uBlock Origin rules to hide the
| recommendations sidebar and the end-of-video overlay complete.
| If a video doesn't show up in my list of curated subscriptions,
| I just don't see it, and that's fine. It's good for my feed to
| be slow and update infrequently; I've got other stuff to do.
| ttctciyf wrote:
| My method: I subscribe and upvote generously, only downvote
| when it feels good, and do "not interested" in the sidebar
| recommends, with prejudice ("I don't like the video") if
| necessary. But the real trick is, on the yt home page, if any
| video that even looks like content I don't like comes up, I
| choose the option "don't recommend any more videos from this
| channel" immediately.
|
| Only in this way have I managed to completely expunge all
| mention of J**dan P**erson from my yt recommends.
|
| Completely!
| kbenson wrote:
| I make a concerted effort to upvote stuff I like, so maybe
| that helps. When I was watching videos from /r/videos (which
| I haven't done in a while) I would actually make sure to
| click through to YouTube to give an upvote on things I
| thought deserved it (it always seemed kinda sad to me that
| some someone else might post a video to reddit and get a
| bunch of karma but while the creator might get a lot of
| views, most of those viewers wouldn't even be presented an
| upvote option for stuff they enjoyed).
|
| In addition to that, while my subscriptions does have some
| crap in it, it's also got quite a few math and science
| educators, as well as people doing visual essays. I'm also a
| sucker for educational crossed with pop-culture, so stuff
| from LegalEagle usually gets a watch and a like (and I'm
| subscribed) as well.
|
| I agree is does seem to weight recommendations to much on
| what was recently watched sometimes, but I imagine that's so
| people that are in the rabbit hole can go deeper if they
| want. Unfortunately, it makes it hard to find something
| interesting for me on occasion when the last stuff I was
| watching is not what I'm in the mood for at all.
|
| I treat YouTube like I do any other media source, like
| Netflix. I go to it and look for stuff to watch when that's
| what I actually want to do, so I don't generally mind
| watching a few things in a row. Often I'm doing it on my TV.
| seph-reed wrote:
| I made one of these, that works for YouTube, Twitter, Tumbler,
| Reddit, Hacker News, Google Search, and Pinterest
|
| You can enable/disable whatever you want. The point is to get rid
| of lame content.
|
| https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sober-media/hfjclo...
| jcuenod wrote:
| I've been using adblock to block comments and recommendations for
| quite a while. Now when I see them, I find them quite
| aggravating.
| marcodiego wrote:
| Better: don't use youtube. Or, if you need, use a better
| interface like ytdl, newpipe or minitube.
| DevKoala wrote:
| Is there an app that does this? I put for a YouTube subscription
| and I don't want to see the recommendations. I just want to watch
| the videos on the topics I am searching.
|
| The recommendations are there to distract you and I always regret
| clicking on them.
| dcdc123 wrote:
| I don't mind recommendations, YouTube does a pretty good job
| recommending things I would like. I just hate when I accidentally
| go to the trending tab. :shudder:
| nyjah wrote:
| This might not be the place to ask this, but does anyone know of
| anything like this for the youtube app? On appleTV and on Droid
| the youtube app is severely struggling. From the inability to say
| not interested in a video or don't show this channel, to being
| unable to refresh the home page without closing the app
| completely or signing out of an account. There's no community
| engagement in the app from what I can see.
|
| I feel like there is something I am missing in some settings
| somewhere, but I just don't know.
| pwdisswordfish8 wrote:
| It's called NewPipe
| movedx wrote:
| I've been using this for about 8-9 months now.
|
| I highly, highly recommend it.
|
| I've found YouTube much easier to consume as a result of this.
| It's not an endless binge anymore driven by an infinity feed.
|
| That being said I use YouTube everyday and I'm an active content
| creator on the platform my self. I even have Premium.
| perihelions wrote:
| Related, uBlock fliters are very effective on Twitter. All of the
| recommendation sections are easy to select and toggle,
|
| https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20twitter%20ublock&type...
| ("## twitter ublock")
|
| https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/of5z86/cleany...
|
| edit: And here's the YouTube version of that HN query -- there
| are several suggested ways to block YouTube Recommendations,
|
| https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20youtube%20ublock&type...
| ("## youtube ublock")
|
| edit2: Here's a very satisfying generalized query ("## ## ublock"
| -- comments with two or more ##-syntax rules),
|
| https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%23%23%20%23%23%20ublock&type=...
| michaelmdresser wrote:
| Does anyone have a ublock origin filter they use to block YouTube
| recommendations and/or comments?
| skymt wrote:
| This is what I use: youtube.com##.ytp-
| suggestions youtube.com##.ytp-pause-overlay
| youtube.com##.videowall-endscreen youtube.com###related
| youtube.com##ytd-comments
| post_break wrote:
| Is there a way to hide a channel from YouTube search? I want
| that.
| gpayan wrote:
| I never feel confortable showing or sharing "my" Youtube main
| page/recommendations with anyone. It's providing details on my
| personal interests that I don't necessarily want everyone to know
| about. This especially true in a work context, when the content
| of my screen is projected/shared with an audience (boy those
| endscreen video suggestions can be embarrassing).
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(page generated 2021-09-29 23:00 UTC)