Youtube quality or lack thereof?

[DWSmith]

Does the percentage of good videos on Youtube seem to be declining or is it just the crap I'm seeing? I feel like I really have to hunt to find something worthwhile.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I can't speak for youtube in the past. I'm a relatively new user. I don't have enough time to watch all the interesting things I run into now, though. Documentaries alone are in great numbers. As for youtube creators, that's a mixed bag. They're certainly more entertaining than a lot of TV I see. I will say that I think it is nuts how much money they make selling merchandise. Some of them have entire clothing lines. If they get popular enough, they probably make more money selling T-shirts than they do from the videos themselves.

 

[Blackhorse]

I’m getting more stuff of foreign origin than I remember. Took quite a while doing the “do no show this channel” thing for me to weed out the crazo fringe politics and nonsense pseudo science crappola. I think now that we understand each other it’s going OK. I find using the search function looking for very specific items to be nearly as effective as using Google.

 

[DWSmith]

Agreed. Lots of stuff from the Ukraine and that area all of a sudden. I think we're being prepared to sympathize with them so we support U.S. actions. (I'm not making a political statement one way or the other. I'm just stating an observation.)

Also there's a LOT of tiktok crap being put on Youtube recently.

Where do you tell Youtube not to show certain channels to you? I assume you have to log on for that. I don't have an account with Google.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I've never blocked any creator, but I'm sure you have to be logged in to do any tailoring...if even then they'll allow it. There are a couple Russian adjacent channels that I like; one being cooking/old ways of doing things, and the other turning trash into new things. If I don't click on anything that comes after them for a couple days, they disappear in the algorithm. I haven't found the suggestions obnoxious.

I feel it too cynical to think you're getting these as a form of creating sympathy. Youtube is a cash machine, not a political one. If you aren't watching the videos, they get nothing out of it. I know why the Russian ones are popping into my feed. I'm watching various cultural cooking videos and "invention"/regional lifestyle videos. I watched a Christopher Kimball's Milk Street episode the other day with a guest Ukranian chef...because I always watch Milk Street...and I haven't seen another Ukranian or Russian video in my recommendation feed since. Has "Ukranian" right in the title. It had to have been filmed at least last summer. It's coincidence.

 

[DWSmith]

I haven't watched any of the Ukranian videos but for the past week or two I've had probably 6 or so of them up on my monitor every time I bring up Youtube. Youtube will put the most popular videos on your screen after you clear your history, which I do frequently. I don't watch them but there they are. Lots of views by others is the only explanation I have for why they keep popping up. The question is, "Who is watching them so that they are so popular?" Something is going on.

Update: After clearing my history now I'm getting a couple of videos about what's happening between Russia and Ukraine in the Spanish language. What the heck is going on? It definitely has absolutely nothing to do with what I've been watching on Youtube. Scotty Kilmer doesn't cover them in his car videos that's for sure.

 

[Zeno Marx]

It would make sense that people are curious about Ukraine since it's at the center of the news cycle now. It's no surprise they might be some of the most popular.

If you're clearing your history (assuming you're clearing your cookies and cache since you don't have an account), that might be at the root of your problem. Even if you don't have a logged in account, they're still learning your preferences. If you don't clear your history AND don't watch any Ukranian/Russian content, you'll likely never see it in your feed again. Leaving your history in tact will actually work to your benefit in that way. You won't be prey to overall popularity, and it will actually make recommendations that make some sense to your tastes. They're watching and logging what you're doing anyway. Might as well let it work in your favor and to lessen any annoyance in the experience.

 

[DWSmith]

Except for the Spanish language one I mentioned a few minutes ago, from the titles these are not newsworthy types of videos but human interest. Thus my assumption that it appears an attempt is being made to develop interest/sympathy for Ukraine.

Anyway, I don't trust youtube in its behind the scenes dealings. And I know that to some I will appear to be overly paranoid but after observing things for years I'm convinced we're being manipulated by many different news sources. Several years ago some acquaintances came to the U.S. for a visit. They couldn't believe what was being shown on American TV is called 'news'. That was about 20 years ago and things have only gotten worse. I suspect that youtube has also degraded along those same lines along with Facebook and others. FWIW.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Other than the attempt to make the most money possible, youtube isn't attempting anything else. None of these social media platforms give two hoots about being a social service. Their #1 priority...and #2, #3, #4 priority...is to make money. Hard news, human interest, or cultural things like cooking are all of greater interest now because of the potential war in Ukraine. Who are these people? What the heck is Ukraine anyway? What do they wear there? Are they nice people or jerks? Are they like us (fellow jerks)? Spanish speakers are watching as well. I believe I read somewhere that Spanish speaking creators are the #1 growing population of creators. Videos on youtube are tagged as well as titled. All kinds of metadata is embedded to feed into the algorithm streams. Again, you're getting Ukranian videos and Spanish language videos because you're deleting your history. Every time you click into youtube, it has to assume you're a new user, and they have nothing in which to base the video feed. If you don't play the delete game with their cookies, it will learn your preferences.

I watch youtube via TV. Two TVs. Never log in. Each TV gets a different feed because I don't watch the same things on either TV. Almost nothing is repeated on both feeds. It's like two completely different households are watching those TVs, even though they're coming into the house on a single line. It learned what each TV is watching. Though not logged in, all the channels and creators I watch are there when I turn it on. That's through Xfinity cable provider. I don't know how others work.

*I never delete my youtube history. Not for any particular reason. I just haven't.

 

[Carlos]

What do you want to watch?

I have a wide variety of videos I watch. Farming, narrowboats, firearms stuff, some history, some boating. Let me know if any interest you and I'll recommend a few.

 

[DWSmith]

Scotty Kilmer, This Old Tony, The Post Apocalyptic Inventor, Mustie1, AvE, Project Farm, Bruce Pender, etc.

The old stuff I like is still there but I'm not very interested in anything by the new youtubers. Seems like a bunch of crap videos with more of it all the time made by a bunch of "Look at me! Look at me!" youtubers.

 

[gravel]

Scotty Kilmer is entertaining and helpful to boot!

 

[History Prof 1861]

try Greg’s airplanes and automobiles pretty good stuff

technical broken down so a historian like me can understand..

 

[tslots]

As there are many millions of creators on YT, so you will find great content, evil crap and everything in-between. The AI programs generally recommend videos based on the stuff you normally watch (per your history), but obviously they push new items based on popularity, political winds and/or what YT thinks will make them more money. I get this all the time too, but to limit this you should click on the three vertical dots just under the bottom right corner of the picture of the video in your queue list and click "Don't Recommend Channel" or "Not Interested". I find this usually eliminates those selections, at least for the short term.

 

[gbann57]

There is a guy on youtube that restores watches. doesnt talk, just cleans and repairs. Oddly fascinating to me

 

[D.L.Ruth]

There is a guy on youtube that restores watches. doesnt talk, just cleans and repairs. Oddly fascinating to me

I find myself watching all kinds of restoration videos, no talking just restoring old things. It is satisfying to watch.

 

[Ol'Dawg]

Today I found Cornell & Diehl Inc, KY, NC and LA Agriculture, all about growing, cutting, curing and selling tobacco in YouTube. If you are interested tobacco you could find a lot of info.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Check out Soft White Underbelly for storytelling. Listen to people tell their stories. But if you are easily irritated and/or quick to judgment, I'd avoid most of the videos on that channel. Most are depressing and dark, but they're almost always interesting. They're often difficult to relate to from the title and the first moments, but then...well...they're all human.

Van Neistat's channel (same name for the channel) is great storytelling as well. His younger brother is Casey Neistat. They always said Van was all the talent, and if you watch his videos, you understand why they say that. Interesting and very high quality content. He's an artist who manages to straddle the line between abstraction and linear thinking. I guess you have to be capable of that if you're telling stories via short films, but nevertheless, he's got a great style and mind for taking his viewers on a journey. The destination isn't really the thing.

 

[thedeep]

Anyone having trouble getting on Youtube? I've been trying for two days. CAn't get it to open for me/

 

[Carlos]

Been on every day no problem.