this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Seems like a sure way to lose my engagement. I don't understand what Google thinks they're getting out of this except for flooding you with more ads between video recommendations at the cost of people actually watching anything and using the damn website.

Between removing the dislike counter, a defect search bar that shoves garbage down your throat, recommendations of decreasing quality on my end and shorts (which I hesitantly gave a try but ultimately lost all interest in because it remained mostly low effort content despite my efforts to train my algorithm), this is just another reason why I find myself spending more time enjoying other things lately.

Maybe I am just out of touch, but I smell another bubble bursting when I look at how enshittified all major web services are simultaneously becoming.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Maybe I am just out of touch, but I smell another bubble bursting when I look at how enshittified all major web services are simultaneously becoming.

It feels like something has to give, right?

We have YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, and more just racing to enshittify like I can't even believe, Google Search is racing to destroy the internet, yet they're also at the 'critical mass' of 'too big to fail' and shoved out all their major competitors already (other than Discord I guess).

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

except for flooding you with more ads between video recommendations

That's literally it. The advertising and marketing teams within Google have politically maneuvered themselves into running the show, and the software/product engineering teams that want to maximize the quality of the system they work on (search, youtube) are overridden by insipid metrics that advertising needs more user interaction with ads.

They literally have been commanding that things be made more shitty to optimize their malformed metrics. You absolutely can get more people to click the sponsored search results... if you keep making them less distinct from the actual results. And advertising needs those good click through rates nooooow!

There are email chains documenting this sort of shit going on that have become part of the public record due to various court cases.

Wonderful article about it all here

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I think the second part of my sentence you cropped was the more important one to get across. It doesn't matter how indistinguishable ads become from regular content when nobody is even willing to use your billboard for an excuse of a website anymore. Besides, institutions like the EU and even the FTC in the US will step in and break apart those dark patterns when they keep getting out of hand. We already grand Google way too much leeway but there's only so much Silicon Valley giants can get away with before getting slapped with fines and bans. There are already strict rules in the EU about transparency when it comes to advertisements and not even Youtube can ignore them for a very long time.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago

Time for Peertube

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Good thing we have Youtube alternatives. The two biggest ones are Odysee & Rumble. Also we have Peertube. The problem with Peertube is people don't use it. So it haves less content on it.

If you're going to watch Youtube, use a Frontend. For same reason Privacy Guides don't have Grayjay on it.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Odyssey is all fascists and crypto bros

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 day ago

Rumble isn't any better. It's where my dad gets his COVID conspiracy material after folks got kicked off other platforms.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago

Isn't rumble the same? Lul what the fuck is going on with the world.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

You can find electroboom in Big Clive on there.

Outside of that it's pretty much a write off

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Its got a lot of those types for sure, but it has the most normal content of any alt video platform.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 day ago

this would essentially kill my method of viewing videos on the platform, this isn't a boost to interaction they think it will be, it will ultimately result in me watching less videos as I won't have the ability to decipher trash from good, so I'll just stick with content creators that I am used to and no longer branch out like I currently do.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thanks Youtube, I hate it. Like I can see some arguments for taking away the view counter, even if I think it's a bad decision. But the date the video was uploaded? Who does that even help? I guess Youtubers will either need to start properly dating their videos or we'll just have to use context clues to figure out when a video was uploaded.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

But the date the video was uploaded? Who does that even help?

There's gaming content that expires within a month, especially with frequent balance and other game changes, like with League of Legends. I won't watch a video that's weeks old because what's being featured probably doesn't work anymore after a patch.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don't understand why they on such a self destruct path?! I already barely use this fucking platform anymore because of how shitty it has become already, and now they want to bait me into watching some low views garbage on top of all that? WHY?!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Because when you get pissed off at one shitty video and click off it to find a better one, that's free real estate in which to double your ads.

And what are you gonna do? Go to Peertube? YouTube is too gigantic to have a real competitor no matter how much we try. It is a beast so massive and bloated at this point that we just can't kill it without legislative interference. And Google knows damn well that they're basically the only game in town so they aren't afraid of significant user backlash.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

The money must grow.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Lmfao, fuck it, why not remove titles, tags and the searchbar too if you only want them to watch the videos your algo hand picks.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Let's just remove all video metadata including author. You just get video that is unskippable and you have to watch it (and ads) before getting a new video. Webcam required to track your eyeballs and the video will only play while you are looking at the screen.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

And let's make the video be an ad too, why waste time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

That's their end goal: no choice whatsoever, you watch 30 minutes of ads, followed by the 30 second video the algorithm wants you to watch (which is also an ad), 30 more minutes of ads, and so on.

And, since they also own chrome, you can't go to any other page without first spending at least six hours watching youtube.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (7 children)

How about you test marking videos as watched across devices so I don’t have the same shit pushed back at me all the time.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

HOW ABOUT YOU STOP SHOWING ME ALREADY WATCHED VIDEOS IN GENERAL?! Why fill my home feed with shit I've seen already? I literally have to click (...), click (not interested), click (why?), click (I've already seen the video) FOR EVER SINGLE VIDEO I EVER WATCHED ON YT.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You know why they might be hiding upload dates? My theory is, Youtube doesn’t really want you looking at new stuff. (Very apparent by the algorithm) they want you looking at specific news stories, and specific content but not constantly seeking new uploads from independents.

But that is just a theory a plain theory. Thanks for watching.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I hate how now when I watch a bunch of videos from a creator, my YouTube feed ends up only having that creators videos, like yeah I'm enjoying this person, but I do like to watch other things as well.

It feels like I'm being forced into an echo chamber.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

forced into an echo chamber.

Yes, it does that.

Using YouTube on a new account or through one of the alternatives will result in a wildly different feed. I was recently shocked by seeing the default non-curated feed on YouTube.

Absolutely none of the content was interesting to me; most of it was directly anger inducing political crap or just plain brainrot. I would definitely not visit that shit page ever again if the default feed was my first impression. I don't know if it's supposed to be a right wing breeding ground by now, but it sure isn't as balanced as I would have expected.

My regular YT feed is obviously much more interesting to me, and I can use it to find new content, but since I don't want to wait for the ads, I now only watch my own subscriptions on a different frontend, which of course will create an even smaller echo chamber.

I get how a curated feed can benefit the user, but YouTube is just not making it possible. It will only show (rage) engaging content and without the dislike function, you can only decide not to watch the crap or get shown more crap until you do like it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

The one that gets me is watching a new creator to me on a subject I'm interest in e.g. gaming and it turns out that said creator so has a right wing nut job catalogue and that's all that fella my feed for the next two weeks.

My time is limited I just want to relax on my down time and ain't interested in rage bait but that's all yhe algorithm seems to want to show me every chance it gets by me clicking on a new name

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Why? Is everything going to shit? Like counts, view counts, dislikes .. I suppose it won't change anything for me on reVanced, but still.. why?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Their ~~top minds~~ data scientists figured it’d be easier to manipulate users this way.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

In the future you’ll pay $900/mo to stare at a blank page.

And you’ll have to because all the free sites are entirely ads.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago

Ok, this one is really stupid. Dislikes? Ok. Views? Fuck all the way off, Google.

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