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Tell HN: It is now impossible to dismiss shorts from your Youtube feed

38 points by atum47 ↗ HN
There's no way to run from shorts - [1]. Recommendations getting worse every day. The search is a joke. You win YouTube, I'm cancelling my subscription. Not gonna pay you money to watch the things you want me to watch.

1 - https://r2.easyimg.io/o5i81liv0/1000042941.png

P.s.: I've been collecting screenshots to illustrate everything I'm complaining I'm this post, but they are in my PC and honestly I don't think think anyone will care about this. Maybe later I'll post them here.

Here's a video you me trying to search for something on YouTube - https://youtube.com/shorts/DbadkzrH8cc?si=OgQxhA6L6GWSoxgR

42 comments

[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 86.6 ms ] thread
arihantparsoya
Facebook is even worse nowadays
atum47
I never paid for Facebook
readyplayernull
You don't need to when you are the product.
atum47
That's the point I'm trying to make. I pay for YouTube, I should be able to choose that i don't want to watch shorts, for instance. A few days ago whenever they suggest shorts in my feed, there was a "not interested" button. It's gone now
KomoD
> I should be able to choose that i don't want to watch shorts, for instance

You can, it's called just not watching them. YouTube isn't forcing you to watch shorts, they're not forcing you to use their recommendations either.

If you don't like the service you can stop paying for it, that's always an option.

matthewfelgate
For me Facebook its full of adverts and suggest post from groups I'm not part of, most of which are AI generated images and/or clickbait headlines. Plus Reels which I don't want to watch.
Pokerface777
There's a Firefox addon to "block" YouTube shorts... it displays them as regular videos.

It's called YouTube-shorts Block

atum47
This should be a solution for a non paying customer.
netsharc
if you replace /shorts/ with /v/ it will show you the regular video interface.

E.g. one of OP's link: https://youtube.com/v/DbadkzrH8cc . BTW OP, you have the ?si= parameter, as far as I know this is a unique parameter that is generated when you click "Share", it allows YouTube to track your unique share link and see who's opening them.

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nereus
I keep getting recommended gun videos on shorts. I'm not in the slightest bit interested. I've tried weeding them out by going 'don't recommend channel' or disliking.
navjack27
The fatal flaw mistake that you're making is interacting with it. By going don't recommend this channel or disliking you are still interacting with it. Interacting is a positive metric. Ignore with your brain and don't interact.
joshxyz
damned if you do damned if you dont haha
wruza
Not true in my case. Also, removing content pieces from watch history helps immediately.

My usual routine is: dislike, not interested (or don’t recommend channel in case it’s all bad), then go to history and X the video. This clearly works for me.

To remove shorts completely, use Unhook ext.

crtasm
I don't see shorts on my phone (newpipe) or my browser (invidious / piped) - join me.
atum47
Yep, I just installed newpipe on my tablet. Gonna take a look at those other two. Thanks
key_peace_pulse
Here's what I do using Chrome (b/c youtube nerfs Firefox by throttling it)

Add these extensions:

Unhook - Hide youtube recommendations and other garbage

Clear Skies - Ad skipper

Ah.. youtube is usable again

atum47
I really appreciate all the solutions that are being offered, but I don't think a paying customer should have to go through all that.

I was pretty happy with the YouTube music app, it was working great. I don't get why the main app must insist in forcing something that I don't want to watch.

EUV071STR48
> I don't think a paying customer should have to go through all that.

You vote with your wallet. Stop complaining. seriously. OP just provided you the info. 1+ for Unhooked. For Ad-blocking I use uBlock Origin.

atum47
I already cancelled my subscription. I'm trying to get more people do the same by talking about the issue.
atum47
The topic is flagged and also my comments stating that fact

Can anyone ask Dang? It an unfair flag, I'm not infringing any rule

yjftsjthsd-h
You can email the mods yourself; it's in the site guidelines.
28304283409234
My Chromecast shows me recommendations for streaming services I have no subscription to and that are not installed on the Chromecast. Including Youtube and Disney+.

There is an option to disable those recommendations, but whichever way the switch is set it does not work. AND there is no (non-working) off switch for Youtube.

matthewfelgate
Youtube is getting unbearable.

At the moment I have to:

  * Save the subscription page and never go to the homepage.
  * Use sponsor skip extension 
  * Use ad block chrome extension 
  * Use a shorts blocker chrome extension
  * Never use the Youtube phone app
pikseladam
we need a youtube alternative. cry as much as you want, you will continue to use youtube and after a while, you will start to pay it again.
logtempo
peertube could be one, but it's hard to get traction for such plateforms. I also believe that a good amount of users are also doing there search on tiktok and instagram. For long content it's still youtube obviously.
carlosjobim
How much does peertube pay their video creators?
DimmieMan
Turn off watch history.

Still get shorts in my subscriptions (from subscribed channels) but the shorts functionality and home page are pretty much stripped out, even in the official app.

Well worth the minor inconveniences.

sourdoughness
I can vouch for this. You can tell how much YouTube doesn’t want you to do this by the way the app shows you a big, error-looking message on boot: “Your watch history is off - update setting?”. No thanks!

Only real downside (and it might be deliberate) is that the app will quickly forget the current video you’re watching. Still worth the trade off.

bickeringyokel
If youre on Android you can use newpipe, and just see all your subscriptions together sorted by time uploaded. You can still have it autoplay their default algorithms which seems to work just as good as a personalized one.
navjack27
What do you mean by the last thing that you said?

"Here's a video you me trying to search for something on YouTube"

But then you link to a short. So you made a short to complete about shorts? I'm not going to click on your short if that is your short if that is what you meant to say is "here is a video I made for you of me trying to search for something on YouTube" I'm just entirely confused by that.

The rest of what you say though I completely agree with I know that YouTube is trying to force shorts down our throat but the best thing you could do is just ignore them with your brain.

atum47
I don't know why the freaking thing went out as a short (i think because the orientation fits better and I thought it would be recommend to more people, since it's a short), but look at the results. By the thumbnail you can see click bait crap. A video about cassino, a video about video games, two about weird shit on the hands and head of guy...
KomoD
uBlock Origin on PC, ReVanced on Android.

Works great.

Also you don't like shorts, yet you made your own short and linked it here?

ensocode
I use Unhook Browser extension. There you can configure to hide shorts, home feed, comments etc.
carlosjobim
I'm happy to pay for a YouTube subscription, but the shorts issue combined with abysmal performance of the youtube.com website means that I have to use FreeTube, which works and performs absolutely great. But this way my subscription money doesn't really get to the creators of the videos I watch.

If there was a way to connect FreeTube or other pirate clients with your Premium account, then all problems would be solved for the benefit of everybody involved. But from what I've seen, the FreeTube makers do not have any interest in letting users log in to their YouTube accounts.