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Ask HN: Has your YouTube homepage gotten suddenly generic and bad?

2 points by chatmasta ↗ HN
As of last week, my YouTube feed (i.e. the videos on the homepage) seems totally disconnected from my activity. All recommendations are generic videos, many of them 1-2 minutes or years old, like “racoon eating lettuce” or “chocolate fish.”

It seems like the algorithm was suddenly unplugged.

I’m still logged into the site and haven’t changed any privacy settings.

I’m geolocated in the UK… maybe some recent regulatory implementation has caused this?

4 comments

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WorldPeas
I'd wager that's the case, I have US-tube and even with freetube it's been giving me some pretty on-point recommendations in the sidebar. (I don't use the homepage)

(though to be fair those videos seem pretty baller I love videos with 3 views of some dude melting plastic with a lens or the like)

tomrod
Hmm

I use NewPipe for mobile access, works okay

I use PlayLet for Roku, which syncs well using Chromecast protocol, and yeah, the front end on mobile is unhinged. I can't tell what is a game, an advertisement, a solicitation for locals near me, a money grab, a weird A/B tested image advertising a video with eyes larger as saucers and mouth agape like they are choking.

All in dark mode though, so that is nice.

YouTube on desktop with adblocking is usually fine despite Shorts being dumbly pushed.

kgwxd
I have my history turned off, which makes my "home page" nothing but an annoying message about turning it on. That racoon eating lettuce is on the suggestions list no matter what topic I'm currently watching.
meltyness
Seen some rendering issues in the recommended feed. Channel recommendations unable to display the full name of the channel.