this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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I mean algorithms have their flaws but there is a reason they became popular.
Subscribe to a dozen RSS feeds and suddenly you have more content then you can read with no easy way to sort through the chuff. Also no easy way to discover content beyond your feeds.
The reason why RSS didn't become popular was because content creators didn't know how to monetize them while still having to pay for hosting fees.
Social media built walled gardens that could drive traffic to certain content creators if it was in the social media company's best interest. Content creators moved to social media since the carrot was too much to resist.
The way I like it. The showRSS feed is beautiful after using Google Home feed for so long. I'll never go back to ads and Google trying to sell me pixel products and reviews every day
The only algorithm I want is the classic “Sort by Magic.”
What's that?
Wasn't that how YouTube used to work tho? Still I think it's better discovering new channels, but that makes it harder for the new users I suppose
Funny you need YouTube. I have been rediscovering the "Subscriptions" tab recently. It's a chronological view (newest first) of all Channels I am subscribed to, but I actually haven't used it for years.
I've gotten used to the YouTube algorithm, going to the homepage and just finding whatever seemingly interesting videos YouTube suggests to me. However recently, YouTube made the strange decision to disable the homepage for people who disable Watch History. Now my YouTube homepage is entirely empty.
Anyway, going to the subscription tab it's just a massive collection of random channels I've subscribed to over the years. It's too messy to keep my interest, and I've actually been using YouTube less.
Same here, I have removed the home page (using ReVanced) so it automatically loads my subscriptions, as I found those has far better videos than my home feed at all. Homepage has really died, I keep getting the same videos I already watched, some obscure 39 views video keep annoying me and because I use YouTube music I also get recommended music, except they have like 100 views. It's just so terrible.
I think YouTube has been disabling the homepage, so you are more intrigued to enable it. But it really just makes your and my lives easier. Either way it's the only way to really enjoy the videos nowadays. Hopefully another platform comes along, but that hasn't happened at all in over 20 years
That's the thing, I personally liked the YouTube homepage! Even with watch history disabled, I found it gave me decent mix of recommendations based on my region, subscriptions and Liked videos. I know many people dislike the YouTube algorithm but it actually worked well for me.
Now that YouTube has disabled my homepage (held hostage unless I turn on Watch History), I am far less inclined to go on YouTube and watch random videos. Which is probably a good thing for me, let's be honest. On the other hand I don't know what YouTube wanted to achieve with this move. I find it hilarious that my homepage is empty now by Google's own choice.
And you know what? The channels today are super sensational when it comes to their titles and thumbnails like it's always about a curiosity gap or some extreme headline that makes you annoyed and I'm honestly over it. It's just so hard to find good channels that are genuinely entertaining and don't employ any of these. Honestly I'd go back to 2013 YouTube, it was far better